World City Guide

Hotels

All hotels accept Roubles, while all the hotels listed here also accept major credit cards and US Dollars.

Hotels are subject to VAT (20%), which is usually included in the room rate but can sometimes be added to the bill at the end instead. Hotels may also add sales tax of 5% to the bill.

The prices quoted below are the average prices for standard double rooms, including VAT but excluding breakfast and optional sales tax, unless otherwise specified.

Business

Aerostar Hotel
Form and function merge perfectly at the Aerostar – with marble floors and mirrored columns in its lobby, 343 comfortable and modern rooms and a comprehensive conference and business centre. It recently won an award from the local government for the best four-star hotel in Moscow and, while it is not the most interesting or aesthetically pleasing hotel in the city, the management at Aerostar really have made an effort to please. Free champagne is offered to guests on checking in and there is a Star Club ‘privilege’ scheme to encourage regular guests. There are also two restaurants to choose from and a full fitness centre.

Leningradsky prospekt 37
Tel: (095) 213 9000. Fax: (095) 213 9001.
E-mail: booking@aerostar.ru
Website: www.aerostar.ru
Price: Rb5200 (excluding VAT and sales tax).

Arbat Hotel
The Arbat Hotel is a three-star, tasteful and very Russian hotel on a quiet lane just around the corner from the popular Novy Arbat street, lined with stalls selling everything from the complete works of Gorky to a cosmonaut’s helmet. There are 105 crisply decorated and reasonably priced guest rooms, a number of meeting rooms, a swimming pool and a gym. The Arbat also runs a very helpful translation service from its fully equipped business centre. There is a restaurant (although there are plenty of good places to eat along the Old Arbat), café, bar and a winter garden.

Plotnikov pereulok 12
Tel: (095) 244 7635. Fax: (095) 244 0093.
Price: Rb4300.

Hotel Cosmos
Situated near a national nature reserve and botanical gardens, Cosmos is hardly the most central hotel. This bronze-coloured, 26-storey semi-circular grand hotel was built in 1979 by French architects to house athletes and officials during the Moscow Olympics. It has 1777 rooms, suites and apartments, each with en-suite bathroom, satellite TV and mini-bar. Most of the rooms have had a facelift in recent years. The hotel has a 24-hour business centre and a conference hall for up to 1000 people with facilities for simultaneous translation. The hotel also has many excellent bars and restaurants, as well as good fitness and leisure facilities to help its guests relax.

Mira prospekt 150
Tel: (095) 215 6791. Fax: (095) 215 8880.
E-mail: cosmos_res@mail.tcnet.ru
Website: www.hotelcosmos.ru
Price: Rb3800.

Marriott Moscow Royal Hotel
One of three Marriott hotels in Moscow, the Moscow Royal, also known as the Aurora, opened in 1999, which makes it one of the city’s newest hotels. It is as attractive as it is functional. Its peaked towers, reminiscent of the Kremlin just ten minutes’ walk away, were completed by the same construction company that helped build Moscow’s most recent cathedral Christ the Saviour. Its location, modishly styled bedrooms, five meeting rooms and exemplary conference facilities make it a popular hotel with businesspeople – on a par with any luxury international hotel. Each room has full room service, direct dial telephone, air conditioning, mini-bar and a safe. Concierge floor rooms include complimentary continental breakfast, evening hors d’oeuvres, turndown service and international newspapers. It is also the perfect location for evening entertainment at the Bolshoi Theatre.

Petrovka ulitsa 11/20
Tel: (095) 937 1000. Fax: (095) 937 1001.
Website: www.marriott.com
Price: Rb10,900.

Luxury

Hotel Baltschug Kempinski
This five-star hotel, dating back to 1898, is a very popular, although not cheap, venue for rich tourists and businesspeople on a flexible expense account. From 1989, the hotel underwent a forward-thinking renovation and reopened in 1991 to offer state-of-the-art facilities, including Internet and e-mail-enabled satellite TV in each of the 232 rooms. Its plush ballroom can be used as a conference facility for up to 200 delegates, while there are many other smaller meeting rooms. Many rooms have great views of the Kremlin, St Basil’s Cathedral and Red Square. The public areas are stylish, spacious and modern, while the efficient German-led service is typical Kempinski.

Balchug ulitsa 1
Tel: (095) 230 6500. Fax: (095) 230 6502.
E-mail: hbkm.moscow@kempinski.com
Website: www.kempinski-moscow.com
Price: Rb10,250.

Hotel Metropol Moscow
For a taste of pre-revolutionary Russia as enjoyed by the upper classes, the Metropol is the place. Designed in 1898 by William Walcott, this establishment has attracted the leading lights of the Russian intelligentsia, including Leo Tolstoy and Rachmaninov, drawn by its modern, Art Nouveau lobby and its restaurants. The tasteful opulence remains today and has been given extra verve when restored lovingly and thoughtfully to its former glory. Despite this sense of past, its marble floors and sweeping staircases, the Metropol has exemplary business and conference facilities.

Teatralny proezd 10
Tel: (095) 927 6000. Fax: (095) 927 6010.
E-mail: metropol@metmos.ru
Website: www.interconti.com or www.metropol-moscow.ru (Russian only)
Price: Rb10,350.

Moderate

Alfa Hotel
Not the prettiest hotel in Moscow on the outside, however, for an agenda of sightseeing or breakfast meetings, Alfa is a clean and efficient option to the northeast of the city centre. Furthermore, the hotel is in perfect striking distance of the legendary Izmailovsky Park – arguably the best tourist market in Moscow, where more can be bought for one US Dollar than in the over-priced tourist shops inside hotels. The service at the Alfa Hotel is functional and friendly; the 1800 rooms may not be the most tastefully decorated but they are well cared for and have satellite TV. There is also a full business centre here, a conference room for up to 80 people and a sauna and massage parlour to unwind in.

Izmailovskoe shosse 71A
Tel: (095) 166 2698. Fax: (0905) 166 0060.
E-mail: asu@alfa.lvl.ru
Website: www.alfa.lvl.ru
Price: Rb2030 (including breakfast).

Sputnik Hotel
The Sputnik Hotel is just a few stops on the metro to the southwest of the city centre (Metro: Leninsky Prospekt). Sputnik means satellite in Russian and the hotel was built ten years after the first satellite was launched by the Soviets – and six years after Yuri Gagarin’s first space flight. To honour the first cosmonaut is a huge shining steel statue cast in a modern style. The hotel was refurbished for the 1980 Moscow Olympics and its decor is fairly tasteful with polished parquet floorings and plain furnishings. All rooms are en suite with telephone, satellite TV and fridge. The large conference hall can be rented very cheaply (by Moscow standards) and can seat up to 50.

Leninsky prospekt 38
Tel: (095) 930 1981. Fax: (095) 930 6383.
E-mail: hsputnik@dol.ru
Website: www.hotelsputnik.ru
Price: Rb1300 (including breakfast).

Other Recommendations

Hotel Moskva
The Hotel Moskva is a classic piece of Stalinist architecture from the 1950s, whose awkward square angles are explained by the following legend. When a Georgian dictator designed the building, he wrote his name across two different designs; the builders were too scared to ask which one he had decided upon and so constructed the hotel from both plans. Hotel Moskva is ideally located in the city centre, with the Kremlin, Red Square and the Bolshoi Theatre a few minutes’ walk away. The interior decor is as classic as the outside, with parquet flooring in the superior bedrooms and suites, some of which have been very recently decorated. The 1500 rooms all have satellite TV and 24-hour room service, while the hotel also has conference halls seating 20-150 people and smaller meeting rooms. There is one wonderful relic of times past: each floor of the hotel has a dezhurnaya – a woman who will perform a whole host of tasks: from sewing on a button to a wake-up call in the morning.

Okhotny ryad 2
Tel: (095) 960 2020. Fax: (095) 928 5938.
Price: Rb2000.

Hotel Ukraina
Circling Moscow city centre are Stalin’s seven sisters, gigantic peaked buildings that are straight out of a Batman cartoon. One of these is the Hotel Ukraina, built in 1957, where a visit feels like a walk through the Soviet history of Russia. Standing at 200m (656ft), it was once the tallest hotel in the world and many of the rooms have great views over the Moskva River and Russian parliament. The hotel is situated very near the Novy Arbat and the Expocentre. With its well-worn red carpets, dark woods and chandeliers, the interior is not quite as impressive as the outside of the building but it is comfortable – if old-fashioned. Each of the 1017 rooms is well equipped with en-suite bathroom, mini-bar, fridge, safe, telephone and satellite TV. The business traveller is well catered for – with extensive facilities, including conference rooms that can accommodate up to 180 people.

Kutuzovsky prospekt 2/1
Tel: (095) 933 6801 or 243 2596. Fax: (95) 243 3092 or 933 6978.
E-mail: reserv@ukraina-hotel.ru
Website: www.ukraina-hotel.ru
Price: Rb2500 (including breakfast, VAT and sales tax).