Murmansk
Compact rooms at this centrally located small hotel are spotless, en suite, high-tech and done up in soft pastel colours. Beds are comfortable, and there…
Must-see hotels in Russia
Altai
On the third floor of a run-down shopping centre just next to the bus station, the Alexander House has large and very orange rooms with bathrooms that are…
Kaliningrad
There are just seven rooms, each different and furnished with taste, at this unsigned 'art hotel' at the northern end of Kaliningrad. The white villa is…
Around St Petersburg
While not looking promising from the outside, this five-room hotel, which shares the premises of the local clinic, has pleasant, contemporary-styled rooms…
Black Sea Coast
Located in Dagomys, about 13km north of Sochi, this is a fine Soviet-era property that overlooks a decent beach. Rooms are modest but comfortable. This is…
Tomsk
The large rooms here have comfortable, good-sized beds and polished-tile bathrooms, but are otherwise very plain. The walk-in rates (quoted here) aren't…
Novosibirsk
The apparently only half-finished concrete steps leading up to this hotel, which is located in a tower block, are a little off-putting, but otherwise this…
Kola Peninsula
This memorable ‘castle’ behind the Kirov statue may look a bit ramshackle from the outside, but the renovated rooms and four-person apartments tell a…
The Urals
The higher-priced rooms in this hotel are shoddy and poor value for money, but the rooms without bathrooms – though in even worse shape – are a safe,…
Kaliningrad
The Berlin offers excellent value and a location within easy walking distance from the Main Train Station and South Bus Station, though it's quite a trek …
Northern European Russia
Kargopol's best hotel, with modern rooms, all with fridge and good bathrooms (with underfloor heating in the suites). The basement restaurant is Kargopol…
Moscow
Friendly, small and convenient, the Atlanta is an anomaly in the airport world. Reduced rates are available for six- and 12-hour layovers. Transfer to…
Western European Russia
This centrally located budget option is discretely hidden away inside an apartment block without signage. Rooms are comfortable and equipped with speedy…
Western Siberia
In the eye-catching rounded end of the vaguely ship-shaped art-deco river station, the Mayak has small, modish rooms with artistic lines and good…
Kola Peninsula
This basic hotel is connected to the local science institute and is a short walk from pl Lenina. Singles and doubles are en suite, with tired furnishings…
Arbat & Khamovniki
This affordable option occupies three wings in a stately neoclassical palace on the Garden Ring. Rooms are small and sparse and the place is noisy, but…
Astrakhan
This well-run hotel is located just west of the enormous Yarmarka (Ярмарка) shopping centre, within easy walking distance of the train station. It also…
Western European Russia
This nine-storey monstrosity is unmissable: it's the colour of a smurf and sits next to the city park. It offers decrepit unrenovated rooms or better…
Eastern Siberia
Unbeatably located overlooking the main square, the cheaper renovated rooms at this huge complex are a fairly good deal. The hotel has a huge range of…
Western European Russia
Next to the bus station and across from the impressive WWII monument in Pobedy pl, this Soviet relic offers small, well-worn and oft-smoky rooms. The…
Esso
Near the bus stop, Altai is a gingerbread-like house with cosy but rather worn rooms that share a bathroom and a tiny hot pool. Many excursions offered…
Vladivostok
This old-school Soviet hotel has decent and clean midrange rooms that are fairly spacious but minimally equipped. Book an upper-floor even-numbered room…
Lake Baikal
This unmarked pink building was the best budget choice in Arshan at the time of research. Rooms are dim and spartan, and facilities display the pressures…
Kamchatka
The Art Hotel is a cheerful though rather pricey place in the centre of town; some rooms have a private sauna and all are comfortable and spacious. There…
Altai
Small and quiet hotel just back from the main street. By Russian standards the rooms are positively palatial and the walls are covered in photos of pretty…
Kaliningrad Region
In the village of Otradnoe, about 2km west of Svetlogorsk, this historic four-storey hotel stands opposite the Herman Brachert House-Museum. It's an…
Northern European Russia
Neat, presentable rooms shaped like pie slices in a circular building with balconies near the lake. Theatrical motifs are apt, given its location in the…
Sakha Republic & Magadan Region
The lobby here is a study in Soviet exuberance and leads up to rooms that haven't had much done to them for decades. That said, they're perfectly…
Northern European Russia
This friendly hostel is on the third floor of a rundown office building, but don't let the unappealing exterior put you off. The color-coded dorms are…
Western Siberia
Right behind a Dostoyevsky statue, this large hotel has spacious rooms that are a tad overdone with velvet curtains, satin bedspreads and the like, but at…
Volga Region
This formidable piece of Soviet hotel architecture in a towering block has clearly seen better days, though it is clean, central to sights, and has…
Zyuratkul National Park Guesthouses
The Urals
Zyuratkul National Park guesthouses are a 10-minute walk along the main road curving around the lake shore from the settlement around Ecopark Zyuratkul…
Western European Russia
Overlook the nouveau-riche decorative touches: this midsized hotel, restaurant and business complex is a decent option right near Peace Sq, and its 'ye…
Astrakhan
A shiny business hotel with 36 rooms and the usual ‘business’ facilities such as a bar, a disco and a sauna. The hotel is located just north of the centre…
Moscow
Small but satisfactory rooms, plus a fitness centre and billiards room. Discounts available with advanced booking. All prices include transfers to and…
Kaliningrad Region
This simple, good-value guesthouse is set in an original red-brick 19th-century building and has plenty of period touches such as exposed wood beams and…
Western European Russia
Affiliated with Izborsk Museum, this bucolic guesthouse overlooks the valley from beneath the back of the fortress. The two-room lyux suite has a broad…
Tomsk
The winner of Tomsk’s first hotel competition in the 1990s, the Sputnik may have lost its 'town's best hotel' status, but it remains decent value if…
St Petersburg
Handy for the Hermitage and a slight cut above the average mini-hotel, this eight-room property has small rooms with exposed brick walls as a feature,…
Kola Peninsula
Overlooking the ridiculously wide central roundabout, this modern business hotel option comes complete with friendly, helpful receptionists and instantly…
