Giving a short presentation.

1. climate (seasons, temperature, and rainfall);

2. getting around (metro / trains / bus services);

3. entertainment (discos / nightclubs / shows / festivals / concert halls / funfairs);

4. sightseeing (museums / galleries / historic monuments / parks / gardens);

5. food and drink (bars / restaurants / takeaways / local specialities).

Visiting Moscow

The best time to go to Moscow is July and August because they are the warmest months of the year. Summer days are long and it can rain quite a lot.

Getting around is easy and relatively cheap. You can get between all five airports and the city centre by a combination of bus and metro or suburban train. It’s good idea to book a transfer.

Most visitors to Moscow come to see the Kremlin, Red Square and St Basil’s Cathedral and to look at Lenin’s tomb and it’s best to see the central area around the Kremlin on foot. For the other parts of the city, the fastest, cheapest and easiest way to get around is on the metro. Buses, trolleybuses and trams run everywhere the metro doesn’t go.

The most famous of Moscow’s parks and gardens is Gorky Park which stretches almost three kilometers along the river Moskva. There’s a fairground, an ornamental garden and river excursions.

There’s a number of festivals that are worth seeing. The Moscow Film Festival takes place in the autumn and the Russian Winter Festival is a must, with troyka rides, folklore shows, games and vodka.

As far as eating out is concerned, for an authentic Russian experience go to Petrovich where the walls are covered by all sorts of reminders of the Soviet past.

For a quick snack, there are three chains of food stalls – Niam Niam, which sells all kinds of sweet and savoury pies, Kroshka Kartoshka, which are jacket potatoes with fillings and Russkie Bliny, which of course needs no explanation.

4. Accommodation

Tourist accommodation is one of the six sub-sectors of the tourism industry. It can be classified as: serviced accommodation and self-catering accommodation.

Serviced accommodation refers to any sort of accommodation where the guests receive a place to sleep, meals, porter services, reception services, and so on. Typical examples of serviced accommodation are hotels, motels, guest houses, bed and breakfast.

Self-catering accommodation. In this sort of accommodation the guests prepare their own meals, and very few other services are provided except for reception. Types of self-catering accommodation include apartments, campsites, caravans, motor homes, villas.

Hotels are the most popular type of accommodation in many countries. They can be small, family-owned hotels, hotels at popular resorts catering for holidaymakers, business hotels, and so on.

All hotels offer a range or services and facilities. Services involve a member of the hotel staff doing something for you. Typical services are reception services, transportation and transfers, tourist information, ticket reservations, laundry, and room service.

Facilities make the guest’s stay more enjoyable, and include restaurants and bars, business centers, sports facilities, minibar, pay TV, internet connection in room, direct dial telephone, and so on

Depending on the range of services and facilities on offer, a hotel can be classified as 1-star through to 5-star. The star rating system is the classification that is used most around the world.

Reservation for hotels can be taken in different ways: face-to-face in the hotels; by phone; by email, fax, or in writing using a conventional letter; through a travel agent; through the internet.

Internet bookings are increasingly common and use computer reservations systems like Sabre or Apollo. Major hotel chains usually have their own system.

TYPES OF ACCOMMODATION

A wide variety of accommodation is available to the modern tourist. They vary from the guest house or tourist home with one or two rooms to grand luxury hotels with hundreds of rooms.

An inn is a place that offers shelter and food to travelers, often in rural areas. It was more common before railroads and modern hotels came to existence. The word “inn” now has a quaint old-fashioned sound.

Guest house or a tourist home means a small establishment that accommodates travelers. They usually have relatively few rooms.

Motel is a hotel with special facilities for motor vehicles. The word “motel” is made by combining “motor” and “hotel”. Condominium is a building or group of buildings in which a unit can be bought by an individual. The public spaces are owned jointly by all the purchasers of the individual units.

Pension, which is pronounced in French, is another type of accommodation for travelers, especially in Europe. Nowadays, it usually offers bed and breakfast at low prices. In Britain it is traditionally called “B and B” and means a boarding house which offers breakfast.

Caravanning or camping means traveling with one’s own facilities for shelter and often for eating. A caravan or van is a type of vehicle with sleeping space. In camping, the traveler carries a tent or other equipment with him. Marina is a place at which boats can dock. The marina usually offers electricity, telephones, water, etc so that people can use their boats for accommodations.

A hotel is a temporary home for people who are traveling. In a hotel the traveler can rest and have meals. The hotel may also offer facilities for recreation, such as a swimming pool, a golf course, or a beach.

It is possible to place hotels in four broad categories: commercial hotels, resort hotels, hotels aimed at the convention trade, resident hotels. Another way of categorizing hotels is by the quality of services they offer. At the top are the luxury hotels, which offer their guests the greatest comfort and convenience possible. At the bottom are those that provide merely a place to sleep. A system for rating hotels according to quality is widely used in France and other countries. This system puts the top hotels in a special “deluxe” category, with others receiving from five stars to one star.