Me and my girlfriend (we are a lesbian couple) traveled from Moscow to Ekaterinburg, and on to Volgograd. The trip was amazing. We were a bit worried about traveling without male company, but I must say Russia is one of the friendliest and untouristy places I've ever been.

It is a big advantage to know some Russian. Outside of Moscow we met nobody who spoke English. I found Moscow very stressful and expensive. It was the least pleasant city we visited. Our next stop was Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. I highly recommend Kazan. It's an old, beautiful and exotic city with a mix of Tatars and Russes living there. The atmosphere was far more relaxed than in Moscow.

Kazan offers great mosques, and is the Muslim centre of Russia. It's a great place to relax and stroll about. This city has some stunning sights, including the UNESCO listed Kreml.

Our next stop was Ekaterinburg. We were told that it was situated in the Ural mountains, but we never saw a glimpse of them. Nevertheless; Ekaterinburg is a very pleasant and chilled city. It has a very western feeling to it. It's easy to find western food, as there's plenty of Irish pubs there. I recommend going to the Altay building. There you can take a lift and see the city from the rooftop. It's quite stunning. There's plenty of theatres all around the city, and even though you don't understand Russian, don't miss the opportunity to catch local theatre-troops.

A great place (although hard to find) to stay is the guesthouse called Academy of Geology. It's peaceful and has beautiful rooms.

From Ekaterinburg we went south to Ufa. Ufa is the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan. Ufa was quite hard to get around, but it is still worth a visit. You can visit one of Lenin's homes and spot some unique architecture. The atmosphere in Ufa is, like in Kazan, very different from the Russian cities. I highly recommend the Azimut hotel (Bus stop Gore Moskva). It's a business hotel with great standards and a friendly staff.

On to Volgograd. Volgograd is probably one of the most beautiful cities I've been to. Situated on the banks of the Volga river with an almost tropical climate, it almost feels like you're in Greece. This is a city of history. The name Stalingrad might ring a bell. The most stunning thing to see in Volgograd is the huge Mother Russia statue. It's the highest statue in the world (72 m). It's an unbelievable sight when you compare it to a church that stands beside it. It looks more like a doll's church.

I also recommend the Stalingrad Battle museum, and the Volga river cruises. There are plenty of offers. Volgograd was really easy to get around in. The city centre is quite small, and it's easy to navigate because of the river. The Volgograd Hotel is cheap and amazing.

We had a wonderful time in Russia. My girlfriend knows some Russian and that came in extremely handy. We got quite used to people looking at us, but we never felt threatened or harassed. The most common comment we got from other women was that we were brave to travel by ourselves.

One thing that is difficult however, is buying train tickets. You will need to write down the information for the train you are going on, how many tickets you need, and what kind of cupee you want. And prepare for long lines. It might take hours to get your tickets. We always went in a 4-people compartment. It was a great way to travel. We shared compartments with so many different people, and it was a great way to get to know Russians. It's important to bring some food or beverage to share.

Girls; go to Russia. It is a fascinating place....

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It's fast, frequent, well-run, and cheap (about 20 pence for any journey when we were there in August 2005). However, I'd advise travellers to learn the Russian alphabet (at least) as it can be difficult to find your way around the system otherwise. You can't always see the station name from inside the train, and the (Russian) announcements are sometimes not audible. So it's useful to be able to follow the map. You can buy postcards that show the map - handy to carry around if you don't want to bring your guide book. There's a wealth of info on the internet - just type "Moscow Metro" into Google.

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The artwork in Moscow’s metro stations is stunning, and each one has a different theme. The Kievskaya station is especially interesting, as it depicts Ukrainian agriculture and pride. In light of last year's Orange Revolution and Ukraine's desire to join the EU, the station's murals and mosaics are particularly poignant.

You can explore the station and then head up the street to Yolki Polki, one of a chain of restaurants serving decent Russian food at cheap prices (not an easy thing to find in Moscow). Their generous portion of borsht is delicious.

Kievskaya metro station

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One very important and cool thing about Moscow: instead of getting a taxi you can hail any car and they will stop to give you a lift for money. It usually costs about 100R (£2) for a 10-15 minute ride, while a trip from one end of the city to another will cost about 250R (£5). The prices might go up if they see you are a foreigner (but now that you know the market average you'll just refuse, won't you?) and during the night it might be 50% higher.

Oh yes and be careful - check out the driver before getting into the car. Single women should never get in to cars on their own. All lifts are taken at your own risk. If you don't like the driver, just give a ridiculous price like 20R (40p) and he'll shout “Ohuel!” and drive away.

Another tip: if you don't like the driver smoking, just tell him you have an allergy, it always works and it’s a good conversation starter as well.

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You're in a cold, smelly suburban train full of drunken youths going back to the outskirts. There's no escape and so you need a train seller. They come one after another advertising their wares in powerful voices no earplugs can fight off. These guys can feed you (crisps, nuts, dried squid), get you drunk (beer and alcopops), keep you warm (socks and mittens) and educated (everything from neo-nazi newspapers to bibles and Readers Digest).

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If you want to see the most beautiful part of the city, get on the special tram labelled Annyshka. It goes from the Chistye Prudy (Clear Ponds) metro station and down the Bulvarnoye Koltso (Ring Boulevard). A nice way of spending free-time in summer as well as in winter.

Nearest metro: Chistye Prudy - just in front of the metro entrance

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Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports are both outrageous for the time and cost of getting into the centre of the city. But both have minibuses travelling to near the end of the metro (Domodedovskaya or Rechnoi Vokzal on the green line) for 50 roubles. From there, you can catch the metro anywhere for 13 roubles. Domodedovo also has a train like the Heathrow Express, but it only goes every hour and costs 120 roubles, but then you need either the metro or a taxi from Paveletskaya.

A taxi from both airports will cost around 1300 roubles, but can take from 90 minutes to three hours, depending upon traffic.

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If you are planning to use the metro in Moscow, make sure you have a map in Cyrillic as well as English. Obviously the station signs are not in English and if your map doesn't have a Cyrillic translation it's possible to get hopelessly lost underground. Not fun. Or funny.

Until you get back to the UK.

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Travel around town on the underground. It's cheap, the stations are dotted all over the place and, most importantly, many of the stations are spectacular monuments to the slave labour that built them. Marvel at the chandeliers, the enormous statues, the weird Stalinist architecture and the murals of happy workers.

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The awkwardness of the various other modes of transport from Sheremetyevo means that taxis are the most viable option. Join the queue for fixed-rate taxis and under no circumstances accept offers from unlicensed drivers inside the terminal.

www.sheremetyevo-airport.ru

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Take a boat on the river, past the Novodevichy monastery, Gorky Park and the Kremlin. They leave every 20 minutes between 12 pm and 8 pm from the pier at Kiev Station

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