Surely, regular readers of my blog remember that this summer I already wrote about a river cruise on the Neva. Today, I would like to continue the series of stories about my short trip to ancient and majestic Moscow. Let's go on a cruise along the Moskva River.
In smaller cities, tourists can walk around the city center in just a few hours, but in Moscow, this is simply impossible. If time is limited but you want to see both the ancient Kremlin and the famous MSU building, as well as the modern business center "Moscow City," all while listening to a guide's narration, budget travelers often choose either a sightseeing bus tour or a leisurely cruise along the capital's waterways. The weather in the city was excellent, so I preferred the latter option.
There are plenty of docking stations for pleasure boats in the city center. We started our journey at the pier near the Crimean Bridge. The boat makes several stops along the way: at Vorobyovy Gory opposite Luzhniki, at Gorky Park, and near the Bolshoy Ustyinsky Bridge. You can get on and off at any stop.
The choice of pleasure boats is also extremely wide: from the familiar "Moskva" boats and small retro ships to exquisite yachts with onboard restaurants. Several times along the way, we encountered the unusual "Kolesov" boat with real rotating wheels.
Thanks to the variety of boats, the price of such cruises ranges from a few hundred rubles to infinity. Ticket sellers on the embankment quoted a price of 600 rubles per adult. Walking further, we met other promoters of the same route who offered us tickets for 400 rubles. Judging by the informational banners on the boats, tickets for these cruises are also sold online.
On our way, we saw a huge number of landmarks in the center of our capital: the Kremlin, Zaryadye Park, the Crimean Bridge, the Luzhniki Metro Bridge, the cable car across the river, the Luzhniki sports complex, Gorky Park and Neskuchny Garden, Muzeon Park, the main building of MSU, the Moscow City business complex, and many other well-known and popular tourist spots.
The river cruise is accompanied by a guide's narration. The guide provides many facts about Moscow's history and points out the landmarks encountered along the way. The route is circular: for example, we passed Gorky Park and the Luzhniki Metro Bridge twice, so for visitors who had just boarded, the guide's narration was repeated, although it seemed to me that each time he tried to diversify the story with new facts about the places we had already seen.
In conclusion, I want to say that such a river cruise is sure to appeal to both newcomers to the city and experienced travelers. The former will be able to see many of the capital's landmarks in a couple of hours. Regulars will once again enjoy the view of familiar places from an unusual angle.
For those interested in Moscow's landmarks, I can recommend reading my latest article about a walk through the capital, which talks about the famous Alexander Garden. In the next article of this series, I plan to tell you about the cable car at Vorobyovy Gory, which opened a couple of years ago.
In summary:
- An excellent option for getting to know Moscow's notable places;
- A variety of routes and means of transportation;
- Several piers along the way, you can start the cruise from any of them.
