The heart of the city

A recent addition to the city's winter scene, and an instant hit following its installation in 2006, GUM's outdoor rink in Red Square is the place for fashionable figures to skate. With room for 500 people at a time on the ice, organizers expect to see up to 4,000 guests each day. Skating tickets cost from 250-500 rubles depending on the time of day. The rink will also stage a hockey tournament, a special screening of the big New Year cinema release ‘Stilyagi', a concert by the ‘Russian Song' ensemble and other special events.

Park Life

The temperature needs to drop a few degrees more before the city's largest and most popular rink can start running. But while purists complain about the quality of the ice laid on several routes among the trees, Gorky Park in winter remains a definitive Moscow experience. Unlike most rinks, which operate in all weathers by using an electrical freezing system, the paths are simply sprayed with water which freezes quickly in the cold weather, creating an instant skating surface. Both entry to the park, and skate hire, are cheaper than most ‘specialist' rinks.

Access to indoor skating facilities is restricted for amateur skaters.
Indoor ice rinks in Moscow operate either as freestanding facilities or as part of sports complexes run by Moscow's sports clubs. Covered rinks are also available in local sports complexes operating in certain communities and districts across the city.

In total there are over 30 covered ice skating facilities operating in Moscow. But all of those were raised as training venues, not for the purposes of leisure and recreation; they house sports schools for figure skaters and hockey players. But opening hours are restricted there and amateurs are granted access onto the ice only when no training sessions or competitions are scheduled.

The complex provides warm spaces featuring relaxation rooms and shoe lockers. On weekends, when attendance soars, cafes and skate rentals are open on the premises, music videos are shown on large screens installed over the rink and music plays.
But while Mega and Gorod use natural ice other retail complexes operate artificial plastic rinks.

Sites for public skating were available chiefly in city parks and in open-air stadiums where football pitches were traditionally covered with ice each winter.