River Cruises – See Moscow from New Perspective
Several years ago, there were only a few river routes in Moscow. In the recent years, dozens of new routes have opened up, and today you can go on a short or a long trip from almost every pier in the city. Since the Moscow river area includes a lot of canals and locks, some of the trips include passing through a lock. It takes more time, but is a unique tourist attraction.
Most of the boats are two-level retro-style ships, with open-air and covered seating areas upstairs, and indoor seating downstairs. There is usually also a small café and toilets.
Routes
From the many piers on Krasnopresnenskaya Naberezhnaya, near the Moscow City skyscrapers, boats owned by various companies go on routes to the city centre, Gorky Park, and the Kremlin.
Luxurious restaurant ships by Radisson navigate the river throughout the year. They depart from two piers – near the Radisson Royal Hotel (a Stalinist landmark skyscraper and former Ukraine Hotel), and in Gorky Park. Tickets are available including a set meal, or without it. A la carte restaurants are also open on board.
Several cruise ships depart from the pier near the Kievsky Railway Station (Kievskaya metro), including the central route by the Capital Ship Company to Novospassky Bridge (not far from Novospassky Monastery and Proletarskaya metro station), and the restaurant ships River Palace and River Lounge.
The central tourist route goes from the Vorobievy Gory pier (not far from the Moscow State University campus and Vorobievy Gory metro station) to Novospassky Bridge. The ships on this line leave every 15 or 20 minutes and make short stops in the city centre along the way, including at Gorky Park and near the Kremlin.
In the south of Moscow, river trips by the Capital Ship Company are available from the pier in Kolomenskoe.
In the north of Moscow, there are river cruises from the Northern River Station (near Rechnoi Vokzal metro station), both short one-hour trips along the Khimki Reservoir, and longer ones to beaches near Moscow. A river trip to Moscow city where you go through a lock also starts from this station.
The most picturesque routes within the city start from Troitse Lykovo, Strogino, and Serebryany Bor 2.
One-day cruises with an excursion to the suburban Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery start from Klenovy Bulvar pier, not far from Kolomenskaya metro station. This route includes going through two locks.
Tickets
Tickets can be bought directly on the piers, or online. The Rivertickets website sells tickets to almost all the trips offered by the various ship companies. It also includes detailed information on the ships, routes and location of the piers. Unfortunately, the website is currently only available in Russian.
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