Festive Celebrations in Moscow
Ready to celebrate? Visit Moscow at Christmas and New Years.
Russians know how to celebrate in style, just visit Moscow during the Christmas and New Year's period
Christmas Dinners in Russia:
Fine dining Cafés and restaurants such as Café Pushkin (image above) offer Christmas dinners with all the decorations and trimmings you could imagine. Theatre, ballet and the opera put on special Christmas performances. The Bolshoi Theatre hosts the 'Nut Cracker ballet' during Christmas. Christmas ballet galas are also scheduled during November and December.
There is also a Red Square Christmas market, set around one of Moscow’s largest ice rinks with an amusement park for children. Considering the vastness of the Red Square, the market is not too big - just cute and great for traditional Russian souvenirs.
New Years Eve in Russia
Moving on to New Year, this is pretty much every Russian’s favourite holiday, which means that as a guest in their illustrious land, the locals will attempt to make it your favourite holiday too. Get ready to say the Russian greeting for New Year's “S Novim Godom!” (С Новым годом) a lot! It’s the biggest festival time of the year, meaning all the cities and towns will be covered in lights and impressive decorations. As they actually have two New Year's holidays celebrated in Russia, anytime between December 30 and January 15th will be a great time to visit. Russia's “Old” New Year is celebrated on January 14th according to the Julian, or Orthodox, calendar.
Massive Gala dinners are offered in many of the hotels and restaurants.Café Pushkin has a celebration dinner from 10.30pm, Moët Chandon on arrival, jazz bands and gypsy bands play for the crowd. We recommend booking early and definately bring your frock!
Head down to Red Square, a popular spot for ringing in the New Year — and rightly so — but it is far from the only option so ask your hotel where they recommend if you are looking for something different. While the main fireworks show will, as usual, be set off over the Moscow River, fireworks can be seen in a total of 17 parks and eight squares around Moscow starting at 1 a.m. Keep this time in mind as you will be out in the cold.