Yikes! The most expensive places in Moscow (PHOTO)

Hotels

To get one of the most recognizable postcard views in the world - through your window - you will have to part with 1,239,000 rubles ($19,170) per night! That’s the price of the Pozharsky Royal Suite at the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow, a suite on the seventh floor overlooking Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral, which has three bedrooms, three marble bathrooms, a fireplace, a private terrace and a sauna. And no, breakfast is not included!

The Royal Suite at Lotte Hotel Moscow is a bit cheaper: 1,180,000 rubles ($18,260). At 490 square meters, it's the biggest suite in Moscow, which, if required, can be made even bigger (by requesting access to the adjoining Junior Suite). It has its own winter garden, a sauna, a smart house system, a library, a Bechstein grand piano and a 24/7 personal butler.

Houses and apartments for sale

One of the most expensive apartments in the capitol is located in the same building as Four Seasons Hotel Moscow, with direct access to the Red Square.

A 1,256-square-meter, two-level penthouse is available for a mere 3.58 billion rubles ($55.4 million)! That said, it seems no-one is particularly keen to shell out that kind of money for such a close proximity to the Kremlin: the apartment has been on the market for several years already and its price falls with every passing year.

Compared to this property, apartments located in Moscow City’s skyscrapers, even though they are larger in size, seem to be rather ‘cheap’. Even the highest penthouse in Europe - a three-level apartment on the 93rd floor of the Federation Tower with an area of 2,181 square meters – has been valued at just 2.2 billion rubles ($34 million).

However, the most expensive property is not located within Moscow’s city limits, but in the countryside, in an area favored by Russian oligarchs. Two years ago, this house on the Rublevo-Uspenskoe highway was put on the market for a record 5.8 billion rubles ($89.7 million).

There are few photos of the house available to the public, but it has been reported that the property has everything; from its own movie theater, a billiard room and a Turkish Bath to a conference hall, a mini-farm and its own fishing pond. They say the 1,700-square-kilometer plot of land that comes with the house can be increased (if necessary!).

The most expensive spa and fitness center

For many years, this accolade has belonged to Golden Mile Fitness & Spa, located on one of Moscow's most expensive streets, Khilkov Lane. Annual membership here costs 320,000 rubles ($5,000), "for true connoisseurs of a quality lifestyle", according to place's ‘inspiring’ slogan.

The reason for their astronomical prices is the place's location near Ostozhenka street, where some of Russia's wealthiest people live. In 2013, Ostozhenka beat out New York's Fifth Avenue, in terms of housing prices.

Restaurants

Here is a paradox: Russia does not have a single Michelin-star restaurant, yet restaurant prices in Moscow  can sometimes reach insane heights.

Turandot, one of the most expensive restaurants in the city, took six years to design, so that now anyone can eat in this ‘Russian Versailles’, with its Rocaille decor, Bauscher porcelain, Chinese antiques, frescos and stucco across 11 halls. This is a place where fresh raspberries will set you back 1,800 rubles ($27); a standard brunch, 4,350 rubles ($67); Japanese Kobe beef, 9,900 rubles ($153); and a bottle of champagne, 175,000 ($2,700)!

The Chinese restaurant Soluxe Club situated near the Ukraina hotel and overlooking the Russian White House has the most expensive bar in Eastern Europe, which is adorned with semi-precious stones. Its ‘imperial menu’ features, among other things, the rare abalone shellfish with ‘imperial’ sauce for 9,500 rubles ($147), or baked sea bass for 6,500 ($100)!