One of the most relaxing ways to see any city is from the river. Moscow is no different, and with new routes opening this summer, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the city sights from the tranquility of the water.

The Capital Boat Company has opened a one-hour, nonstop boat route along Vodootvodny Canal in the center of the capital. The organizers say the trip was designed to give the passengers a chance to see "the most beautiful things in Moscow in a very short period of time from the very center of the city."

"This route is not only along the Moscow River, but for the first time along the Vodootvodny Canal," said Yulia Yefremova, the spokeswoman for the Moscow Boat Company. "To run this route we had to build a new boat to fit the canal."

The Stolitsa boat, designed and built at a St. Petersburg building yard, is shallow and flat-bottomed in order to clear underwater fountains on the Vodootvodny Canal.

The trip offers excellent views of the Kremlin, the Christ the Savior Cathedral and Zurab Tsereteli's giant statue of Peter the Great, as well as Novospassky Monastery, the new House of Music and the historical Zamoskvorechye district, with its 18th-century stone houses, which belonged to Russian merchants.

"We call this route the Golden Ring of Moscow," Yefremova said.

Another new destination for this summer is Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery, built around 1375. The monastery is one of the most beautiful open spaces in the Moscow region, with attractive grounds and churches. There is a museum with a collection of ancient icons, and students of the monastery's clerical college offer guided tours.

Regular Moscow River trips from Kievsky Station, Moskva-City and Krasnaya Presnya are also available -- and not only during the day. Those interested in seeing the city at night can pick up the boat at 12 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. at the Kievsky berth and travel along Krymskaya Naberezhnaya and back to Kievsky in half an hour.

The Vodootvodny Canal boat trips run daily every hour from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. from Tretyakovsky Bridge, which connects Lavrushinsky Pereulok and Bolotnaya Ploshchad. Tickets cost 350 rubles for adults and children are half-price. An English-speaking guide costs 2,300 rubles.

The trip to Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery will run on September 6, 13, 20 and 27, departing from the berth in Kolomenskoye park at 10 a.m. and returning at 5 p.m. Tickets, which can be purchased at the company's office at 1 Leningradsky Prospekt, Metro Belorusskaya, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., cost 2,000 rubles and include a meal.

Regular trips along the Moscow River run every 20 minutes from Kievsky berth to Novospassky Bridge from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and every 1 3/4 hours from Vorobyovy Gory to the Church of Christ the Savior from 12:30 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. Tickets are available on the berths and cost 400 rubles for adults, 150 rubles for children and children under five travel free of charge. All trips start when the ship is loaded.

See www.cck-ship.ru for more details. Tel. 225-6070.