Must-see hotels in Eastern Siberia

  • Belka Hostel

    Listvyanka

    This purpose-built hostel located at the far end of ul Chapaeva provides top-notch digs for backpacker prices, leaving Listvyanka’s other flat-footed…

  • Nikita’s Homestead

    Olkhon Island

    Occupying a sizeable chunk of Khuzhir, this intricately carved timber complex has grown (and continues to grow) into one of Siberia’s top traveller hang…

  • Ulan-Ude Travellers House

    Ulan-Ude

    So central is this high-ceilinged apartment hostel, you might even catch a glimpse of Lenin’s conk from one of the windows. The 14 beds are divided…

  • Iris

    Krasnoyarsk

    Housed in a 19th-century former religious school for girls, the romantic French theme and impeccable personal service set the Iris apart from most…

  • Baikaler Hostel

    Irkutsk

    Experienced tour guide Jack Sheremetoff had a super-central apartment hostel in Irkutsk long before the word even entered the Russian language. Despite…

  • Hovel Hostel

    Krasnoyarsk

    A sparkling oasis for budget travellers who have made it all the way here through Siberia’s snowy wilderness, this boutique hostel features a large…

  • Aldyn Bulak Yurt Hotel

    Tuva

    Cupped by bare hills at an attractively sacred site by the Yenisey River, the luxury yurts at this upmarket complex have flushing toilets, air…

  • Zolotaya Rybka

    Eastern Siberia

    Well signposted from ul Olkhonskaya, SB’s best guesthouse maintains immaculate and imaginatively designed rooms in three buildings, providing glimpses of…

  • Say-Khonash Yurt Camp

    Tuva

    Located 55km north of Ak-Dovurak, the Say-Khonash Yurt Camp is the quintessential nomadic experience and brings visitors as close to the authentic rural…

  • Igor Shalygin

    Eastern Siberia

    The best reason to get off at Tayshet is Igor Shalygin, an English- and German-speaking travel enthusiast who runs a cosy homestay in the old town,…

  • Voskresenie

    Olkhon Island

    The owners, a former Soviet table-tennis champion and his polyglot wife, indulge in interior design passion, as you will immediately notice when you move…

  • Hotel Sayen

    Irkutsk

    Described by some as the finest luxury sleep east of the Urals, this very central Japanese hotel gets rave reviews and justifiably so. The 24 rooms enjoy…

  • Mergen Bator

    Ulan-Ude

    UU’s only 21st-century hotel is a swish pad indeed and completely on a par with any Western four-star establishment. From the trendy retro-veneered…

  • Baikal View

    Olkhon Island

    Looking from the outside like a research station in Antarctica, this upmarket establishment has rooms with laconic Scandinavian-style interior design…

  • Hotel Sagaan Morin

    Ulan-Ude

    The gleaming 17-storey, 89-room ‘White Horse’ offers spacious, crisply designed, almost understated rooms, lots of amenities and a 14th-floor restaurant …

  • Gostinny Dom

    Eastern Siberia

    This log house on the outskirts of Chita has developed a bit of a following with the international biker crowd, particularly Korean and Japanese…

  • Delight

    Lake Baikal

    Trekking and cycling enthusiasts Rufina and Yevgeny run this cosy and well-equipped homestay with just two rooms and a large shared bathroom, which…

  • Chalpan

    Eastern Siberia

    One of the loveliest hotels in Abakan, the purpose-built Chalpan is colourful but not gaudy, with imaginatively designed rooms, flashy bathrooms, free tea…

  • Dom Neo

    Krasnoyarsk

    Definitely the brightest-coloured building in central Krasnoyarsk, this progressive hotel achieves an optimal value for money ratio by cutting out…

  • Kupechesky Dvor

    Irkutsk

    Rising high above the 130 Kvartal, this professionally run, freshly minted timber hotel mixes traditional wooden architecture with boldly contemporary…

  • Maryina Roshcha

    Lake Baikal

    Twenty years ago, you could only find such folksy timber mansions, known as terem, in illustrated fairy-tale books, but now terem-styled hotels are…

  • Modul

    Irkutsk

    Not your honeymoon dream, but a budget hotel that goes an extra mile to compensate for cheap decor and drab surroundings. Smallish rooms are clean and…

  • Hotel Viktoria

    Irkutsk

    Just a few steps off ul Karla Marksa, the 30 rooms at this purpose-built tower hotel remain stylish and unfrumpy despite the antique-style furniture and…

  • U Olgi

    Olkhon Island

    This well-liked option has nine rooms, three in a typical village house and six in a purpose-built, pine-fragrant building opposite. New showers and…

  • Hotel Vizit

    Eastern Siberia

    Occupying the 5th floor of a smoked-glass tower at the busy intersection of ul Lenina and ul Profsoyuznaya, this is Chita’s best luxury offering with…

  • Admiral Hostel

    Irkutsk

    With its Kolchak-inspired name, this cosy 13-bed apartment hostel has become well-established digs for Trans-Siberian wanderers. The lower bunks sport…

  • Baikalskaya Solianka

    Lake Baikal

    A real architectural solianka (apart from the soup, this Russian word means a mix of random items that happen to be at hand), this modern turbaza has a…

  • Vremena Goda

    Eastern Siberia

    The city's most elegant hotel occupies an Alpine-styled wooden chalet with tastefully designed rooms, where the smell of natural wood all but suppresses…

  • 52°17' Travel Center

    Irkutsk

    The stated goal of opening sister hostels in every major city of the world is yet to be achieved, so for now this hyper-ambitious project is confined to a…

  • Dom Hotel

    Krasnoyarsk

    Centred around a rather characterless courtyard, the 81 light-filled rooms at Krasnoyarsk’s top business hotel are immaculately maintained and have become…

  • Derevenka

    Listvyanka

    On a ridge behind the shore road, cute little wooden huts (named after Baikal’s winds) with stove-heaters, private toilets and hot water (but shared…

  • Marussia

    Irkutsk

    This timber-built 14-room boutique hotel in the 130 Kvartal has an unpretentious feel with a brown-beige colour scheme and stripped wooden floors sporting…

  • U Starogo Mayaka

    Lake Baikal

    Not too busy with its main occupation, Port Baikal's pretty railway station is part-timing as a hotel. Clean and bland in an almost nostalgically Soviet…

  • Gavan Baikala

    Listvyanka

    This chalet-styled log house has a large common balcony with a distant view of the lake, and pine-scented rooms with soft mattresses and good shower…

  • Hotel Oktyabrskaya

    Krasnoyarsk

    Comfortable and professionally run with rooms approximating Western standards, albeit without air-conditioning. Satellite TV includes Western channels and…

  • Trans-Sib Hostel

    Irkutsk

    Well-established, cosy backpacker hostel around a 10-minute walk from the train station offering a kitchen, washing machine, a high bathroom-to-bed ratio…

  • Best Hostel

    Irkutsk

    Yet to live up to its immodest self-description, this airy modern place stands out in the long list of Irkutsk's claustrophobic converted-flat hostels…

  • Hostel Katyusha

    Irkutsk

    Freshly opened when we visited, this brightly coloured hostel occupies a new building and has lots of common space, unlike its labyrinthine competitors in…

  • Baykalskaya Riviera

    Lake Baikal

    The only fully fledged resort in the whole of Baikal, the Riviera is good value for money, with simple though tastefully decorated summer-only wooden…

  • Hotel Sayanogorsk

    Eastern Siberia

    A funky piece of architecture, this triangular-shaped hotel has modern rooms with large comfy beds and attic-like reclining ceiling. There is a restaurant…