Moscow has set out its plans for New Year 2027 celebrations, announcing festival dates, theater schedules, and holiday travel arrangements across the Russian capital.
Red Square will be closed to visitors on New Year's Eve due to security considerations, but the city is preparing for an 11-day official holiday that begins on December 31, 2026, and runs through January 10, 2027.
Russian travelers traditionally begin selecting holiday destinations in the autumn, making Moscow one of the most popular choices for the country's primary winter break. According to climatic norms, daytime temperatures on December 31 average minus 4.5 degrees Celsius, with precipitation typically falling as snow or, during milder conditions, a mixture of rain and snow.
Travelers from Saint Petersburg can reach the capital by high-speed train in four hours. Visitors from Central Russia and the Volga region, including Voronezh, Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, and Kazan, can travel by train or bus. From southern regions and the Urals, flights offer the fastest link, taking three and a half hours from Krasnodar and four hours from Yekaterinburg.
Hotel reservations made in November offer budget three-star rooms starting at 3,500 rubles per night. Four-star properties located within three kilometers of the city center start at 5,000 rubles. Despite its size, Moscow can prove less expensive for holiday visitors than many provincial regions due to its extensive selection of lodging, broad transport connections, and lower rates outside the central district.
Festive streets and central walking routes
The country's primary New Year tree will stand on Red Square, where an ice rink and a Christmas market open on December 1. While the square itself will close to the public on New Year's Eve for safety, visitors frequently gather at nearby Zaryadye Park, Gorky Park, VDNKh, and along the river embankments.
City workers began decorating Moscow streets in mid-October 2026. Crews installed red and gold garlands and baubles across trees on Manezhnaya Square and around the Kremlin, with all municipal installations scheduled for completion by early winter to establish the festive atmosphere by December 1.
The seasonal street designs change every year. During the 2025 celebrations, Manezhnaya Square featured a City of Christmas Tree Ornaments with retail stalls, bakeries, and vintage cotton toy figures. Revolution Square hosted a Christmas express photo display and souvenir market, Nikolskaya Street transformed into a winter forest of pines, junipers, and birches, and the upper section of Kuznetsky Most showcased classic Soviet toys such as rocking horses, spinning tops, and wooden airplanes.
Journey to Christmas festival venues
The Journey to Christmas festival remains one of the capital's largest winter events after more than ten years of operation. The festival runs from mid-December through the conclusion of the January holidays, spanning more than 30 venues in the city center and across all administrative districts under the Moscow Seasons project.
Festival visitors can browse craft fairs, participate in educational masterclasses, skate on public rinks, and view decorated fir trees and illuminated figures.
Each edition of the festival highlights a distinct cultural theme. The 2025 to 2026 season focused on reviving the art of spun cotton toys from the early twentieth century. The 2024 to 2025 edition celebrated Soviet cinema and animation, the 2023 to 2024 program explored historic Moscow holiday customs, and the 2022 to 2023 festival showcased celebration traditions from across Russia's diverse regions.
Ice rinks across the capital
More than 100 indoor and outdoor ice skating rinks will operate across Moscow this winter, offering both free and ticketed sessions. The rink in Gorky Park will reopen in late 2026 following extensive renovations, featuring 2.3 kilometers of interconnected ice paths circling the central fountain and extending along the refurbished Pushkinskaya Embankment.
Two major skating venues introduced in 2025 will also return to service. These include an 1,800-square-meter rink at Luzhniki and a linear path stretching roughly 1,700 meters along the Moskva River embankment at the Kolomenskoye museum-reserve. The rinks at VDNKh and Gorky Park allow visitors to glide through open parkland rather than circling a standard oval, and several rinks will host late-night skating sessions with live concerts on New Year's Eve.
Nutcracker ballets and theater productions
Traditional stagings of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker at the Bolshoi Theatre remain a central holiday attraction, with dozens of performances scheduled throughout December and January. To combat ticket scalping, the Bolshoi Theatre implemented strict digital ticketing procedures in 2024. Tickets are sold exclusively through the theater's official website, require purchaser passport details, and are no longer available at physical box office counters.
The Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre has scheduled its own family-friendly Nutcracker performances from December 19, 2026, to January 3, 2027. Tickets for shows between December 27 and December 31 start at 4,500 rubles, with front-row seats priced between 25,000 and 30,000 rubles. At the State Kremlin Palace, multiple interpretations will appear from mid-December, including a production choreographed by People's Artist of Russia Andris Liepa that runs from New Year's Eve through the end of the holiday period, with tickets starting at 4,500 rubles.
Additional theatrical performances include Hans Christian Andersen's The Tinderbox at the Sovremennik Theatre on December 29 to 30 and January 2 to 4 for children aged six and older, with tickets from 1,500 rubles. The Sovremennik will also present Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, directed by Galina Volchek, on December 31, with stalls tickets ranging from 4,000 to 25,000 rubles. On New Year's Eve, the State Kremlin Palace will stage the Magic Strauss gala concert, with tickets starting at 1,300 rubles.
Theatergoers can also attend The New Year Adventure of Masha and Vitya featuring music by Gennady Gladkov at the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop on December 30, January 2 to 3, and January 7, with tickets from 2,500 rubles. The Tabakov Theatre will present Alexander Volodin's play Do Not Part With Your Beloved on December 23 and 29, with seats starting at 2,500 rubles.
Holiday trees and family spectacles
The Kremlin Christmas Tree will present its show, The Magic Chest of Tales, at the State Kremlin Palace from December 25 to January 8, with admission starting at 3,500 rubles. Tickets for the Kremlin tree sell out rapidly and must be secured well in advance.
Families can also visit the Mosfilm cinema studios for the holiday show Together into the New Year from December 19 to January 8, where tickets start at 1,100 rubles. The Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard will host the New Year Labyrinth from December 11 to January 24, with ticket prices ranging from 7,900 to 28,900 rubles. The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour will stage the Christmas production Light of the Old Lighthouse from December 19 to January 9, with tickets from 900 rubles. In addition, young visitors can tour the Moscow Ded Moroz Estate, the residence of Russia's Father Frost, at the Kuzminki-Lyublino museum-reserve.
Alternative celebrations and evening itineraries
Downtown bars and cafes will welcome patrons throughout the night on January 1, while many Moscow restaurants offer formal banquets featuring live music and entertainment. Seats for dining events with headline performers routinely sell out before the final week of December.
Alternative celebrations include panoramic skyscraper parties in Moscow City, rides on a singing bus hosted by Father Frost and the Snow Maiden, holiday boat cruises on the Moskva River, historic hotel balls, and themed hotel events. On Red Square, the GUM ice rink will hold a late-night skating session running from 10:00 pm on December 31 until 2:00 am on January 1.
A planned itinerary for December 31 suggests starting with a morning stroll through decorated parks with mulled wine and skating, followed by an afternoon visit to a water park or pre-booked spa for water slides and traditional banya steam. Evening options include attending musicals such as Anna Karenina at the Operetta Theatre, The Circus Princess at the Moscow Musical Theatre, or Everything Will Be Celentano at the Moscow Youth Palace. Revelers can gather near Red Square to hear the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower chimes at midnight before enjoying the remaining days of the national vacation.
