Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport And Moscow - General Travel - Tartan Army Message Board Jump to content

Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport And Moscow


derekfaejapan

Recommended Posts

I'll be transiting through this airport soon and will have 15 hours to kill...

Questions...

*Is 15 hours enough time to leave the airport and have a look round central Moscow?

*What's the best way to travel into Moscow from Sheremetyevo?

*Is the visa process straightforward or a pain in the erse?

*Is Moscow dodgy?

*Is Moscow extremely expensive?

Anything else would be much appreciated :wink2:

Cheers,

Derek

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Derek,

Bear in mind that it will take time to get through visa and customs, and you presumably have to book in for your connecting flight a couple hours beforehand. It's a fair trek into Moscow, no matter what method you choose, and you'll have to spend the same time on the return journey. You might believe that it's worth the hassle just to say that you've been there, but I'm not so sure. Moscow is certainly not dodgy, but it can be expensive, especially around Red Square and the Bolshoi Theatre. I cannot answer your visa question, as you don't indicate waht kind of visa you'll be travelling on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Derek,

Bear in mind that it will take time to get through visa and customs, and you presumably have to book in for your connecting flight a couple hours beforehand. It's a fair trek into Moscow, no matter what method you choose, and you'll have to spend the same time on the return journey. You might believe that it's worth the hassle just to say that you've been there, but I'm not so sure. Moscow is certainly not dodgy, but it can be expensive, especially around Red Square and the Bolshoi Theatre. I cannot answer your visa question, as you don't indicate waht kind of visa you'll be travelling on.

Cheers VASCO. I'll be using a single entry tourist visa. I'll be arriving at around 4am so I'm hoping that the airport might not be as busy as usual and thatI'll be able to avoid rush hour traffic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did Moscow in 2002.

Would not say it felt dodgy.... area round about Red Square and the Kremlin is just typical tourist trap.

Agree on the airports.... they are a eternity from the city center, as you will find yourself getting a train into town on the edge of the city center (IIRC its Belarussky Train Station it terminates at), and then using the subway to get into the dead center.

Time you get through customs and act together, easily talking a good 10 hours in town (probably just enough to see area around Red Square and not much more, as it is a VERY spread out city).

Yes, Moscow is extremely expensive by all accounts.........

Edited by wanderer
Link to comment
Share on other sites

airport is miles away, get the train as per Wanderer then if need be get a taxi but the underground stations are amazing. Then just have a few hours at the Kremlin and surrounds. Might cost a few quid extra but it really is nice. And pay extra for the armoury at the Kremlin tour. Enjoy, it's a fantastic place as long as you don't get arrested for jaywalking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I flew into DME airport last year and it was a fair hike, about 40 mins on the express train into town. I gather SVO airport is even further away.

Stay away from airport taxis, all the ones I spoke to at 4am were all wanting in the region of £100 to go into town. I waited until the first train at 6am and got that for, off memory, less than a tenner.

Worth going into Moscow and just scooting about on the metro for a while. Lots of see in Moscow, and the underground in itself is something else. Maybe worth picking up a local SIM card (even if just for a day) so you can get google maps etc on your phone, thats what I did and got 4GB of data for a tenner. Makes the whole wandering about thing a bit easier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Over priced, expensive, ignorant people and staff, bent cops looking for easy arrests to fund their pension, just don't bother.

As Sandy said, just make sure you don't get arrested for jaywalking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

also easy to get lost on the subways since all in cyrillic

even our russian staff have told me they have got lost on the way home

i didnt find normal expenses in russia that expensive in 2007

we used to catch lifts of locals in the street and pay them a fare - this was with work as well, cos we coudlnt be bothered waitign for taxis

Gorky Park was fun ice skating - until i battered my rib cage

Link to comment
Share on other sites

also easy to get lost on the subways since all in cyrillic

even our russian staff have told me they have got lost on the way home

i didnt find normal expenses in russia that expensive in 2007

we used to catch lifts of locals in the street and pay them a fare - this was with work as well, cos we coudlnt be bothered waitign for taxis

Gorky Park was fun ice skating - until i battered my rib cage

It took me a few days to get used to the subways.

As you mention - they are 95% in cyrillic so it's good to try and get a grasp of a few key letters of the alphabet. That was effectively how I learned on the move to try and identify subway stations. The colour coding and numbering of the lines is also very confusing but I managed to suss it out somehow.

To the original poster -

If you're just looking to wander around then that's fine but if you're looking to do/see anything specific in terms of paid tourist attractions then that may be difficult. Lenin's mausoleum was only certain days & times and involved a decent sized queue. The Kremlin grounds involved a fairly sizeable queue so maybe worth checking if it is better/possible to book beforehand. We went to see the Kremlin grounds, Armoury and the Diamond Fund (national jewels). St. Basil's Cathedral was nice but not a patch on the churches in St. Petersburg.

Tried to do the tour at the Bolshoi Theatre but it wasn't on. Again, that was only specific days and times.

A walk through Gorky Park was interesting to see so much activity, life and successful inner city regeneration.

The thing that can't be stressed enough is how amazing the underground stations are - they are spectacular.We had one of the DK Top 10 books and just buzzed around those stations but if you were limited for time you can certainly pick a few that make sense depending on where in the city you're going.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To the original poster -

If you're just looking to wander around then that's fine but if you're looking to do/see anything specific in terms of paid tourist attractions then that may be difficult. Lenin's mausoleum was only certain days & times and involved a decent sized queue. The Kremlin grounds involved a fairly sizeable queue so maybe worth checking if it is better/possible to book beforehand. We went to see the Kremlin grounds, Armoury and the Diamond Fund (national jewels). St. Basil's Cathedral was nice but not a patch on the churches in St. Petersburg.

Tried to do the tour at the Bolshoi Theatre but it wasn't on. Again, that was only specific days and times.

A walk through Gorky Park was interesting to see so much activity, life and successful inner city regeneration.

The thing that can't be stressed enough is how amazing the underground stations are - they are spectacular.We had one of the DK Top 10 books and just buzzed around those stations but if you were limited for time you can certainly pick a few that make sense depending on where in the city you're going.

That's exactly on what I'm planning on doing, just a wander around the place, definitely a ride on the Moscow Metro and one of the open top buses there, if time allows. The walk (according to GoogleMaps) is about 50 minutes to Red Square and is along a straight road.

As I will only be there for a few hours then It would be impossible to enjoy any museums.

Cheers for that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...


×
×
  • Create New...