Moscow Guide
Arrival
By air
The gateway of choice, Domodedovo has been refurbished and is linked to Pavelets Station in central Moscow by a shuttle train, which covers the 35km in 45 minutes. To board the train, turn left in the Arrivals terminal (which has currency exchange, car rental and ATMs) and keep going through the Departures terminal until you see the ticket office for the train, shortly before its platforms. You'll need to change money before buying a ticket as they only take rubles. Trains run hourly from 6am to 11pm; the fare is around R300. Alternatively, bus #405 and minibuses leave from the car park outside Departures to Domodedovskaya metro, in southeast Moscow (30–40min; R200) from 6am to 10pm. In the event that you'll arrive after either the train or buses and the metro have ceased working, a taxi into the city centre costs R1400 upwards and takes from one to one and a half hours, depending on traffic.
Sheremetevo-2, 28km northwest of the centre, hasn't been upgraded since it was built for the 1980 Olympics and is notoriously bottlenecked and depressing – though with all the usual facilities on its concourse. Getting into town by public transport involves travelling to Rechnoy Vokzal (bus #851 or minibus #48) or Planernaya (bus #817 or minibus #49) metro station in the northwest suburbs and thence into the centre by metro. The buses and minibuses run every 10–15 minutes from 6am to midnight; the journey to Planernaya takes 30 minutes (almost half the time it takes to reach Rechnoy Vokzal), but the metro ride into the centre takes 15–20 minutes from either station. If that sounds too gruelling or you know that you'll be arriving late or with a lot of baggage, arrange to be met. Most hotels offer this service for R1500–2500; hostels charge in the region of R1500, and firms such as Logus 88 ( 
911 97 47) or Taxi Bistro ( 324 99 74) even less. If you don't pre-book a car, you'll be at the mercy of a cartel of taxis charging R2000–2800 for a ride into the centre – and probably fated to fume in a traffic jam on Leningradskiy prospekt, too.
Flights from St Petersburg, the Baltic States or Central Asia arrive at Sheremetevo-1 airport, which is linked by the same buses and minibuses to Rechnoy Vokzal and Planernaya as its sister airport across the runway.