Travel tip: Where to buy affordable souvenirs in Moscow?
Izmailovsky Market
Address: Izmaylovskoye Shosse, Moscow, Russia
How to get there? It’s 10 minute walk from the Partizanskaya metro station. If you stay at the Izmailovo Gamma Delta hotel, you can exit from the back door. Check with the hotel staff for more details.
Opening hours: 9am – 6pm. If you can, go on a weekend where most shops are open.
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Buying souvenirs for friends in Russia can be an expensive affair, especially if you’re on a budget of USD80/ SGD100 per day in Moscow.
Nonetheless, after some careful research, we discovered that a 10 min walk away from our hotel was the Izmailovsky Market, which is said to have the best deals for souvenirs. You get a chance at bargaining, a pretty wide variety here. Russian doors, army fur hats, soviet style figurines, medals and badges, mugs, shot glasses, exquisite Russian porcelein jewellery boxes, you name it, you’ve got it. It’s got a pretty good rating ( 4 out of 5 from Tripadvisor too).
I don’t have many photos, because it was so cold that day and very difficult to pull out a camera. Have listed some of the prices quote based on my recollection.
The starting price for the big Russian dolls (10 piece) go for RUB300 – 400 each (USD10/ SGD13). Depending on the design and artwork, you can try to bargain the price down. I got a 5 piece one for my friend for USD6/ SGD8. (See the picture above for the size).
Shot glasses are my favourite, and I got a box of six for RUB160 /USD4.7 /SGD6 after a good bargain.
There were also a row of Putin mugs on sale but I didn’t check out the price.
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If you’re thinking of buying some Russian foodstuff such as bottled fish roe back, I suggest you head to a supermarket at a non-touristy area. The prices are much more reasonable. We chanced upon a local supermarket on our way back from the Danilov Monastery, and a bottle of vodka cost some RUB250/USD 8 /SGD10 lesser than what was sold at the supermarket near our hotel at Izmailovo Gamma Delta.
Some pictures below. You don’t have to worry that the fish egg roes will not be able to survive for a 14 hour plane ride, cos mine did for the flight back from Moscow – Guangzhou – Singapore.
