Travelling to Moscow

Some advice for anyone who maybe thinking of travel for the football final or in the future.
Airlines;
Most of the Majors travel there including;
Lufthansa via Munich or Frankfurt
Swiss airlines via Zurich
Air France via Paris
KLM via Amsterdam
SAS via copenhagen
Air Italia via Milan
Czech airlines via Prague
and BA

Average flights from the North of England cost around £260-£300.Online search engines give good sites.Swiss Air and Klm offer the best deals usually.

Moscow has 2 main airports Shermetievo and Domodedovo.
Both are around 1 hour from the city.
A taxi from the airport costs between £30 and £50 but is best booked with one of the agents used for your visa/hotel.

Domodedovo has a direct express train that goes from the station and takes only 40 minutes cost is only 300 roubles (£6.00)

To enter Russia you need a visa-there are lots of internet sites who will arrange this for you. Typical price for a single trip tourist visa is around £70
The process takes around 7-10 days but you can pay more for express service.

If staying in Russia more than 3 business days the visa has to be registered
this can be done for a small charge...if you are staying at a hotel they will do this for you. Faliure to register the visa will incur problems when leaving and could delay exit.Before arriving in Russia you are given a 2 part migration card...one part is filled in and taken at passport control on entry.
The other part you keep and have stamped by the hotel.You must show this at exit from Russia this acts as your exit paper so dont lose it.
For stays shorter than 3 business days..no registration of the visa is required.Weekends do not count within the 3 days.

Hotels are plentigul in Moscow many offer a number of options with choices of renovated rooms single twin and double.You must specify if you want a double bed...otherwise you will be given 2x singles.
Russian hotels on the whol;e do not offer tea and coffee making facilities in the rooms so its advisable to take a travel kettle and some tea and coffee.

Standards are generally good a 3 star hotel averages £60 a night sfoodfaut there are budget hotels from £40 per night.

Passports...Russian Police can demand to see passports and visas in the street its advisable to have copies of these and leave originals in the hotel safe.There are fines if you do not show papers when requested.

Moscow has lots of attractions and despite its title as the worlds most expensive city...everyday items are quite cheap.A bottle of beer costs only 40p and 20 cigarettes around 50p.Western fast food shop prices are roughly the same as at home.You can buy russian dishes for around £5.00
There are lots of kiosks in the streets selling food.

One of the best things about Moscow is the MTS the Moscow metro...it services the whole of Moscow is efficient and a very cheap and fast way to get around...in fact its probably the most efficient transport system anywhere in the world.Trains are every 2 minutes and never late !!

Moscow is a great cultural experience...whilst there is a myth that its always snowing its not true.Of my 13 trips there I have seen snow only twice.Although the temp can drop to -5 it still remains bearable because it does not have the damp air that we have in the UK when its cold.

Anyone who wants further info can pm me or email me at my yahoo addy
The address is in my sig.