Moscow rewards the broke traveller: the world's most ornate metro costs 70₽ a ride, VDNKh's 520-acre park of Stalinist pavilions is free, and Soviet-era stolovaya canteens still serve borscht, cutlet and compote for under 400₽.
Ride the brown Koltsevaya line and exit at each station: Komsomolskaya's baroque ceiling mosaics, Novoslobodskaya's 32 stained-glass panels, Kievskaya's frescoes. One 70₽ Troika fare covers unlimited transfers underground. Open 05:30-01:00.
A 520-acre Stalinist fantasy of 49 heritage pavilions, the gilded Friendship of Peoples Fountain and the 1937 Worker and Kolkhoz Woman statue. Park entry is free and open 24 hours; only individual museums inside charge admission.
The 107m titanium rocket-plume monument (1964) rises above a granite alley lined with busts of Gagarin, Korolev and Tereshkova, plus a globe map of Soviet launches. The outdoor alley and monument cost nothing; only the museum in its base charges.
Over 700 sculptures along the Krymskaya embankment, including toppled Soviet statues of Stalin, Dzerzhinsky and Brezhnev dumped here after 1991. Free entry, open daily 24 hours, with river views toward the Peter the Great statue.
A 1986 domed collective-farm market at Mytnaya 74, now Moscow's cheapest food hall: Dagestani khinkal, Uzbek plov, Georgian khachapuri and fresh produce. Counters serve full plates for 350-600₽. Open daily 08:00-21:00.
A recreated Soviet canteen inside GUM on Red Square: tray-and-tongs service with borscht, herring under fur coat, chicken Kiev and compote. A full three-course tray runs 500-700₽ — the cheapest sit-down meal on Red Square. Open 10:00-22:00.
A wooden mock-fortress at Izmaylovskoye Shosse 73, ringed by Moscow's largest vernissage: Soviet badges, USSR posters, matryoshkas, samovars and army surplus. Entry to the Kremlin grounds is free; the flea market charges 10-50₽ on weekends.
A Moscow chain of self-service bakery-canteens where pies, syrniki, salads and hot mains are sold by weight. Dinner lands at 300-450₽ and the Pokrovka branch stays open to 22:00, right on the walking route to Chistye Prudy.
The 200m-high Vorobyovy Gory terrace gives Moscow's widest panorama — Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow City towers and the river bend — with Moscow State University's 1953 skyscraper at your back. Free, open 24 hours, reached by metro for 70₽.
The 1524 UNESCO-listed convent's outer grounds and the adjacent pond that inspired Swan Lake are free to walk; only the museum exhibitions inside the walls charge. The pond path gives the classic reflection view of the red-and-white belltower.
A 950-acre riverside estate of the tsars with the white 1532 Church of the Ascension, apple orchards and wooden Peter the Great cabin. The park and church exterior are free, open 07:00-24:00; indoor museums cost 300₽.
The pedestrian bridge behind the cathedral frames the Kremlin towers, Red October chocolate factory and the Peter the Great statue in one shot. Free and always open; the cathedral itself admits visitors at no charge too.