Mobile phones Rental is largely unneeded because local roaming is well supported. Local SIM cards (pre-pay) cost from 250 roubles, with 150 roubles-worth of calls included, and can be bought with no formalities or sign-up requirements from orange All@kart kiosks all over town.

Car hire Local road conditions dissuade many, but the determined could try Rolf (www.rolf.ru), Avis (www.avis-moscow.ru) or Budget (www.budget.ru).

Office rental barely exists short-term. Hotel business centres are preferred. Translation and interpretation services Try Language Link (www.languagelink.ru). Russian is a tricky one to master. Business hours Most offices work a 10am-6pm day, although in financial offices and banks the day might start at 9am.

LOCAL PRESS

The Moscow Times (MT, www. moscowtimes.ru) is a business/economy-weighted free sheet, mainly assembled off newswire stories with some local content added by American journalists living in Moscow. This publication is written entirely for Moscow’s small expat community and shouldn’t be taken as any guide to average Russian views or interests. Distributed daily from pick-up bins in hotel lobbies and restaurants catering to expats, the Friday edition has a useful entertainment and eating-out guide. MT occasionally prints GO, a small-format listings guide to Moscow, also free. Clones of the MT format come and go irregularly, The Moscow Tribune being the most frequently seen. Pulse is the Moscow edition of a St Petersburg-based lifestyle and listings free sheet with a livelier tempo than the conservative MT. Less widely distributed listings guides in English include Passport, Where In Moscow, Moscow City Guide, and a raft of advertising-supported wannabes who rarely make it past two or three editions. The eXile is a navel-gazing free sheet long past its funniest days that will appeal to those who like unrestrained political incorrectness and opinionated (but often outdated) restaurant listings. Unfortunately, neither of the two sharpest listings magazines in Moscow (Afisha and Time Out) is available in an English version. The clunky Moscow News staggers on as the last relic of state propaganda written for foreign visitors, although it’s usually only picked up by people on Aeroflot flights once The Moscow Times (or the toilet paper) has run out.

INTERNET

Moscow is very internet savvy and laptop luggers can log on using pre-paid internet cards from a zillion kiosks all over town. Of the rival brands, CenTel isn’t especially better than others, but requires no account set-up—the scratch-off panels reveal your username and password and you’re away. Remember to turn off all network types except TCP/IP to protect your credit from hackers.

Most hotel rooms will have a standard RJ-11 jack. If not, an adaptor costs about 100 roubles from any phone store (kiosks by Metro stations usually have them). There are hundreds of internet cafés in Moscow, but two are worth recommending because they have English-speaking staff and browsers (and a central location): Time On-Line is in the basement (the level called -3) of the Manege Underground Shopping Centre (Metro: Okhotny Ryad) and has hundreds of machines available 24/7.

The Phlegmatic Dog is an award-winning internet pub (British-run) in the same shopping centre, but on the ground floor nearest the Kremlin. You order your drinks and food from your browser and net usage is free with your food or drink order. Also open all day, every day.

MONEY

Please forget anything visitors from 10 years ago have told you. These days the only money that’s usable in Russia is the rouble—that’s not a regime-serving platitude, it’s the harsh reality. Attempts to offer dollars, Euros or your old jeans will just produce polite laughter. The only places that might take dollars are the souvenir stands on Arbat Street or at Izmailovsky Flea Market—or a taxi driver who’s taking you for a ride in more than one sense.

Rouble notes come in denominations of 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000 roubles. There are rouble coins (1, 2 and 5 roubles) that have very little value, and even subdivisions of the rouble (kopeks) that are now entirely valueless.

The rouble’s exchange rate to major currencies has been relatively steady since 2000. However, the Russian government still prefers not to make the rouble tradable abroad, so you can only get your roubles after you’ve arrived. The best way is really from an ATM. These are located all over town and will give you the best exchange rate. If you prefer cash, be warned that few exchange bureaux will accept pounds, they deal exclusively in dollars and Euros. To change sterling banknotes you will need a major bank (Alpha-Bank or Bank of Moscow), although airport exchange bureaux might change them. Whatever currency you proffer, the banknotes must be pristine— no holes, pen marks or excessive creasing or they will be rejected. This rule, of course, will not be applied to the scruffy pile of roubles you are given in return. Although credit card usage for purchases of goods or services is growing slowly, it is by no means widespread, especially in more mundane outlets, so check beforehand to ensure they accept card payment. They may ask to see supplementary ID if you pay by card—your passport (which you must, by law, carry wherever you go anyway) is sufficient.

TIPPING ETIQUETTE

Doormen and coat-check staff don’t need to be tipped, except in upscale restaurants and clubs. You need never tip coat-check staff in public buildings such as museums and theatres that require you leave your coat (and will deny you admission if you do not comply). About 10% in restaurants is generous—Russians themselves will leave less and chide your generosity. You can’t add a tip to a credit card total in Russia, even if you wish to, so add it in cash when returning the signed slip. Never tip normal taxi drivers under any circumstances. Guides and interpreters earn very little and rely on tips, so you can be generous here. Although it is scarcely a 'tip’, should you have an unpleasant encounter with the police, bear in mind that it is almost certainly merely provocation for a bribe. A $20 bill (here dollars are useful to have) will solve most incidents in which you believe you’ve done nothing wrong.

VISA/VACCINAATION

Unless you come from a tiny number of countries (mostly the former Eastern Block) who have a Visa Waiver Scheme with Russia, you will need a visa. Don’t ignore the time it takes to obtain one. Standard-fee visas take a week to issue and, although a 24-hour service is possible, the price is punitive. Russia has an ID-law in place and you should carry your passport with you at all times. On arrival you must complete and keep an Immigration Card (blanks are distributed in flight by most airlines).

Your hotel should stamp it to comply with registration of foreigners formalities.

If you hold currency in excess of $10,000 (or equivalent in other currencies), you are advised to declare it on arrival (go through the red channel and complete a simple form), along with any antiquities, bullion, diamonds and other valuables you may have. In return for the small delay, you gain a certificate proving your ownership of the items on arrival, which guarantees you may leave again with them without any kind of dispute.

Vaccinations are not required for entry.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

Russians enjoy a strange mixture of new holidays marking the end of Communism (Independence Day), but they’re also unwilling to give up a day off even if it marks an outdated Soviet-era holiday, several of which are still celebrated in a renamed form.

Official holidays
1st January—New Year’s Day
7th January—Christmas in the Orthodox Church
23rd February—Defenders Of The Motherland Day, formerly Red Army Day
8th March—International Women’s Day
1st May—May Day
9th May—Victory Day (end of the Second World War)
12th June—Independence Day (end of Communism in Russia)
4th November—Day Of People’s Unity (formerly Revolution Day, now renamed and moved from
7th November to avoid Soviet overtones)
12th December—Constitution Day
Semi-official holidays
In Soviet times, almost every profession or calling had its own day eg Traffic Cop Day..

WEATHER AND CLIMATE

It’s no secret that Russia has cold winters, but few realise that Moscow has blazing summers too. Spring and autumn are so short that you would miss them if you blinked. The half year of winter begins in October when the first snow usually falls, and it will lie until April. However, the temperatures in October and November are still comparatively mild, rarely falling below -5C. In December it might drop to -10C, but for some reason the weather at New Year itself is usually a mild -5C.

After this the temperatures plunge and January and February are bitingly cold—it can drop to -25°C or lower at night. At this temperature snow rarely falls and, despite the chill, it’s a very picturesque time of year. Some buildings are coned off by a metre or so, and it’s wise to obey this— every year 10-15 Muscovites are impaled by icicles weighing more than 20kg, falling from the guttering above. The tail end of winter in March and April is a time to avoid, if possible. The snow has now turned black with dirt and melts to reveal a six-month accumulation of dog poo. Some time in May there are about five days of spring and then the temperature rockets to 20C and summer has begun. Over June, July and August you’ll melt if you don’t have air-conditioning because the thermometer can stick on 32C for weeks on end. A golden Indian summer in September passes for autumn in Moscow, and then one day all the leaves fall off the trees overnight and the winter cycle begins once more.

SUGGESTED READING

The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov, is the ultimate Moscow novel. Banned by Stalin from the moment it first appeared, it was only officially published long after the author’s death. The blackest of comedies with a love story at its heart, plus Biblical interludes whose purpose only becomes clear a little later.

Dr Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak. Yes, of course you’ve seen the film, but have you read the book? There’s much they couldn’t fit into the movie version, especially about Moscow itself.

All The Russias: The End Of An Empire, by Fitzroy MacLean, covers the broad sweep of Russia’s twisting history. Written by a British diplomat (and spy) who witnessed the Revolution first hand and is frequently cited as the role model for James Bond. Omon-Ra,by Victor Pelevin (Faber Publishing). Russia’s brightest young novelist, with a taste for the macabre,mixes the banalities of Soviet life with a nightmarish view of Soviet science.

GETTING INTO TOWN

Moscow Scheremetyevo Airport (www.sheremetyevo-airport.ru). This unlovely airport has recently had a facelift, but remains less pleasant than Domodedovo as well as much more poorly served by public transport.

Public transport The Metro doesn’t reach this airport. Instead you can take either the No 851 minibus shuttle to Rechnoy Vokzal metro, or the 871 to Planernaya metro. The 30-minute journey costs 30 roubles, after which you can take the Metro any distance for 10 roubles per ride. Avoid the public buses with the same route numbers as the minibuses—they take nearly an hour to cover the same journey, making many stops en route.

Taxi You’ll be cajoled by taxi-drivers from the second you emerge from the customs exit. It’s best to turn down their outrageous fares and cross to the Taxi Service booth opposite, where they will quote you the official rate (900-1,500 roubles, depending on your destination in the centre) for your journey and allocate you a cab. In theory you can pre-book on the internet (www.taxi.ru), but they frequently fail to turn up. The ride into the centre averages about an hour, but can double during rush hour or in bad weather.

Moscow Domodedovo Airport (www.domodedovo.ru) is Moscow’s most high-tech airport and infinitely preferable to Scheremetyevo if you have any choice in the matter.

Public transport

The AeroExpress direct train shuttle to the centre departs hourly, on the hour. Tickets are on sale at the extreme far end of the terminal building to where you emerge from customs, and the trains themselves are visible through the door. Journey time to Paveletsky Station is 45 minutes. Keep your barcode ticket, you’ll need it for the exit barrier on arrival in Moscow. The current fare is 120 roubles but subject to change. If your destination is to the south of the centre, you could take the minibus shuttle (30 roubles) from outside the terminal building (this area is currently being rebuilt, so look for signs) to Domodedovskaya metro and join the Metro there. This is distinctly a second best to the centre, however, in both time and comfort terms.

Taxi Booking a taxi at one of the taxi company booths inside the terminal will be a lot cheaper than dealing with the touts who harass you at the customs exit. Expect to pay 1,500-2,000 roubles from a cab company, or 3,000 roubles from a tout.