Jan. 20, 2007 - A room is available from my assistant Valentina, M. Belorusskaya (5-7 min. walk). Quiet, spacious, cooking facilities, washer. $50/night per person or couple. Write her and expect a response within hours. Registration, assistance with tickets, advice, any other what/where/how support. If your situation truly requires instant response, call Valentina at +7- 905-552-0220 or me at +7-910-932-5546.  - Pasha

 

 

Updated Feb. 12, 2006

Cheap/budget accommodation in Moscow & elsewhere in Russia

Here is what we have after a massive attempt to organize my materials:

Rooms/B&B/homestays in Moscow are now at www.cheap-mosow.com/homestay.htm

Free accommodation in exchange for English:
www.cheap-moscow.com/free_accommodation.htm

Apartments for short-term rent in Moscow: www.cheap-moscow.com/apartments.htm  

My apartment is described at my old site www.unclepasha.com/moscow_apartment.htm

If you are travelling between Moscow & St. Petersburg, see www.staritsa.info In particular note the City of Staritsa (www.staritsa.info/staritsa.htm ) and the invitation to stay at the site owner's dacha, ride horses in the hills over the Volga river and otherwise enjoy the impression that you are enjoying your authentic and un-touristy Russia (www.russian-horse-rides.com).

Kaluga region towns and villages are at www.kalugaregion.net  At the moment only accommodation in the city of Kaluga itself is covered well.

Pasha
 contact info

 

 

 

 

 

backpacker accommodation in moscow
homestays ~ bed and breakfast ~ family stays ~  hostels ~ real cheap hotels

Of related interest:
Proceed to the Master list of Moscow and elsewhere in Russia accommodation options

Homestay accommodation (private room) with a young academic family, vegetarians

homestay with anastasia across the river from the Red Square ... sorry to learn she raised the price to $30-35/person or $40/couple but given the superb location and excellent feedback I'm keeping her on my list.

Proceed straight to the list of rooms, homestay offers, and other cheap and flavourful lodging arrangements.

<<== The drawing was made personally by Uncle Pasha, in one of his moods, to symbolize how much one can reasonably expect in what is said to be the 4th most expensive city in the world for $25 or less per person or couple per night. This page is not for the timid-hearted.

Try also Moscow and elsewhere accommodation master list and Budget hotels ($70 and under double).

Hosts please submit your offers

The name of the game here is not just economy or budget, but cheap, extra cheap, outrageously and unabashingly cheap. $30/night per person is the absolute top here. $10-15 is about right. Don't be shy to offer your rinky-dinky living room couch in Zhulebino or drop a hint of a warm abandoned basement in the industrial zone someplace in Chertanovo. Starving babushkas! That's your chance to supplement your pension. Unemployed alcoholics! A bottle of vodka for you if you have a bedbug-free mattress to sleep on for a poor traveller. Offers of free accommodation in exchange for English are most welcomed. It costs nothing to advertise here. Post your offers on Uncle Pasha's Notice Board, from which they will be harvested, reviewed, sorted out, commented upon, and added to this list.

A grouchy note

We regularly get inquiries from seekers of very basic accommodation in Moscow. Being as nice as we are, and consistently with our mission, we aim to constructively respond all letters. This sub-project, however, has little or no commercial significance for us. Please, therefore, use our administrative resource sparingly. Try posting your messages on the forum as opposed to writing unless you are interested in staying in our spare room or the "Dutch Loft"

Also, we are not an international friendship society here. I am not a people's person. Avoid excessive chattiness unless you hire me by the hour. In the latter case I'm all ears at $20/hour.

Cheap Moscow Accommodation Hints

  • You can find babushkas with "room for rent" signs on the outer side of the Garden Ring, between the Yauza river and Kursk train station. The rates are reported to be $20-25/night 

    April     21, 2003. My attempt to capture the essential poor babushka. Done while waiting for a client in Balashikha, one of the most criminalized and otherwise problematic satellites communities of Moscow. Faces of alcoholics and thugs you may notice elsewhere on this site are also from two weeks of travelling there daily. Back to the renting a room from babushka issue.  My own attempts to secure accommodation from the Kursk train station babuskkas were a failure. The first two turned away from a foreigner for whom I was trying to find cheap home, and then we gave up and proceeded to explore more conventional offers. On another occasion the babushka made a scene when she saw a laptop computer among my guest's possessions. Another evicted a traveller because he refused to be fed with frequency and in the amounts she considered appropriate. If you are here in search of Russia-the-surreal, make babushka accommodation part of your plans. Check out the Misery Tourism (C) which, some day, may make me rich and famous.
     

  • Room-renting babushkas of slightly higher class can also be found at the Vnukovo airport south of Moscow but their rooms are way out.
  • Camping in Moscow parks is NOT illegal.  [DOUBLE CHECK!!!!]
  • Shower rooms (clean, private, inexpensive) are available at the Riga railroad station (Metro Rizhskaya) for those who prefer the great urban outdoors.
  • OGI Bookstore (Potapov per. ???, tel. ????, M.????) is open throughout the night for those who prefer to solve the accommodation question by not sleeping.
  • To find free accommodation in exchange for English try leaving a notice to that effect in the Library of Foreign Literature. This is also a good way to arrange for Russian lessons and conversation practice.
  • Iz Ruk  v Ruki (www.izrukvruki.ru) is also a good method of looking for free accommodation in exchange for English. Post your ad under "Services - Lessons".
  • Try www.globalfreeloaders.com Write to me if you are a compatible person from India or Israel.
  • Travellers nightmare: what to do if you found yourself with no money and no travel documents in Moscow. Not as bad as it sounds. [Step by step instructions will be posted soon.]
  • Take time to learn the Russian alphabet and a few key phrases. The time and effort taken will quickly pay off.
  • Avoid accommodation issue altogether by scheduling overnight travel. An 11pm-7am train to St. Petersburg will cost you $20-25, which is on par with the cheap of the cheapest of Moscow's hotels.
  • Hop on just about any bus or commuter train. In two hours you will be in the $5-15/night zone. In Staritsa, for example, where are trying to establish ourselves as farmers (see www.rural-russia.narod.ru) a hotel room is $4-8 per night, and it is 3.5 hours north-west from Moscow towards St. Petersburg.
  • Several excellent hints on travel and accommodation by Ron Swandersen - see his April 28, 2003 entry in my Notice Board
  • It is easy to make friends in Russia. If you have a hobby, or have something special about you, announce it, and in no time you will get an invitation.  Particular social groups known for their hospitable and gregarious nature include vegetarians and hitch-hikers. Hitch-hiking here is a serious hobby, with hitch hiking clubs, newspaper, and the whole fairly well developed culture.

Landlords! I am getting lots of inquiries for accommodation in the $40-50/night range. Also we expect a surge of interest in homestay accommodation! Please submit your offers. I could generate lots of interest in your $15-25/day rooms if there are offers. Where are all these starving babushkas who could use a few bucks?

Backpacker resources

Finally, the specific offers of real cheap lodging

An extra-special offer from us
(the developers of this site)

The famous "Dutch Loft" right across the river and the canal (7 min. walk) from the Red Square. The cost if $25/person or $35/couple (which makes it a remarkable $17.50 per person!!). Washing machine, internet access, bicycle and folding scooter are all available. Even Dog Rental can be arranged.


Another room for rent from us

 

Write to inbox@unclepasha.com

In emergency try calling , 8-916-117-1527, or 8-910-932-3110 but under normal circumstances please use e-mail

 The famous Dutch Loft in all of its glory. Named so because it is popular with travellers from the Netherlands. A letter from Holland commending on the name.

 

 

    

 
  		 
==> Direct from landlord

A luxury homestay in the Ukraina Hotel building on Kutuzovsky

 

Cheap eating out:
Aluminum Fork Restaurant Guide

 

 This is a new offer, and availability is still high!! And that's the Ukraine Hotel building. The apartment in question is on the other side.

 
  		 
==> Direct from landlord

$15-20 per person or couple, Rublevskoye Shosse. A crummy apartment in a crummy building but in a real good residential area.

 Please note that hosts are heavy smokers but otherwise interesting and easy-going people. She is a geologist and he is an alpinist, both with an intense interest in caving. On their request, their contact information is not posted here but you can get it by writing to us (mention the Filin family).
 
  		 
...several free homestay offers removed as outdated.... These offers come and go. You can ask about the availability of such when you are in Moscow. It is no use asking in advance because these offers don't last long.  See Hints in the Backpacker Accommodation page to take active steps in looking for free accommodation.
 
  		 
Travellers Guest House, $23/person in a room of 4-5
Bolshaya Pereyaslavskaya 50, 10th floor, 971-4095, e-mail tgh@startravel.ru, URL www.iro.ru  		Dorm-style, lots of travel resources, backpacker hangout. Close to three railroad stations. Also see G&R Asia Hostel.
 
  		 
G&R Asia Hotel, $16/person.
Zelenodolskaya 3, Metro Ryazansky Prospekt,
tel. 378-3392, 378-0001, 378-2866,
hostelasia@mtu-net.ru 		Dorm-style, same niche as the Travellers Guest House, located in an industrial suburb. Visa support available. No response to two test e-mail we sent them.
 
  		 
Izmailovo
Metro Izmailovsky Park

 

Down? See my
Beer i Vodka
project
Normally rooms there run at $40-50/night. If, however, you show up Friday afternoon and speak with agents that hang out by the hotel, you can realistically get something for $25. This hotel caters to local business travellers and thus tends to have vacancies on weekends. Floors are rented out to independent operators who send their agents to the street to catch clients, and the competition is at times fierce, which drives prices way down.

Cheap food is one of the advantages of this hotel. Check out the staff cafeteria where you can gorge yourself silly for $4-5.

Close to the Vernisage Arts and Crafts market.

 
  		 
Kievskaya  $15-17
Tel. 240-1444/5378.
Metro Kievskaya  		A forthright unvarnished dump near the Kiev railroad station. Hint: rooms become available at noon, and fill quickly, so show up at 11-something. Near Kutuzovsky, next door to Radisson-Slavyanskaya, easy access to the city center via a spectacular pedestrian bridge. Given the location and price, this hotel can be recommended no matter what.

Hurry up before it falls victim to Moscow authorities' drive to give the city a "civilized" facade.
   
Shelters for the homeless I don't recommend that western travellers take advantage of shelters intended for the true homeless but I will be asking if they have spare space in the summer that can be rented inexpensively, for the benefit of all.
   

Lonely?
Dog Rental
may be your answer.
"Free in exchange for English lessons". An excellent opportunity to stay in Moscow for free and to really get to know local life. Zhenia (programmer) and Arthur (dentist), both 36, their kids Olga and Evelin, and their dog Sandy invite you to join them in their home in the east side of Moscow, near the Izmailovski park and the Kuskovo Estate....... CONTINUE   YOU MAY TRY YOUR LUCK BUT THEY DON'T RESPOND TO INQUIRIES ACCORDING TO SOME FEEDBACK I RECEIVED
Urgently needed English conversation practice!!!! Free room available with a non-smoking Moscow family of three. Board, including vegetarian meals, can be arranged. Offer valid till October 2002, when we are scheduled to attend our immigration interveiw at the Canadian Embassy. Write Irina Goncharova, e-mail santair@mail.ru, tel. (+7-095) 709-1242 (home) and 965-0374, ext. 125 (work). 
"Quality immersion experience" An excellent choice for someone who wants a quality immersion experience. Cheriomushki, Moscow south, University area. Unfortunately, this place is rarely available, and the hostess cannot be contacted directly, but it is worth a try. Here is some more information on the Cheriomushki Homestay.
==> Direct from landlord

"Typical Russian Family"

 Homestay with a typical Russian family near Leningradsky, Ryazansky and Yaroslavsky railroad terminals. Please proceed to http://www.geocities.com/alexmsc/.  If nothing else, his service fees are certainly right. He will, for example, procure you your tickets for $5 if you stay with him.
==> From us

"The Dacha Experience"

 Yes, that's our project. Read about it at www.rural-russia.narod.ru or write to inbox@unclepasha.com, paul_voytinsky@yahoo.com  This travel option is dangerously close to the Misery Tourism concept that, we hope, will make us rich and famous.  Does the idea of horseback rides in the hills over the Volga appeals to you? If so, proceed here. Lots of pictures of rural Russia!
Homestay in the university area, with a car-racing accordion playing lady. Anna Maximovna coming up soon. For now just ask us about this pretty good option. And she speaks some German too!! If only she was in a habit of returning phone calls!
==> Direct from landlady

Galina's Flat

 921-6038, galinas.flat@mtu-net.ru  Responds same or next day. VERY inexpensive, prime location but a bit of a crazy house, including LOTS of cats. 
   

Please be aware that free/cheap options tend to be rather unreliable, and that we are introducing the practice of requesting fees for our involvement. Numerous phone calls and e-mails are required to arrange a typical "babushka stay", thus the $50 fee to cover 2.5 hours of our work.

Another ugly comment. Often these secretive Russians raised in the shadow of KGB magnified by their own fears don't want to make their contact details available. If it is the case I am prepared to make one phone call on your behalf in an attempt to contact them. Unless you are a paying client. My recommendation though is to deal with those who don't hide.

Free homestay in exchange for English. Tatiana Pranevskaya, pranevskay@mtu-net.ru. She is an engineer with specialization in communication systems. Lives in a good area in the west end near a park and a river. Offer available during September 2002 almost for sure. After that you can still try your luck. She DOES respond e-mails.

I'm actively seeking out homestay offers. Unlike apartments, homestay offers are largely unpredictable, and thus no reservations can be made in most cases, and it is best to contact the landlords or me when you are on your way. Some of my English and Interview Preparation clients may be able to put you up with them in exchange for English lessons. Please ask about it, but inquire only when you are already in Russia, or when you have your visa and your tickets in your hand. I cannot afford to be dragged into correspondence that results in nothing for no one. - PV

While on the subject, check my list of FREE GUIDES. Accommodation and English-Russian exchange offers may also be posted there.


InteractiveRussia offers affordable accommodation and active tours for
backpackers. For instance, you can book a hostel in Moscow at $28 per
day at http://hostel.in-russia.com/
 
Explore Moscow and St Petersburg, Russian North, Siberia, Primorye and Kamchatka with experts of InteractiveRussia. Go heli-skiing, hiking, biking, rafting and fishing anywhere in Russia. 
The web site offers various itineraries at http://travel.in-russia.com

 

Asya's Rooms with a view onto the Moskva river, "The House on the Embankment", and of course the Kremlin...

 

Main Page

Maps of Moscow

More maps of Moscow

Metro system, in English

Detailed maps of Moscow - see http://www.moscowmap.ru

How to get to the center of Moscow from Sheremetyevo-2

Active forum on Backpacking in Russia:
http://groups.msn.com/BackpackingAcrossEurope/ 

 

Please post your hints on the board.
We'll periodically harvest and organize them
for other travellers' perusal.

 

 

Country trekking, horseback riding,
small town and rural Russia:
www.unclepasha.com/horses_e.htm 
(+7-095) 959-3865
8-916-117-1527 (cellular, from within Russia)

 

 

List of art and quasi-art used to decorate this site