I am arriving in Moscow at 4pm. I heard that the taxi's will try and rip you off. anyone have any reliable transpiration ideas from the airport to the Park Hyatt Arabat? My hotel offered to send a Mercedes for $130 i think? does that seem reasonable or overpriced?
I will have been traveling from the States so of course I will be tired so the most painless way would be appreciated.
There is an official taxi stand at the airport, near the exit. Show them the name and address of your hotel. You then pay them a set rate. We used this service and were very pleased. The cost was less than $30 for 2.
$130 does not seem reasonable at all. Even if a taxi rips you off, can they really do worse than $130? That's pretty much a chauffeur limo price.
Which airport?
For example, official taxi (i.e. the ones booked via the taxi counter mentioned above) rates from Domodedovo to Central district (which is where Hyatt Ararat is - btw, thanks, Ilja, don't know what I was thinking) range between 3200 and 3800 rubles (or 55 to 65 dollars at current xchange rates).
For the same route, Uber or Gett taxi will be in the range of 1000 to 3000 rubles.
As a reminder - if you use Google maps on your phone, type in your "to" and "from" addresses or locations and the app will provide an estimate for web-enabled taxi services in the area (for Moscow, it is Uber and Gett).
Overall, using the official taxi is a lot more convenient in an airport/train station kind of situation, because your (Uber/Gett/Yandex) driver will need to somehow find you, which will typically involve a call or a text.
In any other setting, web-based taxi services are the way to go.
Amanda, are you sure it's Park Hyatt Arabat hotel and not Park Hyatt Ararat hotel? If you feel adventurous and your luggage is not heavy you can make it much cheaper by public transport (my educated guess less than 10 dollars). From all three main Moscow airports (Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo) there is aeroexpress train (420 rubles) to Beloruskiy vokzal (train station). From there by Metro on line 2 (it's marked green) to station Teatralnaya. It's the third station direction Krasnogvardeiskaya or Brateevo. From there it's a short walk to your hotel (if it's Ararat). You can read more about Aeroexpress here: https://aeroexpress.ru/en/ .
Or take a taxi. $130 is a highway robbery.
Thank you everyone for your replies. I thought the $130 was a bit extravagant. I will find the official taxi stand or if I am feeling adventurous after two days of travel, I will try the aerobus/metro.. I always like to challenge myself with local transportation in every country but I may be at my wits end with lack of sleep.
next question, I assume I will need cash.. there are ATM's bank owned in the SVO airport? i will be coming from Amsterdam on KLM
and yes, it is the Park Hyatt Ararat
and llja... wow, thank you for the specific directions. Wonderful. I have them on a notecard .. would challenge myself :)
For airport ATMs, Google the airport and look at terminal maps for ATM locations
http://www.svo.aero/en/transport/#
Just checked Rome2rio site. Looks like the train with the metro and walking takes about 1 and 1/4 hours. If you're tired, the official taxi will be the fastest. We have used both options- taxi when we came from the US via London and the train and metro on another trip when we came only from Minsk, arriving in Moscow after only an hour flying. Have a wonderful trip!!
"official taxi would be the fastest". I would not be so sure. It depends what time. Traffic jams in Seattle are nothing comparing to traffic jams in Moscow. Then train and Metro are much faster. We were 6 of us when we were in Moscow few years ago so we booked a van with a driver. We came from St.Petersburg by train. When we saw the enormous traffic jam we asked our driver how he managed to be at the railroad station on time. He said he came to the station the night before, parked the van there, then went home by Metro and came back to the station by Metro for us.
