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

      All day in nature: Sokolniki, the Yauza and the Botanical Garden

      ⏱ 10 h 30 min🚶 10 km + 🚕🍽 2📍 10 stops
      🏃 A lot — over 7 km

      Moscow's green north: an old park, the Yauza valley, an aqueduct, the Japanese Garden and the Ostankino Tower viewing platform.

      🏛 History and architecture🌳 Parks and nature
      🗺 Open in Yandex Maps (with transit)
      1. 1
        🏛 Main entrance to Sokolniki
        The arched entrance complex of the park at Sokolnicheskaya Square, from which a wide avenue leads deep into the forest.
        Start from Sokolniki metro
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Main entrance to Sokolniki
        © Qweasdqwe · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Main entrance to Sokolniki
        © Gennady Grachev from Moscow, Russia · CC BY 2.0
        • The name comes from sokolniki, falconers who trained hunting birds: Ivan the Terrible and Alexei Mikhailovich hunted here.
        • In 1878 the city bought the Sokolnichya and Olenya groves and set up a public park.
        • In 2019 a memorial sign was placed at the main entrance to Mayor Sergei Tretyakov, thanks to whom Sokolniki became a city park.
        • In 1931 Sokolniki was declared a park of culture and leisure; until 1937 it bore the name of People's Commissar Andrei Bubnov.
        • The park covers 516 hectares and borders Losiny Ostrov to the north.
      2. 🚶 on foot
      3. 2
        ☕️ Green Park café in Sokolniki
        Песочная аллея, 2 (парк Сокольники)
        ▮▮▮▯▯
        Breakfast
        🍴 The Georgian café Green Park in Sokolniki: the interior feels like old Tbilisi, and next to the café is a shop with jam and kozinaki (nut brittle). What to order: shashlik, crispy aubergine salad, kharcho (beef and rice soup).
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        🌳 Rose Garden in Sokolniki
        A rose garden from 1957 with thousands of rose bushes, themed gardens, fountains and benches in the middle of a forest park.
        Rose garden
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Rose Garden in Sokolniki
        © Lesless · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The rose garden opened in 1957 for the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students; its author was the theatre designer Anna Shukshina.
        • Shukshina conceived it as a "garden of continuous bloom".
        • In 1957 more than 100 varieties of roses grew here, among them Gloria and Iceberg.
        • After the decline of the 1990s the rose garden was restored and reopened in 2006.
        • In the 2019 reconstruction 36 new varieties were planted, including the tea roses Vivaldi and Queen Elizabeth.
      6. 🚶 on foot
      7. 4
        🌳 Putyayevsky Ponds
        A chain of forest ponds deep in Sokolniki, surrounded by old trees and paths.
        Putyayevsky Ponds
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Putyayevsky Ponds
        © S.Marchenko · CC BY 4.0
        Putyayevsky Ponds
        © Sergey Ashmarin · CC BY-SA 3.0
        • It is a cascade of six ponds with a total area of 6.1 hectares on the Putyayevsky stream, a tributary of the Yauza.
        • The ponds have folk names: Snake Pond, Devil's and Walrus; the Devil's is named after an early 20th-century bridge.
        • Winter swimming enthusiasts gather at Walrus Pond.
        • Beyond the ponds is a maze of five intersecting circular paths, laid out in the 1840s.
      8. 🚕 taxi, about 10 min
      9. 5
        🏛 Rostokino Aqueduct
        A white-stone aqueduct about 356 m long on 21 arches over the Yauza, part of Moscow's first 18th-century water supply.
        The "Million Bridge"
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Rostokino Aqueduct
        © Dmitry Ivanov. · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Rostokino Aqueduct
        © MBH · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • It is the only survivor of the five aqueducts of the Mytishchi water supply, started by decree of Catherine II in 1779.
        • The aqueduct was nicknamed the "Million Bridge", although about a million rubles were allotted to the whole water supply, not to the bridge.
        • Catherine II inspected the aqueduct in 1785 and said of it: "It looks light as a feather... and very sturdy".
        • The aqueduct is 356 meters long and up to 15 meters high; it was never rebuilt in the 19th century.
        • Mytishchi water ran through the aqueduct until 1962, and then until 2004 a heating main ran through it.
        • In 2004–2007 the aqueduct was turned into a covered, illuminated pedestrian bridge.
      10. 🚶 on foot
      11. 6
        🌳 Yauza Valley in Rostokino
        A broad green floodplain of the Yauza with walking and cycling paths, little bridges and a view of the old aqueduct.
        Yauza valley
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Yauza Valley in Rostokino
        © Gennady Grachev from Moscow, Russia · CC BY 2.0
        • The Yauza is the largest tributary of the Moskva River within the city: of its 48 km length, 27.6 km runs through Moscow.
        • The river is mentioned in a chronicle under 1156 as "Auza".
        • The Yauza rises in Losiny Ostrov, near the settlement of Zagoryansky.
        • The Rostokino Aqueduct is named after the village of Rostokino, which stood at the confluence of the Yauza and the Goryanka.
      12. 🚶 on foot
      13. 7
        ☕️ Bukhanka Bakery on Bazhov Street
        ул. Бажова, 8
        ▮▯▯▯▯
        A snack: pastries and coffee at a bakery
        🍴 A bakery with coffee on a quiet street between the Rostokino Aqueduct and the Yauza valley, daily 8:00–22:00. What to order: a croissant with almond cream, cheese balls, chocolate cheesecake, a cappuccino.
      14. 🚶 on foot
      15. 8
        🌳 Japanese Garden of the Botanical Garden
        🎟 ticket · open from late April to mid-October
        A garden in the Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the traditional Japanese style, with a pond, stone lanterns, pavilions and little bridges.
        Japanese Garden
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Japanese Garden of the Botanical Garden
        © Andrey Korzun · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Japanese Garden of the Botanical Garden
        © Carbonkidka · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Japanese Garden of the Botanical Garden
        © Andrey Korzun · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The idea of the garden was proposed by the botanical garden's deputy director Pyotr Lapin and the Japanese ambassador Akira Shigemitsu; negotiations began in 1978.
        • The garden was designed by the Japanese master Ken Nakajima, who created Japanese gardens in many countries.
        • Nakajima and three assistants worked almost by hand: stones of 3–5 tonnes were set with a tripod and winch.
        • The stones were brought from Western Ukraine, since the rounded boulders of the Moscow region were not suitable for a Japanese garden.
        • The garden has a thirteen-tier pagoda and more than 100 plant species, including the momo maple from Hokkaido.
        • The sakura blooms here in May for about a week, and that is when the garden gets the most visitors.
      16. 🚶 on foot
      17. 9
        🏛 Ostankino Estate and Ostankino Pond
        🎟 partly ticketed · the park and pond are free, the open palace pavilions require a ticket
        The Sheremetevs' wooden palace of the late 18th century with a theatre hall (currently under restoration, visible from the outside; the Egyptian and Italian pavilions are open) and the five-domed Trinity Church by Ostankino Pond.
        Ostankino Pond
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Ostankino Estate and Ostankino Pond
        © Alexxx1979 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Ostankino Estate and Ostankino Pond
        © Vtorou · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Ostankino Estate and Ostankino Pond
        © Usadboved · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • Construction of the palace-theatre began in 1792 to designs by Francesco Camporesi, Ivan Starov and Vincenzo Brenna; the theatre opened in July 1795.
        • It is the only late 18th-century theatre building in Russia that has kept its stage, auditorium, dressing rooms and machinery.
        • The serf actress Praskovya Zhemchugova, who became the wife of Count Nikolai Sheremetev, performed on the stage here.
        • Trinity Church was built in 1678–1683 by the serf architect Pavel Potekhin; inside is a nine-tier carved iconostasis.
        • The estate was visited by the Polish king Stanisław August Poniatowski, Paul I and Alexander I.
        • In 1938–1982 the museum was called the Museum of Serf Art.
      18. 🚶 on foot
      19. 10
        🌅 Ostankino TV Tower
        🎟 ticket · guided tours only, passport required
        The tallest structure in Europe at 540 m, with a glassed-in observation deck at a height of 337 m.
        Viewing platform; bring your passport
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Ostankino TV Tower
        © Gennady Grachev from Moscow, Russia · CC BY 2.0
        Ostankino TV Tower
        © Alexander Grebenkov · CC BY 4.0
        • Designer Nikolai Nikitin claimed he came up with the tower in a single night, and that the shape of the base was suggested by an upside-down lily he saw in a dream.
        • The tower's concrete shaft is compressed by 149 steel cables.
        • The foundation is shallow, 3.5 to 4.6 m; because of doubts about it, construction was halted in 1961.
        • The first TV signal from the tower went out on 4 November 1967, for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution.
        • The observation deck and restaurant opened in 1969.
        • In the fire of 27 August 2000 three floors burned out and three people died.
        • The Seventh Heaven restaurant at 328–334 m reopened only in 2016, after the fire.

      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.