If you go: Moscow
Where to stay
For an excellent overview of what's available, visit this Moscow Hotels website (www.hotels-moscow.ru). They will make the reservations, confirm quickly by e-mail, and charge your credit card.
Golden Ring
5 Smolenskaya Ulitsa
011-7-095-725-0100
www.hotel-goldenring.ru
If you are here on business, you won't do better than this modern high-rise near the Foreign Ministry and the Arbat. Health club, casino, high-speed Internet hookup, and a sumptuous breakfast buffet. Rooms from $270.
National
15/1 Mokhovaya Ulitsa
011-7-095-258-7000
www.national.ru
Lenin slept here, but the place has been lavishly updated since. Steps from Red Square. Rooms from $232.
Ukraina
2/1 Kutuzovsky Prospekt
011-7-095-933-5652
If you want a taste of the old Soviet days, try this Stalin Gothic relic on the Moskva River. Though it's short on upscale amenities (and a 10-minute walk from the nearest Metro station), rooms start at just $129.
Where to eat
Cafe Pushkin
26A Tverskoi Bulvar
011-7-095-229-5590
Return to the czarist days, with costumed waiters and old Russian favorites like blini-and-caviar and kvas in a country-house setting. Figure on $60-75 per person. Open 24 hours.
Shinok
2 Ulitsa 1905 Goda
011-7-095-255-0204
A round-the-clock restaurant with a glassed-in barnyard and live animals. The food -- borshch, dumplings, chicken Kiev -- is suitably hearty. From $50 per person.
Knyaz Bagration
58 Ulitsa Plyuschikha
011-7-095-933-7171
Exceptional Georgian food (cheese in mint sauce, lamb soup, baked sturgeon in mushroom sauce in an authentic setting. Entrees $15-$20.
What to do
Kremlin
Though the government buildings are closed to the public, there are enough towers, cathedrals, and palaces to keep you occupied for a day or more. Tickets to the grounds about $10.
Gorky Park
Moscow's version of Central Park, with cafes, amusements, and a boating pond. Take the Metro to Oktyabrskaya Station 