contents: parks - forests - residential areas
Introduction to Moscow Suburbs Moscow suburbs don't look very attractive, but that's where most of the people live. So, if you'd like to see the "real" Moscow, you should definitely take a metro, go up to the last stop on any line, come out, and see for yourself what it is like.
One thing for sure, it's not at all frightening. There are tall houses (usually 9 to 16 stores), grocery shops, supermarkets, offices. Not much different from any other city.
Every area has its reputation. Krylatskoe [blue line, metro Krylatskoe], on the west, is famous for its rollers and snowboarders, and for byki (flatheads).
The South-West, where the Moscow State University is located, is considered to be a fancy area full of rich people and students. The South-east of Moscow is not very nice and is mostly industrial area. You can try such metro stations as Vykhino (purple line) or Kozhukhovskaya and Promzona (green line) - sometimes really weird places with all the people running around and dirty markets and stalls, but on the other side it's quite interesting, just don't go there alone in the night time, not that it's dangerous, but who knows...
If you don't want any exterems (rich - poor, etc.), try the East or North of Moscow, which are mostly middle class areas.
Moscow Parks
In case you want to relax from the city, there are some great parks not far from the center (mostly 10 mins by metro):
Park Pobyedy -- Victory's Park - a huge area not far from the centrum with monuments dedicated to war, parks, quite calm, but sometimes there are many people: teenagers, rollers, skaters, couplesЕ (metro Kutuzovkaya, then two stops on a trolley to the direction opposite from the centrum)
Vorobyevy Gory -- Sparrow Hills - area with a great view to Moscow and nice park and forest to walk by the Moscow river. This area is next to Moscow state university. (metro Universitet, behind the university)
Moscow Zoo (Zoopark) -- Central location, animals from every part of the world. (just ouside Barrikadnaya or Ulitsa 1905 goda metro stations)
Moscow Large Parks & Forests
In you want something more natural than parks, you can go for a walk (ski, bike, jogging) in some of Moscow's nice forests.
Izmaylovsky Park [Iz`maiylovskiy]
A nice forest just next to Izmaylovskaya metro station (20 minutes from the
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centrum). There are nice ponds and sights if you walk a bit deeper in the forest from the metro station. Actually this forest is more like a park, but the deeper you go, the less people are there and more forestlike it becomes, just keep off the beaten tracks.
Also, every weekend there are old women (babushkas) and old men (dedushkas) gathering together at 7pm and having a disco (soviet 80s style) and singing cheeky traditional songs. Just next to Izmailovskaya metro.
Bitzevski Park (`Bitza)
It's not Ibiza, it's much cooler place. It's a nice forest in the south of Moscow, a very good place to just walk around. There's a horseriding club and this park is loved by mountainbikers because of its many hills and good routes. If you're an adventurous type, try to go there in the late evening or at night, there's a chance of meeting strange people. But that doesn't mean it's not safe there, if it's daytime, it's okay, if it's night, than it's night, you know.
Directions: Balaklavsky prospekt, 33, m.Kaluzhskaya, Tchertanovskaya (after you go out from the either metro station take the 28 or 671 bus to the direction of "Bitzevsky Park" - Bitza.
Tzarizyno Park
This is a park next to Tzaritzino metro. Usually there are many people, but still it's a nice place to walk around. There's a gothic style palace built for Ekaterina - the imperior of Russia - three centuries ago but she didn't want to live there.
Directions: Either Tzaritzyno or Orekhovo metro station. Ask people where the park is, because for us it's only possible to explain it on the map.
