Moscow is the capital of the Russian Federation and the largest city in the country, with a population of some 10 million people. The city covers an area of almost 900 square kilometers within the confines of the 109 kilometer-long Moscow Ring Road. The Moskva River meanders through the city for approximately 80 kilometers and with the help of various other rivers and canals, the Russian capital is accessible by water from the Baltic, Caspian, White and Black seas, which lie hundreds of miles away.
The city’s general layout is reasonably easy to grasp and consists of a serious of concentric circles radiating from the Kremlin, Moscow’s geographical, historical and political nucleus. The city was constructed on a massive scale and its buildings and streets appear menacingly imposing at first glance. The streets are typically broad four to six lane boulevards, lined with enormous buildings constructed in monumental Stalin-gothic style.
Within three days of your arrival in Russia your Visa must be registered with the local authorities, the OVIR. This is usually arranged by the party that issued your visa invitation, usually the hotel where you are staying, and may incur an extra charge.
Arriving in Moscow
There are several points of arrival into the Russian capital. Moscow’s main International Airport is the rather dilapidated Sheremet’evo II, which lies approximately 28 kilometers northwest of the city center. The airport can be reached on public transport by a two-stage journey, involving both metro and minibuses. We highly recommend that you arrange a transfer from the airport to your chosen hotel, which can be organized through Moscow Taxi. Just click here for further information. Moscow also boasts four other, mostly internal, airports; Sheremet’evo I, Bykovo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo, all of which are situated well outside the city limits and are difficult to reach by public transport.
Moscow is also served by eight major train stations, welcoming trains from St. Petersburg and Helsinki, Siberia, Central Asia, Southern Russia, Eastern Europe and the Baltic States.
The city also greets visitors from all over Russia, Eastern Europe and the Baltic States at its central bus station, near VDNKh Metro Station, and has various river terminals dotted throughout.
Public Transport
Moscow boasts a large-scale if rather dilapidated Public Transport System, including a very fast and comprehensive Metro System, and numerous bus, minibus, trolleybus and tram routes. Russian public transport does not work to timetables, but is reasonably reliable, frequent and absolutely dirt cheap!
Money Matters
The Russian Currency is the rouble, which subdivides into one hundred kopeks. Coins come in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 50 kopeks and 1, 2 and 5 roubles, and notes of 10, 50, 100, 500 and now 1,000 roubles. The Russian rouble, which is not a hard currency and therefore worth nothing beyond the borders of the country, experienced rapid devaluation during the 1998 Russian financial crisis, but in October 2001 is reasonably stable at approximately 30 roubles to the US dollar.
Russians think in US dollars so don’t be surprised if you are quoted prices in dollars. Most Muscovites are still eager to obtain foreign currency so although payment for goods in Russia must by law be made in roubles, stall holders are frequently willing to accept payment in US dollars. In many restaurants prices are quoted in “units”, a throw back from the 1998 financial crisis, which usually correspond approximately to the current rouble to dollar exchange rate.
The capital is full of banks, Bureaux de Change, kiosks and counters where foreign currency can be changed into Russian roubles. You require your passport to exchange money and will be given a detailed receipt of the transaction. Exchange rates do vary considerably, so we suggest you shop around, and some Bureaux de Change may apply different rates to foreigners, so be wary. Travelers Checks are accepted, but generally less widely. Moscow also has plenty of ATMs that take Visa, Mastercard and Cirrus cards, although American Express cards are accepted in fewer. You can pay by credit card in most large stores now, although the majority of small shops still only take cash. There are numerous Western Union offices throughout the city, where money can be wired from abroad and collected without any problems.
Prices in Russia are generally low. Basic foodstuffs are inexpensive as is public transportation. Foreign foods and more luxurious goods are, however, expensive and are likely to be more costly than at home.
When entering and exiting the country visitors are required to fill in a Currency Declaration Form, detailing the amount of money you are carrying and any valuables. Customs officers will check over your declaration form and may ask questions pertaining to it.
Health Services
Although now an increasingly modern European capital city, Moscow still suffers from various health-related problems. Although drawn from nearby reservoirs as opposed to the murky River Moskva, the city’s water supply remains undrinkable unless it has been boiled for a good 10 minutes and allowed time for the sediment to settle. Even then the locals are reluctant to drink it! We recommend you stick to bottled mineral water, which is widely available in shops there. Another significant problem you’ll encounter in Moscow is greatly elevated levels of air pollution. Russia has not been forthcoming with legislation to limit levels of emissions from cars, and has yet to insist on the introduction of catalytic converters and unleaded petrol. Therefore, Moscow can seem like a very dirty and smoky city at times. Upset stomachs and diarrhea are another likely occurrence, due mainly to the change in food and water. Visitors should be aware that fresh meat and dairy produce aren’t always as well refrigerated as they ought to be in shops and supermarkets, and bootleg vodka can still be a problem in the city’s grottier kiosks. Poor hygiene can be a problem generally in food shops, small cafes and street stalls and Russian public toilets should be avoided at all costs! Just look terribly foreign and confident and stroll into the nearest plush hotel or MacDonalds if you need to relieve yourself!
Russian medical facilities are, for the most part, inferior to those in the West although levels of medical training and expertise are competitively high. Moscow’s high streets are full of pharmacies, which stock numerous foreign medications for more minor ailments. Russian hospitals and clinics may seem scarily basic, due mostly to lack of funds, and most visitors prefer to use the city’s modern Western clinics, which invariably boast English-speaking staff, excellent facilities and extortionate prices to boot! So when planning your trip we think it wise to bring a supply of any prescribed medication you may be taking and organize a comprehensive medical insurance policy for yourself. Your country’s embassy in Moscow is also quite likely to have a resident doctor or nurse, who will see visiting nationals and charge more reasonable rates.
Opening Hours and Holidays
The Russian working day tends to start a little later than in the West. Shops are typically open between 10am and 7 or 8pm everyday, with only a few remaining closed on Sundays. Museums and art galleries work to a similar schedule, perhaps closing a little earlier, but are not usually open on Monday or Tuesday. Getting anything done or visiting anything is usually a fruitless task on a Monday in Moscow, so we suggest you check the opening hours of your favorite sights carefully when planning your next trip. An increasing number of shops and kiosks are now open 24 hours, and many restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs stay open until the wee small hours of the morning. Russian shops, museums and galleries are, however, terribly fond of shutting at random times with very little reason other than a hand-written sign on the door saying “Closed due to technical reasons” or “Closed for repairs”. This is almost terminally frustrating at times, but you get used to it after a while.
Russian public holidays are reasonably numerous but follow a slightly different pattern than in the West. Both Western New Year (January 1st) and Russian Orthodox New Year (January 7th) are celebrated, but Christmas isn’t, so the 24th, 25th and 26th of December are normal working days in Moscow. On February 23rd Muscovites celebrate “Defenders of the Motherland Day” and March 8th is “International Women’s Day”, when Russian males become unexpectedly charming and spend a good 24 hours opening doors for ladies, handing out flowers and wishing every girl they see ‘S Prazdnikom!” (Happy Holiday!). Russian Orthodox Easter is a moveable holiday and sometimes coincides with the major May festivals; “International Labour Day” (May 1st and 2nd) and “Victory Day” (May 9th), when you can still enjoy spectacular military parades on Red Square. June 12th is “Russian Day”, early September sees Moscow pulling out all the party stoppers for “City Day”, and on November 7th the locals celebrate the anniversary of the October Revolution, now dubbed as the “Day of Reconciliation and Accord”.
If public holidays happen to fall at the weekend, a weekday (usually the Monday) is often given off in lieu.
The city of Moscow is also now host to numerous major festivals and international events, including an annual International Film Festival, the prestigious Tchaikovsky Classical Music Competition, a Day of Slav Culture, an Independent Music Festival, the May Moscow Stars Festival, featuring local classical and folk musicians, and the Moscow International Air Show.
Communications
The Russian postal system is notoriously slow and unreliable, with letters between Moscow and London taking anything between 7 days and 4 weeks to arrive at their destination! Various firms in the city offer a more expensive and reliable postal service, which involves couriering letters and parcels to Finland or one of the Baltic States, where they enter the more efficient local postal system and therefore reach their final destinations in a matter of days rather than weeks. Mail can usually also be received and sent from your hotel or the nearest American Express Office, for those carrying an American Express card or travelers checks.
For those happy to risk the Russian postal system, post offices are dotted about all over the city and mail is very cheap to send. Parcels must be brought unwrapped to the appropriate section of the post office, where the staff will box them up for you.
Modern public telephones are now an increasingly common sight in Moscow. Most now accept plastic phonecards, which can be bought in newspaper kiosks and metro stations. When telephoning a foreign number you should first dial 8, wait for the tone, then 10 plus your country code and area code (omitting any initial zero). To call another city in Russia you should dial 8 followed by the city code (including any zeros), eg. 812 for St. Petersburg. Phone calls can be made and faxes sent from most telegraph offices, of which there are many throughout the city. Internet access is now widespread in Moscow and is available at Telegraph offices, some post offices, business centers and Internet cafes.
Security and the Police
Like any other major capital in the world, crime is a factor in Moscow and visitors should take pay extra attention to their personal safety and that of their belongings.
The Russian Ministry of the Interior has several police forces that are employed to maintain order in the city, which they accomplish to a debatable extent. The regular police, the militsia, patrol the Moscow streets and metro station areas checking peoples’ documents. We advise that you carry your passport and registered visa with you at all times in case you are stopped, although the police are more likely to avoid foreigners. However, they are notorious for hanging around expat drinking spots, waiting for the odd inebriated foreigner to stumble out on his way home, to check his documents and lift a few notes from his wallet. As with most institutions in Russia, the militsia are thoroughly corrupt and bribery is very much the norm in their dealings. The other main police force are the GAI or transport police, who monitor the streets for speeding cars and traffic offenses and regularly pull cars over to check for documents and accept the odd bribe.
Climate
Moscow lies on approximately the same latitude as Edinburgh in Scotland, but due to its location far from the sea and in the midst of a large continental landmass, the Russian capital’s climate is considerably more extreme. Summers are hot and winters very cold by Western European standards. Temperatures range from a pleasant 22 – 28 degrees during August to a bitter minus10 – minus 20 during January, usually the coldest month of the year. The Muscovite winter is long and hard with almost constant snow and ice from October right through to March. Rainfall levels peak during July and August, averaging 72 – 78 millimeters per day. Spring and Autumn are both mild and fleeting and Summer is undoubtedly the most popular time to visit the city amongst foreign tourists.
