Tverskaya Street (Ulitsa Tverskaya)
Tverskaya Street has been one of Moscow’s main thoroughfares since medieval times. Once the stomping ground for Russian czars promenading to the Kremlin, it’s now a shopping hub, and hosts monuments of well-known Russian figures, such as Romantic poet Aleksandr Pushkin and 12th-century prince and Moscow founder Yuri Dolgorukiy.
The basics
As one of Moscow’s most important and heavily-trafficked arteries, Tverskaya Street is commonly included on sightseeing tours of the city. Communist-themed tours often stop at the Soviet-style Sluzhebnyy Vhod café and the State Central Museum of Contemporary Russian History, which covers the Russian Revolution, the Soviet era, and post-Soviet Russia. Other landmarks along the street—such as the lavish art deco-style Gastronomia Eliseevsky grocery store—can be seen as part of walking tours of central Moscow.
Things to know before you go
- Find shops, bars, and restaurants both on Tverskaya Street and in the streets branching off from it.
- Cross the street using the underground walkways, which can be found at intersections along the road.
- Tverskaya Street offers a wide choice of accommodation options, with hotels of varying budgets situated along the boulevard.
How to get there
Tverskaya Street runs from near the north end of Red Square (Krasnaya Ploshchad) to Moscow’s Garden Ring. If you’re staying in central Moscow, odds are fairly high Tverskaya Street is within walking distance of your accommodation. Otherwise, ride the metro to Tverskaya (line 2) or Chekhovskaya (line 9).
Trip ideas
When to get there
The street is busy and noisy for much of the day. Traffic is particularly heavy at rush hours (8am–10am and 5pm–7pm, Monday through Friday). Go at night to see the street attractively lit.
What to See Near Tverskaya Street
Tverskaya Street is ideally situated near some of Moscow’s greatest attractions. The Bolshoi Theater—home to the world-famous ballet company—is less than 10 minutes’ stroll from Tverskaya Street, while the Kremlin, Red Square, the State Historical Museum (Gosudarstvennyy Istoricheskiy Muzey), and Alexander Gardens (Alexandrovsky Sad) are all within easy walking distance of the south end of the street.
- Hermitage Garden
- Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
- Gulag History Museum
- Sandunovsky Baths (Sandunovskiye Bani)
- Moscow Zoo (Moskovskiy Zoopark)
- Alexander Garden (Alexandrovsky Sad)
- GUM Department Store
- State Historical Museum (Gosudarstvennyy Istoricheskiy Muzey)
- Revolution Square (Ploshchad Revolyutsii)
- Bolshoi Theatre
- Kazan Cathedral (Kazansky Kafedralny Sobor)
- Russian State Library (Rossiyskaya Gosudarstvennaya Biblioteka)
- Moscow Kremlin
- Cathedral of the Archangel (Arkhangelsky Sobor)
- Cathedral of Christ the Savior (Khram Khrista Spasitelya)