Top 10 Things to Do in Moscow

St. Basil's Cathedral (Sobor Vasiliya Blazhennogo) is the most recognisable building in Russia, a flamboyant 16th-century masterpiece of Russian architecture whose nine tent-roofed chapels topped with onion domes in swirling patterns of colour have become the defining symbol of Moscow. Built by Ivan the Terrible between 1555 and 1561 to commemorate his military victories over the Kazan Khanate, the cathedral contains nine individual chapels each dedicated to a different saint. Legend holds that Ivan had the architects blinded so they could never design anything more beautiful.

The Moscow Kremlin is the official residence of the President of Russia and the most important complex of historic buildings in the country, a fortified citadel of towers, palaces, cathedrals, and museums at the very heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moscow River. The Kremlin's walls and towers were built in the late 15th century, and within the complex are four cathedrals, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower (81 metres), the Grand Kremlin Palace, the Armoury Chamber, and the Diamond Fund. Together with Red Square it forms a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Bolshoi Theatre is one of the world's foremost opera and ballet companies, the oldest major ballet and opera company in Russia, and its home theatre on Theatre Square is one of Moscow's grandest neoclassical buildings. Originally built in 1776 and rebuilt to its current magnificent form in 1856, the theatre underwent a six-year restoration from 2005 to 2011 that restored its golden, crimson, and white imperial interior to its former glory. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are internationally acclaimed, and tickets to performances sell out months in advance.

The Tretyakov Gallery (Tretyakovskaya galereya) is the world's greatest treasury of Russian art, founded by merchant Pavel Tretyakov in 1856 and housing a collection of over 180,000 works spanning Russian art from the 11th century to the 20th century. Masterpieces include Andrei Rublev's icon The Trinity, Ilya Repin's Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan, and Kazimir Malevich's Black Square. The original neo-Russian building in the Zamoskvorechye district is itself a work of art, its fairy-tale facade designed by Viktor Vasnetsov in 1902.

GUM (Glavny Universalny Magazin or Main Universal Store) is an iconic 19th-century shopping arcade on Red Square, its iron-and-glass barrel-vaulted roof covering three storeys of luxury boutiques and restaurants behind a magnificent neo-Russian facade. Built in 1893, the store was nationalised after the Revolution and served as the USSR's most prestigious retail outlet; following privatisation in 1991 it was transformed into a luxury mall housing international brands alongside traditional Russian food stalls. The ice rink set up in front of GUM in winter is one of Moscow's most popular seasonal attractions.

Moscow's metro system is celebrated as the most beautiful in the world, with many of its 270 stations decorated like underground palaces with marble, granite, mosaics, stained glass, chandeliers, and socialist realist sculptures, earning it the nickname "the people's palaces." The system opened in 1935 and the deepest and most architecturally spectacular stations were built in the Stalin era — Komsomolskaya, Kievskaya, and Novoslobodskaya are particularly renowned. The metro carries around 9 million passengers per day, making it one of the world's busiest and it remains the best way to get around Moscow.

Gorky Park (Park Kultury i Otdykha imeni Gor'kogo) is Moscow's most famous urban park, a 300-hectare leisure and cultural space on the Moscow River that was comprehensively redeveloped in the early 2010s into a world-class urban park of bike paths, outdoor gyms, art installations, and food trucks, now regarded as a model for post-Soviet urban renewal. In winter, a large section is flooded to create an enormous outdoor ice rink. The park gained global infamy from Martin Cruz Smith's Cold War thriller, which was also made into a film starring William Hurt.

The Arbat is Moscow's oldest and most beloved pedestrian street, a 1.2-kilometre cobblestone promenade in the heart of the old city that has been at the centre of Moscow cultural life since the 15th century. During the 19th century it was home to Moscow's literary and artistic intelligentsia, including Alexander Pushkin who lived here after his 1831 marriage; the flat where Pushkin lived is now a museum. Today the street is lined with souvenir stalls, street artists, buskers, restaurants, and the historic Vakhtangov Theatre.

Novodevichy Convent is Moscow's most beautiful monastery complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site founded in 1524 on a bend in the Moscow River, its white-washed walls and gold-domed churches forming one of the most picturesque ensembles of 17th-century Muscovite Baroque architecture. The convent served as a place of confinement for women of the royal family and nobility, including Peter the Great's half-sister Sophia. The adjacent cemetery (Novodevichy Cemetery) is one of Russia's most prestigious burial grounds, containing the graves of Chekhov, Gogol, Bulgakov, Khrushchev, Yeltsin, and Shostakovich.

St. Basil's Cathedral (Sobor Vasiliya Blazhennogo) is the most recognisable building in Russia, a flamboyant 16th-century masterpiece of Russian architecture whose nine tent-roofed chapels topped with onion domes in swirling patterns of colour have become the defining symbol of Moscow. Built by Ivan the Terrible between 1555 and 1561 to commemorate his military victories over the Kazan Khanate, the cathedral contains nine individual chapels each dedicated to a different saint. Legend holds that Ivan had the architects blinded so they could never design anything more beautiful.

The Moscow Kremlin is the official residence of the President of Russia and the most important complex of historic buildings in the country, a fortified citadel of towers, palaces, cathedrals, and museums at the very heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moscow River. The Kremlin's walls and towers were built in the late 15th century, and within the complex are four cathedrals, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower (81 metres), the Grand Kremlin Palace, the Armoury Chamber, and the Diamond Fund. Together with Red Square it forms a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Bolshoi Theatre is one of the world's foremost opera and ballet companies, the oldest major ballet and opera company in Russia, and its home theatre on Theatre Square is one of Moscow's grandest neoclassical buildings. Originally built in 1776 and rebuilt to its current magnificent form in 1856, the theatre underwent a six-year restoration from 2005 to 2011 that restored its golden, crimson, and white imperial interior to its former glory. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are internationally acclaimed, and tickets to performances sell out months in advance.

The Tretyakov Gallery (Tretyakovskaya galereya) is the world's greatest treasury of Russian art, founded by merchant Pavel Tretyakov in 1856 and housing a collection of over 180,000 works spanning Russian art from the 11th century to the 20th century. Masterpieces include Andrei Rublev's icon The Trinity, Ilya Repin's Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan, and Kazimir Malevich's Black Square. The original neo-Russian building in the Zamoskvorechye district is itself a work of art, its fairy-tale facade designed by Viktor Vasnetsov in 1902.

GUM (Glavny Universalny Magazin or Main Universal Store) is an iconic 19th-century shopping arcade on Red Square, its iron-and-glass barrel-vaulted roof covering three storeys of luxury boutiques and restaurants behind a magnificent neo-Russian facade. Built in 1893, the store was nationalised after the Revolution and served as the USSR's most prestigious retail outlet; following privatisation in 1991 it was transformed into a luxury mall housing international brands alongside traditional Russian food stalls. The ice rink set up in front of GUM in winter is one of Moscow's most popular seasonal attractions.

Moscow's metro system is celebrated as the most beautiful in the world, with many of its 270 stations decorated like underground palaces with marble, granite, mosaics, stained glass, chandeliers, and socialist realist sculptures, earning it the nickname "the people's palaces." The system opened in 1935 and the deepest and most architecturally spectacular stations were built in the Stalin era — Komsomolskaya, Kievskaya, and Novoslobodskaya are particularly renowned. The metro carries around 9 million passengers per day, making it one of the world's busiest and it remains the best way to get around Moscow.

Gorky Park (Park Kultury i Otdykha imeni Gor'kogo) is Moscow's most famous urban park, a 300-hectare leisure and cultural space on the Moscow River that was comprehensively redeveloped in the early 2010s into a world-class urban park of bike paths, outdoor gyms, art installations, and food trucks, now regarded as a model for post-Soviet urban renewal. In winter, a large section is flooded to create an enormous outdoor ice rink. The park gained global infamy from Martin Cruz Smith's Cold War thriller, which was also made into a film starring William Hurt.

The Arbat is Moscow's oldest and most beloved pedestrian street, a 1.2-kilometre cobblestone promenade in the heart of the old city that has been at the centre of Moscow cultural life since the 15th century. During the 19th century it was home to Moscow's literary and artistic intelligentsia, including Alexander Pushkin who lived here after his 1831 marriage; the flat where Pushkin lived is now a museum. Today the street is lined with souvenir stalls, street artists, buskers, restaurants, and the historic Vakhtangov Theatre.

Novodevichy Convent is Moscow's most beautiful monastery complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site founded in 1524 on a bend in the Moscow River, its white-washed walls and gold-domed churches forming one of the most picturesque ensembles of 17th-century Muscovite Baroque architecture. The convent served as a place of confinement for women of the royal family and nobility, including Peter the Great's half-sister Sophia. The adjacent cemetery (Novodevichy Cemetery) is one of Russia's most prestigious burial grounds, containing the graves of Chekhov, Gogol, Bulgakov, Khrushchev, Yeltsin, and Shostakovich.