Moscow has become one of the world’s most expensive cities. Here are some tips on how to save money:
Tourist Sights: Student Card Discounts
If you have a student card, preferably an ISIC one (though most student cards should be accepted), then you can get some significant savings on entry to various tourist attractions. Here are some examples of what you would pay to enter various sights, with and without a student card:
The Kremlin Museum – The Armoury Chamber
- Price With Student Card (Roubles): 200
- Full Adult Price (Roubles): 700
The Kremlin Museum – The Architectural Ensemble Of The Cathedral Square
- Price With Student Card (Roubles): 100
- Full Adult Price (Roubles): 350
The Kremlin Museum – Access To The Ivan The Great Bell-Tower And Museums Cathedrals
- Price With Student Card (Roubles): 250
- Full Adult Price (Roubles): 500
St Basil’s Cathedral & Exhibition / Exhibition Only
- Price With Student Card (Roubles): 50
- Full Adult Price (Roubles): 200/150
State History Museum
- Price With Student Card (Roubles): 80
- Full Adult Price (Roubles): 250
State Tretyakov Gallery
- Price With Student Card (Roubles): 220
- Full Adult Price (Roubles): 360
Eating Out
Try MooMoos restaurants (spelt ‘MyMy’ in Cyrillic script). This chain has several restaurants scattered around Moscow, including a couple along the pedestrianised, Arbat Street, popular with tourists. You can’t miss them as there will be a large cow outside (not a real one though).
Food Shopping: Avoid the Expensive Supermarkets in the City Centre
Instead of paying ridiculous prices at plush supermarkets in the centre of Moscow, where most visitors stay, consider taking the subway to the ‘Fili’ stop on the light blue, number 4 line, just west of the centre. Make sure that you get this line in the direction of Kuntsevskaya (indicated on the front of the train) and not Mezhdunarodnaya, which branches off in a different direction. About five minutes walk west of the subway station, at number 5, Bogrationovsky Proezd is a shopping mall. Inside, on the ground floor, you will find a large ‘Ashan’ store with significantly cheaper prices. There are also numerous other shops in the mall, including a branch of the French sports shop ‘Decathlon’, which has some reasonably priced sports equipment and clothing.
Accommodation and Toilets
Possibly the cheapest beds in the centre of Moscow are at Godzilla’s Hostel in the upmarket Tsvetnoy Bulvar area. The beds are in a ten-person dorm and must be booked online in order to get the special price of US$16 (480 roubles). The normal price is US$28 (840 roubles). There is limited availability. You might even be able to negotiate a further US$1 (30 roubles) off per night if you have an HI card.
Ensure that you use free toilets when you can, because if you are forced to pay the going rate is 20 roubles (not cheap), which is just money down the toilet.
Richard Milnes - Richard was born in London, England, but has since spent much of his life travelling the world and has visited nearly 50 ...
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