Moscow has a lot of entertainment for every taste and budget, and in this article I have prepared a list of the 10 best places to go with a child in Moscow.
In recent years, hundreds of places have appeared where you can go with your child in Moscow. However, among this variety it is very difficult to choose the best and decide where it is better to spend time with the whole family.
For those on a budget, Moscow's numerous parks are an excellent choice, where you can spend a great day with your child without breaking the bank. The capital of our Motherland is full of contrasts, and there are also entertainments here for which you will have to shell out half your monthly salary. They were not included in my personal rating of places to go with a child in Moscow.
So, where can you go with your child in the capital and enjoy time spent with your family?
I will give you the 10 best places to go with a child in Moscow.
No. 10. Moscow Children's Book Theater Magic Lamp
A small and cozy puppet theater with a sincere atmosphere in the center of Moscow offers performances for the youngest children, from just 3 years old. The theater is located in the center and has a flexible booking system: if a child suddenly gets sick, you can cancel the reservation right on the day of the performance. I recommend going with your child to the play “A Kitten Named Woof” in Moscow.
Price: 900‒1200 rubles
No. 9. Sokolniki Park
One of the largest parks in Moscow, Sokolniki, is a great place to go with a child of any age. There is an amusement park and many paths for cycling, rollerblading and skiing in the winter. There is also an ice skating rink open in winter. Unlike another popular Moscow Gorky Park, in Sokolniki you can drive a stroller absolutely everywhere and it’s not so crowded. Here you can look at ducks and swans on the Golden Pond, see squirrels (just don’t feed them, please), play on one of the many playgrounds, and ride a train (as in the photo). And if you are looking for somewhere to go with a child with disabilities in Moscow, then Sokolniki is an excellent option: it has a stroller-friendly environment, and there is an Emerald City playground on site that takes into account the needs of children with special needs.
Price: for free
No. 8. Moscow Planetarium
The oldest planetarium in Russia and one of the largest in the world, the Moscow Planetarium can delight astronomy lovers of any age, although I recommend coming here with children over 6 years old, because younger children may find it boring and confusing. I’ll say right away that you should spend the whole day visiting the Planetarium or split your visit into two days: there are a lot of activities and information. You should definitely visit the Great Star Hall and the Urania Museum, as well as the Lunarium Interactive Museum (free for children under 6 years old). I don’t recommend going to the Theater of Fascinating Science - it’s boring and definitely not worth the extra 600 rubles. Tickets can be purchased in advance, but there are no discounts available on the website.
Price: from 550 rubles, many benefits
No. 7. Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard.
Nikulin Circus is one of the oldest and most famous circuses in Russia, where you can go with a child of any age. If you live in Moscow or are passing through here, this is a must-visit place. An extraordinary atmosphere of childhood, an interesting program that children from 2 to 100 years old can watch in one breath, the opportunity to take pictures with circus animals (alas, expensive). I highly recommend going to the “Circus Magic” program, regardless of whether you have children: adults leave the show almost happier than the younger generation.
Price: from 500 rubles
No. 6. State Farm Park named after Lenin “Lukomorye”
One of the best free places to go with a child in Moscow. Although, from a technical point of view, the park is located in the Moscow region, it is only two bus stops from the Domodedovskaya metro station. The park is designed for a wide range of age groups, and it is better to come here for the whole day, before opening at 9 am. At noon, you can already get into a long line, and the wait will take from half an hour to one and a half: the number of people in the territory is limited to avoid crowding. The atmosphere of a fairy tale and fun reigns in the park: you can watch a mini-performance, jump on a trampoline, climb in a rope town, see your favorite fairy-tale characters, “swim” in a pool with balls and do face painting (for an additional fee).
Price: for free
No. 5. Indoor skating rink
One of my favorite pastimes is ice skating. And although I really love outdoor skating rinks, their indoor counterparts are significantly superior to the former in terms of ice quality: for this reason, skating on them with children is much more pleasant, and there are much fewer people. There are a great many indoor skating rinks in Moscow, and I advise you to choose the one that is closer to your home so as not to carry heavy skates and warm clothes far away. The location of the Grad skating rink in the Gorod-Lefortovo shopping center suits my location: the skating session lasts one hour, the schedule is published on the website. There is a skate rental and sharpening service.
Price: up to 12 years old - 250 rubles, adult ticket - 350 rubles
No. 4. Oceanarium on Dmitrovskoye Shosse
The largest oceanarium in Russia is located in the Rio shopping center on Dmitrovskoye Shosse. Compared to the aquarium, the Moscow one is much more modest in size and variety, but, nevertheless, there is something to see here: bloodthirsty piranhas, sharks, Dory fish, penguins, jellyfish and stingrays, as well as many other inhabitants of the deep sea. You can come with the little ones.
Price: on weekdays: children under 5 years old - free, from 5 to 14 - 250 rubles, adults - 500 rubles. On weekends 50 rubles more expensive
No. 3. Water park Kva-Kva Park
A great place to go with the whole family with children in Moscow. In photographs it is huge, in life it is a little smaller. But, despite its size, you can find many interesting slides, fountains, and attractions here. Carefully study the age restrictions: on interesting slides there is an age limit of 10 years, and for children 3–8 years old there is a children's playground. I recommend going to the water park in the warm season, since at deep subzero temperatures there is a draft: it’s easy to catch a cold.
Price: children under 4 years old - free, from 120 to 150 cm - from 540 rubles, adults - from 940 rubles
No. 2. KidZania
One of those places that I look at and am terribly jealous of today's children: as a child, I would have swallowed a hat to visit here. KidZania opened in Moscow quite recently, but has already gained thousands of fans, including me. This is a play learning park, built in the shape of a city, where children can try themselves in a hundred different professions: cook, dentist, policeman, fireman. The child will have his own passport and even a salary, which he can spend on entertainment or in the store. If your child is over 7 years old and is completely independent, then you can save on the cost of the ticket for yourself and wait for him outside the park. The length of stay in Kidzania is 4 hours, but during the summer holidays the restriction does not apply, and you can spend the whole day here.
Price: children - from 390 rubles, adults - from 500 rubles
Here's my personal favorite on the list of places, where to go with a child in Moscow:
No. 1. Museum Experimentarium
If you are looking for where to go with a child in Moscow, I highly recommend the Experimentarium Museum. I have been to the museum several times already, and always left with only positive emotions. It is interesting here for both adults and children: you can touch everything with your own hands, conduct experiments, learn a lot about physics, chemistry, space, solve puzzles, jump and run. In addition to the most interesting permanent exhibition, the museum hosts classes, lectures and shows every day: the schedule is on the website. In my opinion, this is the best price-quality ratio among all the places you can go with a child in Moscow.
Price: children under 3 years old - free, from 4 to 16 - from 450 rubles, adults - from 550 rubles
But, in fact, despite this list of the best places to go with a child in Moscow, it doesn’t matter where exactly you go; the main thing is to remember to bring a good mood with you, and then even an ordinary walk in the park will bring you and your child joy! :)
Where else to go in Moscow?
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Have you already visited all the interesting places in Moscow with your child?
On the eve of weekends, holidays, winter, autumn, all parents are worried about the question of where to go with their child. Many people make short trips to Moscow to introduce their children to the sights of our capital. Finding where to go with a child in Moscow is not so difficult; the capital offers an extensive list of interesting places. How not to get confused and choose from all the variety exactly what will be interesting to your child? In our article you will find a list of the most interesting places in Moscow that you can visit with the whole family.
Moskvarium at VDNH
Moskvarium is one of the largest oceanariums in Europe. The Moskvarium contains more than 7,000 marine inhabitants, including: several species of sharks, octopuses, starfish, stingrays, moray eels, colorful coral reef fish, urchin fish, freshwater fish, turtles, crocodile caimans. The pools contain the main artists - killer whales and dolphins. Moskvarium includes three large areas: an aquarium, a water stage, and a swimming center with dolphins.
Tickets:
- full day tariff (from 10.00 to 21.00) – 900 rubles. on weekdays, 1000 rub. from Friday to Sunday
- Tickets from 3 to 12 years old – 600 rubles. on weekdays, from Friday to Sunday – 800 rub.
- 2 adults + child (3-12 years old) from 10.00 to 21.00 - 2200 rub. on weekdays, from Friday to Sunday – 2400.
- 2 adults + 2 children (3-12 years old) from 10.00 to 21.00 - 2800 rub. on weekdays, from Friday to Sunday – 3200.
Operating mode: daily from 10.00 to 22.00 (entrance only until 21.00). The last Monday of every month is sanitary day.
Address: Moscow, Prospekt Mira, 119, building 23 (on the territory of VDNH).
Website: moskvarium.ru
Oceanarium and Exopark in the RIO shopping center
In this aquarium, visitors will be able to see fish from the shores of Australia and New Zealand, the Pacific Ocean, and wild animals from South America and Africa. The area of the Oceanarium is about 2500 m². Two large aquariums and the tunnels connecting them are home to large sharks, stingrays, groupers, and flexible moray eels. Tunnels made of transparent acrylic allow you to find yourself in the underwater kingdom and observe the life of the inhabitants of aquariums from the inside.
The Exopark covers an area of 3,500 sq.m. Its territory is home to about 300 inhabitants of hot savannahs, endless deserts and impenetrable tropical forests. More than 50 species of rare exotic representatives from different parts of our planet are presented here: colorful birds of paradise, reptiles, amphibians, predatory and herbivorous mammals live in special conditions as close as possible to their natural habitat. Among them there are rare animals that cannot be found in Russian zoos.
Tickets:
- Monday – Friday: adult – 500 rubles, children. – 250 rub.
- Saturday – Sunday: adult – 600 rubles, children. – 300 rub.
- Children under 5 years old are free. Children's ticket – from 5 to 14 years old.
Address: Moscow, shopping center "RIO" Dmitrovskoe sh., vl. 163.
Paleontological Museum named after Yu.A. Orlova
One of the largest natural history museums in the world, which houses four exhibition areas of the museum, including six halls. They consistently introduce ancient animals and plants into the mysterious world, from the most ancient to the modern.
Tickets: Full - 400 rub. Preferential (for pensioners, school and university students) - 200 rubles. Children under 6 years old, WWII participants, museum workers - free.
Operating mode: Monday-Tuesday is a day off. Wednesday-Sunday: from 10:00 to 18:00. The ticket office is open until 17:15
Address: Moscow, st. Profsoyuznaya, 123.
Website: www.paleo.ru
Space Museum
The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics is located very close to the VDNH and VBC metro stations. The museum building is located in the lower basement part of a large spire pointing upward - a monument called “To the Conquerors of Space”. The museum itself is one of the largest scientific and technical museums in the world. In the museum you can see an exhibition dedicated to the Mir station. Space lovers of all ages can look inside and explore all the details and life of the astronauts. The museum presents for study real samples of rockets and space modules, whole and cutaway, as well as personal belongings of designers and astronauts.
Tickets: Entrance ticket to the permanent exhibition for adults - 250 rubles, students, pensioners, children from 7 to 17 years old - 100 rubles, children under 6 years old - free. On the third Sunday of every month, admission is free for everyone.
Operating mode: daily, except Monday, from 10-00 to 19-00, on Thursdays - from 10-00 to 21-00. Monday is a day off.
Address: Moscow, VDNH metro station, Mira Avenue, 111
Website: kosmo-museum.ru
Moscow Planetarium
The Moscow Planetarium is one of the largest and oldest in the world, its area is 17 thousand square meters. The planetarium building includes several levels. On the lowest, underground level there is a small star hall designed to show children the starry sky in miniature), a 4D cinema, an interactive museum "Lunarium" - exhibitions on astronomy and physics. On the first level there is also an exhibition the Lunarium Museum, dedicated to the history of space exploration, as well as the halls of the Urania Museum, where visitors can get acquainted with the history of the Moscow planetarium. On the second level there is a large observatory, with the largest telescope in Moscow, accessible to the general public, the astronomical site "Sky Park", the hall of the Urania Museum with a collection of meteorites and historical Zeiss planetarium equipment. On the third level, directly under the dome - the Great Star Hall, a projector which allows you to see over 9 thousand celestial bodies and their movements across the sky over time.
Tickets: 550-650 rubles.
Operating mode: daily from 10:00 to 21:00, closed on Tuesday.
Address: Moscow, Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya str., 5, building 1.
Website: planetarium-moscow.ru
Moscow Zoo
The Moscow Zoo is one of the oldest zoos in Europe and the fourth largest zoo in Russia after the zoos of Yaroslavl, Rostov-on-Don and Novosibirsk. It occupies an area of 21.4 hectares and houses about 5,000 animals of 1,132 species. The three parks are gradually being repaired and reconstructed, new pavilions and exhibitions are opening, the collection of animals is regularly replenished with new species.
Tickets: adults - 500 rub. Children under 17 years old inclusive - free of charge (from 14 years old you must present a passport).
Operating mode: from 7.30 to 18.00 (box office open until 17.00).
Address: Moscow, B. Gruzinskaya, 1
Website: moscowzoo.ru
Darwin Museum
Today it is the largest natural science museum in Europe. The exhibition of the Darwin Museum will tell about the history of the development of the theory of evolution, the diversity of life on Earth, variability and heredity, natural selection and the struggle for existence in nature. Here you can dive to a depth of 2500 meters in a bathyscaphe, weigh yourself in cats, mice, and bears on “live scales,” be frightened by moving models of dinosaurs and learn a lot of useful information about the origin of all living things.
Tickets: adult - 400 rubles, schoolchildren and students - 100 rubles, preschoolers (children under 7 years old) - free.
Operating mode: from 10:00 to 18:00, except Mondays and the last Friday of the month. On Thursdays - from 13:00 to 21:00.
Address: Moscow, st. Vavilova, 57
Website: www.darwinmuseum.ru
Museum "Submarine" in the park "Northern Tushino"
This museum is dedicated to the history of the Russian Navy. Museum visitors can get acquainted with the internal structure of the Novosibirsk Komsomolets diesel submarine, stroll along the embankment and examine the Orlyonok ekranoplane and the SKAT landing assault boat, and test themselves as a pilot in a virtual piloting simulator. In addition, guests of the complex can ring the ship’s bell, sit in the navigator’s seat, and touch the most interesting exhibits with their hands. Additional lighting makes it easier to inspect hard-to-reach places where the engines and control mechanisms of the underwater ship are located.
Operating mode: daily from 11.00 to 19.00, except Monday. On Thursday from 13.00 to 21.00. The ticket office closes 30 minutes before the museum closes.
Address: Moscow, st. Svobody, 56
Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard
The Old Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard is one of the oldest circuses in Russia.
Tickets: from 500 rubles.
Address: Moscow, Tsvetnoy Boulevard 13
Zoological Museum of Moscow State University
The Research Zoological Museum of the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University is one of the largest natural history museums in Russia. In the museum you can see modern animals, except for the complete skeleton of a mammoth, which “greets” visitors at the stairs to the second floor. Also, guests will get acquainted with representatives of all groups of animals, from single-celled animals (mostly, of course, these are dummies) to birds and mammals.
Tickets: Schoolchildren, students and pensioners - 100 rubles, adults - 300 rubles, biolecture - 100 rubles. Free - children under 7 years old, employees and students of Moscow State University, preferential groups of citizens.
Operating mode: Tuesday - Sunday - from 10.00 to 18.00 (entrance until 17.00), Thursday - from 13.00 to 21.00 (entry until 20.00). Monday is a day off, the last Tuesday of the month is a sanitary day.
Address: Moscow, Bolshaya Nikitskaya st., 2 (formerly no. 6)
Website: zmmu.msu.ru
Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin
The Armory Chamber - a museum-treasury - is part of the Grand Kremlin Palace complex. It is located in a building built in 1851 by the architect Konstantin Ton. The basis of the museum collection consists of precious objects kept for centuries in the royal treasury and the patriarchal sacristy, made in the Kremlin workshops, and also received as gifts from foreign embassies. The Armory Chamber stores ancient state regalia, ceremonial royal clothing and coronation dress, vestments of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest collection of gold and silver items by Russian craftsmen, Western European artistic silver, monuments of weaponry, a collection of carriages, and items of ceremonial horse harness.
Tickets: 700 rubles, schoolchildren - free, students, pensioners (upon presentation of relevant documents) - 350 rubles. Tickets for sessions can be purchased: online on the museum’s website, except for discounted and free ones; on the day of the visit at the box office in the Alexander Garden from 9:30 to 16:30. From May 15 to September 30 from 9:00 to 16:30.
Operating mode: from 10:00 to 18:00 for sessions: 10:00, 12:00, 14:30, 16:30, except Thursday.
Address: Moscow Kremlin.
Children's World on Lubyanka
The building was built in 1957 in the very center of Moscow and at that time was considered the largest children's store in the USSR. Since 2005, the building has received the status of a cultural heritage site at the regional level. Children's World on Lubyanka is a popular place where both tourists from different parts of the country and local residents like to spend time. Guests can visit a cinema, a dinosaur show, numerous cafes, a robot show, a children's city of professions, an area with slot machines and much, much more. In addition, there is an observation deck located on the roof of the building, which offers views of the center of Moscow.
Address: Moscow, Teatralny pr-d, 5/1
Museum "Living Systems"
The interactive museum “Living Systems” is a unique platform where you can literally touch the most complex objects in nature, the structure of living systems. 130 interactive exhibits will let you understand and feel how all living things work. Moreover, you yourself will become the main object of study.
Tickets: children under 4 years old - free, from 4 to 16 years old - from 350 rubles, adults - from 450 rubles.
Operating mode: weekdays: from 9:30 to 19:00. Weekends and holidays: from 10:00 to 20:00.
Address: Moscow, metro Savelovskaya, Butyrskaya st., 46 panorama of the Battle of Borodino.