St. Petersburg (Eyewitness Travel Guides) Jan 2007

There isn't an Eyewitness country guide to Russia, but the two city guides here cover enough for most visitors. I used the previous editions, and found them invaluable, in the St Petersburg one especially the Hermitage section and the recommended walks. Marvellous photos and cutaways of the buildings (St Isaac's in particular).

The guide also covers sites outside St Petersburg, like Peterhof (Petrodvorets) and Tsarskoe Selo.

Get a deal by buying this with the Moscow one.

Moscow (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Jan 2007)

Great Kremlin coverage, and the maps show the metro stations clearly - it's not too difficult to find your way about. Don't be deceived, though, Moscow is a major world capital and quite spread out, but manageable with this 264 pp guide.

"Organized district by district, this travel guide to Moscow provides information on every significant sight, building, museum and gallery. It also covers shops, hotels and restaurants, alongside practical information. Visual guides are given for currency, tickets and communication systems".

Lonely Planet Eastern Europe (Eastern Europe, 9th Ed Feb 2007)

This is massive, 998 pages. I used an earlier edition when I toured the Eastern capitals. It covers Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Moscow & St Petersburg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia.

Basically aimed at the backpacker, I still found it useful as a overall information back-up in just a single volume.