Bolshoy Sadovy (Academic) Pond

One of the largest ponds in the capital is located in the northern part of Timiryazevsky Park. The pond itself was dug in the middle of the 18th century, and it has been one of the main landscape decorations of the Petrovsko-Razumovskoye Estate ever since. Its area is 19 hectares, and the shores have different relief: the eastern shore is reinforced with concrete slabs, a forest grows to the south, the north is adjacent to a road, and the west shore (the most natural) is a beach. In the last century, the territory of the park and lake was declared protected, and in the 1990s, the Petrovsko-Razumovskoe nature reserve was founded.

You can’t light fires here, so it would be better to find another place for a barbecue, but you can swim, sunbathe, play volleyball or table tennis, take a boat ride and enjoy the fresh air and nature. There are playgrounds and sports grounds, a boat pier with a rental point, swimming and fishing equipment (with a boat or on the shore everyone can fish for a fee). For the convenience of tourists, the beach has changing cabins, toilets and taps to rinse after bathing. For safety, there is a station of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and a medical aid point.

You can lunch or snack at one of the summer cafes.

Photo: Wikipedia