Moscow is a city on the rise, architecturally as well as politically. Hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and shopping arcades are springing up to serve Russia’s powerful, oil-rich elite – and a growing band of international tourists.

But the glass and steel, like the wealth of the city’s inhabitants, is unevenly distributed. Old Moscow, with its elegant Orthodox churches and stark, Soviet-era concrete blocks, lurks around every corner.

The result is a city of contradictions, as American brands colonise Stalinist neoclassical shopfronts and gleaming black Mercedes jockey for position with battered Ladas.

OLD MOSCOW

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BACKGROUND

• Man in Seat 61's eight great train escapes

• Dimbleby in Tolstoy's Russia

• Low cost to Russia?

• A hotel on Red Square

• A proper winter city break

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A century of upheaval has left its mark on the city, but historic Moscow still offers up some impressive sights, including the fairy-tale splendour of St Basil’s cathedral, the gold-plated onion domes of the city’s churches and the architectural variety of the Kremlin - all to be found in the compact historical centre of the city, close to Red Square and the Moskva River.

Leading north from Red Square is the city’s main shopping street, Tverskaya Ulitsa, where high-end boutiques and souvenir shops are interspersed with luxury hotels and restaurants. Nearby is the vast and palatial GUM department store (Vetoshny Lane), which stretches the length of Red Square and stocks a huge range of designer clothes, jewellery, watches and homeware.

Moscow offers culture as well as consumerism. The Tretyakov Gallery (10 Lavrushinskiy Pereulok) contains Russia’s national collection of more than 130,000 paintings, drawings and sculptures. The New Gallery (10 Krymsky Val) houses a selection of 20th-century Russian art, which provides a fascinating commentary on the politics of the period.

NEW MOSCOW

Drink: the rooftop bar of the Ritz Carlton hotel (3 Tverskaya), which opened last year, has an unrivalled view of central Moscow, overlooking Red Square and the Kremlin to the south and the main shopping thoroughfare immediately below. The spectacular backdrop – and a tempting cocktail menu – is attracting a healthy share of Moscow’s growing stream of celebrity visitors.

Eat: Cafe Pushkin, one of Moscow’s best restaurants, attracts well-healed Muscovites as well as the international set. It opened less than four years ago, but high ceilings, a resident harpist and row upon row of leather-bound books provide a setting of pre-revolutionary opulence for an excellent, Russian-accented menu. Moscow is an expensive city, though, and the top-quality food on offer here comes at a price. Expect to pay about £150 for a three-course meal for two, sharing a bottle of wine.

Sleep: the MaMaison Pokrovka Suite Hotel (40 Pokrovka Street, +7 495 229 57 57) offers a taste of life as an oligarch. Each suite includes a bedroom, a fully-equipped kitchenette and a living area with flatscreen TVs, DVD players and complimentary broadband access. Larger suites include four-poster beds, whirlpool-style baths and libraries furnished with English and Russian literature. Junior suites from £470 per night, with discounts for weekend packages.

NEED TO KNOW

Lastminute.com offers a three-night break to Moscow, including flights from London, at the MaMaison Pokrovka, from £557pp, based on two sharing.

Bmi operates daily flights to Moscow Domodedovo airport from Heathrow from £253 return, including taxes and charges. Regional connections are also available.

The Metro is not only an efficient and economical way of navigating the city, but also a destination in its own right. Extravagant stations incorporate chandeliers, marble columns, mosaics and even stained glass, while trains run every 45 seconds on weekdays.

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