10 Best Sights in Moscow, Russia

This impeccably clean banya, known also simply as "Sanduny," is probably the city's most elegant bathhouse, with a lavish blue-and-gold-painted interior dating to the early 1800s. The entrance is marked by wrought-iron lamps and a circular marble staircase. The VIP section has a pool surrounded by marble columns and a lounge with leather booths. Note that the banya essentials of a towel and a sheet to sit on in the steam room cost extra; you can also bring your own. You can also purchase birch branches, which you may be able to convince a fellow bather to beat you with (or you can hire a trained masseuse there to do it). This is a classic Russian banya procedure that's supposedly good for the skin. There is a thorough list of rules and recommendations printed in English at the ticket booth. On-site facilities include a beauty parlor and, of course, more traditional massage.

Commissioned in 1701 by Peter the Great, the weapons arsenal was partially destroyed by the fire that greeted Napoléon as he stormed the city in 1812 (some say the Russian army set fire to the city intentionally). Its present form dates from the early 19th century, when it was given its yellow color and simple but impressive shape by Osip Bove (the same architect who designed the Alexander Garden). Notable on the building's facade are arched windows framed in white granite and statuettes built into the walls flanking the main entrance. Once planned to be the site of a museum dedicated to the Napoleonic wars, today it houses government offices and is closed to the public.

Once the place where foreigners had to go to phone home, Central Telegraph is a blocky, early constructivist building that's one block up Tverskaya ulitsa from Red Square. You can still make phone calls abroad here, as well as buy stamps, send a fax, or use the Internet—but mainly, Central Telegraph is a sight just worth a quick look from the outside now. The striking semicircular entrance is adorned with a huge digital clock and a large and constantly revolving lit-up globe. Inside are currency-exchange counters, a pharmacy, a coffee shop, and ATMs in the lobby, plus the main post office.

This marvelous and wonderfully preserved example of Moscow art nouveau was the home of Maxim Gorky from 1931 to 1936. Sometimes called the Ryabushinsky Mansion, it was built in 1901 for the wealthy banker of that name and designed by the architect Fyodor Shektel. (If you arrived in Moscow by train, you may have noticed the fanciful Yaroslav station, another of his masterpieces, just opposite the Leningrad railway station.) Although Gorky was a champion of the proletariat, his home was rather lavish. Gorky himself apparently hated the style moderne, as art nouveau was termed back then. Those who don't, however, are charmed by this building of ecru brick and stone painted pink and mauve atop gray foundations. A mosaic of irises forms a border around the top of most of the house, and a fanciful yet utilitarian iron fence matches the unusual design of the window frames. The spectacular interior includes a stained-glass roof and a twisting marble staircase that looks like a wave of gushing water. Tours in English are available.

The octagonal main tower of the tallest structure in the Kremlin rises 263 feet and, according to a tradition established by Boris Godunov, no building in Moscow is allowed to rise higher. The first bell tower was erected on this site in 1329 and was replaced in the early 16th century, during the reign of Ivan the Great (hence the bell tower's name). But it was during the reign of Boris Godunov that the tower received its present appearance. In 1600 the main tower was rebuilt, crowned by an onion-shaped dome and covered with gilded copper. For many years it served as a watchtower; all of Moscow and its environs could be observed for a radius of 32 km (20 miles). The annex of the bell tower is used for temporary exhibits of items from the Kremlin collection.

This white bastion, erected in 1516, once defended the approach to the drawbridge that linked Alexander Garden to the Kremlin. In Old Slavonic, kutafya means "clumsy" or "confused"; this adjective was applied to the tower because it so differs in shape and size from the other towers of the Kremlin. Kutafya Tower marks the main public entrance to the Kremlin, which opens promptly at 10 a.m. every day except Thursday. You can buy tickets to the Kremlin grounds and cathedrals at the kiosks on either side of the tower. The guards may ask where you're from and check inside your bags; there's a small security checkpoint to walk through, similar to those at airports.

These gates, which formed part of the Kitai Gorod defensive wall, were named for the icon of the Resurrection of Christ that hangs above them. However, the gates are truly "resurrection" gates; they have been reconstructed many times since they were first built in 1534. In 1680 the gates were rebuilt and a chapel honoring the Iberian Virgin Mary was added. In 1931 they were destroyed by the Soviets. Stalin ordered their demolition partly so that tanks could easily make their way onto Red Square during parades. They were most recently rebuilt in 1994–95. Today the redbrick gates with the bright-green-and-blue chapel are truly a magnificent sight and a fitting entrance to Red Square. The bronze compass inlaid in the ground in front of the chapel marks Kilometer Zero on the Russian highway system.

The main entrance to the Kremlin rises to more than 150 feet (46 meters). At its base a gate pierces the thick walls, and you can still see the slits for the chains of the former drawbridge. Black Volgas (now replaced by top-of-the-line Mercedes and BMWs) once whizzed through the vehicular entrance, carrying government employees to work.

Until Boris Yeltsin's presidency (1991–99) this 1491 tower served as the main entrance to the Kremlin. Indeed, in the centuries before Communist rule, all who passed through it were required to doff their hats and bow before the icon of the Savior that hung on the front of the tower. The icon was removed, but you can see the outline of where it was. The embellished roof and the first clock were added in 1625. President Vladimir Putin uncharacteristically used the Spasskaya Tower exit in May 2003 when hurrying to a Paul McCartney concert on Red Square.

Rising 240 feet, this is the tallest bashnya (tower) in the Kremlin wall and is linked to the Kutafya Tower by a bridge that once spanned a moat. Its deep, subterranean chambers were once used as prison cells. Napoléon supposedly lost his hat when he entered the Kremlin through this gate in 1812.