Where to stay? Choosing accommodation while traveling. Couchsurfing - Free Accommodation Abroad Tourist Accommodation

04.09.2021

Thousands of tourists from Russia come to Moscow every year to see its sights, or consider the city as a transit point. From our article, you will learn how to find accommodation in a metropolis and where you can stay in Moscow inexpensively.

Which area to choose

It may seem to an inexperienced traveler that the districts of Moscow are built chaotically and it is very difficult to navigate in them. We will try to dispel this misconception, and for this you should carefully consider the map of the city. The territory of the metropolis is divided into administrative districts, and those, in turn, consist of districts. Of course, not all of them are suitable for living, and therefore we are only interested in bedroom buildings. If you look at the metro map, you will notice that everything inside or near the ring line is the concentration of the main attractions of our capital. Therefore, most tourists prefer to stay in this part of the city. However, there may be exceptions to each rule:

If you come for a few days to see local attractions, then feel free to look for accommodation in the center. Convenient location will allow you not to spend a lot of time on the road.
If you are passing through the city, it is better to find accommodation near the train station or airport.

In any case, you need to understand that the cost of housing in the center will be higher than in the periphery. However, you will be able to save enough time and money on travel. Next, we will consider the most popular options and tell you where to stay inexpensively in Moscow.

Hostels

If you are looking for where to stay in Moscow inexpensively for a day, then the type will suit you perfectly. The word "hostel" itself can be translated as "hostel", but you should not invest a negative meaning in this definition: modern hotels of this type meet all European standards, they can boast of a good renovation and a high level of service. Usually, the rooms have internet access, and the capacity of the rooms varies from two to sixteen people. The kitchen, showers and toilet are located on the floor, while the rooms are spartan. But if you are traveling in a large company, you can save money and have fun at the same time.

Hostels in the center

Where to stay for the night in Moscow inexpensively:

Central hotels

If you are planning a trip and looking for an inexpensive place to stay in Moscow, try to book your hotel in advance. According to statistics, 80% of hotel rooms are occupied daily, and expensive rooms are freely available. So, where in Moscow to stay inexpensively:

"City Comfort Hotel" is located near Lubyanka, in the old part of Kitay-gorod. This comfortable three-star hotel offers travelers bright and clean rooms with television and amenities. The cost of a standard room is from 5 thousand rubles, but sometimes the administration offers good discounts to guests of the capital.
Hotel "Vremena Goda" - tourists love it for its cleanliness, high level of service and convenient location. The four-star hotel is located ten minutes walk from the Kremlin, next to the metro station. Each room has a bathroom, toilet, TV, kettle and air conditioning. A double room can be rented for 6,000 rubles.
awarded five stars. In addition to comfortable rooms, it boasts a restaurant, spa, fitness center, sauna and swimming pool. Accommodation here will cost 10,000 rubles per night for two.

Hotels near Komsomolskaya Square

This area is popularly known as "Three stations", and it will be convenient for those who are going to stay in the city for a day or a little longer. Where in Moscow to stay inexpensively for a couple of days? We recommend paying attention to the hotels "Mandarin", "Orange", apart-hotel "Volga". Here you can relax, leave your belongings and safely reach the city center by metro in a quarter of an hour.

Where to stay in Moscow with children inexpensively

If you want to get comfortable and pay little money for accommodation, then we recommend you the following options:

Apartments

This option is preferred by those who want to feel at home in Moscow. There are many options for accommodation and offers in different price categories. Therefore, it is best to contact the owners of the apartments in advance using the Internet and find out all the conditions. In addition, we recommend that you first familiarize yourself with the reviews of vacationers, and if possible, contact them personally using the same World Wide Web.

Where to stay in Moscow inexpensively: reviews

How many people, so many opinions, so you should really evaluate the reviews. Students and young people prefer to stay in hostels and save a significant amount of money on accommodation. They recommend renting large rooms and preparing your own meals. Families with small children try to find more comfortable conditions, rent a room in a hotel or mini-hotel. The overpayment for rooms will not be too large, but you can calmly relax, dine at a local cafe and not worry about safety. Wealthier people recommend renting an apartment, as the proposed conditions suit them in every sense. Moreover, there is an opportunity to save money if a large family or a friendly company of friends travels together.

Collected in one place links to all sites for booking accommodation in travel, which I know. Here you will find out how easy it is to spend the night in almost any city in the world at an adequate price or even free of charge! Or find a truly unusual place to stay in for a long time.

The post contains the largest hostel database in the world, the largest rental service from the owners, websites for booking unusual designer hotels, overnight stays in exchange for help with housework or looking after a pet - in general, options for every taste. Take your pick!

Classic: hotel aggregator sites

Personally, I open these sites first when I am going somewhere on a trip. As the name implies, they combine information from various booking systems, such as: booking, hotels, ostrovok (some of the best prices in Russia), agoda (good for traveling in Asia), trivago, expedia and many others.

Aggregators compare prices, look for discounts and special offers, there you can find not only hotels, but also hostels, guest houses - it is very convenient when everything is in one place.

Free overnight stay

The best way to understand the country and its people is to get to know the locals, or even better to live with them for a while. Such opportunities are provided by international hospitality sites when people invite guests to their homes. Just don’t see them only as a free overnight stay; rather, it’s a cultural exchange, interesting communication, an opportunity to improve languages and find new friends around the world.

Source: instagram: @myinterior

Accommodation in exchange for household chores

These sites should not be considered only as a way of free accommodation, but as a new unusual experience and an opportunity to help people and the ecology of the planet for a week, a month, or maybe more. The bottom line is that you work several hours a day, and in return you get room and board.

Source: GettyImages

Services for renting cool and unusual hotels

If you want to live in a lighthouse, in a tree house, visit eco-friendly hotels or hotels only for vegetarians, try glamping (glamorous camping) or just chick, then there are special sites for this.

✔ and - here you can buy someone else's booking at a discount. Someone could not go and sell their reservation on the site. You get a good discount and the person gets money for a non-refundable room.

Changed the culture of renting out apartments. Now it is a convenient and affordable alternative to hotels for tourists around the world, for which several services are responsible at once. We suggest you think about it ahead of the holidays and the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Assessing opportunities

Depending on the possibilities and conditions of the site, you can rent one room, apartment or whole house. Renting out a room is suitable for those who are not against a changing company nearby. Renting out an apartment for a couple of days or weeks will appeal to those who often stay with a partner, parents, friends, or just travel a lot. In this case, you yourself decide on which days to receive guests.

In what state to rent free housing is also your choice. But remember that fresh renovations and the necessary amenities (equipped kitchen, good bed and bathroom, hairdryer, iron) increase the chance that travelers will pay attention to your offer. There is no need to talk about cleanliness and hospitality.

Create an ad

It's easy to create an ad. You need to describe the accommodation, indicate how many guests can be accommodated there, and add photos. A detailed description will help guests understand what to expect. This will then lead to good reviews that will motivate more travelers to stay with you.

A few tips for filling out your ad

Describe your accommodation: make the title and text attractive, everything should be very detailed and informative. Be clear about what makes your home unique, include any amenities or policies that are offered, and be sure to mention if the guest will be sharing space with someone.
Keep the description up to date: Airbnb, for example, regularly adds new options so you can describe your home in more detail. Check your dashboard and sections of your ad from time to time to ensure that all possible fields are filled in.
State your expectations: tell us about everything you expect from guests, create house rules and a guest guide. This will make communication easier if, for example, you do not want the guest to listen to music loudly in the evening, or expect him to sort out the trash.

Photo all over the head

Great photos of your home are the cornerstones. They are the ones that guests look at when they get acquainted with the ad, they are the ones that make your ad stand out from the others and are the key to receiving a booking request as soon as possible. Therefore, it is important to spend time and effort at this stage.

Remember that if in reality your accommodation has little to do with a photo, guests who arrived through Airbnb have the right to cancel the reservation and demand money back within 24 hours after check-in. Hence another important rule: in addition to quality and visual appeal, photographs must convey the real state of affairs. Accommodation shouldn't be worse than the pictures.

A few tips for taking a photo

Remember cleanliness: remove all unnecessary. Visual noise in photos is distracting, and clean and tidy spaces look more spacious and inviting.
Fill the space with light: photos with good lighting look more professional. Open the curtains and turn on the lights to brighten the room. Try to shoot with your back to windows and light sources.
Highlight unique amenities: do you have a cool view from your windows? Do you have a spacious balcony? Are there many beautiful toys in the children's room? Or maybe there is a fireplace in your house? Let the guests see it all in the photos.
Pay attention to the little things: many users pay attention to photo captions. Don't forget about them: they are a great way to communicate the benefits of your apartment.
Resolution matters: Take pictures with a resolution of at least 1024x683. Large photographs are better than small ones.
There are never too many photos: so that guests understand what it is like to live in your house, take pictures of the house from the inside, outside, take photos of the surroundings. Try not to shoot the same thing over and over and take more pictures of different things and scenes. Shoot up close and far - let guests have a clear view of your home and of themselves in it.

Money question

Competitors on the site that you have chosen will tell you the price range. At the same time, you decide for yourself what value to set. Approach this issue thoroughly and with a cool head. During major sporting events, the demand for housing will definitely be high, but travelers are unlikely to opt for a highly overpriced ad.

Newcomers can find out the average cost of housing in their area and set the price slightly lower for the first time. In their case, it is extremely important to start accepting guests as early as possible so that they have time to leave ratings and reviews. It also has a positive effect on the frequency of bookings.

Choose secure online payment systems. They completely replace cash payments. The best option is when the payment is debited from guests before arrival, and the hosts automatically receive money 24 hours after the guest's check-in, minus the service fee (about 3%).

Security

Airbnb has developed several solutions at once to keep you and your home safe. First is the Community Safety Team (250 employees worldwide). Second, the home insurance program (worth $ 1 million). Although internal statistics say that property damage on Airbnb (complaints resulting in compensation of $ 1,000 or more through the host insurance program) occurs in less than 0.002% of cases. You can also set a bond on your home. He is not removed from the guest, but in the event of a dispute, it will be possible to demand compensation against him.

It's important to know

To protect yourself, all communication and operations must be carried out only on the site through which the transaction is carried out. In addition, this way the support team will have more information in the event of a dispute. If the guest behaves suspiciously, for example, offers to transfer payment bypassing, do not agree. In such cases, you need to stop communicating and immediately report the incident to the support service.

Recently, we talked in detail about the very first stage of travel - about where and how it is profitable to book plane tickets.

In the article we will describe both simple and familiar to many tools, and more extravagant, which not everyone can decide on - but nevertheless, they have a right to exist.

Let's start with the most extravagant option.

6. Booking systems

This is perhaps the most common way to find hotels. There are many booking systems that have at their disposal a database of hotels, which are searched for.

Moreover, often the cost of the same number in different search engines can differ significantly.

7. Meta search engines

This method can be called the simplest, most convenient and, often, the most effective, especially if your goal is simply to find an acceptable hotel in the right city.

Meta search engines are search engines that do not have their own hotel database and do not offer booking services, but search across multiple booking engines.

The obvious advantage of this method is the ability to compare many different options and there is no need to study each booking system separately. For each hotel found, a list of options with prices is provided, from which you can choose on your own.

In addition to prices, descriptions and photos, some of these meta-search engines also collect discount offers and hotel reviews, so you can explore everything in one place.

We have tried many similar sites, many of them are similar, but in our opinion, the most convenient and complete are www.hotellook.ru and.

When choosing a specific hotel, for booking you will be asked to go to the site of the booking system - you can try to go to different systems and compare the results.

Sometimes it happens that the difference in price is not significant, but in one of the options, for example, you do not need to make an advance payment, or just some system will seem more convenient to you.

So, to summarize under all of the above: if you are just going on vacation to Europe or the United States, you want to live in comfort, but not overpay and at the same time not spend a lot of time looking for housing, then it will be most convenient to use one of these services:

www.hotellook.ru

We hope this review will allow you to find accommodation for your soul and for a budget and have a great vacation!

Not well-known, but very useful travel sites. Most of the travel sites and apps on this list have been tested by us personally, something else is still waiting in line, but it doesn't get any less cool.

List: Travel Sites: Travel Preparation

Travel Websites: Buying Tickets for Buses in Europe

Ecolines. International bus lines that carry connections between 21 countries and 205 cities in Europe. It is the largest and oldest carrier in Eastern Europe. For independent European trips, Ecolines is ideal, because the flights are very inexpensive and the buses are comfortable. In addition, Ecolines has a cumulative bonus system, and with active travel, you can receive free trips. This is more than real! Personally, over three trips, I have accumulated bonuses for one practically free move.

Luxexpress. Another European carrier that boggles the mind with constant promotions and discounts on tickets. For example, you can often leave St. Petersburg for Helsinki and Tallinn for 400-500 rubles. The number of routes for Lukexpress is significantly less than that of Ecolines - only 10 countries, but the prices are sometimes just symbolic, and the buses are more like business class planes.

Sites to buy train tickets online

Once it became a discovery for me, and then it became a constant practice to buy train tickets online. As it turned out, this can be easily done on the Russian Railways website. Yes, the interface is not the most convenient in the world, but it is a million times more pleasant than standing in endless queues at the checkout. The e-ticket is printed and presented upon boarding the car. It's simple, fast, and also allows you to choose the flights and seats in the carriage yourself. By the way, today Russian Railways operates 100 international routes in 30 countries in Europe and Asia.

Tutu.ru. A search engine for air and railway tickets in Russia. Convenient, first of all, with a complete and up-to-date commuter train schedule.

Raileurope. Service combining maps, timetables and tariffs of more than 50 different railway companies throughout Europe. It is easy to book train tickets, hotels and travel programs on the site. From the funny one, there is an encyclopedia of European trains on the site, explaining how they differ from each other and how to spend time on the journey interestingly. Discounts are provided for those traveling with a large company - both on trains and in cities.

Websites for booking cruises and sea travel

Mcruises. A site where you can choose and book a sea or river cruise around the world. The service unites all the largest world and Russian cruise companies, informs about special offers and discounts.

Car rental for travel

Runet leader site for car rental abroad. Reservations are possible in more than 800 car rental companies in 150 countries around the world. 20 thousand car rental points, Russian-speaking support service, low prices and high quality services have made this service the absolute market leader.

Transfer and so on for travel

Kiwitaxi. If you do not want to rent a car, but public transport does not suit you either, you can pre-order a suitable transfer from point A to point B. How does it work? You find the desired route in cities and resorts all over the world, book a transfer online, the driver will meet you with a name on a plate and take you to the place. The service operates in 65 countries of the world.

Uber. An internationally popular service for ordering a driver and finding passengers. A convenient mobile application allows you to search, call and pay for taxis or private drivers. The application is available for dozens of cities around the world, including Russia. Using the Uber application, the customer reserves a car with a driver and tracks its movement to the specified point, payment is made using bank card details.

Sites for finding fellow travelers

Blablacar. Another world leader. A service that brings together drivers and fellow travelers around the world. Just enter the city of departure, arrival and date to see a list of drivers offering trips along your route and choose your own. Before contacting, you can see the driver's profile with a photo, brief information about yourself and reviews. The service itself is free, but drivers usually charge for gas. This is not hitchhiking!

Poiskpoputchikov.ru. The site was created in order to make it possible to find a travel companion on vacation or on any other journey, from a trip to a neighboring city and ending with a hitchhiking around the world.

Travel sites where you can book Accommodation, Hotels, Hostels

A well-known site that contains ads from individuals - owners of apartments and houses. Today it is so popular that I will not even recommend any analogue, because I think that all landlords already have pages on, even if they previously preferred some other resource. I have written two whole articles about this site. This is a really cool resource for finding great apartments overseas.

Booking.com. The world's largest site for finding and booking hotels and hostels. A huge database of options, honest reviews, good prices, excellent support - this is why so many people choose booking. This site is good if you are planning a trip to Europe, North and Latin America, Australia.

If you want to find a good accommodation option on the territory of the former USSR, the search engine Ostrovok.ru is beyond competition.

For Asia, the best place to look for hotels is Agoda.com.

An excellent hostel database is available at Hostelworld.com.

Home Exchange. House exchange. The database contains more than 65 thousand real houses in 150 countries of the world. If you own your own home, you can exchange your homes with property owners in another country for the duration of your vacation. The service has existed since 1992, when it all started with a book directory of people wishing to exchange houses.

Well, and, of course, the adored by all travelers (and us too) Couchsurfing.com. A site where you can find housing and a great company in an unfamiliar city for free.

Websites for buying air tickets online

ayak One of the most reliable services for finding travel deals, buying airline tickets, booking hotels and renting cars. The site works with hundreds of websites of travel companies and airlines around the world and selects the most profitable deals for clients. In doing so, Kayak redirects directly to the booking pages of the service providers

Onetwotrip. Roughly the same as Kayak. However, there are only flights and hotels. Has a cool bonus program. For me, the site is not much different from others in the search engine for tickets, but the number of friends who are ardent adherents of this site is so great that a place in this list was provided for him.

Momondo. An international travel site that allows you to quickly and easily organize your trip yourself. On it you can find a whole set of free tools for competently searching for cheap flights, hotels and accommodation for rent, as well as cars for rent.

Anywayanyday. Russian analogue of the above sites. Winner of numerous travel awards in the field of online services. Worthy of attention.

Sites for buying tours online

Level Travel. If you need an organized tour and are tired of independent travel at the end, then the best way to find a great tour is the Level Travel tour search engine. The service searches for all leading tour operators and allows you to book tours directly with them, without the participation of travel agencies. Those. you will not see any extra charges, and the tour will cost as much as the operator. Too cool to be true, but this is not a dream))

Online hypermarket of tours. The best prices from 120 reliable tour operators.

List of Websites for Travelers: City Maps

Maps.me. Free application for phones on all platforms. We only use these cards and they are just wonderful! After installing the application, you need to download the map of the country that you need, and then the map with all the signs, attractions, hotels, hostels, restaurants will work offline! If your phone supports GPS, then when you combine it with maps.me, you can forget about awkward conversations in crooked French / Chinese / Portuguese trying to figure out exactly where to get off the bus and how to find a museum.

Travel translators

Google Translate in the form of an application for Android or iPhone will help you find a common language with foreigners without any problems. More than 90 languages are supported offline, although you need to download the necessary language packs in advance. This translator has saved us more than once, but, of course, the translation of phrases is far from always perfect.

Travel Websites: Leisure & Entertainment

Geocaching. is a worldwide travel game, the essence of which is to hide and search for treasures. Geocaching has been around for 15 years and brings together more than 6 million people from all over the world. Today, 2.5 million caches are hidden in 200 countries around the world, and their number is growing every day. This is a great way to have fun, find unusual places in a new city, and meet curious people.

Izi travel. A service that contains a large and high-quality, and most importantly, a free collection of audio guides to cities and museums. Before the trip, you can install the izi.travel application on your smartphone and enjoy excursions from professional guides, as well as amateurs. Some content on the site is paid.

A site designed for booking Russian-language excursions around the world. Today it offers 4088 excursions in 566 cities around the world.

Tripster. "Own people around the world." The service implements two large projects: unique excursions from local residents and the international travel community, which is presented in the form of a giant forum with questions and answers about any city on the planet. If you are completely unsure of what to do in the city, post a question on this forum and get recommendations from the locals.

Stay.com. A site that creates for you an individual guide to the most interesting places in the selected city. You choose interesting sights, and the service creates a detailed guide with maps and descriptions, which you can print or download to your mobile device and use offline. And it's all free!

Free Travel Sites

Workaway. Leading site in the search for volunteer work abroad. Volunteering means an extremely wide range of tasks: from teaching English (for example) to building a farm, from working in a hostel to caring for the elderly. As a "salary" for their work, volunteers receive housing, food, interesting communication, immersion in the culture of the country, and often other bonuses (discounts on excursions, participation in master classes, etc.) Transport must be paid for independently.

European Voluntary Service. European Volunteer Service. EVS has dozens of programs lasting from 2 to 12 months. All of them are funded by the European Commission, and the programs can be both inside and outside the European Union. These projects, as a rule, have a social focus and are designed for young people between the ages of 18 and 30. The candidate is required to possess certain skills, the level of a foreign language, and sometimes the availability of special education. The European Commission, in turn, covers the costs of accommodation, food, transport, insurance, daily expenses, a cycle of trainings, including language courses and 90% of the cost of the flight.

Study tours to Poland. STP is study visits to Poland for students, young specialists and professionals from Eastern Europe (North-West region of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova). The program is divided into two large blocks - for students (from 18 to 21 years old) and for workers (no age limit). The trip is completely free: participants are paid for travel, accommodation, meals, all activities during the visit, as well as visa processing.

Travel Sites: Other

Wikibooks for Hitchhiking. If you are planning a hitchhiking trip for the first time, this tutorial has absolutely everything.

Wikitravel. A project that aims to create a free, free, up-to-date and reliable worldwide travel guide. Currently, there are 1,657 travel guides in Russian and other articles written and edited by wikitravellers from all over the world.

And the bonus, final link - Travelzakladka. A site that contains sooooo many (more than three hundred!) Various travel resources: top LJ, sites, VKontakte communities, independent blogs, magazines, TV channels, TV programs, hotel search engines, maps, forums, train tickets, language tourism, exotic tourism, extreme tourism, visas, travel guides, tour operators, cruises, diving, car rental, air tickets, insurance, youtube travel channels, travel blogs on instagram.