Need help traveling outside of Moscow
 

We plan to spend a few days in Moscow in July and would like to travel outside the city. We are considering the Golden Ring and need help.

How do we get there? do we need a private driver/guide?
We know that there are several towns that are interesting , how long do you suggest to spend in the area?
Are there other areas outside of Moscow worth considering?

Thanks

Travel to Golden Ring it is the best decision.
How do we get there? Call travel agency and take excursion, private guide too expensive.

I would probably rent a car, preferably at the airport. A GPS is mandatory.

I would not rent a car in Russia. Too many hazards esp the traffic police. Take a car and driver or excursion or train.

I too would not rent a car. A car and driver, possibly. I recommend checking the Lonely Planet guidebook - it should have details on how to travel the Golden Ring using public transport.

Thanks to everyone for good advice. We will consider taking a tour

hmmm
i have just been annotating my photo album and looking at the day trip we did to sergeiv posad
we didnt have time to get to the golden ring towns but glad we got to see some countryside
we got the train from yaroslavski station
this was hard enough to find even when you ask locals ( and i speak and read russian!)
some people really didnt know where we had to exit and we walked right past it once and had to retrace long steps all the way back
the distances you cover in the metro will make you into the athlete youve always dreamed you could be lol

anyway
the yaroslavski is just near the leningradsky station which actually takes you to st petes...so that was handy to know once we eyeballed it and got our bearings cos we were heading that way in a few days and it always feels good to know where youre going in places like russia!

the train trip was fine
got to see ordinary russian life and sergeiv pasad is an interesting place...beautiful churches and grounds to explore with a great little market
you actually have to catch a little bus out to the church area ..a van called a marshrutka that comes often and easy to spot
we caught the bus back to moscow..the number 388 which actually comes every ten minutes!
huge bottlenecks occur for no apparent reason but the bus is comfortable
had a long walk though...we always had long walks...cos wed get off too early or whatever

if i couldnt speak and read..i would never do it on my own
not enough people speak english when you need them to and people are in a rush
they were very kind to us cos i think they could understand me but i reckon many wouldnt stop for someone who had no language
even if you know the language it is difficult to understand some people ..the slang...the abbreviations...the technical language all throw you off
but id not choose a tour ...its not the russia for me
id rather fumble my way round and get a taste of it that way...tours are so homegenised and sanitised
its the face they put on for the westerners that i find offputting...the real russians are fantastic warm-hearted people

Thank you, lanejohann-this is very helpful