The TV Tower and the estate by Ostankino Pond

⏱ 1 h 10 min🚶 2.1 km🍽 1📍 3 stops

🐢 A little — under 3 km

The Ostankino Tower in full height, the Sheremetevs' wooden palace by the pond and the estate's pavilions. You can finish with lunch at a family café with a play area in the Moskvarium.

👶 With kids🏛 History and architecture🌳 Parks and nature⏱ An hour or so

👶 7–12, 13+ years · ✗ hard with a stroller

Children under 6 and visitors with limited mobility are not admitted to the Ostankino Tower, so with a small child in a stroller the route's main stop is out of reach. VDNKh and the Japanese Garden are fine with a stroller.

🗺 Open in Yandex Maps

1
🌅 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.
We look from below; the ride to the observation deck is a timed tour with a passport, another 1.5 hours
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© Gennady Grachev from Moscow, Russia · CC BY 2.0
© 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.
🚶 on foot
2
🏛 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.
The Sheremetev estate by the pond; the main palace is under restoration (it is promised to open no earlier than late 2027) and visible from outside; the Egyptian (since autumn 2025) and Italian (since September 2026) pavilions are open — check hours and season with the museum
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© Alexxx1979 · CC BY-SA 4.0
© Vtorou · CC BY-SA 4.0
© 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.
🚶 on foot
3
☕️ Shokolot family café at Moskvarium · 🧸 play area
пр-т Мира, 119, стр. 23 (Москвариум)
▮▮▮▯▯
Lunch at a café in the Moskvarium building at VDNKh; entry to the second floor is free, but check whether they let you into the café without a ticket
🍴 A family café right inside the Moskvarium building, with a big sea-themed play area and a mini cinema showing cartoons. What to order: desserts, homemade lemonades, ice cream.