Moscow Free Walking Tour

A word from the Founder

Being from Moscow means living in crowded streets of a restless city of imperial age that has the bravado of the world's greatest and modern metropolis.

It is the land of writers, poets and thinkers, whose tireless hearts longed to seize and understand the complexity of Russian spirit in glorious moments of its triumph and dark hours of disgrace. Magnificent, contradictory, not properly understood (or truly beyond comprehension?) and just a little bit sinister, it is the Russian character that attracts all our interest and attention and rises new and interesting questions.

This reflects our desire to bring stories of past and present that have defined Moscow as a historic venue and click them all together like Lego bricks in order to grasp the bigger picture. The word History contains the word Story, and we invite you to be the part of this exciting walking tour into time travel.

With our guides’ candid, humorous and personal touches that make a new city feel like home, you will be entertained and educated without even noticing it. Just through fun and compelling stories!

It is our privilege to host and inspire you, so take a moment and enjoy this opportunity to pursue knowledge and experience in one of the most controversial and charming cities in the world.

This is a very special time in your life and we have worked very hard to ensure that among your most priced souvenirs there will be the strands of Russian culture you have chosen to knit into your own character.

Join in!

A word from the Founder

Being from Moscow means living in crowded streets of a restless city of imperial age that has the bravado of the world's greatest and modern metropolis.

With our guides’ candid, humorous and personal touches that make a new city feel like home, you will be entertained and educated without even noticing it. Just through fun and compelling stories!

It is our privilege to host and inspire you, so take a moment and enjoy this opportunity to pursue knowledge and experience in one of the most controversial and charming cities in the world.

Join in!

Tour #1

The Classic Moscow Route

This walk explores how Moscow has developed into a thriving capital city proclaimed «The Third Rome» and why it has always attracted people from all around the globe. We will trip over history, starting from the Russian Taj Mahal (Cathedral of Christ the Saviour) and wandering to Red Square - the city’s ancient heart, if Moscow has one.

Find out why Russians are more accustomed to political discussions than any nation in the world and adore the unique domes of St Basil’s Cathedral. Check if that is true that the only alcohol-free zones in Moscow are McDonalds, get curious how body of Lenin is preserved in Mausoleum and if famous wax queen Madam Tussauds has anything to do with that. Join and find out the city’s best-kept secrets!

Tour #2

Alternative Moscow

This world isn’t the only one, right? And neither is Moscow. Discover the whole new city where things are completely different from the way they are typically seen. What if there is an alternative version of events? What if you can read between the lines of history pages and uncover the hidden?

We will take you far away from the traditional route and have a look at diverse street and haunted buildings to capture your imagination. Explore weird alternative ideas and state of thinking, reveal the reality that you will not find in the guidebooks and much, much more.

Tour #3

Back to USSR

In the time of Cold War, in the country that was contrary to western capitalist society – we will peer into dim haze of history where working class watched black and white television and crossed the streets of the USSR most influential city.

Monolithic buildings, rectangular facades, square windows – a scenery where the scary echo of communist leaders is almost tangible. They’ve chosen ideology over culture, barricades over freedom, Lenin-worship over individualism. We will take you behind the Iron Curtain into the world of former Soviet Union, era as contradictive and unique as you never imagined.

Tour #4

RUSSIAN LITERATURE, PLEASE

All great literature is one of two stories: a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town, as noticed by Leo Tolstoy. And we invite you, dear stranger, to meet the famous Russian writers and poets, whose life and work were so bound to city of Moscow.

They tell us, everything changes when we read. And it is the adventure into their lives and minds, that we are here to walk and talk about. We will look at the world through storytellers’ eyes and explore their approach to human hearts!

Why walk with us?

We truly believe that only a local and well-prepared guide could be your compass to a complete and riveting travel experience. Without him, everything just spins pointlessly around. To illustrate this theory, try to remember a story of blind men being led towards an elephant.

The guide who leads the blind men to the elephant tells them its name and asks to describe what they find there. One man feels the tusk and reports back that the elephant is smooth and sharp, another feels the ear, the third feels the tail, etc. All men have felt the part, but none has experienced the entire elephant. And so it is with naïve travelling in Moscow.

We would like to engage your mind with many parts and many ways of understanding and thinking of the capital city. Our guides can mastermind historical events with wit and ingenuity, spicing them up with comic interludes drawn from Russian culture and colouring your walk with some handsome Russian phrases.
We are aiming to do everything with class.

Where does the tour start and end?

The meeting point and end point are specified within each tour description. Please click the tour you would like to join accordingly and read detailed information.

Is there a min/max group size?

Minimum group size is 5 people, and max is 25. The tour may be cancelled if less than 5 people have signed up.

Is the tour really free?

Yes, the proof is in the pudding – a good English idiom that reflects our philosophy that you can only judge the value and the quality of our tour once you have tried it. In other words, we work on a tips-only basis. That means we would like to provide you with the best possible tour experience right till the end and only then you will decide how much it was worth of your time and attention.

What if it rains?

Well, the best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain. Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. We do prefer being in the first group, so join the optimists!

What if i get hungry?

Don’t worry! During the tour we will make a short pit stop for tea and biscuits.

Disclaimer

Participating in tours organised by Moscow Free Walking Tour is strictly on a voluntary basis. Neither Moscow Free Walking Tour, nor the guides are responsible in any way for injuries incurred during the tours. The tour guide reserves the right to deny participation in any tour, to any person, for any reason. Thank you for your understanding.