Unspeakable prices - $500 plus a night. Strictly for those who don't look at the numbers on the end of the bill.

4 Neglinnaya Ulitsa; tel: 095 783 1234; moscow.park.hyatt.com/

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A few minutes walk from the Bolshoi and the centre. Doubles start at £125.

2/18 Petrovskaya Liniya; Tel: 095 921 1060; http:// www.hotel-budapest.ru/

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Enormous Stalinesque building where you'll have to immerse yourself in the sense of history to ignore the lack of any extras. Around €70 a night for a double.

2/1 Kutuzovsky Prospekt; Tel: 095 933 5656

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A tourist hang-out, but also the preferred eaterie of the well-heeled. High-end Russian cuisine where smoked meat meets pickled fish. Expect to pay at least £50 a head.

26a Tverskoi Bulvar; tel: 095 229 5590; nearest metro: Tverskaya

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Apparently an exclusive club-restaurant, but they let anyone in who asks nicely (in Russian). Traditional Russian food, ice cold vodka, and bizarre caricature busts of everyone from Lady Di to Dostoyevski. £15 a head for vodka and food.

24 Myasnitskaya Ulitsa (in a courtyard away from the street); Tel: 095 923 0082; nearest metro: Christiye Prudy

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Azerbaijani food (a little like Georgian, but with more herbs and less melted cheese). Kebabs, pickled vegetable stuffed in previously unimaginable ways. Try the kutab with pumpkin (kutab s tykvy). Drink Georgian Saperavi wine. A drunken feast for about £30 a head.

52 Povarskaya Ulitsa; Tel: 291 6376; nearest metro: Barrikadnaya

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Mikhail Bulgakov's masterpiece is the definitive Moscow novel.

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Nikita Mikhalkov’s epic about the 30s purges, which of course culminates in an apartment just off Red Square.

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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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The spiritual home of Bulgakov's masterpiece and Moscow's soul. A park in the city centre.

Nearest metro: Mayakovskaya

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Sushi is all the rage, but you should try this. Grilled meat, fresh vegetables and hachipuri, bread stuffed with melted cheese - easily the most addictive substance in the former Soviet Union.

Genatsvali restaurant on Ostozhenka, 12/1 (nearest metro: Park Kultury) is not the cheapest, but perhaps the best.

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A New York-style delicatessen. Exquisite pizzas and omelettes. Rack of the finest lamb in town. Increasingly and annoyingly popular.

Bolshaya Gruzinskaya; www.correas.ru/

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Old tsarist manor of winding paths and shaded corners.

Phone: 095 561 9660; museum.ru/museum/archang/entere.htm

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Little wooden dolls that fit inside each other, often with the faces of leaders in descending order, Lenin last, of course.

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Twentieth-century Russian art. You will need several hours to marvel at the avant-garde and socialist realist masterpieces that bring to life what was happening on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

10 Krymsky Val; Tel: 095 951 1362; nearest metro: Park Kultury; www.tretyakovgallery.ru/english

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Traditional Russian baths from the 18th century. Wrap yourself in nothing but a sheet, sit in the hot, purging steam and then jump into a freezing cold-water pool. A perfect hangover cure that, worryingly, leaves you wanting a cold beer (also on offer). Expect to pay around £20 a head for the whole experience.

14 Neglinniy Pereulok; tel: 095 925 4631

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Outside the Conservatory concert hall on Bolshaya Nikitskaya. A summer terrace and a warm, cavernous interior for the endless winter.

13 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Ulitsa. Tel: 095 229 3901. Nearest metro: Okhotny Ryad

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As long as the Kremlin security lets you that day, otherwise stand near it. It's where it all began, ended, and will go on.

Nearest metro: Okhotny Ryad

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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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Afisha and Bolshoi Gorod are in Russian, but are the definitive guides. The Moscow Times is the city’s English language bible, with Go magazine as its entertainment guide (go-magazine.ru).

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