Moscow

Red Square: between cathedral and arcade

St Basil's Cathedral (Собор Василия Блаженного), at the south end of the square, was built in 1555–1561 on the orders of Ivan IV to mark the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. From outside it looks like one building, but inside, narrow stairs and passageways link 11 churches, each with its own iconostasis, so you move through it one small room at a time. It's a museum now, so you'll need a ticket to go in. GUM, on the east side, opened on December 2, 1893 as the Upper Trading Rows (Верхние торговые ряды). Engineer Vladimir Shukhov's glass roof covers the building designed by architect Alexander Pomerantsev. Walk past the central fountain with a GUM ice cream, itself counted among Moscow's symbols, and the place feels less like a department store than a street brought indoors. Since 2006, the GUM rink (ГУМ-Каток) has opened on the square in winter.

The Kremlin: inside the walls

Behind the walls on the west side of the square is the Kremlin (Кремль). The churches of Cathedral Square (Соборная площадь) and the Armoury (Оружейная палата) are exhibition spaces of the Moscow Kremlin Museums. Ticket offices are in a pavilion in the Alexander Garden (Александровский сад), just outside the walls, and a single ticket covers Cathedral Square. The Armoury, home to the tsars' crowns and carriages, only admits visitors at set entry times, so it's easiest to lock in your Armoury slot first and fit the churches around it. From October 1 to May 14 the Kremlin runs on its winter schedule: the grounds and Cathedral Square are open 10:00–17:00, and the ticket offices close at 16:30.

The metro: stations that make you look up

The first section of the Moscow metro opened on May 15, 1935, with 13 stations. The early stations are finished in marble and mosaics, and you can easily spend half a day changing trains to look at them without ever leaving through the turnstiles. The one to get off at is Mayakovskaya (Маяковская), opened on September 11, 1938. Look up between its stainless-steel-clad arches and you'll see a mosaic set into each oval niche in the ceiling, showing sky, aircraft and people playing sports. They were made from sketches by the artist Alexander Deineka; of the original 35, one was lost when a sealed door was installed. Lying deep underground, the station served as an air-raid shelter during the war, and on November 6, 1941, Stalin spoke here at a ceremonial meeting of the Moscow Soviet.

Seven sisters and the eighth that never was

The huge spired buildings you'll see all over the city are known as Stalin's Seven Sisters. Their foundations were all laid on September 7, 1947, Moscow's 800th anniversary. Eight went in that day, but the one planned for Zaryadye (Зарядье), right next to the Kremlin, was never built. Its foundation was later used for the Hotel Rossiya (Россия) in the mid-1960s, and the site is now Zaryadye Park, on the riverbank. The tallest of the sisters is the main building of Moscow State University (МГУ) on Sparrow Hills (Воробьёвы горы). It's 236 m tall including its 50 m spire and star, and students and teachers first walked in on September 1, 1953. Head from the main building toward the river and, from the viewpoint at the edge of the hill, you can look across the river to the city center.

At the table: a spoonful of sour cream

Russian food is filling rather than fancy. Pelmeni (пельмени), small dumplings stuffed with meat, get a generous spoonful of sour cream (сметана), and shchi (щи), a cabbage soup, comes with dark rye bread. Thin blini (блины) turn into a meal topped with salmon roe or a dessert spread with jam. Late in winter, during Maslenitsa (Масленица) week, whose dates change every year, blini take center stage. In 1898, St Petersburg merchant Grigory Eliseev bought the building at 14 Tverskaya Street (Тверская улица) and rebuilt it as a shop, the Eliseevsky store (Елисеевский магазин), opening up the rooms on the first and second floors into one big hall hung with chandeliers. The store closed on April 11, 2021, though, and what becomes of it hasn't been decided yet.

Summer by the river, winter for New Year

From May to September the days are long, and the parks and riverbanks are at their busiest. Walk from Gorky Park (Парк Горького) along the Moskva toward Sparrow Hills, and the park paths gradually turn into woodland trails below the hill. Around late September, a brief 'golden autumn' arrives as the birch leaves turn yellow. In winter, lights go up along the streets ahead of New Year. Russian Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7, so the holiday mood stretches from late December into early January. The sun sets early in December, so it helps to mix in indoor plans like museums or performances.

Suggested 4-day itinerary (3 nights)

Day 1 — Red Square and St Basil's Cathedral → ice cream at GUM → sunset walk in Zaryadye Park Day 2 — Kremlin Armoury (morning slot) and Cathedral Square → Alexander Garden → evening performance at the Bolshoi Theatre (Большой театр) Day 3 — Metro station hop (Mayakovskaya and more) → Tretyakov Gallery (Третьяковская галерея) → riverside walk in Gorky Park Day 4 — Sparrow Hills and the Moscow State University main building → view across the river to the city center from the hilltop viewpoint → airport

What to eat

• Pelmeni (meat dumplings topped with sour cream)
• Blini (thin pancakes with salmon roe or jam)
• Shchi (cabbage soup, served with rye bread)
• GUM ice cream (at GUM on Red Square)

Handy tips

• Moscow falls under the South Korean foreign ministry's special travel advisory, which covers all of Russia outside its level 3 and 4 zones. The ministry asks travelers not to photograph military sites or infrastructure, or even facilities such as warehouses and shopping malls that have been hit by drones, and on Oct 6, 2026 it issued a safety notice about a large-scale drone attack on Moscow Oblast.
• In March 2022, Visa announced that Visa cards issued outside Russia would no longer work inside the country. Don't count on other foreign cards either, and bring your travel money in cash. If you're leaving Russia with US$10,000 or more in foreign currency, you'll need to declare it in advance.
• Holders of ordinary South Korean passports can stay visa-free for up to 60 days at a time (90 days total within any 180). You do have to register your stay with the migration office within 7 working days of arrival, so it's safest to book a hotel that handles registration for you.