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Moscow Runners Discover 3 Best Routes Through City Parks

Moscow's best running follows the Moskva River embankment through the redeveloped Gorky Park, climbs the wooded bluffs of Sparrow Hills, and threads the radial alleys of Sokolniki Park.

By Moscow Daily · Published July 7, 2026

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Moscow Runners Discover 3 Best Routes Through City Parks — Photo by M.Emin BİLİR / Pexels

Moscow offers a genuine mix of riverside embankments, forested parks and Soviet-era grand avenues for runners. Here are the best running routes in Moscow for 2026.

Gorky Park and the Moskva River Embankment

Roughly 7 kilometres of wide, well-maintained riverside path run from the Krymsky Val bridge around the river bend to the Third Ring Road bridge, with pedestrian lanes separated from cyclists, and Gorky Park's interior paths adding about 3 kilometres. The surface is flat paved asphalt, centrally located and considered one of the safest places to run in the city, with the park's longest dedicated jogging track measuring 8 kilometres. Gorky Park, opened in 1928, was extensively redeveloped from 2011, removing entry fees and amusement rides to become a landscaped public park, which made it Moscow's flagship running venue.

Neskuchny Garden and Muzeon

Flowing south from Gorky Park, the route passes the Muzeon open-air sculpture garden into Neskuchny Garden, Moscow's oldest park, with winding wooded trails around a historic estate, on mixed paved and soft paths, stretching a continuous run to well over 7 kilometres.

Sparrow Hills and Sokolniki Park

Vorobyovy Gory, or Sparrow Hills, is a wooded nature reserve on the steep right bank opposite Luzhniki beneath Moscow State University, notable for river-bluff viewing platforms and genuine hills, the standout choice for elevation. Sokolniki Park, in the northeast, has a radial layout of long, straight tree-lined alleys spoking from a central hub plus wooded gravel paths, easy to assemble 10 kilometres or more of calm, leafy running.

Izmailovsky Park and VDNKh

Izmailovsky Park is one of the most forested spaces inside the city, over 300 hectares of pine and oak with soft natural-surface trails ideal for trail running. VDNKh offers broad Soviet-era lanes past restored pavilions and fountains, its central axis running over 3 kilometres and merging into the Main Botanical Garden, on a smooth paved, flat and scenic surface.

Running the Moscow Marathon Route

The Moscow Marathon starts and finishes at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, passing the Kremlin, Red Square, St. Basil's and along the Moskva River, with about 120 metres of total elevation gain.

Practical Guide to Running in Moscow

Gorky Park and the river embankment are the most reliable, best-maintained choices for a flat run; Sparrow Hills is the pick for anyone wanting genuine elevation.

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