How To Spend 48 Hours In Moscow

Everyone I told I was going to Moscow had a lot to say, and most of them hadn't ever been there. "Isn't it cold?" "Isn't it kind of grey?" Sure, a bit. But honestly, I came back in love with the place. It's huge and gold and strange, and it doesn't try too hard to charm you, which somehow made me like it more. Two days is enough to get a real feel for it. Here's roughly how I spent mine.

Day One

Start underground

I have to talk about the metro - I went in thinking I'd ride it to get around & I came out having spent half a day just going station to station, like a tourist who'd lost the plot. They call it "the people's palace" and that's not marketing - these are actual underground palaces, and the wild part is that no two are alike. Each one is its own little world. 

Mayakovskaya is the showstopper. Slim steel arches, pink and grey stone, and then you look up and the ceiling is full of these little oval mosaics of the sky planes, parachutes, sunflowers, all the Soviet optimism beaming down at you. It's Art Deco done by people who really meant it. 

Komsomolskaya is the total opposite: gold, baroque, a bright yellow ceiling with chandeliers and huge mosaics of war heroes. It's basically a ballroom that happens to have trains running through it.

Novoslobodskaya has these glowing stained-glass panels set into the pillars, lit from inside, so the whole platform has this soft jewel-box feel. Quieter, dreamier.  

Ploshchad Revolyutsii is the fun one: lined with life-size bronze statues, soldiers, students, a farmer with a chicken, and a border guard with his dog.  

And those are just four. Kievskaya, Arbatskaya, Elektrozavodskaya with its rows of little ceiling lamps - they all have a personality. Honestly, half the fun is just riding to a station you've never been to and seeing what they did with it. 

So here's what I'd do: grab a coffee first (decent coffee is everywhere, which surprised me), buy a single ticket (it costs almost nothing) and hop between the big stations for an hour or two. Go early-ish if you want clean photos without a platform full of commuters walking through your shot.

Red Square, early

Then go up and see the famous bit. Red Square, St. Basil's, all of it.

While you're there, buy a ticket into the Kremlin. The Armoury, all the Fabergé eggs and old royal stuff is worth an hour even if museums aren't usually your thing.

Lunch: go Georgian 

Here's the tip nobody gave me: the best food in Moscow isn't Russian, it's Georgian. Find a place doing khinkali - these big juicy dumplings you eat with your hands and order khachapuri too, which is basically a bread boat full of melted cheese with an egg cracked on top. Wash it down with a glass of Georgian red. If you'd rather do the proper old-school Russian thing, Café Pushkin is the classic - it looks like a film set and the borscht is great. 

A slow afternoon

Don't over-plan this bit. You'd rather just walk, wander the little streets behind it or head to Gorky Park by the river. I ended up watching people for an hour, which was honestly perfect. 

Sunset at Sparrow Hills

Make your way up to Sparrow Hills as the light starts to go. There's a viewpoint right by the big Stalin-era university tower, and the whole city opens up below you; the river, the skyscrapers in the distance, everything. Time it for sunset. It's the one photo you'll actually keep.

Dinner and a drink

For dinner you've got two options. White Rabbit is the fancy one - glass dome, big view, properly good food. Or find a cosier traditional spot doing pelmeni and stroganoff with a little tray of flavoured vodkas, which is more my speed. After that, Moscow's bars are better than you'd expect - lots of little hidden ones behind unmarked doors. Find one, order something local, stay a while. The night runs late here. 

Day Two

A quiet start at Novodevichy

Begin slow. The Novodevichy Convent, white walls, red towers, a still pond reflecting the lot is the most peaceful corner of the city. Get there before the coaches. The cemetery next door, where Chekhov and Gogol and a load of famous names are buried, is quietly moving in a way I didn't expect. 

The Arbat

Then head to the Arbat, the old pedestrian street that's been the artsy heart of Moscow forever. It's touristy, yeah, but in a nice way; street musicians, portrait artists, old bookshops.

Lunch at the market

Go to Danilovsky Market for lunch. It's a buzzy food hall under a big Soviet dome with stalls doing everything - lamb, oysters, pho, whatever you fancy. Just graze and follow your nose. My friend enjoyed her meals. I am vegetarian and I just about managed. 

An afternoon in space

Spend the afternoon at VDNKh, this enormous Soviet park full of golden fountains and grand pavilions. The Cosmonautics Museum here is brilliant - Moscow was obsessed with space, and you really feel it. Under that giant silver rocket monument, it's hard not to get a little swept up in it. 

One last long dinner

End the way Moscow likes to: a long, unhurried meal. Order a spread of zakuski - the little cold plates, pickles - and let the evening drift. People here toast properly, with a reason each time.

Moscow doesn't fall over itself to win you over. It makes you put in a bit of effort - get up early, stay out late, look past the obvious stuff. But give it two real days and it gets under your skin in a way the easy, pretty cities never quite manage. Go. Sooner than you think.