In the last decade Moscow has undergone great changes. Those who visited the city five or seven years ago on return are amazed at dramatic positive changes. Many historical sites were fully reconstructed Including the Cathedral of St. Saviour, Voskresensky Gate and the Church of the Virgin of Kazan - in Red Square.

For tourists’ and inhabitants’ convenience recreation walking zones have been created with numerous souvenir shops, cafes and restaurants. Annually new hotels are opened - both luxurious hotels of the world hotel chains and small private properties. For ecological reasons, the city administration have renounced the construction in the city of new production facilities and many old enterprises are being removed to industrial zones beyond the city limits.

Nowadays Moscow is a modern city with a great number of new originally designed trade and office centers, administrative buildings and residential houses, entertainment and recreation facilities.

Moscow has a convenient and low-cost public transport, the most notable is, undoubtedly, The Underground or Metro.

The first Metro line was put into operation in 1935 and today, Moscow Metro is one of the most extensive underground railways in the world. It has 11 lines of the total length exceeding 260 km. 160 Metro stations have been opened to traffic in various parts of the huge city. Every day from 5.35 a.m. when Metro opens to 1.00 a.m. when it closes down, it carries over 10 million passengers. The trains run at 60-90 km per hour.

The Moscow Metro is not only a convenient public transport but in its artistic decoration it is work of art the evidence of which is Grand Prix awarded to some stations at international exhibitions in Brussels and Paris.

Visits to Metro are generally included in INTOURIST city tours. Tourists are given an opportunity to become familiar with facts from the Metro’s history and admire sculptural compositions, marble columns, fanciful ornamental designs and bar-reliefs, mosaic pictures and ceramics under the vaults.

Moscow is the main entry gateway of Russia. The city has four international airports – Domodedovo, Scheremetyevo II, Sheremetyevo I and Vnukovo, 12 railway terminals.

This city is the starting point for a majority of INTOURIST itineraries to various destinations in Russia: St. Petersburg, ancient towns of the Golden Ring, Siberia, the Baikal Lake, the Caucasus, Trans-Siberian route covering Russia from West to East.