3oh3 warped tour

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• 1 Biography
• 2.1 Warped Tour 2007
• 2.2 Warped Tour 2008
• 2.3 Warped Tour 2009
• 2.4 Warped Tour 2010
• 2.5 Warped Tour 2011
• 2.6 Warped Tour 2012
• 2.7 Warped Tour 2014
• 2.8 Warped Tour 2016
• 2.9 Warped Tour 2018

Biography [ ]

3OH!3 (pronounced "three oh three") is an American electronic music duo from Boulder, Colorado. Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte started their band in 2004 and named it after the 303 area code that had (at the time of their birth) encompassed the entire state of Colorado and that now serves only the Denver metropolitan area, Boulder, and the Front Range. The band's first Warped Tour appearance was July 8, 2007 on the Hurley.com Stage in Denver, Colorado . They returned in 2008 and spent the entire summer on the Hurley.com Stage. The band made their main stage debut on the 2009 tour which led to subsequent appearances on the main stage in 2010 , 2011 , 2013 , 2016 , and 2018 .

The band also appeared appeared on the special United Kingdom date of Warped Tour 2012 in London, England on November 10, 2012 and the "Road to Warped Tour" show in Anchorage, Alaska on June 11, 2014 .

Warped Tour 2007 [ ]

Warped tour 2008 [ ], warped tour 2009 [ ], warped tour 2010 [ ], warped tour 2011 [ ], warped tour 2012 [ ], warped tour 2014 [ ], warped tour 2016 [ ], warped tour 2018 [ ].

• 1 Warped Tour 2004
• 2 Warped Tour 2008
• 3 Warped Tour 2014

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The Best, Worst, and Wildest of 3OH!3, According to the Duo

It feels like 2008 all over again: The economy is collapsing, Joe Biden is heading to the White House, and 3OH!3 just released a song on independent pop label Photo Finish Records. The Colorado duo’s ahead-of-its-time blend of punk, hip-hop, and synth-pop on their label debut, WANT, became the blueprint for crunkcore that year, and perfectly soundtracked the chaotic hedonism of the moment. They’ve released a steady stream of music since, most recently 2016’s Night Sports on beloved pop-punk and emo label Fueled By Ramen . Now, they’ve bounced back to Photo Finish with a new song, “Lonely Machines,” setting out to recall their early style. “There was this quality that usually goes into songs that we’re happy with in the end: this light, fun atmosphere,” says Sean Foreman, half of the duo. The product, though, ended up being heavier. “I think it was a freestyle — just guttural, pure energy that you were screaming out,” his bandmate Nathaniel Motte remembers.

But the song didn’t fully come together until the band brought on another breakout experimental-pop duo: 100 gecs. Critics couldn’t mention 100 gecs last year without tracing their frenetic stylings back to 3OH!3 (who, unlike the gecs today, were far from acclaimed back in the late ’00s). “It was such news to us,” Foreman says of learning about his band’s reach. 3OH!3 connected with 100 gecs through the producer benny blanco. “It was awesome to be able to connect the dots,” Motte says. “Laura [Les, of 100 gecs] really took it to another place and injected some more energy into the song.” The two bands wouldn’t even meet until they filmed the music video, by that time in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of us never stopped thinking about 3OH!3 since the late ’00s, and it’s not like Motte and Foreman ever took a proper break from making music, anyway. Even when they weren’t releasing new 3OH!3 songs, they racked up writing and producing credits for musicians from Ariana Grande to Lindsey Stirling to Lil Jon. Still, “Lonely Machines” does feel like a return for the duo, full of dirty synths and instant quotables, all building toward a total adrenaline rush of a drop. Ahead of more music to come, Vulture caught up with 3OH!3 for a look back on their career, from their beginnings in the Colorado scene to their best Warped Tour memories to “Lonely Machines” and new music.

Best 3OH!3 song

Nathaniel Motte: Writing this record, we went back and studied some of our older stuff, just to catch some of the raw energy. It’s all about rocking a party. It’s funny — to me, [on] our old songs, we didn’t stitch together narratives all that much. [ Laughs ] It was more about energy. And I think “Lonely Machines” is a bit of a harkening back to [the energy we captured on] “RICHMAN.” Some of the songs on WANT are like that; our shows before the quarantine, we’d been playing a lot more of those songs, including “COLORADOSUNRISE.” That’s one of my favorites.

S.F. : It’s funny you say that, because I think it is left and right brain between “COLORADOSUNRISE” and “RICHMAN.” If it’s 3OH!3, it’s almost physical, and “RICHMAN” — I remember when we first were making that, I think we probably blew out [producer] Matt Squire’s speakers at the studio. It was just bodied.

“Lonely Machines” is the combination of those two worlds. So I’ll say “COLORADOSUNRISE.” I don’t think we’d be sitting here if we didn’t have the support, early on, of Colorado. It’s almost like an origin story. [In the song] I’m talking about the room that I used to live in [in Brooklyn]. I used to literally live in a closet that I built the plaster walls in, when I first moved to New York [around 2008]. It wasn’t even a closed room, my other roommates could just see me there. It just feels real to me. Even when I perform it, like, “A trainwreck that I am / and I am what I am what I am what I am,” it feels emotional sometimes. I feel like people can relate to feeling that way.

Favorite hometown moment

N.M. : Colorado is such an amazing place because the support for live music there is incredible, and it always has been. I still remember playing our first show at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, where we grew up seeing shows — our first sold-out show. I remember crowdsurfing over to my dad, who was in the first level of the little balcony, and I grabbed his hand and then crowdsurfed back to the stage. For me, those are the most special memories: Just rocking a party and then having your family and friends there. Other people who listen to our music, to me, are just an extension of our family and friends.

S.F. : I agree, man. As much as we want to say Red Rocks — I think as a fan, going to see a show at Red Rocks is the best thing that you can do with music. It seems humble, but it’s our first headlining show at the Fox Theatre, because that’s where we grew up, that’s where we’d go to shows all the time. To be on that stage on the other side of it was bizarre. In high school, I worked for this promotional company that would get me into the hip-hop shows if I [put up flyers around] my high school. I would usually just throw them in the trash when I walked into the high school, [ laughs ] so I could get in.

Best year of Warped Tour

N.M. : For me, it’s 2008, our first year [on the full tour]. We did one show in 2007, the Colorado show. That was actually the first Warped Tour I’d ever been to as a fan or performer, I didn’t really know anything about it. That opened my eyes. And then 2008 Warped Tour was like our first tour, period. That’s a fucking tour to go on as your first, ‘cause it’s hot, it’s brutal. We’d show up to cities that we’d never played and there’d be a few hundred people there. Then like two, three weeks in, I remember showing up to Houston — we’d never been anywhere near playing in Houston — and there were like a few thousand people at our set.

S.F. : A few thousand, that’s being generous.

N.M. : Yeah. [ Laughs ] No, there were. And Katy [Perry] was on that tour; we got to be great friends with her. Kind of organically, the guys who played with her on stage started playing with us. Our stage was just a party, every day. The stage manager was like, “I’m going to try to break your stage every day by inviting however many people we can up on the stage.” It was a collective, fun thing, where we just happened to be the guys curating the party. That year was eye-opening, and the parties were crazy.

3OH!3 song that makes crowds go wildest

N.M. : Now, I think it’s probably “DONTTRUSTME.” Obviously, that’s the song that people know the most, but it’s not necessarily the heaviest or hardest song. We have a song called “CHOKECHAIN,” and a song called “PUNKBITCH,” and those [have] that raw energy. They provided a bridge for us on Warped Tour, stylistically. We stood out, our shows were different, but then also, we had an edge to our music.

S.F. : “DONTTRUSTME,” that was that time too where we stole Katy Perry’s backing band, and they played with us on that song. By the end of the tour, we had the weirdest mishmash. We had El Hefe from NOFX play with us on that, we had Katy Perry’s band, we had Cisco [Adler] and Shwayze who were like running around. Like, everyone on tour was there.

Dirtiest synth line in a 3OH!3 song

N.M. : Uh, “PUNKBITCH.” I was working in a [music editing] program called Reason. Actually, for “Lonely Machines,” I dug back into it. Some of those synths that you hear at the end of “DONTTRUSTME,” I reworked those to capture some of that vibe. I was very inspired by heavy music. It was a lot of Nine Inch Nails and Lil Jon, and those are very varied artists in terms of what they do, but there’s a common corollary there, that it’s just heavy. I didn’t own a bunch of synths back then, I just had a laptop, and that program allowed me to express that creative need in a different way. The lead synth line in “CHOKECHAIN” goes crazy. At the end of “Lonely Machines,” I had fun doing that too.

Worst criticism you’ve received

S.F. : We got a zero. Was it Kerrang! ?

N.M. : I think it might have been Kerrang! We got fucking trashed.

S.F. : We got a zero out of whatever they give ratings out of, I don’t even know [ Ed. note: Kerrang! rates music out of five points ]. Which is a badge of honor. We were heading out [to the U.K.] to play Reading and Leeds, and we never had been out there to play a festival. It was a perfect mix of the stuff that we listened to. I think Radiohead were headlining, so it was amazing to even be part of it. We were playing this dance tent, and we got that review. I think the previous year, Panic! at the Disco got bottled off the stage.

N.M. : I remember the article now, it was saying that we had sold more singles than Radiohead ever had.

S.F. : Like, “This music sucks and Radiohead’s awesome, can you believe that they outsold [them], they shouldn’t deserve that.” And we were like, “We agree!” [ Laughs ]

N.M. : You’ve got a point, we’re not going to fight you on that.

S.F. : We’re not Radiohead. But we were first or second in the tent, and there was no one in there as we sound-checked. I was like, thank God , that’s a better alternative than someone throwing bottles at us. We spent 15 minutes getting ready, and then we walked out and the tent was overflowing with people. They trashed the shit out of us and gave us a zero, but it wasn’t representative of the energy of people coming out and wanting to see us.

Best moment from 3OH!3 Day 2020

S.F. : Our fans are amazing in the sense that they’ll travel. When we did 3OH!3 Day this last March [in Denver], the last show that happened before everything shut down, we walked the line before the show and talked to people who were like, “Oh, just drove in from New Mexico,” “Flew down from Chicago.” We obviously got a lot of fans early on through Warped Tour, and obviously they’re getting older, and they have careers or kids and all these things; I mean we have doctors [for fans]. I think the magic [of being a 3OH!3 fan] is there isn’t a type.

Our buddy Lil Jon, who we’ve worked with and played shows with in the past, came out and performed with us. He opened, along with Breathe Carolina, and they’re actually hometown. It just feels very homey.

N.M. : That collective feel, it’s very tangible in Colorado. People are rabid about live music, and just looking out and seeing people there with the same mantra that we have, that collectivity and that inclusiveness [was a highlight].

S.F. : The funnest thing, though, is we walked to a place down the street to get a drink before the show. We’re walking by groups of people coming out of their Ubers, and it’s nice because we don’t have any [notable physical] qualities — [ laughs ] I mean, Nat’s six-eight, but no one really recognizes us. In Colorado, there’s this humble quality that we’re part of something. It’s not really our thing to give to anyone. And that’s what we want 3OH!3 to be. We’re just two people in that crowd, and that’s what it felt like.

Best song you’ve written for someone else

N.M.: MAX’s “Lights Down Low” might be one of my favorites. It was just an honest song. Writing it and producing it, I got to use the guitar that my dad gave me for my 21st birthday. And I got to sit and write that song with one of my best friends [Liam O’Donnell], which I’m fortunate to be able to do for 3OH!3 stuff with Sean, too.

I also did a Maroon 5 song [“ Love Somebody ”] that came about through a Colorado connection as well; I worked on the instrumental section of it with Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic, who [also] kind of grew up in Colorado, and then he took that in with his sessions with Adam [Levine], and that developed into a song. That was a much different process, but equally as rewarding. Working with other people for other artists adds to our creative plot. There’s frustrations that come with either side of them, and they counterbalance each other a little bit. With writing for others, there’s a lot of speculation and it’s a lot of mining for gold — in that you write a lot, and nowhere near as much of what you write is put out. Then with our band, it’s a lot more conducive to writing and releasing music.

S.F. : Uhhh [ thinking about the question ], for other people?

N.M. : I mean, “Tattooed Heart” [which Foreman co-wrote for Ariana Grande’s Yours Truly ] was amazing, dude.

S.F. : Yeah, how it was created was amazing. We were in the studio with Ariana Grande; Matt Squire at the time was executive-producing her album. And I forget, you were running late that day or something, man.

N.M. : Yeah, I had the good fortune. [ Ed. note: Motte co-produced the song.] But in my mind, it’s like, Ariana wasn’t considering herself a writer, and you really opened [her up] on that song. It’s like you guys worked with her and allowed her to do what she wanted to do.

S.F. : That was like a true, in-the-moment creation. And obviously, she could sing the alphabet or the dictionary and get a standing ovation with her voice. But she sang [our song] at the White House for Obama and Michelle, and they gave her a standing ovation; then she sang [it] at the AMAs, and Lady Gaga was, like, standing ovation. Seeing our creation take on a life of its own has been pretty amazing.

Weirdest place you’ve heard your music

N.M. : We were on TRL . Remember the first time? We were on a day off, like 2008 Warped Tour. In a hotel, there were like 12 of us, just exhausted, trying sleep. The music video for song “HOLLERTILYOUPASSOUT” was on TRL , and that was pretty crazy. We grew up watching Carson Daly.

S.F. : I actually think the coolest thing is you could go to any karaoke thing and we’re on the karaoke list.

N.M. : That’s pretty sad and pathetic. We should do a whole tour where we just do our own karaoke at bars. [ Laughs ]

S.F. : I haven’t gotten to the point where I’ve done our own songs at karaoke, but that might be a good thing to do. I think I could do it and someone would be like, “Dude, you don’t sound anything like it, you suck.”

N.M. : I think when we really burn out, and like —

S.F. : — we’re close.

N.M. : Yeah, we’re close. But when our flame is really burned out, I think we’d do that. Then, if we can successfully get booed off the karaoke stage doing our own music, I think that’s when we’ve hit it.

Best word to describe your new music

S.F. : Need.

N.M. : We wanted to take a little bit of the best of both worlds of our own artistry, take some some of the energy and sounds from when we first started releasing music and apply the craft that we’ve honed over the past 10–15 years of working in music [to our new work]. To make a sound that’s big and edgy, and then also inclusive and poppy and catchy; to write songs that are interesting and novel, and sometimes funny, and, hopefully all the time, fun. The thing that’s tied hand to hand with that is those live shows. That’s the greatest reward I think that we can have, is to see people having fun with our music. Obviously those things are very much out of focus now, when we can’t have live music. [But] it’s nice to try to have a purpose of bringing people together. Bringing people a sense of joy, of energy, of smiling, and of that catharsis that we’ve always tried to do with our music.

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3OH!3  

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3OH!3 are an electronic music duo hailing from Boulder, Colorado, United States who formed in 2004. Since debuting, they have released four studio albums and are best known for their hit singles “Don't Trust Me”, and their collaboration with Ke$ha “My First Kiss”.

The duo is made up of Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte, who met while they were both studying at the University of Colorado Boulder. Both of them were already making their first attempts at creating electronic music at the time, so after they became friends, they decided to team up and see what they could create. They found that they had an abundance of creative chemistry together and decided to form a band together, and since both of them were native to Boulder, Colorado, they took their collective postcode, 303, as the name of the band. With a few alterations, obviously. In 2007 they self-released their self-titled debut album and made their live debut around Boulder, both proved so sucecsful that the band signed to Photo Finish Records, a division of Atlantic, within a few months of the record's release, and immediately started work on its follow up.

“Want”, the band's second was released in July the following year, and while the album itself was a reasonable hit, reaching the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100, nobody could have predicted the success of its lead single. After over 20 weeks on the chart, “Don't Trust Me” began a steady climb into the upper reaches of the Hot 100, powered by near-constant radio play, the song's popularity on YouTube and live performances of the track on network television. It would peak at number seven on the Billboard charts and for summer 2008, their were fewer pop acts in the world that were hotter than 3OH!3. Ever since then, the band have remained one of the ultimate guilty pleasure acts of today, with no other act in the world quite as adept at a ridiculously catchy hook and a chorus as crass as it is utterly genius.

The band have released a further two albums to date, and have collaborated with everyone from Katy Perry to Wiz Khalifa as well, and for remaining as dedicated to partying as they every were, 3OH!3 come highly recommended.

Live reviews

3OH!3 has hit the music scene in the form of catchy beats and provocative lyrics that you just can't get out of your head. Since their first alblum dropped in 2007, songs such as "Starstrukk", "Don't Trust Me", and "Double Vision" have been played on the radio and at every party ever since.

So what is it about 3OH!3 that has people shaking their rump to the beat? With lyrics like "Tell your boyfriend if he says hes got beef,that I'm a vegetarian and I ain't *** scared of him", it's hard to not enjoy 3OH!3's songs. 3OH!3's songs bring the lyrical genius to all their songs and match it with "impossible not to dance to" music (actual quote from one of my best friends). 3OH!3 takes ordinary dance music and amps it up, which has made their presence mandatory at every social gathering: from house parties to weddings, to the every day car play list to listen to on the commute to school or work.

3OH!3 has paved the way for break through artists in the House music genre and has made their musical prowess known to every music lover in the world.

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I went to see 3OH!3 on their Want 10th anniversary tour. I was running late to the show but, I made it to see 3OH!3.This was my first time seeing 3OH!3 since I decided not to go to the final Warped Tour. I heard them say on stage, "Most people love us for our jokes instead of our music."

We proved them wrong at the Metro. We sang and jumped when they said too. They were funny and fun to watch on stage. I only went because I brought they're 1st album. They sang the entire album in random order and did 1 song from the 2nd album.

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3OH!3 is not due to play near your location currently - but they are scheduled to play 2 concerts across 1 country in 2024-2025. View all concerts.

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Van’s Warped Tour at the Gorge features 3OH!3 and A Day to Remember

Tickets for Vans Warped Tour Aug. 13 at the Gorge Amphitheatre go on sale Friday, April 1.

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Punk rock is back with a vengeance as Vans Warped Tour celebrates its 11th year.

Check out the show Aug. 13 at the Gorge Amphitheatre, in George, Grant County. The lineup includes 3OH!3, A Day To Remember, Gym Class Heroes, The Devil Wears Prada, Asking Alexandria, Jack’s Mannequin, Less Than Jake, Against Me!, Pepper, Simple Plan and Relient K. For the full lineup: www.warpedtour.com /bands .

Tickets are $38.75 and go on sale at 4 p.m. Friday, April 1, at LiveNation.com , all Ticketmaster outlets, or by phone at 1-800-745-3000. A limited number of cheaper tickets are available at www.warpedtour.com , for $25, which includes a tour compilation CD and a 25 cent donation to the Unite the United charity and all service fees.

Marian Liu: 206-464-3825 or [email protected]

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Warped Tour: Gym Class Heroes, 3OH!3 Entertain Despite Dangerous Heat

Thousands of fans braved 100 degree weather over the weekend for the New York stop of the Vans Warped Tour.

By Sarah Maloy

Sarah Maloy

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Thousands of fans braved 100 degree weather over the weekend for the New York stop of the Vans Warped Tour, where headliners including Gym Class Heroes , 3OH!3 and A Day To Remember performed to sweaty but energetic crowds.

Girls clad in bikinis and boys in nothing but shorts filled the Nassau Coliseum on Saturday (July 23), bodies decorated with neon paint and “free hugs” scribbled across stomachs.

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Five bands kicked the show off between 11 a.m. and noon on Saturday, and after running to the Vans inflatable to check out the set times, the audience rushed to watch Simple Plan play on its first major stateside tour in the past few years.

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Video: Simple Plan’s “Addicted”/”I’d Do Anything,” Uniondale, N.Y., July 23

As the day went on and shows continued at all seven stages, every inch of shade in the venue was packed as kids braved the heat, downing free water from the trucks that tour founder Kevin Lyman had hired after seeing the expensive bottled water prices at the Long Island venue.

Many of the 2011 performers have been on the tour more than once, including The Devil Wears Prada , Attack Attack!, Big D and the Kids Table, Every Avenue, Less Than Jake, Relient K and Unwritten Law.

In the traveling festival’s 17-year history, the Warped Tour has never been defined by one genre. Performers have been classic punk ( NOFX , Bad Religion ), emo-punk ( My Chemical Romance , Fall Out Boy ), pop-punk ( All Time Low , We The Kings ), and even rap ( Eminem ).

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Lyman continues to push boundaries on the “punk rock summer camp,” this year booking reggae ( Pepper ), bluegrass (Larry And His Flask) and alt-country (Lucero) artists.

“I think he’s trying to expand and diversify a little bit,” said Lucero frontman Ben Nichols of Lyman’s decision to book his band. “And we’re definitely on the diverse side. We’ll see if it works. I’m curious to see if Warped Tour can become something bigger than it already is and something more inclusive than it already is. With guys like the Bad Rabbits and us out here, he’s definitely taking it in a new direction.”

Also diversifying the bill was the Bad Rabbits, who were both a crowd and crew favorite. The backstage and sidestage area was packed with dozens of workers and other band members — a crowd that the band’s tour manager said has only been growing each day. The audience grew, crowding the small Skullcandy stage as the band broke into dance numbers and joked with fans, proving that they are just as good of showmen as they are performers.

Video: Bad Rabbits’ “Girl I’m Like Damn,” Uniondale, N.Y., July 23

Fans flocked to the mainstage for Gym Class Heroes’ early evening set, where the band played vocalist Travie McCoy’s solo hit “Billionaire” in addition to Gym Class tracks including “Cupid’s Chokehold,” the band’s new single “Stereo Hearts” (feat. Adam Levine ) and “Peace Sign/Index Down,” for which the entire audience threw their middle fingers in the air. “Billionaire” started out with a track of Bruno Mars’ vocals, but the crowd was singing so loud that McCoy turned off the track and had the audience sing instead.

GCH hasn’t been on Warped Tour since 2008, and this is the first tour since the band took a break, allowing McCoy to record his solo debut and the other members to work on their own side projects.

“Being back on Warped has been phenomenal,” said bassist Eric Roberts . “We’re working out the kinks technically, but as far as the reception from all the kids, it’s been so inspiring. To go to all these signings and have kids be like, ‘Oh my gosh we missed you so much.’ It just makes me want to work that much harder to get our album out and put on great shows.”

Video: Gym Class Heroes Perform Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire,” Uniondale, N.Y., July 23

The audience and stage were both packed for 3OH!3’s set, as frontmen Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte burst on stage, running from side to side and jumping around, flying through their electro-pop hits “My First Kiss,” “Don’t Trust Me” and “I’m Not Your Boyfriend Baby.” The Colorado duo joked with the crowd, calling out to “ Justin Bieber ” and “Jesus Christ” in the audience and pulling a boy in a banana costume onstage to dance.

The day closed with mainstage sets by hardcore bands The Devil Wears Prada and A Day To Remember, and kids piled into cars and shuttle buses, just grateful for the air conditioning.

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Moscow Vibes – Three Day City Escape

Duration 3 days

Price from USD $730 ? Currency Conversion Converted from USD based on the latest exchange rate. Final amount and payment will be in USD. Final conversion rate is determined by your bank.

Trip Style Sightseeing

Time of year All Year

Home / Moscow Tours / Moscow Vibes – Three Day City Escape

• Dates & Prices

This short Moscow tour will give you a true taste of the history, culture and incomparable urban vibe that define one of the world’s largest metropolises. In just three days, this Moscow itinerary takes in all the most iconic sights of this attraction-packed destination. After two and half days getting acquainted with the city, we’ve set time aside for you to explore Moscow your way and discover your own favourite hang-outs in a city overflowing with hidden treasures

3-Day Moscow Tour Highlights:

• Panoramic Tour of Moscow: See Moscow beyond the postcard images on a private excursion by car through the city streets including a drive along the banks of the Moskva River. Visit the famous Bolshoi Theatre, pass by Gorky Park and the Novodevichy Convent, and admire the city from on high at the Sparrow Hill observation platform.
• Moscow Historical City Centre Guided Walking Tour : Immerse yourself in the atmosphere of one of the world’s biggest metropolises and discover local haunts on foot, including the Red Square, the Kremlin and the multi-coloured domes of St Basil’s Cathedral.
• Armory Chamber tour: Explore the endless treasures of this unique museum, displaying the wealth accumulated by Russian rulers from the 12th century until the October Revolution of 1917. Walking through the exhibition halls is a journey through the centuries.
• Moscow Metro Tour : Go deep underground on a subway tour of the famous Moscow metro. The world’s deepest metro system is renowned for its palatial, art-adorned stations, complete with marble columns and chandeliers.

On your first day, you’ll be treated to a panoramic, drive-by tour of Moscow to get a feel for the immense scale of one of the world’s most rapidly developing urban centres. The city’s history unfolds in real-time as you pass lavish imperial mansions, solemn Soviet structures and luxurious modern shopping centres.

Day two kicks off exploring Moscow’s historic centre on foot, followed by a tour of the Kremlin, the seat of Russian power and political intrigue for centuries. Stand in the Red Square, surrounded by the stunning architecture as you hear stories of the people and events behind many of Moscow’s most iconic landmarks.

On your final day, we’ll head beneath the city for a tour of the Moscow Metro and its famously ornate underground stations. Art lovers should hit up one of Moscow’s many world-class galleries such as the Tretyakov State Gallery, the Pushkin Museum or Garage, Moscow’s cutting-edge contemporary art museum. History fans can follow a Soviet trail through the city including Stalin’s Bunker, while those seeking a more indulgent experience can browse trendy neighbourhoods like Kitay Gorod or shop for everything from fashion to kitsch souvenirs at the enchanting Izmaylovo Flea Market. Foodies can head to one of the countless speciality stores sampling vodka, caviar and chocolate.

If you only have a few days to spend in Moscow, this tour will ensure you make the most of your time in the city. Let the experts navigate you through this complex and occasionally overwhelming capital, giving you plenty of time to soak up the city’s most unmissable attractions.

Accomodation

Not Included

Sightseeing

Action rating ?

Type of tour

3 days / 2 nights

Private - Any Date

Day 1 Panoramic city tour

Welcome to the glorious capital of Russia, Moscow! You’ll be met by your driver at the airport and taken to your centrally located hotel.

After check-in and rest, meet your private guide at the hotel lobby for a comprehensive tour of Moscow by car. Visit the starkly contrasting Theatre Square to see the stunning Bolshoi Theatre, pass Tverskaya Street, the city’s main boulevard and home to the landmark Yeleseyevskiy Grocery Store.

You’ll enjoy a panoramic drive along the Moskva River, where a huge, controversial state of Peter the Great was erected. Pass by the legendary Gorky Park and the White House before a stop at the architecturally stunning Novodevichy Convent, and the observation platform at Sparrow Hills, for a bird’s eye view over this staggering megalopolis.

Day 2 Red Square and Kremlin

After breakfast at the hotel, your guide will take you on a walking tour of the historical city centre. Stroll through the Red Square, the hub of cultural life in Moscow, with its elaborate ‘stone flower’ fountain and fantasy-like St Basil’s Cathedral – a postcard-perfect symbol of the nation. Admire the grandiose façade of GUM, the city’s most luxurious shopping centre, and visit Alexander’s Garden, with its eternal flame and the chance to watch a changing of the guards.

Break for lunch before continuing on a tour of the Kremlin and Armoury Chamber, famous of its collection of tsarist fashion, with regalia such as jewel-encrusted crowns, orbs and sceptres as well as arms and armour, exotic gifts from the leaders of faraway lands, and an illustrious case of Imperial Faberge eggs.

As an option* spend an evening on a sumptuous dinner cruise, taking in the stunning sights and city lights of this mesmerising metropolis by night.

Day 3 Metro and Arbat Street

Start a day with a tour of Metro, stopping on the way to marvel at some of the most elaborately decorated stations of the world-famous Moscow subway system. Take a stroll along Old Arbat street - the most famous street in Moscow. Through the centuries Arbat used to be one of the most bohemian places in Moscow. Today Arbat is a promenade full of small cozy cafes and street life.

The afternoon is free for you to either enjoy the rest of the day on your own or choose among optional excursions to explore more of Moscow. Visit the Tretyakov Gallery or Pushkin State Museum to admire Russian art. Join locals for a stroll at the Gorky or VDNH park.

Visit beautiful Kolomeskoye Estate or Izmailovo Kremlin, or spend a day exploring the beautiful city of the Golden Ring (Russian province) - Sergiev Posad. In the evening you will be transferred to the airport for your departure to your next destination.

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Group airport/train-station arrival and departure transfers

All transportation according to the itinerary with a private driver

4* hotel accommodation in the historical city center (twin/double)

Local licensed English-speaking guide

All activities, indicated in the itinerary, except optional

Entry fees according to the itinerary (skip-the-lines policy)

Russian visa support document

Travel insurance

Russian visa and visa fees. Russian visa can be arranged by 56th Parallel for an additional cost (for Australian citizens only). Apply for concierge visa service here .

Optional excursions/activities

*Private tour. Price is per person, based on min 2 people

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Why travel to Russia with 56th Parallel?

Destination Specialists

Our team offers over 18 years of experience travelling and planning travel in Russia. Delivering outstanding travel experiences in Russia’s capitals and in some of the most stunning & remote locations takes experience, special access and the right connections. We make sure that all the fine details are handled perfectly so you can enjoy your Russia travel experience.

Group & Private Tours

The choice to join a small group on a guaranteed departure or chose to travel on your own dates with your own mates. Each destination we travel to in Russia offers an option between private tours and small group tours. Please note: on our adventure tours in remote destinations, we mostly run group tours to keep the cost down.

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56th Parallel is a fully licensed, insured and accredited travel provider.

From USD $730

Day 1: Panoramic city tour

Day 2: red square and kremlin, day 3: metro and arbat street, not included, start planning your tour.

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In Transit: Notes from the Underground

Jun 06 2018.

Spend some time in one of Moscow’s finest museums.

Subterranean commuting might not be anyone’s idea of a good time, but even in a city packing the war-games treasures and priceless bejeweled eggs of the Kremlin Armoury and the colossal Soviet pavilions of the VDNKh , the Metro holds up as one of Moscow’s finest museums. Just avoid rush hour.

The Metro is stunning and provides an unrivaled insight into the city’s psyche, past and present, but it also happens to be the best way to get around. Moscow has Uber, and the Russian version called Yandex Taxi , but also some nasty traffic. Metro trains come around every 90 seconds or so, at a more than 99 percent on-time rate. It’s also reasonably priced, with a single ride at 55 cents (and cheaper in bulk). From history to tickets to rules — official and not — here’s what you need to know to get started.

A Brief Introduction Buying Tickets Know Before You Go (Down) Rules An Easy Tour

A Brief Introduction

Moscow’s Metro was a long time coming. Plans for rapid transit to relieve the city’s beleaguered tram system date back to the Imperial era, but a couple of wars and a revolution held up its development. Stalin revived it as part of his grand plan to modernize the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s. The first lines and tunnels were constructed with help from engineers from the London Underground, although Stalin’s secret police decided that they had learned too much about Moscow’s layout and had them arrested on espionage charges and deported.

The beauty of its stations (if not its trains) is well-documented, and certainly no accident. In its illustrious first phases and particularly after the Second World War, the greatest architects of Soviet era were recruited to create gleaming temples celebrating the Revolution, the USSR, and the war triumph. No two stations are exactly alike, and each of the classic showpieces has a theme. There are world-famous shrines to Futurist architecture, a celebration of electricity, tributes to individuals and regions of the former Soviet Union. Each marble slab, mosaic tile, or light fixture was placed with intent, all in service to a station’s aesthetic; each element, f rom the smallest brass ear of corn to a large blood-spattered sword on a World War II mural, is an essential part of the whole.

The Metro is a monument to the Soviet propaganda project it was intended to be when it opened in 1935 with the slogan “Building a Palace for the People”. It brought the grand interiors of Imperial Russia to ordinary Muscovites, celebrated the Soviet Union’s past achievements while promising its citizens a bright Soviet future, and of course, it was a show-piece for the world to witness the might and sophistication of life in the Soviet Union.

It may be a museum, but it’s no relic. U p to nine million people use it daily, more than the London Underground and New York Subway combined. (Along with, at one time, about 20 stray dogs that learned to commute on the Metro.)

In its 80+ year history, the Metro has expanded in phases and fits and starts, in step with the fortunes of Moscow and Russia. Now, partly in preparation for the World Cup 2018, it’s also modernizing. New trains allow passengers to walk the entire length of the train without having to change carriages. The system is becoming more visitor-friendly. (There are helpful stickers on the floor marking out the best selfie spots .) But there’s a price to modernity: it’s phasing out one of its beloved institutions, the escalator attendants. Often they are middle-aged or elderly women—“ escalator grandmas ” in news accounts—who have held the post for decades, sitting in their tiny kiosks, scolding commuters for bad escalator etiquette or even bad posture, or telling jokes . They are slated to be replaced, when at all, by members of the escalator maintenance staff.

For all its achievements, the Metro lags behind Moscow’s above-ground growth, as Russia’s capital sprawls ever outwards, generating some of the world’s worst traffic jams . But since 2011, the Metro has been in the middle of an ambitious and long-overdue enlargement; 60 new stations are opening by 2020. If all goes to plan, the 2011-2020 period will have brought 125 miles of new tracks and over 100 new stations — a 40 percent increase — the fastest and largest expansion phase in any period in the Metro’s history.

Facts: 14 lines Opening hours: 5 a.m-1 a.m. Rush hour(s): 8-10 a.m, 4-8 p.m. Single ride: 55₽ (about 85 cents) Wi-Fi network-wide

Buying Tickets

• Ticket machines have a button to switch to English.
• You can buy specific numbers of rides: 1, 2, 5, 11, 20, or 60. Hold up fingers to show how many rides you want to buy.
• There is also a 90-minute ticket , which gets you 1 trip on the metro plus an unlimited number of transfers on other transport (bus, tram, etc) within 90 minutes.
• Or, you can buy day tickets with unlimited rides: one day (218₽/ US$4), three days (415₽/US$7) or seven days (830₽/US$15). Check the rates here to stay up-to-date.
• If you’re going to be using the Metro regularly over a few days, it’s worth getting a Troika card , a contactless, refillable card you can use on all public transport. Using the Metro is cheaper with one of these: a single ride is 36₽, not 55₽. Buy them and refill them in the Metro stations, and they’re valid for 5 years, so you can keep it for next time. Or, if you have a lot of cash left on it when you leave, you can get it refunded at the Metro Service Centers at Ulitsa 1905 Goda, 25 or at Staraya Basmannaya 20, Building 1.
• You can also buy silicone bracelets and keychains with built-in transport chips that you can use as a Troika card. (A Moscow Metro Fitbit!) So far, you can only get these at the Pushkinskaya metro station Live Helpdesk and souvenir shops in the Mayakovskaya and Trubnaya metro stations. The fare is the same as for the Troika card.
• You can also use Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Rules, spoken and unspoken

No smoking, no drinking, no filming, no littering. Photography is allowed, although it used to be banned.

Stand to the right on the escalator. Break this rule and you risk the wrath of the legendary escalator attendants. (No shenanigans on the escalators in general.)

Get out of the way. Find an empty corner to hide in when you get off a train and need to stare at your phone. Watch out getting out of the train in general; when your train doors open, people tend to appear from nowhere or from behind ornate marble columns, walking full-speed.

Always offer your seat to elderly ladies (what are you, a monster?).

An Easy Tour

This is no Metro Marathon ( 199 stations in 20 hours ). It’s an easy tour, taking in most—though not all—of the notable stations, the bulk of it going clockwise along the Circle line, with a couple of short detours. These stations are within minutes of one another, and the whole tour should take about 1-2 hours.

Start at Mayakovskaya Metro station , at the corner of Tverskaya and Garden Ring,  Triumfalnaya Square, Moskva, Russia, 125047.

1. Mayakovskaya.  Named for Russian Futurist Movement poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and an attempt to bring to life the future he imagined in his poems. (The Futurist Movement, natch, was all about a rejecting the past and celebrating all things speed, industry, modern machines, youth, modernity.) The result: an Art Deco masterpiece that won the National Grand Prix for architecture at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. It’s all smooth, rounded shine and light, and gentle arches supported by columns of dark pink marble and stainless aircraft steel. Each of its 34 ceiling niches has a mosaic. During World War II, the station was used as an air-raid shelter and, at one point, a bunker for Stalin. He gave a subdued but rousing speech here in Nov. 6, 1941 as the Nazis bombed the city above.

Take the 3/Green line one station to:

2. Belorusskaya. Opened in 1952, named after the connected Belarussky Rail Terminal, which runs trains between Moscow and Belarus. This is a light marble affair with a white, cake-like ceiling, lined with Belorussian patterns and 12 Florentine ceiling mosaics depicting life in Belarussia when it was built.

Transfer onto the 1/Brown line. Then, one stop (clockwise) t o:

3. Novoslobodskaya.  This station was designed around the stained-glass panels, which were made in Latvia, because Alexey Dushkin, the Soviet starchitect who dreamed it up (and also designed Mayakovskaya station) couldn’t find the glass and craft locally. The stained glass is the same used for Riga’s Cathedral, and the panels feature plants, flowers, members of the Soviet intelligentsia (musician, artist, architect) and geometric shapes.

Go two stops east on the 1/Circle line to:

4. Komsomolskaya. Named after the Komsomol, or the Young Communist League, this might just be peak Stalin Metro style. Underneath the hub for three regional railways, it was intended to be a grand gateway to Moscow and is today its busiest station. It has chandeliers; a yellow ceiling with Baroque embellishments; and in the main hall, a colossal red star overlaid on golden, shimmering tiles. Designer Alexey Shchusev designed it as an homage to the speech Stalin gave at Red Square on Nov. 7, 1941, in which he invoked Russia’s illustrious military leaders as a pep talk to Soviet soldiers through the first catastrophic year of the war.   The station’s eight large mosaics are of the leaders referenced in the speech, such as Alexander Nevsky, a 13th-century prince and military commander who bested German and Swedish invading armies.

One more stop clockwise to Kurskaya station,  and change onto the 3/Blue  line, and go one stop to:

5. Baumanskaya.   Opened in 1944. Named for the Bolshevik Revolutionary Nikolai Bauman , whose monument and namesake district are aboveground here. Though he seemed like a nasty piece of work (he apparently once publicly mocked a woman he had impregnated, who later hung herself), he became a Revolutionary martyr when he was killed in 1905 in a skirmish with a monarchist, who hit him on the head with part of a steel pipe. The station is in Art Deco style with atmospherically dim lighting, and a series of bronze sculptures of soldiers and homefront heroes during the War. At one end, there is a large mosaic portrait of Lenin.

Stay on that train direction one more east to:

6. Elektrozavodskaya. As you may have guessed from the name, this station is the Metro’s tribute to all thing electrical, built in 1944 and named after a nearby lightbulb factory. It has marble bas-relief sculptures of important figures in electrical engineering, and others illustrating the Soviet Union’s war-time struggles at home. The ceiling’s recurring rows of circular lamps give the station’s main tunnel a comforting glow, and a pleasing visual effect.

Double back two stops to Kurskaya station , and change back to the 1/Circle line. Sit tight for six stations to:

7. Kiyevskaya. This was the last station on the Circle line to be built, in 1954, completed under Nikita Khrushchev’ s guidance, as a tribute to his homeland, Ukraine. Its three large station halls feature images celebrating Ukraine’s contributions to the Soviet Union and Russo-Ukrainian unity, depicting musicians, textile-working, soldiers, farmers. (One hall has frescoes, one mosaics, and the third murals.) Shortly after it was completed, Khrushchev condemned the architectural excesses and unnecessary luxury of the Stalin era, which ushered in an epoch of more austere Metro stations. According to the legend at least, he timed the policy in part to ensure no Metro station built after could outshine Kiyevskaya.

Change to the 3/Blue line and go one stop west.

8. Park Pobedy. This is the deepest station on the Metro, with one of the world’s longest escalators, at 413 feet. If you stand still, the escalator ride to the surface takes about three minutes .) Opened in 2003 at Victory Park, the station celebrates two of Russia’s great military victories. Each end has a mural by Georgian artist Zurab Tsereteli, who also designed the “ Good Defeats Evil ” statue at the UN headquarters in New York. One mural depicts the Russian generals’ victory over the French in 1812 and the other, the German surrender of 1945. The latter is particularly striking; equal parts dramatic, triumphant, and gruesome. To the side, Red Army soldiers trample Nazi flags, and if you look closely there’s some blood spatter among the detail. Still, the biggest impressions here are the marble shine of the chessboard floor pattern and the pleasingly geometric effect if you view from one end to the other.

Keep going one more stop west to:

9. Slavyansky Bulvar.  One of the Metro’s youngest stations, it opened in 2008. With far higher ceilings than many other stations—which tend to have covered central tunnels on the platforms—it has an “open-air” feel (or as close to it as you can get, one hundred feet under). It’s an homage to French architect Hector Guimard, he of the Art Nouveau entrances for the Paris M é tro, and that’s precisely what this looks like: A Moscow homage to the Paris M é tro, with an additional forest theme. A Cyrillic twist on Guimard’s Metro-style lettering over the benches, furnished with t rees and branch motifs, including creeping vines as towering lamp-posts.

Stay on the 3/Blue line and double back four stations to:

10. Arbatskaya. Its first iteration, Arbatskaya-Smolenskaya station, was damaged by German bombs in 1941. It was rebuilt in 1953, and designed to double as a bomb shelter in the event of nuclear war, although unusually for stations built in the post-war phase, this one doesn’t have a war theme. It may also be one of the system’s most elegant: Baroque, but toned down a little, with red marble floors and white ceilings with gilded bronze c handeliers.

Jump back on the 3/Blue line  in the same direction and take it one more stop:

11. Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square). Opened in 1938, and serving Red Square and the Kremlin . Its renowned central hall has marble columns flanked by 76 bronze statues of Soviet heroes: soldiers, students, farmers, athletes, writers, parents. Some of these statues’ appendages have a yellow sheen from decades of Moscow’s commuters rubbing them for good luck. Among the most popular for a superstitious walk-by rub: the snout of a frontier guard’s dog, a soldier’s gun (where the touch of millions of human hands have tapered the gun barrel into a fine, pointy blade), a baby’s foot, and a woman’s knee. (A brass rooster also sports the telltale gold sheen, though I am told that rubbing the rooster is thought to bring bad luck. )

Now take the escalator up, and get some fresh air.

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