5 Things to Do in Moscow, Russia

Red Square has been Moscow's central public space since the 15th century, framed by the Kremlin wall on one side, the GUM department store's glass-roofed arcade on another, and St. Basil's Cathedral — with its cluster of colorful, asymmetric onion domes, commissioned by Ivan the Terrible — anchoring the southern end. It remains the city's most recognizable single image and the natural starting point for a first visit to Moscow.

Good to know: St. Basil's interior is a maze of small connected chapels rather than one large hall — the inside is quite different from what the exterior suggests, and worth the separate entry ticket.

The Kremlin is both the seat of the Russian president and a walled complex of cathedrals, palaces, and towers open to the public, including the Cathedral of the Annunciation and the Cathedral of the Assumption, where Russian tsars were once crowned. The Armoury Chamber museum inside houses the Russian crown jewels, Fabergé eggs, and imperial carriages, and is generally considered one of the best decorative-arts museums in the world.

Good to know: Armoury Chamber tickets are sold for specific timed entry slots and often sell out — book in advance rather than showing up same-day.

Built starting in the 1930s partly as a showcase of Soviet achievement, many of Moscow's central metro stations are outfitted with marble columns, mosaic ceilings, bronze statues, and chandeliers more befitting a palace than a subway — Mayakovskaya, Komsomolskaya, and Novoslobodskaya are among the most striking. A single metro ticket is enough to hop between a dozen of these stations over an afternoon.

Good to know: Go outside rush hour (mid-morning or early afternoon) to actually see and photograph the stations without being swept along by crowds.

Once a fairly basic Soviet amusement park, Gorky Park has been extensively redeveloped into one of Moscow's best public spaces, with landscaped gardens, an open-air cinema, bike and rollerblade rentals, and river frontage along the Moskva. It connects via a pedestrian bridge to the Muzeon sculpture park and the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, making it easy to combine outdoor time with a modern-art stop.

Good to know: In winter, part of the park floods into one of the largest outdoor ice rinks in Europe — worth seeking out if visiting in the colder months.

The definitive collection of Russian art, from medieval icons (including Andrei Rublev's Trinity) through 19th-century realism and into the early 20th-century avant-garde, the Tretyakov Gallery is the best single stop for understanding Russian art history in one visit, housed in a distinctive red-and-white building with a traditional Russian facade.

Good to know: The historic main building (in Lavrushinsky Lane) holds pre-1900s work; a separate New Tretyakov building nearby covers 20th-century and Soviet-era art — check which collection you want before you go.