First time visitor to Moscow

Hello everybody,

I would like to start planning a trip to Moscow. It would be great if anyone from the United States could share on there experience as far as what you need to do.

I am looking for things like, time it takes to get a visa, airline reservations, cell phone, hotel or apartment, etc.

My intent of this post is to start a comprehensive list of things you will need to consider which can be acquired by many peoples experience.

This list will benefit me, but will also benefit many people in the future.

Thanks for any contributions and good luck to all.

I asked the same in another post. It will be very useful any advice for first visitors to Moscow. I will post my points of view after I have made my trip on September.

I'm also looking into preperations, I had my visa within 3 weeks, there are sites available to do the whole deal for you, including the invitation, that I was unaware of. Don't know about Moscow but Hotels in ST. Pete are expensive if you get anything like your used too in the states. And beware of the" backdoor" ladies if you go, I was warned in some of the cheaper hotels these women look for foriegners, a friend of mine was robbed while sleeping,

You book your airplane ticket on websites.
http://www.aeroflot.com etc.
It's better to use Aeroflot if you fly to a city other than Moscow or Saint Petersburg. You'll have to change planes; and it'll be better if the same company handles it in case of a delay.

The best economical hotel in Moscow is Izmailovo http://www.alfa-hotel.ru
You can use their website to book a room.
It's a little bit far from the center, but it's close to the subway station.

There are numerous mini-hotels in Saint Petersburg.
I like this one "Empire Park": http://www.empireparkhotel.com/
It's also very close to the subway station.

You should plan all your travels using a schema of the subway (called Metro). It's the most economical and fastest way around.
The subway is very good and beautiful.

There is a cheap express train that goes each hour from Sheremetyevo II to Moscow. Once in the city, you can take a taxi or the subway. It goes much faster than a taxi from the airport through the horrible gridlock.
http://www.aeroexpress.ru/
If you have to fly farther, you should go to Sheremetyevo I or another airport. There are small buses.

If you have an unlocked tri-band GSM cell phone from T-Mobile or AT&T, you can easily buy a new SIM-card at the airport or at numerous places selling phones. However, there are roaming charges if you use the SIM-card in another city; throw it away and buy a card for the new city.

There are McDonalds everywhere. But if you want to try tasty and inexpensive Russian food, go to My My (45/23 Arbat street) http://www.cafemumu.ru/ There you can just point to the dish that you like. $10 - salad, soup, main dish, cookies, tea or juice...


If you find your date unattractive, go to a theater performance wearing a nice formal suit. The best girls are there. http://www.bolshoi.ru http://www.lenkom.ru/

Well, start sight-seeing from the Kremlin http://www.kreml.ru/ Red Square, Arbat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbat_Street

The best way to travel from Moscow to Saint Petersburg is by using a night train because it goes from the center of Moscow to the center of Saint Petersburg, and the sky above SP is often foggy.

Thanks for your post Barabaika, I find it very useful.

VenezuelanMan please let me know how your trip goes as I'm planning a trip soon.

Hello. I visited Moscow twice. Stayed in the apartment of my interpreter once and Hotel Cosmos once. For first trip, hotel would probably be best. I found it very hard to find an interpreter on my first trip. Worst part of trip was over half the ladies looked nothing like the photos they posted. Always ask for several current pics. After you've seen the main sites, Kremlin, Red Square, etc. I found Moscow to be just another big city. If I go again, I will go to a different city in Russia, as the smaller city ladies probably get fewer visitors. The apt was about a 10 minute walk to the metro in south Moscow. Nobody ever bothered me as I frequently went on subway by myself. I met several nice ladies. Many of the ladies have been single for a long time and seem to become somewhat aggressive/strong as she has had to take care of her family by herself. My best suggestion would be to locate 2 or 3 persons before you go who can be your guide/interpreter if you have difficulties. Also the ride from the airport is about an hour. Be careful choosing your taxi driver, maybe have the guide/interpreter or hotel schedule a ride for you.

This is great information!

How did you arrange for an interpreter?

How to find an interpreter? Most hotels will have an interpreter. But they are expensive and can not be your guide as they usually have to stay at work at the hotel. I found one in one of the English newspapers, Moscow Times I think it might have been. I rented her apartment on my next visit. I would suggest also finding some of the Marriage Agencies with offices in Moscow. They always have someone who would interpret and guide for you. But find someone before you go, not after you get there. Finding anything in a non-English speaking city can be extremely difficult. Imagine getting in a cab and telling him to take you to Red Square. He growls back at you in Russian somehting or other, and you have no clue what he said. He just lost his favorite parking spot and will be mad if you get jump out of the cab and leave....

When I visited China, the way we had the hotel concierge write our destination on a hotel business card.

You showed the card to the taxi driver and teh driver took you to your destination. The other side of the card got you back to the hotel.

In China, taxis were a good place to get counterfeit bills, so it was a really good idea to carry smaller bills. The less change you got back, the less chance of getting bad money.

Yes, that usually works good. I gave a cab driver in Kiev the address once written in english and urkanian. He looks back at me, shakes his head, and says something in Ukranian. I waited a few seconds, but he didn't want to go. So I gave hime a couple of dollars and just got out. As it turns out, the address I gave him was only about 100 yards away, down the street. He was probably saying "You idiot!!!! You want me to drive you 50 yards???".