Not expensive/cheap hostels in Moscow

Once we've already touched upon the topic of hostels in the center of Moscow (near the metro station Park Kultury)
Now we'll tell you about a few hostels where you can spend the night without paying that much.

1. Hostel "DOM" which means "House".
not far from the metro station Kurskaya. The lowest price is 600 rub (about 20$) per night.
Breakfast is included, free WI-FI,

2. Hostel "APPLE" is in the center of Moscow. Metro station Kitay-Gorod.
The lowest price is 750rub (25$).

3. Hostel "Napoleon"  - 5 min from the Kremlin! The lowest price is 600 rub.
Metro station Kitay-Gorod.

4. DA! Hostel Moscow! which means "YES!"
is in 5 min from Old Arbat, the oldest pedestrian street of Moscow.
The lowest price is about 21$.

5. Moscow Style Hostel is a good place for you if your dream is to wake up in the morning to enjoy beautiful sites of the Kremlin...

Excursions in Moscow

Spring and especially summer are the time of the tourists' "flow" into Moscow, as into any other country...

In the Internet you may find plenty of suggestions of tourfirms: professional guides will provide you with essential information concerning history, culture, traditions of the city. 

In this very post we would like to mention an organisation called "Moscow Greeter".

Now this organisation is free: volunteers, among them mostly students of linguistic universities, will show you the city from their viewpoint and will tell you everything they know. That's why, don't expect professional guides, however, friendly atmosphere is guaranteed.

The official website is http://www.moscowgreeter.ru/index.html

On should sinmply fill in the form. 

Have a good travel in Moscow!

Hotels and Hostels in Moscow. Arbatskaya and Smolenskaya

Stariy Arbat is almost the heart of Moscow. That is why it would be convenient for a tourist, as we think, to live in this region as all the most famous sightseeings of Moscow are situated not far from the street.

This site provides with a list of hotels on this street: http://en.moscow.hottel.ru/hotels.html?place_id=2581

However, there are also many hostels near. There is a list of some of them:

1st Arbat Hostel  

Bear-Hostel 

Hostel in Moscow

Sweet Moscow

Home from Home

Cafe in Moscow

In this post we will tell you about an interesting type of cafes that gain popularity in Moscow.

They are called time-cafe or co-working or anti-cafe.

The idea is the following: anyone comes to the cafe and pays for the minutes he or she spends there. 

What is more important, you can eat everything you can find in the cafe, usually these are different cookies, fruit, tea or coffee etc. You may bring even your own food. However, in most cafes alcohol is a taboo.

In the places like these you may work in silence because during the day there are not so many people there;

you may invite friends just to talk or to play table games which are provided by any cafe.

Moreover, many of these cafes organise various events: concerts, workshops, meeting with famous people... 

Besides, if you have anything to tell the people, you can present a lecture or sing for people, you may do it in one of the cafes. Everyone is welcomed!

Average cost is about 2 rub per minute. So, if you spend there an hour it will be 120 rub, about 4 dollars or 3 euros. 

Here are some of the most popular anti-cafes in Moscow

Good Republic - m. Chistie Prudy, Myasnitskaya street 13

Start Hub - m. Dmitrovskaya, Bolshaya Novodmitrovskaya 36/12

Flacon Coworking - the same address as Start Hub - m. Dmitrovskaya, Bolshaya Novodmitrovskaya 36/12

To-Do-Club - m. Kropotkinskaya, the opposite bank of the river, Bersenevskaya Naberezhnaya 6 (for working is perfect)

Charity in Moscow. Charity Shop

Nowadays charity has become very popular in Moscow.

One of the places is the Charity Shop "Lavka radostey" (The store of pleasures) near the Red Square.

The idea of the shop is the following: anyone interested may come to the shop and buy anything they like. They pay as much as they think the thing should cost. There are no prices there.
All the things sold there are gifts of different people, organisations, designers.
Remember that the shop rents a room in the gallery of dolls. To enter the gallery you should pay 150 rub. Then you save the ticket and may come to the shop any time you want without payment.
Moreover, if you come to bring things in a good condition to sell, you should not pat anything for entrance.

It is the first shop like this in Moscow.

Address: Vetoshniy Pereulok, 13. Floor 4.
The shop works from 13.00 till 20.30 daily, except for Monday and Thursday/

Observations...

6.04.13.

Weather. Moscow is still covered with deep snow. Snowdrifts are still as high as a human. 

But there is spring in the air. a bit of it. Birds start singing which is a good sign of the coming spring. 

However, weather forecasters predict there will be no spring, just summer after winter. 

We'll see. 

Metro. As we have noticed it's rather difficult to get into a metro carriage, especially during rush-hours. Too many people and almost each of the desires to get a seat. Sometimes you fail to get into a carriage because there are too many people willing to do the same.. or you are brought in the carriage as if you are surfing a big wave..because again there are too many people.. Nobody wants to let people go out from the carriage to get in there then.

To lessen the pressure in the metro, to make it easier to find the right place on the platform to enter the doors of the carriage when the train comes the Moscow government decides to draw yellow lines on the floor which are to show the position of doors. Hope, it will help.

If you are attentive you will surely notice that voices that declare metro stations differ. If you go to the center these are women voices, if you go from the center - a man declares stations. This is made to help blind people.

Streets. It is also interesting that almost on every door in Moscow, either of any shop or a cafe, there is a yellow circle. The Muscovites asked themselves what for there are so many yellow circles.. The answer is the following: these measures have been taken to help people who have a bad eyesight to orientate themselves in the streets. As doctors say, the yellow colour is best seen by such people. As far as the form is concerned, I suppose, the round form is chosen as it resembles the eye, or the pupil of the eye. 

Hotels and Hostels in Moscow. Park Kultury. Kropotkinskaya.

If you are exploring the central district of Mosow "Hamovniki", it would be very convenient to live somewhere here. Because it's almost the center of the city and you can easily reach any sightseeing in the center, on your feet!

There is a list of hotels and hostels near the metro stations Park Kultury and Kropotkinskaya.

Hotels:

Grosshotel - a min hotel providing 29 rooms for any taste.
Address: m. Park Kulruty or Kropotkinskaya. Prechistenskaya nab 15, building1

Cost: varies from 3200 rub to 6800 rub per day...

Official website: http://en.deluxehotel.ru/

NB: calls are free. 

Versal in Ostozhenka - a mini hotel.

Address: m. Park Kultury; Str. Ostozhenka 7, apt. 54

Cost: from 2900 per night.

Official website: http://en.gmhotel.ru/

Bagration - a big hotel with 46 rooms.

Address: m. Park Kultury. Sechenovskiy Pereulok 7a

Cost: from 2000 rub per night

Official website: http://bagrationhotel.ru/

NB: the site is in Russian only. It's better to write a letter to book a room and ask all the necessary questions.

Hostels:

Kolumb - a hostel providing 4 rooms for 12 and 8 people.

Address: m. Park Kultury, Zubovskiy Boulevard, 35/ 1, apt. 1.

Cost: 500 rub for one night. If you are going to stay there longer, it'll be 400 rub per night.

Official website: http://kolumb-hostel.com/

NB: the site is in Russian. 

Fabrika - a hostel and a gallery at the same time.

Address: m. Kropotkinskaya (the opposite bank of the river). Bersenevskiy Pereulok 5 bld .3/

Cost: 550 rub per night

Official website: http://fabrika-hostel.ru/

If you need any help, be free to ask Explorer.

All the information is provided by the hotels ans hostels mentioned above.

Taxi in Moscow

Sometimes it happens that you catch a taxi driver, but he, unfortunately, doesn't speak any language you understand..and there are no people around to explain him where to drive..
In this case try any of the following taxi companies with operators who understand English. It would be of great help to you in any tricky situation.

Here is the list of taxi companies from the journal "Moscow Expat Life" which we've found by chance in the American Center in Moscow.

Bee Car  +7495-579-48-10 - here you can also rent a car

Taxi 956 +7 495-956-8-956 

New Moscow Taxi + 7 495-780-67-80

Moscow Taxi +7 499-995-0652

Formula Taxi +7-495-777-8-777

But, to tell the truth, we prefer metro, buses etc. or simple walking than using taxi...just because it's cheaper)