Moscow Travel Guide

General

Moscow is one of the oldest and one of the most beautiful Russian cities.

The Russian emperors, or tsars, made the city their base of rule until 1712, when the capital was moved to Saint Petersburg. Moscow was restored as Russia's capital in 1918, and it served as the capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1922 until 1991. Since then Moscow is the capital of the Russian Federation.

Moscow has a long and full of drama history. Many times the city has been completely destroyed and rebuilt again. Its most ancient wooden buildings disappeared in fires. Each time the city resurrected from the ash to become more and more beautiful. Each time the most talented and famous architects were invited from around the world to restore Moscow.

That is why Moscow has absorbed many different styles that strike the visitors with their variety. Stalin epoch monumental buildings neighbor with small two-store XIX century town houses; splendid cathedrals peer from modern skyscrapers. Even in the heart of Moscow, in the Kremlin, old churches compete with the immense Congress Palace for space.

Despite its size (about 900 square kilometers) and the scale of many of Moscow buildings and avenues, the general layout is easily grasped - a series of concentric circles and radial lines, emanating from the Kremlin - and the center is compact enough to explore on foot.

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Accomodation

Moscow offers different types of accommodation depending on your taste and financial strength. The centrally located Travelers Guesthouse has been described as the second most important place in Moscow after the Kremlin', and it's the place to meet other budget travelers to swap travel info.

If you've got more cash to throw around, there's a cluster of good but expensive hotels just a stone's throw away from the Kremlin. They include the National one of the city's finest hotels, which has reopened after five years of renovations - it even includes a branch of Maxim's.

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Sights

The Red Square and the Kremlin are the historic nucleus of Moscow, a magnificent stage for political drama, signifying a great sweep of history that includes Ivan the Terrible, Peter and Catherine the Great, Romanovs dynasty, Stalin and Gorbachev.

Here you'll find Lenin's Mausoleum and St Basil's Cathedral, the famous GUM department store, and the Kremlin itself, whose splendid cathedrals and Armory museum head the list of attractions.

The Kremlin is Moscow's heart, symbolically, historically and strategically: Red Square lies along its eastern side and the Moscow River is to the south. From here, Moscow spreads out in four distinctive rings of development, each area having its own collection of monasteries, museums and elegant buildings. Most of the city's sights are within the first circle - an area that can easily be covered on foot.

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