Services in Moscow. FAQ.

by Alexei Konychev.

My experience in helping people in Moscow shows that there is a number of common troubles for visitors which is possible to avoid. This little article may help you for better preparing for your trip to Russia. It also may be useful for transit tourists. Please read the text BEFORE coming here (number one mistake is to print this text and read it in a plane :-). Some common mistakes were already paid by previous visitors. Do not pay for them again.

Please look at the date of issue of this text to be sure that it is up to date.

When you are planning your trip:

http://eng.www.express-2.tsi.ru/  for train schedules and prices. Train ticket rates are now the same for Russians and for foreign guests! When you visited the site before, you had to check a box for rate for foreign visitors. Some people reported that the check box still exist. If so then just do not check it.

If possible, download and print new type (with many check boxes) of RF border customs form in English language from Internet - sometimes you may not find English forms on Russian border although they are available right now (check the date in the end of this page). It is available here: http://www.expat.ru/data/customs.pdf
 

Visit http://meteo.infospace.ru/cities/html/index.ssiand look at the weather forecast for Russian towns.

Choose suitcases for baggage. They need to have locks on each opening. Bags with zippers are not as good as suitcases because, even if it is locked, zippers crack sometimes especially if Russian loader in Sheremetyevo airport wants that: So put most valuable things into hard suitcases. Airport thieves are tight in time so they do not waste time with locked bags and suitcases.

www.sheremetyevo-airport.ru site of SVO airport.

USEFUL When you request for an invitation for visa, add a day or two in the end. In most cases this will cost nothing but may be VERY helpful if your plane delays and you have to stay in Russia one extra hour after your visa is expired!

Top of the page

Hotels.

There are very many hotels in Moscow but the most popular hotels between Yoshkar Ola visitors are Izmailovo Alpha, Izmailovo Vega and Rossia.

The first two are around  $40 for single. The last one is $79 to $88. Doubles are $30-$44/$42/$84-$93. This are the prices for foreign visitors.  Rossia is located right on the end of the Red Square. Izmailovo is located close to end of Moscow but near a subway stop so transportation is convenient there. If a foreign guest and a Russian citizen are staying in one room they often pay 50% of foreign rate + 50% of Russian rate for the room (actually - separately for each bed). This was checked in  "Izmailovo" Alpha and Vega. Some hotels like "Belgrade" or "Izmailovo Gamma-Delta" and "Rossia" charge couples of one Russian and one foreign visitor by the rate for foreign guests. You may reserve a hotel room here
 

Top of the page

Cash.

VERY IMPORTANT!!

If you take cash with you (but you have to have cash because it may be a problem to get cash from a credit card in some Russian towns), make sure that your money bills are issued in 1990 or newer, are clean and look nice. Old, dirty, grounded and ripped American money bills are not usable in Russia.

If you travel to Moscow or Saint Petersburg it is good to bring mostly $100 and $50 bills. If you travel to other regions then it may be better to bring $50 and $20 bills. Some bills of $10,  $5 and $1 may be useful in any case.

It is good to have some Russian rubles (equal to $3 to $5) because you may need them to rent a baggage cart when you arrive. If you do not have rubles, you may have to wait in a long line for a bank inside the border customs zone.

Even if you prefer to travel with a credit card rather than traveling with cash, it is better to bring some cash with you anyway. It is easy to exchange dollars to rubles here but not as easy to get cash from a credit card, especially if you do not remember the pin code of the card. It is almost impossible to get cash at the night time in the last case and most inexpensive hotels get payment only in cash here so you may have a problem if you do not have cash.

If you are going to use your credit card here than remember it's pin code. It is better to drag cash from cards by machines because their commission is regularly less than commission of cashiers. Machines  regularly charge 1% commission, cashiers - 3%. If you do not remember the code than you can not use machines.

SOME TIMES MAY BE IMPORTANT!!  If you are going to use your credit card here then it is still better to have an untouched amount of cash (at least $100). You will remember me when discover that your full of money account says "insufficient..."  when you try to ATM your card here. Unfortunately it happens some times with good accounts by a networking problem.
 
 

Top of the page

For transit passengers:

Unfortunately no one of western citizens can come to Russia without Russian visa now. They need to have a private, tourist, business or transit visa before entering to Russia. The pact of mutual recognition of visas signed by some former USSR countries does not work since 15th of January 00  Any kind of visa may not be issued on Russian border  :-(
 

Top of the page

When you arrive in Moscow:

If you have too many bags, you may want to rent a baggage cart. It is $2 (you will need to pay in rubles) if you operate it yourself. If you wish a porter to help you, he will charge you about $12 (in this case you do not need to rent the cart - he has his own). You may pay less if you ask the porter about the price BEFORE letting him load your bags onto his baggage cart. Everywhere in Russia, ask the price BEFORE the job is started. This simple rule may save you money.

If you have much cash and expect that you may have some cash on your way back, you need to be sure that your entry customs form is stamped by a customs officer. This point is extremely important if you transit through Russia.
 

NEW!!!  IMPORTANT!

Customs rules have been changed again in February of 2000 and now you do not need to declare your money if you have less than $1500 (both for import and for export) and you may freely take a green channel on the border customs area if you do not have other things to declare.

If you have more, than you need to declare them in written form. If you expect that you will have  more than $1500 on your way back then your entry customs form has to be stamped. Do not take the green channel in this case and do not leave customs control zone until you have a stamp in your entry customs form. Otherwise you will be able to import only $1500.

The amount above $1500 needs you to have a permission to export it. Since August 1999 there are only two kinds of permissions to export dollars from Russia: 1^st one is the STAMPED entry customs form. So don't be ashamed. Make the customs officer (customs officer, not passport officer) stamp your entry declaration form if you expect to have left of more than $1500 on the way back.

Do not put the entry customs form into passport - give it to the officer opened because he probably will not look for it because you have right not to fill in the form if have less than $1500

The 2^nd kind of permission to export foreign currency from Russia is a standard receipt from a bank that the money were transferred to you from another country. This receipt needs to have your name and number of your passport to be valid.

If you have more than 50 kilogram of baggage, you may be charged. It is permitted now to bring only 50 kg of baggage with no customs fee. Extra weight may be charged 4 Euro (~4 USD) per kilogram. Previous experience shows that they may exclude weight of empty bags from the total amount, or (in most cases) may even not to charge you at all for extra 10 or 15 kilos. But they have right to charge you and they will, if have time so if you have extra - wait a little until they have a line on customs...

Before you exit the border customs zone - read the part about thieves. J Stealing is not a big problem in Moscow but you need to know some rules to be safe.

When you're finished with customs and have left the customs control zone - stop for a minute and remove all labels from your bags. It is much better not to have written on them that they belong to a man from A Rich Western Country! J
 

Top of the page

When you stay in Moscow:

Same quality hotels downtown are about $80 a night. Izmailovo Alfa is $10-$15. Best hotels in Moscow are $200+ VIP- up to $1600 a night. Remember that in most inexpensive and middle expensive (up to ~$150 per night) hotels they have different rates for UIC citizens and for guests from other countries so a double for you and a Russian will be almost ever cheaper than a single for you. Now you may stay together with a lady in one room in hotels (at least in Moscow).

* When you choose a hotel, remember that the price depends on the quality AND location of a hotel. The closer it is to the Kremlin, the more expensive. If you choose a less expensive hotel, you may hire a guide/driver/interpreter/secretary (better - all in one, ask me here where to get such a man :-) for the rest of your money and enjoy car excursions and sightseeing. By the way - a good assistant may help you to save some money because he knows the situation here. For example, he may tell you that if you meet a lady for a day in the beginning of your trip then in many cases it is better to pay for her staying in a hotel with you until you leave. You often pay less for a double with her than for a single for you.

If you stay in an apartment you may want to spend a day in an inexpensive hotel for your visa to be registered (you do not have to physically stay there, of course - just pay for one day). Hotels have the right to register any kind of visas (tourist, business and private). Private people may register only visas issued for their invitations.

If you eat hot dogs outside - order a hot dog without ketchup. The ketchup in red plastic bottles is too bad here:
 

Top of the page

Avoid thieves:

NEVER invite unknown people into your hotel room or apartment. If you do, then NEVER drink or eat with them. They may put drugs into your drink and then rob you. Remember that if a person gave you his/her business card or gave you his/her address or phone number he/she is still an unknown person. I know of four cases when foreign guests were robbed here during the last eight years. One in a private taxi, one in a hotel and two in apartments. In all three cases for hotels and apartments visitors invited robbers into their homes themselves and drank a drugged wine with them...

Avoid using taxi cabs if you have a lot of cash.

Do not keep your credit cards together with list of security codes. Have a list of your credit cards in case if you need to cancel them.

Do not visit casinos and night clubs alone.

A very popular method of swindlers to steal something is to involve a person into trying to keep something that does not belong to the person. If you find a wallet - do not pick it up. If someone picked it up and said to you not to tell the person who lost it and offer to split the money - loudly refuse and go away. Do not take part in lotteries outside - you definitely will win in the beginning:

Do not keep your passport or wallet in a back pocket of your jeans!
 

Top of the page

Some useful phones in Moscow:

Code for Moscow is +7 (095)

(you are welcome to continue the list)
 

Top of the page

Useful expressions:

If you have Russian font on your computer than you may print this part and show to someone outside when you have a question. (fill in blanks with what you need). If you do not have the Russian font you still may try to pronouns the expressions yourself.

Top of the page

Good places to visit in Moscow:

• Red Square and maybe the Lenin mausoleum (do not forget to make a wish at kilometer # zero near the Red Square). The Lenin mausoleum is open 11a.m. to 1 p.m. every day except Monday and Friday.
• Armory museum in Kremlin
• Victory Park (better in summer)
• Lenin Hills (nice view to Moscow, especially in evening)
• Kolomenskoye (Monday is the day off in museums but you may enjoy overlooking the architecture).
• TV tower - a building of more than 500 meters tall with a restaurant at 337 meter and TV antennas on top (Monday is the day off)
• Bolshoy Theater (if you like theaters). The tickets for Bolshoy are usually unavailable in a booking offices for the current and two next  evenings but they are available from "scalpers" The prices of "scalpers" were around $30 to $40 per ticket at the  last winter and from $70 to $100 last (1999) summer. Normally the prices at a booking office is app. $15 to $20
• Tretyakov's picture gallery, if you like art (Monday is the day off)
• Pushkin museum, if you like art and sculptures (Monday is the day off)
• Zoo. Moscow's zoo is in the list of 15 best zoo parks of the world. Some animals are unavailable in winter :-(

Top of the page

Some Russian customs and what you should not do here:

Shoes.

Russian roads are dirty, especially at the winter time so Russians take off shoes immediately when enter to an apartment. Americans who live here permanently do the same. Russian eye can not be placid if you walk on carpets in shoes right after coming from a dirty yard.

Whistling:

The most terrible thing that you can do here is whistling in someone's home, car or in a shop. Even if people will not tell you that (in most cases they will not), you may be sure that they are getting mad on you if you are whistling! To whistle in someone's home is the same as to wish to a person who live there never to have money. This is very serious. Not whistling in buildings and cars is absolutely required here.

Doors, bags and women:

Feel free to help your lady. If you help her to open a door, to carry a bag or support her when she exit from a bus, she will never mind. Or almost never. Giving flowers to a woman you like usually is welcome too. It is impolite here not to help your lady to carry her suitcase. Carrying women's carry on little handbag usually is not welcome.

Eyes:

It is not normal in Russia to look to eyes of someone whom you speak to. If you look to eyes all the time you act like a teacher: :-)
 

Top of the page

Some information about traveling inside Russia - St. Petersburg and Yoshkar Ola:

Airfares:
Moscow to Yoshkar Ola and back - $70
Moscow to St. Petersburg and back - $120

Cost of train tickets:
from Moscow to Yoshkar Ola and back - $60
from Moscow to St. Petersburg and back - $110

All prices are given for sleeping car - one round trip ticket in compartment for two people. Please, check current prices at http://eng.www.express.tsi.ru

There are many trains between St. Petersburg and Moscow and only one between Moscow and Yoshkar Ola. It leaves Moscow at 18:04 and arrives to Moscow on the way back at 9:04 am. Since 28th of May 00 the train will leave Moscow at 16:45.

Planes for Yoshkar Ola leave now two or three times a week:
Wednesday, flt #769 leave Moscow 9:40 am
Sunday, flt #780 leave Moscow 9:40 am
Sometimes they have also flt # 767 on Fridays at 9:20 am

There are two flights a week from YO to Moscow:
#782 each Tuesday leave YO 13:05 arrive to Moscow 15:10
#770 each Thursday leave YO 13:05 arrive to Moscow 15:10
There is also a flight on Friday but it does not run every Friday, so you need to check.

Please, check current schedule here.
 

Top of the page

When you leave Moscow:

There are several airports in Moscow and almost all of them are international although most flights to America and Europe go from Sheremetuevo-2 and Sheremetuevo-1. Check which of them will be correct for you.

Fill in the customs form if necessary. If you have dollars (in the amount of more than $1500 in cash) than you need to have stamped entry customs form (it must be declared that you imported more money than you have currently) or have a receipt of bank that you got the currency wired from another country (check that your name and passport number are written there otherwise the receipt is not valid). If you have none of them then technically you need to go to a bank, sell your dollars and get rubles, or to buy traveler's check which may be legally imported without permission. Traveler's checks are not available in the international airport, however.
Version of 29th of May 2000 Copyright c Alexei Konychev
Top of the page