The Hottest New Year in the World's Coolest City
Moscow in Winter is a holiday with a differenceWhere to begin with Moscow? Visit now and you are visiting a city in a time of flux, where you can see the place changing before your very eyes. Getting to the heart of this complex city is not easy but it is a fascinating journey. Regular flights from Heathrow make that journey a bit easier.
Visit over Christmas and New Year and while the weather is cold, the atmosphere is very warm. Moscow's celebration of the Russian Winter Festival is an enormous event, taking place from mid-December through to mid-January. The festival celebrates a number of more traditional festivals - Russian Christmas, Russian New Year, and Svyatki or Russian Christmastide celebrations.
The festival's main events take place at two main venues: Izmailovo Park, where you can enjoy games, troika rides and admire the fabulous ice sculptures, and the more central Red (or Revolution) Square with its performances of traditional Russian song and dance, crafts and food. Red Square is also the venue for the Christmas Village which is an excellent source of traditional Russian gifts, particularly ones related to Christmas ornaments and traditional winter clothing.
On New Year's Eve itself, Red Square is the centre of enormous celebrations. Wrap up warm to enjoy the festivities as the temperatures plummet, and enjoy a vodka while linking arms with the locals as fireworks light up the night sky and traditional Russian songs are sung.
