The Arbat House Hotel is an excellent base for exploring Moscow's historic center and top attractions, with the Kremlin, Red Square, the Pushkin Museusm and the Bolshoi Theatre all within comfortable walking distance.
The hotel takes its name from Ulitsa Arbat, one of Moscow's most famous streets. While the New Arbat, slightly closer to the hotel, is one of the most controversial excrescences of Soviet urban planning, the famous Old Arbat was one of Mosocow's most prestigious residential districts in the 18th and 19th centuries, and in the 20th century became the center of bohemian life in the city. Pedestrianised in the late eighties, the street is now a major tourist attraction, with a huge number of street performers and souvenir stalls, as well as open-air cafes and bars. Famous buildings on Arbat include the pretty neoclassical building housing the Pushkin Apartment Museum at No. 53, where Russia's greatest poet lodged after his wedding, and the magnificent Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of the Stalinist skyscrapers known as the Seven Sisters, at the western end of the street.
Within five minutes' walk of the hotel, sights of interest include the Church of the Great Ascension at Nikitskie Vorota on the Boulevard Ring and the Ryabushinsky Mansion behind it on Malaya Nikitskaya Ulitsa. The former is a plain but impressive neoclassical church (built 1786-1816) that was popular with Moscow's intelligentsia and was the sight of Alexander Pushkin's wedding to Natalia Goncharova. The latter is one of the finest examples of Style Moderne architecture in the city, built by architect Fyodor Shekhtel for industrialist Stepan Ryabushinsky. It was later given by the Soviet authorities to Maxim Gorky, and now houses a rather pedestrian museum to the radical writer which nonetheless gives visitors the chance to admire some of the mansion's spectacular interiors.
Major attractions |
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| Distance: | 1.5 kilometers |
| On Foot: | It takes just over 15 minutes to walk to the Kremlin from the Arbat House Hotel. Turn right out of the hotel and walk to the end of Skatertny Pereulok. Turn right onto Merzlyakovskiy Pereulok, walk to the end of the street and turn left across Ploshchad Arbatskiye Vorota and along Ulitsa Vozdvizhenka. Continue straight on around 500 meters until you reach the main visitor entrance to the Kremlin. Show walking route |
| Taxi: | 5-10 minutes Show driving route |
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| Distance: | 2 kilometers |
| On Foot: | It takes just over 20 minutes to reach Red Square on foot from the Arbat House Hotel. On exiting the hotel, turn right and walk to the end of Skatertny Pereulok. Turn right onto Merzlyakovskiy Pereulok, walk to the end of the street and turn left across Ploshchad Arbatskiye Vorota and along Ulitsa Vozdvizhenka. When you reach Ulitsa Mokhovaya in front of the Kremlin, turn left past the Manezh Exhibition centre, and then bear right across Manezhnaya Ploshchad until you reach the red-brick building of the State Historical Museum. Next to the building on your right you will see the Resurrection Gate, which leads through onto Red Square. Show walking route |
| Taxi: | 10 minutes Show driving route |
| Public transport: | If this seems too long a walk, you can halve it by taking the metro from Arbatskaya on Ulitsa Vozdvizhenka and traveling east one stop on the dark-blue to Ploshchad Revolyutsii, which is around 100 meters from Red Square. Show transit route |
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| Distance: | 2.2 kilometers |
| On Foot: | It takes around 25 minutes to walk to the Bolshoi Theatre from the Arbat House Hotel. On exiting the Arbat House, turn right and take the first left onto Pereulok Medvezhiy and then the second left onto Merzlyakovskiy Pereulok. Walk to the end of the street and turn right onto Bolshaya Nikitskaya Ulitsa. Cross the Boulevard Ring and walk straight on around 700 meters until you reach Mokhovaya Ulitsa in front of the Kremlin. Follow the street across Tverskaya Ulitsa (using the pedestrian underpass), and keep walking until you reach Teatralanya Ploshchad ("Theatre Square"), with the Bolshoi Theatre on your left. Show walking route |
| Taxi: | 10-15 minutes Show driving route |
| Public transport: | If you prefer to use public transport, head to Arbatskaya Metro Station (dark-blue line) and travel one stop east to Ploshchad Revolyutsii. Exit the metro via the interchange station Teatralanya, and as you exit the metro you will see the Bolshoi Theatre to your left across the square. Show transit route |
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