Moscow, Russia + Add a trip

Novotel Moscow Centre

Very nice hotel, spacious hotel rooms and best breakfast! OK, not the cheapest but directly at the Metro Station MENDELEEVSKAYA/NOVOSLOBODSKAYA.

Booking Moscow Hotels

If you ar travelling on business, you will get better rates booking directly with the major chains (Marriot, Holiday Inn, etc) online than Moscow businesses can get via a local Moscow agent. You also get better availability. This would have saved me time and some rubbish hotels had I known it when I first started travelling to Moscow.

Taking a Taxi in Moscow

If you take a "offical" Taxi in front of the Hotel, Airport or at Tourist areas - be prepared to pay a fortune! Better: Start walking and simply stop a car somewhere on the street (hand out). A few seconds later someone will stop. Then negotiate the price. If you can´t speak Russian ...like me - don´t worry. Have a map with metro stations with you and show him the street name and the nearest metro station. Then he will know his way. Its better if you stop someone who is alone in the car...

Russian Visa

If you're going on a short trip, the best way is to get a tourist visa. First, you need to get an invitation, also called visa support, for example at http://waytorussia.net/Travel/VisaSupport.html – it costs $30 and is usually done in 1 day. After that's done and e-mailed to you, just print out the visa application form from the Russian consulate's website, fill it out, take your passport, two photos, copy of insurance policy valid in Russia (e.g. your credit card insurance), and submit all these documents to the consulate (in person or by post). The visa fee is usually $50-$100 depending on the country and it should be ready in 7 days.

Moscow In Your Pocket - Free City Guide!

Before you go, download the Moscow In Your Pocket city guide for free from http://moscow.inyourpocket.com or grab a hard copy when you are there.

Ritz Carlton - Russian Tea extravaganza at high price

But worth it for once, excellent for potential literature character spotting!

Important notes for the first time visitor

1) Fly to Domodedovo if you can, especially if you intend an onward internal flight as both terminals are in the same building and signs are in English. 2) Ignore the people offering you a taxi, instead head to the train. This takes you to Moscow city center for a fraction of the cost. 3) When taking the train, keep hold of the ticket - you will need it to get out the other side. 4) The metro uses an oyster card like system, but you pay for trips rather than zones. It is fairly normal to get one card for a group of you with many trips on it and pass it back along the line. 5) Hold on to your passport - you'll need to show it to people quite a lot. DO NOT LOOSE YOUR EXIT VISA 6) If coming from the UK take dollars or Euros, you cant change pounds anywhere and roubles are hard to get in the UK 7) Don't drink the water

Visitors to Moscow with no knowledge of Russian or Cyrillic should be prepared to get by without asking for help on the street. Outside of business circles and hotels, the use of English is minimal and this includes the taxi's;

I had 10 appointments over 3.5 days. Before I left, I printed a map of the Underground and then wrote the addresses of my meetings both in Roman and Cyrillic. Using Google Maps I then located each of these addresses including the Metro stop that was closest. I printed a map for each location and kept everything in a plastic binder. Outside of a couple of orientation problems coming out of the metro, I had no problems and was on-time for every meeting.

In spite of what you might hear, Dollars and Euro's can be accepted, but the currency is the Ruble and you should be prepared to pay in Rubles. There are bank machines everywhere, but I would suggest taking cash only from machines located in banks just to be safe.

Maxima Zarya Hotel

Excellant 3 star hotel for business trip, good relaxing place after a long hard day of business, just near the hotel you will find the Moscow Botanic Garden for evening walks or morning footing. the hotel have good services the staff speaking very well english, Free Wi FI in rooms

Make sure you go inside next to making photos :)

Nice place to go, but the collection is about foreign art - if you want to see Russian art go to Tretiakov galery instead.

Nice for a romantic walk or time with kids. There is a teahouse, a couple of cafes/restaurants, playgrounds and animals. Various events in summer and ice skating in winter. Website with a map (in Russian) is at http://www.mosgorsad.ru/

And, it's also a great place for a photosession - that was one of the spots for our wedding :)

I very much liked the sweets !