BEST OF MOSCOW

The Pushkin Museum houses the premier collection of fine arts in Moscow, including Egyptian, Italian and French halls, a Greek courtyard, and sections devoted to Rembrandt and Rubens. Impressionists and the 20^th Century are represented in a separate building next door, which also hosts the main guest artists — lately Modigliani, Picasso, Dali, Warhol — and attracts some of the longest line seen in Moscow since the perestroika era. To be perfectly honest, the main collection is highly eclectic and not particularly valuable (excluding impressionists and the artists of the 20^th century), but this is nonetheless the coziest of all the city`s leading museums. Every Muscovite has memories associated with the museum. No schoolboy ever managed to escape a tour here.

Entrance fee — 100—300 rubles

Address: 12, Volkhonka st.

The museum consists of a single submarine in Tushino park. It`s an ideal destination for wandering foreigners in search of an authentic Russian oddity (such as Stalin`s bunker on Taganskaya). The vessel has seven sections, which can be accessed through doors made especially for tourists who prefer not to squeeze through manholes. Not recommended for visitors who suffer from claustrophobia, but prescribed for parents with kids. The latter are typically thrilled. On weekdays, visits are by appointment only.

Entrance fee 100 rubles
Address: Severnoye Tushino Park, at Ulitsa Svobodi 44-48

Photo: Mark BoyarskyThis private museum is like a time machine that takes you back to a Soviet childhood. It features a collection of 40 vintage games including Sea Battle, Safari, Air Combat, High Way, Sniper and others. With your entrance ticket (300 rubles) you get 15 coins, each worth 15 kopeks and good for one go. A tour is included. When you`ve played to your heart`s content, quench your thirst with a glass of "gazirovka," flavored soda that can be purchased by glass from a Soviet vending machine. The pear flavor is the best.

This mansion, Shekhtel`s most famous project in Moscow, has gone through quite a few owners: from the banker Stepan Riabushinsky and various Soviet institutions to renowned Soviet writer Maksim Gorky, who lived here until his death. Now the building houses a museum whose exterior is viewed best in cold seasons, when trees don`t obscure the facade and visitors can fully enjoy the architect`s favorite feature, the mosaic irises. It`s worth coming inside just to see the undulating staircase made of a single piece of marble, and lamps that resemble luxurious jellyfish.

Opening hours: wed, fri — from 12:00 till 19:00; thu, sat, sun — from 10:00 till 17:00

Address: 6/2, Malaya Nikitskaya st.

The largest and most modern planetarium in Russia has finally opened after 15 years standing idle. Beside gazing at cardboard models of the universe inherited from Soviet times, visitors can experience lunar gravity, launch miniature rockets equipped with oxygen and hydrogen engines, find their weight on Venus, decimate Pluto, test the mechanisms of emerging black holes and see a film about the solar system at the 4D theater. Most of the interactive exhibits are designed for children, but judging by the queues, adults take a keen interest in the stars as well.

Admission to the Great Star Hall, from 450 rubles; the interactive Lunarium, from 350 rubles; the 4D theater, from 300 rubles; the Great Observatory, from 250 rubles; the Small Star Hall, from 150 rubles

Address: 5, Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya, stroenie 1

This huge exhibition space on the territory of a former bus depot hosts the most important guests and artists, such as Christian Markley, Marina Abramovich and Francois Pinault. Besides exhibitions, the center runs an extensive educational program for both adults and children. The center also accommodates a bookstore headed by Boris Kuprianov, the creator of Falanster. In 2012, Garage will move into a different building, known as "Shestigrannik," or "Hexagon," another monument of Soviet architecture designed by the architect Zholtovsky in Gorky Park.

Full ticket: 300 rubles
Address: 12a, Obraztsova st.

This absolutely new children`s science museum uses fun experiments to explain all the boring stuff. The museum comprises more than 200 exhibits, all of which you may touch. Generate energy by pedaling, test various materials` conductivity, understand the difference between gravity and inertia. Friendly young museum guides are always ready to answer your questions and entertain little visitors with all sorts of scientific tricks. The museum has a great store.

Entrance fee: 250 rubles
Address: 46/2, Butirskaya st.