Moscow has wonderful parks where you can relax, do sports and have fun. Here are five of them that I really like:
Gorky park is an amusement park located in the heart of Moscow. It was opened in 1928. In 2011, the park went under renovation in order to become an eco-friendly recreational zone. The park got rid of all the cheap attractions and leave place to more traditional sport activities. In summer, you can enjoy dance, yoga, rowing on the lake, while the park welcome the largest ice-skating ring of Europe in winter. All year around, the park host festivals and activities which makes it the most popular park of the capital.
Sokolniky park territory is a monument to the art of what a park should be. Here you can find almost everything that you can imagine: attractions, night clubs, cafes, art centre, an area for table tennis and real tennis, a skate ring and many commodities for other sports. Festivals and special events are regularly held in this park.
The estate of Vorontsy is more that 600 years old, but was left abandoned for many years before it opened to the public in 2007. The park is a wonderful, lively place where you can measure yourself with locals at chess, raw on the pond, dance or just walk through the alleys. It is planed that the main building in the park should undergo some restoration in the near future, after being burned down during the great fire of 1812.
The Hermitage Garden, one of the oldest park in Moscow though not that big has not change much since its creation. The park has two theatres, an opera house, several open-air theatres, playgrounds for children. It is a quiet yet very interesting place to relax.
Kolomenskoye Estate
Kolomenskoye Estate, with its gentle sloping hills overlooking the Moskva river is a favourite for kids and parents. The history of the Royal estate is displayed in different museums scattered on the territory, you can also admire the beautiful Church of the Ascension built in 1532 by the order of Tsar Vassilia III, to commemorate the birth of his son, the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Walking through the remnants of older times in summer is great and in winter you can enjoy a troika ride or improve your skating skills on the ice-skating ring of the estate.