How to get to Moscow: airports, Aeroexpress trains and rail terminals

Moscow is the central aviation and railway hub of Russia, served by four commercial airports and ten main-line railway terminals arranged around the Koltsevaya (Circle) Metro Line. Because surface motorway traffic on Leningradskoye, Kashirskoye, and Kievskoye highways can slow dramatically during weekday rush hours, rail and underground connections provide the most predictable transfer times into the centre.

Moscow's three main international airports

• Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport (SVO): Located 29 kilometres northwest of central Moscow between the towns of Khimki and Lobnya, Sheremetyevo was converted from a military airbase into a civilian airport in 1959 and is Russia's busiest aviation hub. Its active passenger operations centre on the Northern Terminal Complex (Terminals B and C), linked by an underground automated inter-terminal train to the Southern Terminal Complex (Terminals D, E, and F). Double-decker Stadler Aeroexpress trains depart from the airport rail terminal to Belorussky Railway Station (Line 2 and Line 5 Metro), with intermediate stops at Okruzhnaya (Line 10 and MCC Line 14) and Savyolovskaya, while Aeroexpress buses connect Terminals B and C to Khovrino Metro station at the northern end of Line 2.
• Domodedovo Mikhail Lomonosov International Airport (DME): Situated 42 kilometres south-southeast of the city centre, Domodedovo serves domestic and international routes across Central Asia and the Middle East. Aeroexpress trains and commuter rail link the terminal directly to Paveletsky Railway Station on the Garden Ring (Paveletskaya Metro, Lines 2 and 5), while express airport buses run to Domodedovskaya Metro station (Line 2).
• Vnukovo Andrei Tupolev International Airport (VKO): Opened during the Second World War 28 kilometres southwest of central Moscow, Vnukovo is Moscow's oldest operating airport, the closest to the centre, and the only one with its own underground Moscow Metro station: Aeroport Vnukovo on the yellow Kalininsko-Solntsevskaya Line (Line 8A), accessed directly via an underground walkway from Terminal A. Aeroexpress trains also run from Vnukovo to Kiyevsky Railway Station (Kiyevskaya Metro, Lines 3, 4, and 5).

Arriving at Komsomolskaya Square ("Square of Three Stations")

Travellers arriving by intercity or high-speed train most often step out onto Komsomolskaya Square northeast of the centre, where three monumental railway terminals share a single square above Komsomolskaya Metro station:

• Leningradsky Railway Station: Moscow's oldest rail terminal, built between 1844 and 1851 to a design by Konstantin Thon as the southern terminus of the Moscow-to-Saint Petersburg Railway opened under Emperor Nicholas I. High-speed Sapsan day trains and overnight express trains from Saint Petersburg arrive here.
• Yaroslavsky Railway Station: Originally opened in 1862 and rebuilt between 1902 and 1904 with a fairy-tale Neo-Russian Art Nouveau gable and ceramic reliefs by architect Fyodor Shekhtel (expanded in 1910 by Lev Kekushev), Yaroslavsky has the highest passenger throughput of all ten terminals and serves as the western terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway and Golden Ring trains to Sergiyev Posad, Rostov Veliky, and Yaroslavl.
• Kazansky Railway Station: Constructed across the southern side of the square to a design by Alexey Shchusev featuring a tiered tower modelled on the Söyembikä Tower in Kazan, this station handles trains heading east and southeast toward Kazan, Ryazan, Yekaterinburg, and Central Asia.

Other central rail terminals and onward transfers

Six additional terminals ring the centre along the Metro Circle Line: Belorussky (westbound routes), Kiyevsky (southwest), Paveletsky (south), Kursky (eastbound high-speed trains to Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir), Rizhsky, and Savyolovsky; the newest, Vostochny, opened in the east of the city on 29 May 2021 next to Cherkizovskaya Metro and Lokomotiv station on the Moscow Central Circle. Upon arrival at any terminal or airport, pick up a Troika smart card at the Metro entrance to reach your hotel in Tverskoy, Kitay-gorod, or Zamoskvorechye.