Red Square in 6 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
Six days keeps the same Red Square, Kremlin, Tretyakov, and Gorky Park core as the 3-day plan and widens out: Novodevichy Convent, Sparrow Hills, a metro-architecture loop, and a Sergiev Posad day trip. The 7-day plan adds one buffer day on top of this.
Book these before you go:
- A central hotel on Ostrovok.ru or an apartment on Sutochno.ru for the full week
- Kremlin Cathedral Square + Armoury Chamber at kreml.ru , 17 days out
- St Basil’s Cathedral at tickets.shm.ru
- Sergiev Posad train tickets via rzd.ru , or just buy at Yaroslavsky Station same-day (trains run every 20-40 minutes)
- Bolshoi Theatre tickets at bolshoi.ru if you want an evening performance on Day 2
| Day | Focus | Getting there | Rough daily cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Red Square, Cathedral Square, St Basil’s, GUM | On foot | 2,100-2,900 RUB + tickets |
| Day 2 | Armoury Chamber, Kitay-Gorod | Walking + 1 metro ride (75 RUB) | 1,900-2,600 RUB + tickets |
| Day 3 | Tretyakov Gallery, Gorky Park | Metro/tram, 20-30 min each way | 1,800-2,500 RUB + tickets |
| Day 4 | Novodevichy Convent, Sparrow Hills | Metro to Sportivnaya, then Vorobyovy Gory | 1,700-2,300 RUB + tickets |
| Day 5 | Metro-architecture loop, VDNKh | Koltsevaya line, 90-min fare covers transfers (112 RUB) | 1,500-2,200 RUB + tickets |
| Day 6 | Sergiev Posad day trip | Suburban train from Yaroslavsky Station, about 1h10-1h20 | 1,800-2,600 RUB + train fare |
Day 1: Red Square and Cathedral Square
Walk Red Square early, then use your pre-booked Cathedral Square slot (1,100 RUB standard, 600 RUB reduced) for the Kremlin’s cathedrals and grounds, arriving 45 minutes ahead for security. On a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday, do Lenin’s Mausoleum first, its 10:00-13:00 window doesn’t move for anything else. Finish with St Basil’s Cathedral (about 2,000 RUB foreigner rate) and lunch in GUM, a private mall today rather than a Soviet-era store.
Day 2: The Armoury Chamber and Kitay-Gorod
Book one of the Armoury Chamber’s four timed entries (1,400 RUB standard, 800 RUB reduced), a separate ticket from Cathedral Square, for the Fabergé eggs and coronation carriages. Spend the afternoon in Kitay-Gorod, then, if you booked ahead at bolshoi.ru, close the day with a performance, tickets there release about three months out and sell through the official site only.
Day 3: The Tretyakov Gallery and Gorky Park
Cross the river into Zamoskvorechye for the Tretyakov Gallery (700 RUB, closed Mondays), the Rublev Trinity and the Peredvizhniki collection, then walk to Gorky Park for the afternoon, free beyond specific add-ons like the Garage Museum.
Day 4: Novodevichy Convent and Sparrow Hills
Take the metro to Sportivnaya for Novodevichy Convent, a UNESCO-listed 16th-century complex (about 1,000 RUB foreign adult; the adjoining cemetery, with Chekhov’s and Gogol’s graves, is free and separate). Continue to Sparrow Hills for the classic wide view of the Moskva River with Moscow State University behind it, free and reached directly by the Vorobyovy Gory metro station beneath the viewpoint.
Day 5: The metro-architecture loop and VDNKh
Ride the circle (Koltsevaya) line specifically for Komsomolskaya and Mayakovskaya, Stalin-era “palace stations” with marble columns and mosaics, a half-day that costs one 90-minute fare (112 RUB). VDNKh, the vast former Soviet exhibition park, connects easily by metro and is free to wander; individual pavilions like the Cosmonautics Museum (about 700 RUB) carry their own separate fee.
Day 6: Sergiev Posad day trip
Take the suburban train from Yaroslavsky Station (about 1h10-1h20, departures every 20-40 minutes, roughly 250-320 RUB each way) to Sergiev Posad, home to the Trinity Lavra of St Sergius, Russian Orthodoxy’s most important monastery and everything within a 10-20 minute walk of the station.
Is a week too long for just Red Square and the Kremlin?
No, once you widen the frame this far. Six days spreads two full Kremlin tickets, St Basil’s, the Tretyakov, Novodevichy, and a genuine day trip across a pace that doesn’t require rushing security screening every morning. It’s the point where “Red Square” honestly means “central Moscow,” not a single square.
Should Vladimir or Suzdal replace the Sergiev Posad day trip?
No, not on a 6-day plan. Vladimir and Suzdal, further into the Golden Ring, need a full dedicated day or an overnight each, more than a single Moscow-based day trip budgets for. Sergiev Posad is closer, faster, and the single most historically significant stop if you only have one day to spend outside the city.
Buy the Sergiev Posad train ticket the day before at the station if you’d rather not commit to a time in advance; departures run often enough that same-day flexibility costs you nothing.