A Private Take on Moscow: Exclusive Tours & Experiences

BOLSHOI THEATRE

More than a theatre, the Bolshoi is iconic. The Bolshoi troupe was established in March 1776, when Empress Catherine II asked the Prince to arrange plays, carnivals, balls and other forms of entertainment. The Bolshoi Theatre was built in 1856 and quickly rose to second place after La Scala in Milan. It is still today Moscow's most prestigious, emblematic art venue. It was here that the greatest Russian composers created their operas and the place where all the great Russian artists have performed, whether they are actors, singers, dancers or conductors.

Optional - Tour with a private guide or tickets for a performance

STAR CITY

Star City is an old military complex located north-east of Moscow in the town of Shchyolkovo. It is home to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre. Many Russian cosmonauts live here with their families (about 7,500 people) and it's essentially its own little city. Included in the itinerary: visit the Mir station, the pit used for zero-gravity training sessions, the centrifuge and watch a screening of a film shot during cosmonaut training.

Optional - six hours with a private guide

NOVODEVICHY CONVENT AND THE CATHEDRAL OF CHRIST THE SAVIOUR

A veritable fortress erected on a bend in the Moskova, Novodevichy Convent was built by the regent Sophia Alekseyevna who lived there, locked up, until her death after being deposed by her half-brother Peter the Great. The convent is home to several shrines beside the Great Lake, including the beautiful baroque Transfiguration Cathedral and, above all, the imposing Smolensky Cathedral, dedicated to Our Lady of Smolensk.

The history of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is like something out of a Russian novel. It traces some major stages in the country's history: it was a construction project of Alexander I after his victory over Napoleon's armies, which took from 1839 to 1883, the building was then destroyed by Stalin for a Soviet palace, then replaced by an open-air swimming pool. The religious development of the late 1990s and the support of Moscow's mayor Yuri Luzhkov enabled an identical reconstruction of this monumental building, which was consecrated on 31 December 1999.

Optional

STALIN'S SECRET BUNKER

Like many dictators, Stalin was extremely paranoid. To defend Moscow from its enemies, he launched an extensive underground construction campaign to provide the capital with a bunker. Today, the city still bears many traces of this period of suspicion. For example, the old district of Taganka is home to a cleverly concealed bunker. Beneath the reassuring surface of a typical Moscow district lies one of the most secret installations of the Cold War: a large military bunker built under a building that served as a command post for Stalin during the Cuban missile crisis. The building that hides the bunker is only a subterfuge; inside there are no apartments, but instead a maze of corridors leading to lifts going down to almost 200ft underground, equivalent to a 20 storey building.

Optional