Moscow's landmarks cluster conveniently: one tight knot around Red Square, a second string along the river, and a handful of outliers each worth a dedicated half-day. Here's the honest shortlist for a first visit — what each one is, what needs a ticket in advance, and what's free.
The Red Square knot — one day, on foot
- Red Square itself — free, open, and best seen twice: once in daylight, once lit up at night;
- St Basil's Cathedral — the nine-domed icon at the square's south end; the swirling interior is smaller and stranger than you expect, and worth the ticket;
- The Kremlin — the fortress is a museum complex: cathedral square with its 15th-century churches on the standard ticket, the Armoury Chamber (crowns, carriages, Fabergé) on a separate timed ticket that sells out — book both in advance on kreml.ru;
- Lenin's Mausoleum — free, short opening hours, and a fast-moving queue; whether you find it fascinating or macabre, there is nothing else like it;
- GUM — the 19th-century trading rows facing the square; come for the architecture, the ice cream stands and the famous soviet-style canteen upstairs, not the luxury shopping;
- Zaryadye Park — the modern park next door, free, with its "floating bridge" cantilevered over the river — the best free viewpoint of the Kremlin walls.
Along the river
- Cathedral of Christ the Saviour — the vast white-and-gold cathedral (rebuilt in the 1990s after Stalin dynamited the original); free to enter, dress modestly;
- Gorky Park and Muzeon — the reinvented riverside park plus the open-air graveyard of dismantled Soviet statues across the road; rent a bike and ride the embankments;
- Sparrow Hills — the classic panorama point in front of Moscow State University's colossal Stalinist skyscraper; the cable car down to Luzhniki stadium makes it a proper outing.
