On a typical winter’s day, the Elk Island national park (Losiny Ostrov) is a great place to walk. This hike takes you through several forests and fields in north-east Moscow, passing churches, mansions and monuments … Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
This walk was written as a Valentine’s Day trip out of town, to Rostov, 200km north-east of Moscow. A group of us took a train through the snowy Russian countryside then strolled past ancient churches and reed-fringed Lake Nero. We were there on a spectacular February day until the setting sun turned the frozen lake and whitewashed Monastery of St Jacob pink and golden.
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
Pereslavl-Zalessky is another great destination for a day trip. This route takes in the grassy kremlin (fortress), the quirky museums, lots of old churches, and then follows the river to its confluence with Lake Plescheyevo which is what you can see here. The lake is so big that Peter the Great built the prototype of the first Russian fleet there.
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
This is Krutitskoye Podvorye monastery, one of many beautiful sacred sites hidden in the suburbs. The churches in the south-east of the city are full of gilt and frescoes, lit by oil lamps and beeswax candles. This spot is a favourite. It is not the most spectacular, but it has an amazing atmosphere with wooden cottages round a courtyard, an ornate tiled window and a tiny orchard.
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
The title of this walk came from something Berlioz wrote when he saw the Ascension church at Kolomenskoye, but the whole park in May flowers into sudden spring glory. I’ve walked there so many times in every season and never tire of it; neighbouring Dyakovo was the site of the oldest inhabited settlements in Moscow and there are sacred rocks in the valleys and ravines.
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
The Martha and Mary Convent is an extraordinary building, one of many interesting oases in the area south of the river. This urban stroll through churchyards and gardens ends at the Sculpture Park of abandoned Soviet monuments around the riverside Tretyakov Gallery.
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
The Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building is an apartment block and one of Stalin's Seven Sisters, a group of Moscow highrises designed in the Stalinist style, which spans the confluence of the Yauza and Moskva rivers. The Taganka area around it is one of my favourites for an urban stroll. It has associations with icon painter Andrei Rublev and theatrical pioneer Constantin Stanislavsky …
Photograph: Phoebe Taplin Photograph: Action images
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
This stroll through the woods around Kuskovo palace revels in the contrasts of Moscow’s unpredictable suburbs. It passes museums and monuments, lakes and pavilions … Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
Izmailovsky Park is one of the largest urban forests in the world. It’s another place where I have walked in every season and a great place to explore. You can walk out of the woods on to the island where the Romanovs had their summer palace and catch this fabulous view across the water to the craft market … Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
Another great day trip from Moscow is to catch the local train and walk through the woods to the artists’ colony at Abramtsevo. This cluster of dacha museums and the art nouveau church in the pine forest is a place I returned to over and over. It has a kind of deeply Russian charm about it. Lots of 19th-century Russian artists, including Ilya Repin and Mikhail Vrubel, lived and painted there … Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
This snowy scene at Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills) is typical of the wonderland that can suddenly appear after heavy snow. I suggest heading up there after this urban tour, which takes in the most famous central sights around the Kremlin … Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
This winter ramble revisits hilly, riverside Kolomenskoye. The park takes on a totally different character in the snow, with frosty trees and mist rolling off the water … Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
How to do this walk Photograph: Phoebe Taplin
