Eastern Siberia
Chita's best deal has well-kept rooms, clean bathrooms, online booking, efficient staff and no-fuss visa registration. Often offers very good rates on…
Must-see hotels in Russia
The Urals
A pleasant boutique hotel located close to all the city attractions, Vicont Hotel has nine double rooms, with continental breakfasts served in-room or in…
Lake Baikal
A pretty and modern timber guesthouse, 6km away from Sobolinaya ski resort. Owners promote a quiet, meditative approach to holidays and discourage noisy,…
Lake Baikal
Shumak valley is home to the rather comfortable Turbaza Shumak, which also arranges expensive weekly helicopter transfers to/from Irkutsk (one way/return…
Eastern Siberia
You can get yourself exiled like Lenin in tidy 19th-century log houses that form a part of the Shushenskoe Ethnographic Museum.
Listvyanka
This stylishly upmarket complex, with very comfortable international-standard pine-clad rooms, dominates the hillside above Krestovka.
Volgograd
This is a vintage Soviet-era gem with the high level of service matching the bright, welcoming lobby. Rooms are well lit and tasteful.
Astrakhan
A good floating hotel that offers various excursions. It has one building on land and another on the water.
Presnya
Towering over Triumfalnaya pl, this Stalinist building is blessed with high ceilings, parquet floors and a marble staircase. The rooms vary, but they have…
Golden Ring
Towns in the Golden Ring are surrounded by deep forests, but few travellers ever venture outside city walls. About 30km from Kostroma, off the road…
Presnya
If you like small hotels in quaint neighbourhoods you'll love the Nikitskaya. While the building and rooms are spacious and perfectly maintained, the…
Golden Ring
This stylishly designed, boutique izba (log house), which sleeps six to eight, is built around a tiled hearth and set in a garden. Three en-suite bedrooms…
St Petersburg
What the Hotel Astoria has lost of its original Style Moderne decor, it more than compensates for in contemporary style and top-notch service. Little…
Russian Caucasus
One of the most unusual accommodation options in Russia is this vintage 'portable' ski chalet. Looking like a flying saucer that has landed in the heights…
Golden Ring
Perched on a bluff with tremendous views of the valley, this hotel has one of the most scenic locations in the area. Outside is a quiet neighbourhood of…
Volga Region
This art nouveau diamond in the rough recalls Samara's heyday in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, though from the outside at least the hotel has…
St Petersburg
Tucked into a quiet courtyard in the narrow streets north of Sennaya pl, this friendly little hotel is a great bargain. A few antiques are scattered…
The Urals
Seven kilometres from Nevyansk, the lovely Byngi is the perfect place to experience Russian life in an Old Believers’ village. Here an entrepreneurial…
Vladivostok
Set in a grand eight-storey 1930s building topped with statues and in a perfect central location, Optimum Hostel offers wood-floored dorm rooms, free…
Presnya
If you could choose your best location – any location in the whole city – it might just be a quiet, leafy side street in the midst of Moscow's best…
Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace
St Petersburg
Housed in a meticulously restored palace, the Four Season's lower priced rooms fail to match the lavish promise of the lobby and grand staircase, but…
Black Sea Coast
In Krasnaya Polyana village, this friendly, modern hotel is an excellent midrange option for travellers who do not intend to spend their holiday in their…
St Petersburg
Branch of the well-designed and run Friends hostel chain. The colourful private rooms are quite small (you'll have to climb across the bed to open the…
Western European Russia
The 4th floor of an entertainment and shopping complex is not where you'd expect to find such a sparkling clean and great-value boutique-y hotel. Arle…
Ulan-Ude
The inconvenient location 2km south of the city centre is more than recompensed by pristine international-standard rooms, some with air-conditioning. The…
St Petersburg
This rather misleadingly named hotel retains a straightforward elegance in its 14 rooms, but has nothing particularly arty about it. Indeed, the mood is…
St Petersburg
If you're familiar with the W brand, then the striking interior design at this hotel won't surprise you. Rooms in several different categories are…
St Petersburg
This modest hotel in the backstreets of Liteyny has small but adequate rooms, which are clean but lack character. Although it's nothing fancy, the Green…
Moscow
Just off the eponymous square, this hotel strives to fuse 19th-century style with the modern perception of comfort. We'd call it plush, if not for the…
Mineral Water Spas
This mock-medieval hotel and restaurant complex has 12 double rooms. The standards are modern and comfortable, but nothing out of the ordinary. However,…
Khabarovsk
This friendly and colourful hostel has pleasant male and female dorms, cosy private rooms, helpful staff and a clear sign visible from the main road …
St Petersburg
With a great location, this friendly hostel is basically one large apartment with a double room and two dorms sleeping six or ten. The dorm room has…
St Petersburg
Facing an unsightly Soviet-era hotel across the street, the sleek modern Arbat Nord seems to be showing its neighbour how to run a good establishment. The…
Lake Baikal
Six-bed hostel-homestay at the southern end of town providing a great opportunity to experience small-town Siberian family life. A fully equipped kitchen,…
Ufa
Located 5km from the central area, Azimut is a comfortable, contemporary hotel with good connections to the centre and train station. Two excellent places…
St Petersburg
This lovely lodging is the second Pio property in St Petersburg. It's very spacious, stylish and comfortable, as well as being child friendly, with family…
St Petersburg
This smart bolthole has the whole range of facilities and comforts you’d expect, but compared to the other luxury properties in town, it caters to a more…
Western European Russia
Moments from some of the city's top attractions and across from Lopatinsky Gardens, Felix Hostel is small and nothing flash, but a great find. Dorms are…
Western European Russia
While perhaps falling short of boutique aspirations, this charming, brown-brick English-style inn nevertheless makes for a good choice. Its modern motel…
St Petersburg
This welcoming 2nd-floor guesthouse earns high marks for its spotless rooms with wood floors and its fair prices. The design is fairly minimal, though if…
