Moscow, with primary age children?

[fakenamefornow]

Really love to visit Russia, my children are ages 8, 10 and 11. Would you?

I wouldn't visit Russia ever due to Putin and the government . But would take kids if that's your kind of thing

Yes I would, I really, really want to go back to Moscow. I taught there for a while pre children and while it is absolutely crazy I'd love to take the children, bit of time in Moscow, head out to the golden ring as there are some lovely places there to give them an idea of more traditional life and then maybe a trip to st Petersburg on the sleeper train (I'd book a couple of cabins for the family rather than go in the berths as I did when I was younger though!).

If you can afford the visas then go for it! A great city, but not many people speak English, so be prepared for that.

Are the visas very expensive then? What about costs in general?

It depends on visa cost, for me and DH it was £300.

We saved money by staying in a hostel and cooking most of our own food, but we do this when we travel anyway so we're used to living on a budget abroad

Wow, that is a lot, there would be five of us.

The prices may have changed, as we went a few years ago (I think we were there for new year in 2014/15)

From what I remember they are reluctant to give you an exact price, so I'd suggest getting in touch with an embassy or consulate if you can

Visas are a pain, I had to send a postal order to get mine, that was over 10 years ago though! There are various websites that will sort visas for you which can sometimes be fairly cost effective. You are supposed to have visas validated by the hotels you stay at but there are many ways to bypass that. Russia, full of crazy rules but almost all of them can be got around.

My visa, 8 years ago, was about £100, but it was a business one so more expensive. Last year I went to St Petersburg with my 12 year old and he loved it. I didn't need a visa for that one as we were in very controlled organised excursions

God, everything is so opaque, I don't even seem to be able to find actually prices for the visas.

I went to st Petersburg in October half term. The visa was £80 ish. You have to go in person to apply with all the right forms, then go back to collect it (someone else can do the pick up but you have to drop off as they need to do finger prints) the only visa offices are in london and Edinburgh. If you just want to go to Russia I'd recommend St P over Moscow for a first visit - the people are much much friendlier there and it's much more set up for tourists. Moscow's a really great city but the people were frosty. I was really glad I speak some Russian when in Moscow but in Peterburg I didn't need it.

We're going to Moscow and St Petersburg in April with DD(11) and DS(14). I'm hoping to sort the visas the week after next- am just waiting for the visa support documents from our accommodation!

We went to Moscow in September 2015. The visa thing initially sounds v confusing but once you have booked your hotel and can request your 'letter of invitation' it's all v simple.
We found lots to do in our week there, the usual Red Square, Lenins Tomb, Cosmonaut Museum, etc. It's a fantastic city, the metro system is beautiful and the people were actually much friendlier than I thought they would be. I wish we had shelled out on a sleeper train to fit in a visit to St Petersberg as it's somewhere I probably won't travel back to, especially as EasyJet pulled out. Our return flights were less than £90 each which was the push to finally go there.