Znayu mestoI know a place
RUENESTR中文عربيفارسی
Русский English Español Türkçe 中文 العربية فارسی

Walking routes in Moscow

    🚶 Routes 📍 Places
    Where do you start
    Start typing an address, metro station or place in the search box above — or tap the map where you will start
    How much walking
    Interests
    Child's age pick one or more
    Food we'll pick places along the way
      ← All routes

      The whole Arbat: from Vakhtangov to Smolenskaya

      ⏱ 6 h🚶 2.6 km🍽 2📍 12 stops
      🚶 Moderate — 3–7 km

      The same Old Arbat, but with the Vakhtangov Theatre, Polenov’s “Moscow Courtyard”, Okudzhava and Andrei Bely, and a finale of dinner with a view of the Foreign Ministry skyscraper.

      🏛 History and architecture🎨 Art
      🗺 Open in Yandex Maps
      1. 1
        🏛 Arbatskaya Square
        The square at the start of the Arbat, with the Khudozhestvenny cinema and a metro station shaped like a five-pointed star.
        Start at Arbatskaya metro
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Arbatskaya Square
        © sailko · CC BY-SA 3.0
        Arbatskaya Square
        © Gennady Grachev from Moscow, Russia · CC BY 2.0
        • The square is named after the Arbat Gate of the White City, which stood here until the end of the 18th century.
        • The Khudozhestvenny cinema opened in 1909, one of the oldest in Moscow; in 1912–1913 it was rebuilt by Fyodor Shekhtel.
        • Until 1951 the square held Nikolai Andreyev's monument to Gogol; since 1959 it has stood in the courtyard at 7a Nikitsky Boulevard, where the writer died.
        • The 1935 pavilion of Arbatskaya station on the Filyovskaya line is built in the shape of a five-pointed star.
        • Pedestrian Old Arbat begins at the square, and New Arbat, laid out in the 1960s, leads off from it.
      2. 🚶 on foot
      3. 2
        🚶 Old Arbat (Staryi Arbat)
        A pedestrian street about a kilometre long, with 19th-century mansions, cafés and street artists.
        Artists, musicians, souvenirs
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Old Arbat (Staryi Arbat)
        © Florstein · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Old Arbat (Staryi Arbat)
        © Елена Нечипоренко · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Old Arbat (Staryi Arbat)
        © Valeri Pizhanski from Odintsovo, Russia · CC BY-SA 2.0
        • The name Arbat has been known since the late 15th century; its origin is disputed, either from the Turkic arba (cart) or the Arabic rabad (suburb).
        • In 1986 the Arbat became Moscow's first pedestrian street.
        • Andrei Bely was born and raised at no. 55, and Pushkin spent the first months of his marriage in the neighbouring house, no. 53.
        • The Vakhtangov Theatre (no. 26) grew out of Evgeny Vakhtangov's studio; its building was destroyed in a bombing raid in 1941.
        • The Tsoi Wall in Krivoarbatsky Lane appeared in 1990, after the musician's death.
        • Krivoarbatsky Lane is also home to Konstantin Melnikov's house-studio of 1927–1929, made of two merged cylinders.
        • On the corner with Plotnikov Lane stands a monument to Bulat Okudzhava, who sang about the Arbat in his songs.
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        🏛 Vakhtangov Theatre
        ул. Арбат, 26
        The main theater of the Arbat, in a 1940s building with a colonnade; at the entrance stands the gilded "Princess Turandot" fountain, honoring the legendary 1922 production.
        Photograph the golden Turandot at the entrance; evening tickets can be bought at the box office (daily 12–20)
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Vakhtangov Theatre
        © A.Savin · FAL 1.3
        • In summer 1920 the Vakhtangov studio took over the former Berg mansion at Arbat 26.
        • The theater's birthday is considered to be 13 November 1921, the opening with "The Miracle of Saint Anthony".
        • The first Princess Turandot was Tsetsiliya Mansurova, who took her stage name from Mansurovsky Lane, where the studio was located.
        • On the night of 24 July 1941 a bomb hit the building; several people died, including the actor Vasily Kuza.
        • From 1941 to 1943 the theater worked in evacuation in Omsk, sharing a stage with the local drama theater.
        • The current Empire-style building was built in 1946–1947 to a design by Pavel Abrosimov; the hall seats 1,055.
      6. 🚶 on foot
      7. 4
        🏛 Melnikov House
        Кривоарбатский пер., 10
        🎟 ticket · guided tours by appointment only, buy tickets in advance
        A house of two intersecting cylinders with hexagonal windows, built by Konstantin Melnikov for himself in 1927–1929.
        Melnikov’s cylinder house — an avant-garde masterpiece. The house and yard are closed for restoration, so we look from outside from Krivoarbatsky Lane
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Melnikov House
        © Paulkuz · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Melnikov House
        © Trasprd · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Melnikov House
        © Shesmax · CC BY-SA 3.0
        • Architect Konstantin Melnikov built the house for himself and his family in 1927–1929, a rare private house in Soviet Moscow.
        • The house consists of two cylinders of equal diameter cutting into each other, forming a figure eight in plan.
        • Its signature feature is the hexagonal windows: the rear tower has 57 of them, and the only octagonal window is in the living room.
        • The Melnikov family moved in in November 1929; after his parents' deaths, the architect's son, the artist Viktor Melnikov, lived here for the rest of his life.
        • In 2014 the house became a federal monument and a branch of the Shchusev Museum of Architecture.
      8. 🚶 on foot
      9. 5
        🏛 Tsoi Wall
        The wall of a building on the Arbat, covered with graffiti and messages from fans of Viktor Tsoi.
        A place of remembrance since 1990
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Tsoi Wall
        © Superchilum · CC BY-SA 3.0
        • The wall appeared in August 1990, right after Viktor Tsoi died in a car crash in Latvia on 15 August.
        • The first inscription is said to be "Viktor Tsoi died today", and the reply to it was "Tsoi is alive!".
        • It is the wall of building no. 37 on the Arbat, on the Krivoarbatsky Lane side.
        • Fans gather here every year on 15 August and 21 June, the musician's birthday.
        • The inscriptions are constantly updated, so the wall has been rewritten and repainted many times.
        • In the same Krivoarbatsky Lane, at no. 10, stands architect Konstantin Melnikov's famous round house-studio.
      10. 🚶 on foot
      11. 6
        🏛 Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Peski
        Спасопесковский пер., 4А
        An 18th-century church in a quiet side street off the Arbat, the very one Polenov painted in "Moscow Courtyard".
        Turn into Spasopeskovsky Lane: compare the view of the church with Polenov’s painting “Moscow Courtyard”
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Peski
        © Дмитрий Мозжухин · CC BY 3.0
        • The stone church was built in 1711 on the site of a wooden church of the streltsy settlement, known since 1642.
        • In the early 20th century the virtuoso bell-ringer Konstantin Saradzhev rang the bells in the bell tower.
        • The church was closed in 1932 and in the 1960s adapted as the puppet workshop of Soyuzmultfilm.
        • Ten bells were given to the church by the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theater; they come from the demolished Strastnoy Monastery.
        • In 1891 a pseudo-Gothic gate was joined to the bell tower and became the main portal.
      12. 🚶 on foot
      13. 7
        🏛 Bulat Okudzhava Monument
        ул. Арбат, угол Плотникова пер.
        A bronze Okudzhava steps out of an Arbat courtyard arch, a 2002 monument to the poet who sang about "my Arbat".
        The bronze poet in the archway at the corner of Plotnikov Lane — the traditional “arm in arm” photo
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Bulat Okudzhava Monument
        © Maksym Kozlenko · CC BY-SA 3.0
        • The authors are sculptor Georgy Frangulyan and architects Igor Popov and Valentin Proshlyakov.
        • The monument was unveiled on 8 May 2002, on the eve of Victory Day and of what would have been Okudzhava's 78th birthday.
        • Yeltsin signed the decree on commemorating the poet on 19 June 1997, a week after his death.
        • The figure is about 2.5 m tall; a bronze shadow trails behind it into the courtyard, with benches and a living tree nearby.
        • Frangulyan also made Okudzhava's gravestone at Vagankovo Cemetery.
      14. 🚶 on foot
      15. 8
        ☕️ Mu-Mu on the Arbat
        Карманицкий пер., 9 (БЦ «Арбат»)
        ▮▯▯▯▯
        A simple, inexpensive lunch
        🍴 An inexpensive Mu-Mu canteen on the 2nd floor of the Arbat business centre, two minutes from Smolenskaya. What to order: a cutlet with mashed potatoes, borscht or another homemade soup, blini.
      16. 🚶 on foot
      17. 9
        🖼 Pushkin Apartment Museum on the Arbat
        ул. Арбат, 53
        🎟 ticket
        A two-storey mansion on the Arbat where the second floor recreates the setting of Pushkin's rooms.
        The apartment where Pushkin lived after his wedding
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Pushkin Apartment Museum on the Arbat
        © Никонико962 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • Pushkin brought Natalia Goncharova here right after their wedding on 18 February 1831 and lived here until mid-May.
        • The poet rented the second-floor apartment in the Khitrovo house for six months at 2,000 roubles, but left for Petersburg much earlier.
        • On the eve of the wedding Pushkin held his bachelor party in this house.
        • The memorial plaque on the house appeared in 1937, for the 100th anniversary of the poet's death.
        • The museum was founded in 1972 and opened to visitors after restoration in 1986.
        • Opposite stands the monument to Pushkin and Goncharova, erected in 1999 for the poet's 200th anniversary.
      18. 🚶 on foot
      19. 10
        🖼 Andrei Bely Memorial Apartment
        ул. Арбат, 55/32
        🎟 ticket
        The apartment where the Symbolist poet spent his childhood and youth, a branch of the Pushkin Museum in the building next to the Pushkin apartment.
        In the next building is Andrei Bely’s apartment, with the same hours as Pushkin’s: Wed–Sun, Thu until 21:00
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Andrei Bely Memorial Apartment
        © Kemal KOZBAEV · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • Boris Bugaev, the future Andrei Bely, was born here in 1880 and lived in the apartment until 1906.
        • His father Nikolai Bugaev was dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University.
        • From the early 1900s the circle of the "Argonauts" met here; visitors included Balmont, Bryusov, Voloshin and Borisov-Musatov.
        • On the drawing-room balcony Bely wrote the "Second (Dramatic) Symphony", which brought him fame.
        • The museum was founded in 1993 and officially opened in September 2000; its collection has more than 4,000 memorial items.
        • The holdings include the autograph of a poem by Mandelstam written on the day of Bely's funeral.
      20. 🚶 on foot
      21. 11
        🏛 Foreign Ministry skyscraper on Smolenskaya
        The Stalinist Foreign Ministry skyscraper on Smolenskaya Square, 172 m tall, with a spire and the Soviet coat of arms.
        A Stalin-era skyscraper as the finale
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Foreign Ministry skyscraper on Smolenskaya
        © Юрий Д.К. · CC BY 4.0
        Foreign Ministry skyscraper on Smolenskaya
        © Юрий Д.К. · CC BY 4.0
        • The skyscraper was built in 1948–1953, designed by Vladimir Gelfreikh and Mikhail Minkus, for the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
        • The building is 172 metres tall, with 27 floors in the central part.
        • The spire was added at the last moment on Stalin's orders; it is decorative, made of steel sheets, because the building could not have supported a stone superstructure.
        • It is the only one of the seven Stalinist skyscrapers without a star on its spire.
        • On the facade at a height of 114 m is a reinforced-concrete Soviet coat of arms of about 144 m².
        • In 2016–2017 the old spire was dismantled and a new one put up, almost identical in appearance but 100 tonnes lighter.
      22. 🚶 on foot
      23. 12
        🍽 White Rabbit
        Смоленская пл., 3, 16 этаж
        ▮▮▮▮▮
        Dinner under a glass dome on the 16th floor — book a window table for sunset
        🍴 Vladimir Mukhin's restaurant under a glass dome on the 16th floor, with views of the centre and modern Russian cuisine. What to order: tuna tartare with caviar, black cod, rabbit dishes, cheek braised for 72 hours.

      Find us on Telegram

      Partnerships and ideas

      ✉️ privet@znayumesto.ru

      Settings

      Data: © OpenStreetMap · DB-IP · weather — Open-Meteo
      The map did not load. You can still browse routes in the list and open them in Yandex Maps.

      We use cookies and Yandex Metrica to understand which routes are useful. Without your consent we keep only our own cookie-free statistics.