Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Moscow (City Travel Guide)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I took this book with me to Moscow this summer. Except for prices and museum hours (which change rapidly), the guide was very accurate. It offers lots of great budget restaurants and shopping places. It has very clear and easy to follow maps of the center of Moscow. However, it has very poor, tiny, black and white maps (if any), of the outer sections of the city (Such as Sparrow Hills). If you plan to spend any time in the outer fringes of the city, you may want to consider purchasing an additional map. Overall, the guide was excellent and rarely left me stranded.

Moscow is a wonderful city, and Russians are very hospitable people. But, when it boils down to getting around Moscow and trying to enjoy the city's life, Moscow is not at all an easy city ! In fact it is one of the most difficult cities I know. Even for those like myself who speak Russian, it is not easy to get around by public transport, to find taxi drivers who won't cheat or even rob you, and to figure out what to do at night. Several years ago things used to be cheap, now they are expensive, and costs are another thing to watch out for - Moscow is probably the most expensive European city for tourists, almost au par with Tokyo ! All in all, Moscow is a huge unpredictable city, wonderful but dangerous and expensive. This great concise guide by Lonely Planet will truly provide some well-thought and well-researched advice on do's and dont's, some general tips as well as specific information on places to stay and eat, and a lot more. The maps are also great. By all means a great guide, so don't go to Moscow without it !

I traveled to Moscow in 2003 and 2004 and took this book both times. I honestly don't think I could have survived without it. Since I spent numerous weeks in Moscow I covered a lot of territory and especially took advantage of a lot of the information provided in LP, including the info on sites in outer Moscow. Moscow is a wonderful city, but can be confusing and sometimes a little dangerous. However, I found the maps very helpful for making my way around, and especially the map of the metro. The restaurant listings are helpful as well (the descriptions of Georgian food are dead on, it's really that good), though because I lived in dorms I didn't have much experience with the hotels. Prices for museums or other attractions are iffy since they do change a lot but this book was a must for both of my trips.

This has been replaced by an updated edition. Search for 1864503599, or look under "Our Customers' Advice" above. It is still a great guide for your journey of Discovering Russia.

We always tell clients and other visitors to Russia that you should get the most current guidebook, as attractions, hotels, restaurants and transportation options do often change--AND THEN VERIFY THE INFORMATION!

Marc David Miller, Discovering Russia, New York

Good book to give you the general idea of what to expect in Moscow. The book did some what explain that the Russians have figured out how to milk you of your money part of capitalism The subay section is right on the money as well as the Arabat section. I stayed in the Arabat section of Moscow so I can not comment on the other location descriptions. However one would thing that the other sections were just as good. Pick up a week or two before you leave and spend an hour or so each day and read it and plot your days. Lots to see and not enough day or night in your time to see it all.

Just came back from Moscow. I usually love LP Guides and have only been using LP guides when I travel, so it was a surprise that the Moscow guide turned out to be be so lacking in terms of usefulness. The problem mainly lies in opening times of sights and details about admissions. It was quite obvious that the guide needs an update.

I came to Moscow on business and my work took me to parts of Moscow that are not necessarily tourist attractions like science institutes. But I thought that having a book about Moscow would help. This was just not the book for me. Moscow is a behemoth city so it would be difficult to cover everything. But, things like the maps not covering the entire city and the map of the subway only covering the main section was really irritating. The metro map is very different than the official maps. it would be useful to have the official map in there. The instructions on getting Sergiev Posad were not great either. The hotel listings are pretty limited. I know..it's a lot to ask. If you are going to Moscow beyond the typical tourist places, don't buy this book.

This city guide is informative and up-to-date. We used it to help get around Moscow a day before we got on a cruise boat. The neighborhood guides are informative and clear. They help travelers make good use of their time. Each neighborhood section includes a suggested walking tour. These tours are well laid out and a good way to see an area of town. We have also used the Kyoto city guide, similar in layout to the Moscow guide. What prevents me from giving the Moscow guide 5 stars is its organization - I liked the idea of having walks organized into a single chapter (as in the Kyoto guide) rather than appended to the end of each neighborhood (as in the Moscow guide).

Moscow is a huge city, of course, with many things to do and see. I only spent two days, focusing on the Kremlin area. Lonely Planet was more than sufficient for this area, though once again the graphics and photos were sub-standard. In terms of practical information, i don't have much to complain about; though walking around the Kremlin is pretty easy.

The metro map is useful, and the practical guidance about leaving your bag before entering into various sites is on the dot.

As many things are written in cyrillic and not a lot of tourism staff speak english, this guide is a must-have unless you are fully escorted.

The visitor has to be prepared for various unexpected closures, time changes, and reroutings. But this can happen anywhere.

i didnt use the food recommendations; but personally i recommend the cafeteria in the GUM or the food court in the other commercial center near the tomb of the unknown soldier. these are great during a day of sightseeing, and americans will find familiar foods and not need to speak russian (pointing works perfectly!).

The Lonely Planet Moscow guide was extremely enjoyable to read and provided excellent maps, though a magnifying glass was necessary to read the details. My only qualm with the book was that despite having a recent publication date of March 2003, some of the details were out-of-date. Specifically, the Metropol Hotel was listed as part of the Intercontinental chain with an intercontinental e-mail but when I called Intercontinental I was informed that they sold ownership of the hotel several years ago (current e-mail is metropol@metmos.ru). Thus, I recommend the book as good reading but for detailed planning caution is necessary.

PS: This problem was not unique to this volume. We experienced a similar problem with other books in the series.