Shopping “to dive for” in Moscow

The Aviapark is the largest shopping mall in the whole of Europe and it is located, of course, in Moscow. The numbers are mind-boggling: 329 store (three-hundred and twenty nine!) under the same roof, with a huge supermarket and pretty much everything you might ever look for. The food court is so much more than an hoard of cheap fast food, offering an astonishing 56 restaurants, some of which decidedly gourmet, especially the ones presenting regional specialities.

One of the main attractions is the world’s tallest cylinder aquarium measuring 20,31 meters – 66 ft 7.6 in – (as per the official Guiness World record). The aquarium, which replicates the Red Sea, holds 370,000 liters of saltwater (almost 100.000 gallons) and nearly 2,500 fish. Due to the depth of the tank, it is necessary for divers to make multiple decompression stops, and this creates the perfect occasion to take pretty surreal pictures of divers in an aquarium in the middle of a shopping mall! You can see a collection of such pictures, and a video, on the website of ICM, the company that built the aquarium in Aviapark.

If you are planning a visit, the Aviapark website offers a very handy interactive map with highlights of all special offers and discounts currently on.

Travel tip! As I mentioned before, in Russian malls you can, of course, always find a large collection of fast food restaurants, to grab a quick and rather inexpensive byte on the run. But it is important to note that oftentimes in these malls you can also find very good, fashionable and elegant restaurant. In Aviapark, for instance, you can find a themed restaurant by the famous Russian chef Konstantin Ivlev, a few Italian restaurants (which I did not try) and a fantastic Georgian cuisine restaurant, which I will tell you all about in a future post! 🙂

Would you like to discover the Russia that tourists rarely get to see and make the most of your journey in the largest country in the world with an English speaking guide at your side? If so do get in touch and we’ll be happy to organise an unforgettable, tailor-made experience for you!