Banks & Exchange Services

ATMs

You'll find ATMs all around the city center, though they're nowhere near as common as in U.S. cities.

Currency Exchange

Most hotels have currency-exchange bureaus, some operating 24 hours a day. Additionally, throughout the city you can find exchange bureaus bearing the "obmen valuty/exchange" sign—these are often in Cyrillic, but just look for the signs with daily rates posted in easy view, often on freestanding sidewalk signboards. Exercise reasonable caution when using them, and don't be surprised to find a security guard, who may let only one or two people inside at a time. By law it's required that you be issued a receipt, but you may find this erratic in practice; be sure to ask for one. You can also exchange currency or traveler's checks at the Russian banks; one of the most reliable is Sberbank, the Russian state bank. You can also try the Moscow Bank office in the Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel. The American Express office will cash American Express traveler's checks for rubles and, if it has cash available, for dollars.

Contacts

Moscow Bank. Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel, 2 Berezhkovskaya nab., Krasnaya Presnya, Moscow. 495/941-8128. Metro: Kievskaya.

Sberbank. 19 ul. Tverskaya, Moscow. 495/299-7995. Metro: Pushkinskaya.