How To Enjoy Your First Visit To Moscow, Russia

Embarking on your first trip to Moscow, Russia is in many respects like visiting any other world capital. Before leaving your home country, you have to make sure you have a visa. The easiest visa to obtain is a tourist visa. It will be approximately EUR100.

If you are a usual first time visitor and do not speak Russian, go through the "green channel" upon arrival in Moscow. If you need money, you can obtain it from an ATM on most any corner. It is safest to bring a combination of currency, credit and ATM cards. It is vital that you maintain your passport and hotel registration on your person always.

While Moscow has some pickpockets and other petty criminals, the usual crime rate is on par with that in any other major city or national capital. Wearing a money pocket that goes around your neck and beneath your clothing is a good choice for keeping your money and documents secure. Central Moscow is quite safe, but you should use the common sense precautions that you would take in any other major metropolis.

For exchanging currencies, exchange kiosks have more favorable exchange rates than the air terminal and hotel. Don't exchange all your cash at once. You could easily discover a more favorable exchange a little way down. You will have the easiest time exchanging U.S. dollars or Euros rather than lesser used currencies. It is a good idea to restrict the use of your credit cards to major retailers. You're safer using cash at local stores.

While there are innumerable things to see and do in Moscow, here are some.

The Moscow metro is highly recommended for traveling around Moscow on account of its reliability, cleanliness, and security. It is also an attraction in itself. One entry is only 5 rubles, and you get} a deeper discount with books of passes. The metro runs from 5:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.. Many of the metro stations are structural works of art and are definitely worth visiting.

The new Tretyakov Gallery is located betwixt the Park Cultury and Octoberskya train stations, and facing Gorky Park. The exhibits rotate often, and the number of artworks is enormous. On the last weekend of each month, in the brick building on the other side of the grounds is a stone fair that occupies two complete floors of the building.

Between the Tretyakov Gallery and the river is a gated sculpture garden that costs 100 rubles but is a terrific value. It is full of sculptures that were unwanted in public places. They were collected here in the 1990s.

The Old Tretyakov Gallery at 10-12 Lavrushinskiy Pereulok contains works by the Russian masters from the 11th through the 20th centuries.

St. Basil's Cathedral was erected in the 1550s by Ivan the Terrible. Alongside Red Square, the cathedral has nine chapels, every one with its own unique dome.

And of course, you shouldn't miss Red Square. Surrounded by the Kremlin walls, Lenin's tomb, and the huge GUM department store along three faces, you can readily spend all day here.

You'll never run out of things to visit and do in Moscow, and by the time you're used to the layout of Moscow there is every reason you'll want to come back to Moscow again and again.
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