NeoPatrick

OK, I've never been to Russia and have now booked a One World pass which ends up with my having 6 nights in St. Petersburg and 8 nights in Moscow in August (of course I could do SOME nights outside the cities -- suggestions welcome).
I'm traveling alone and am shocked at prices (now I read more and I guess I shouldn't be shocked) Most hotel searches here are 3 year old and older posts. But honestly -- while there are many hotels for $400 - $500 a night for a single, and there are a number of hostels with shared baths for around $50 a night -- is there really nothing in between? I found a few recommended three or two star hotels which seemed "tolerable" but nothing very nice and they are still around $300. Is it really not possible to find a decent place with private facilities in a close in location for around $150 or so? Or even $200 if necessary?

Is there a good booking agency with good discounts? Any specific suggestions? The thought of nearly $6000 for two weeks worth of hotel nights for one person is really throwing me here.

laurie_ann

We had a great trip to Russia last summer. At first we found the same problem about hotel prices as you are.

But we stayed in St. Petersburg at Northern Lights, a great little hotel, great location, great English speaking service. They arranged train and concert tickets for us and would phone for restaurant reservations. Singles are less than Euro 100. http://www.nlightsrussia.com/

And in Moscow we found a good rate through www.booking.com at Peter 1 Hotel (only about one half kilometer north of Red Square). The service was a bit more impersonal than Northern Lights, it is a larger business hotel, but the hotel is very nice and location cannot be topped. You might also look at their sister property Hotel Budapest around the corner. When I just checked random dates for August a single at Peter was about $230 (breakfast and tax included) and at Budapest was about $170 (breakfast and tax included). There was a great article in one of the travel magazines a couple of years ago about three people one using blackberry, one using iphone and one using just a book. They were put up to some specific travel challenges and the results compared. The woman with the book won the contest. She stayed at Hotel Budapest and the concierge helped her with everything she needed.

The website we found with the widest selection and best rates in Russia was www.booking.com.

And some not as well known things that turned out to be the highlights of our trip were the Russian Art Museum in St. Petersburg http://www.rusmuseum.ru/eng/home/ (we enjoyed it more than the Hermitage) and the Cosmonaut Museum and nearby VDNKh exibition park in Moscow.

If you are traveling by yourself you might consider looking into these English conversation clubs in Moscow:

http://www.englclub.ru

http://comclub.ru

amyb

NeoP, I stayed at the Budapest in Moscow and the Agni in St. Petersburg. When I got the bill for the Budapest, the rates were 4-5 times more on weekdays than on weekends. It is a business hotel first and foremost, and everything was more expensive on a weekday because of that.

The Hotel Club Agni in St. P was much more reasonable, I think because it does not come up in Trip Advisor as a "hotel" but rather a B&B or guesthouse, is much newer and not yet known, and has a tourist focus as opposed to business class. It certainly felt like a small (29 room) hotel to me, not a B&B or guest house. I'd return there in a second.

NeoPatrick

Thanks for some great information, laurie_ann. Oddly I have already looked at Budapest Hotel on the recommendation of friends (part of a Bolshoi study group) -- but when I emailed them directly I was given the lowest rate of over $300 a night! (I hate all those hotels which won't give prices on their site, you have to request them).

But I'm still missing a little something as when I check Budapest on booking.com I'm getting a price of $198 for any dates in August for a standard single room -- double room for single is considerably more. That's not too bad, I guess, but I'm using the current rate of 30.05 RUB to the US$. How are you finding $170? And the price I'm finding for a single on booking.com for PeterI is $ 310 per night. What am I doing wrong? My actual dates are August 6 to 14.

Northern Lights in St. Petersburg looks PERFECT for me, however -- and it is coming up at $118 a night for a single with private bath booking directly with the hotel -- haven't checked elsewhere yet. Looks like a great recommendation.

Odin

There are options in Moscow around the $200 mark eg Marriott Tverskaya, Sheraton Palace, Radisson Slavyanskaya, Hilton Moscow to name a few. They will all require a metro ride to Red Square (but I walk from the Sheraton Palace and Tverskaya to Red Square) but frankly the metro is wonderful and part of the experience. For something more traditional, there is the Sovietsky Hotel. If arriving at SVO, you could try the Aerostar which is near Moscow Dynamo.

Moscow Renaissance is another option, near to Prospect Mira metro and near to the sights mentioned in the previous post VDNKh which has interesting pavilions each named after a former Soviet Republic. Otherwise there are Novotels, Marriott Courtyards and Holiday Inns (tend to be a bit far out but again the metro makes it easy to get around).

St Petersburg is easier on the budget with more options, but location is more important as you don't want to be stuck on one of the islands without a metro station. Something around or on Nevsky Prospect is good.

NeoPatrick

Oh and amyb, now I see your post. The Agni looks great too -- I need to compare those two hotels.

And I'm sure I must accept that a single hotel room in Russia is smaller than most walk in closets. Even the pictures tend to look like a single bed against the wall with a foot or two to the other side.

NeoPatrick

Odin, how do you get those rates for the named hotels? I was on Hilton and Marriott sites and was finding only rates about double those you mention. Even the Marriott Courtyard I looked at was well over $300.

amyb

I was pleasantly surprised at how big the singles were compared to singles I've had in say, Venice or Paris! My only complaint were the tiny showers!

When I was planning the trip, the travel consultant really tried to sway me from being in Moscow on Sun-Thurs. She said the prices just skyrocket. Indeed adding the two additional nights in Moscow added nearly $1000 to my trip cost.

Odin

I didn't see your dates initially, however you can check the Sovietsky which has rates online for under $200, also the Radisson Slavyanskaya has rates around the $200 mark (on their own website) which might or might not include taxes (18%).

Check the Hilton website too, they do have advance purchase rates for queen room for 5500RUB approx USD184.

NeoPatrick

The only problem with advance purchase options now is that I'm talking 7 months from now -- that's a long time for something to happen and for me to lose the entire stay prepaid -- $1500 or more per hotel!

I did just find a nice deal in St. Petersburg at the Sonya Radisson which looks amazing with a King guaranteed no smoking room for 5580 ($185). I'm starting to shy away from the Northern Lights or Agni with a four floor walk up and no elevator just to get to the hotel itself, even though that's a lot of savings. I still remember when I twisted my ankle (not that unusual for me) in Prague and thought I'd die getting up and down three flights in our delightful Three Ostriches Hotel.

It's kind of difficult to shy away from Sunday to Thursday when I plan to be there 6 to 8 days! I'm seeing different prices for weekdays but not a huge difference.

NeoPatrick

Wow, amazing. Speaking of prepaid -- "forfeit the entire amount" -- rates, I found the Hilton in Moscow which has lowest rates (cancellable) at around $400. They have a prepaid rate that is around $275 a night. But they have a "weekend with breakfast anywhere" rate that is -- are you ready? -- $137 a night for a king room including the full buffet breakfast and that rate extends for the entire stay as long as you arrive on a weekend which I will. Again, I can't cancel it, but for a little over $800 for the entire 6 night stay (or two more nights if I want to at the same rate and just do day trips out of Moscow) it's pretty hard to turn down. I called Hilton to confirm I was actually reading that right! Is the Hilton as nice as it looks?

Odin

That is a fantastic rate.

The hotel is more than nice. The Hilton is near to Leningrad station, it was renovated and only recently reopened by Hilton. Previously it was the Leningradskaya and is one of Stalin's famous skyscrapers. These old buildings were fabulously ornate with marble columns and beautiful ceilings. I have not personally stayed there since the renovation. Outside the stations near to the hotel it's a bit seedy at night but that is typical of alot of stations in big cities. I would not hesitate to stay there but I have been to Moscow at least 20 times so used to the city. At least if you are going or coming from St Peterburg by train you will be close by. The reviews and photos on TA look good.

There are lots of prepaid rates with strict cancellation policies, no changes no refunds no anything but they are the cheapest in a very expensive city. I would not travel without travel insurance which covers cancellation penalties.

Did you check the Radisson Slavyanskaya, it does not have the architecture but the location is good, near to Kievskaya station (which is a beautiful station), walking distance to Arbat, views of the River. They have specials if you check the Slavyanskaya's website. But you can see, if you shop around, bargains can be found.

Odin

Check the visa registration fee, sometimes it is extra, also there will be hotel tax approx 18% ontop of room rate.

Closest metros to the Hilton are Komsomolskoye (one of the most beautiful and famous stations) and Krasnye Vorota metro stations.

Radisson Sonya is quite away from the centre of St Petersburg.

NeoPatrick

No where near as far away from the center as the Hilton is from the center of Moscow though right? And the Sonya is next to a metro station, isn't it?

Both the Radisson and Hilton state "all tax and fees included". Hope that's true. Don't know if that would mean a visa registration fee as well, etither.

NeoPatrick

In re-reading my last response, I hope it didn't sound snarky which it was not meant to be. Those were real questions, but just my understanding. Normally I really do prefer staying within walking distance of the "best" sites and lots of restaurants, etc., but I'm actually a little more worried about that with the Hilton in Moscow than the Sonya in St. Petersburg. Unless I'm missing something.

19cruise80

Sonya Radisson in St. Petersburg is located right in the center of the city - corner of Liteiny prospect and Chaikovsky street. It is about 15 min. walk to Nevsky prospect, 20 min. walk to the Hermitage. There is the historical Transfiguration cathedral nearby, another place of note in the vicinity - the so-called "Big House", the former KGB headquaters. The closest metro station - Chernyshevskaya, 7 min. walk.

NeoPatrick

Thanks, 19cruise80, that's what I thought.

Meanwhile what does anyone know about the Dostoyevsky in St. Petersburg? I'm finding several sites that offer a double for single use for my dates for $113 US per night including buffet breakfast and is cancellable till 24 hours before arrival. This seems too good to be true, and oddly the hotel's own site says that nothing is available -- apparently because they aren't loaded into the system yet. I've emailed them to find out what they say -- but they have super plans (for now, no summer priced listed).

I love the Fodor's Guides for it: "Pros: part of a busy mall, next to a metro station, stylish restaurants nearby. Cons: part of a cheesy mall, next to a traffic clogged intersection, overpriced restaurants nearby." I guess that's kind of "glass half empty, glass half full" approach.

Odin

I would not describe the address of the Sonya Radisson as right in the centre of the city. It is almost opposite the Finland railway station. I would not be put off by that though, since walking around St Petersburg is wonderful especially in the summer. There aren't as many metro stations as in Moscow, which is why not being central in Moscow is not such an issue, unless you can't master cyrillics, in which case you can't read the station names. Best location in St Petersburg is around the Grand Hotel Europe IMO. Alot of the sites in Moscow are all around the city except obviously Red Square and the restaurants are all over as well. I lived in Russia and spent most weekends in Moscow hotels, in the end it doesn't matter as long as you have the metro. From the Hilton, you are 5 stops to Red Square (Okhotniy Riad).

19cruise80

To Odin - St. Petersburg is a very large city and the location of Sonya Radisson is in the historical city center. Houses along Liteiny (Fowndry) prospect first appeared in the beginning of the 18th century. The Finland train station is not opposite Sonya - it is 25 min. walk from it, on the other bank of the Neva. The territory within 15-20 min. walk from Nevsky prospect is considered to be the central part of St. Petersburg.

lincasanova

neo patrick.. some hotels with those hilton rates actually do accept the rates even arriving other nights this offer, however is over at end of january, i believe, so do not hesitate to book before it ends.

in moscow we stayed at the holiday outside the city, in those days had free airport pick up plus free shuttle into to moscow everyday and they picked up at convenient times, however it was outside the city.. but we enjoyed our stay, it would b even nicer in the summer, i think, to be out there near the woods.

I saw this in a post long ago. seems reasonable.
http://www.nevskyinn.com/rooms.shtml

apartment post

http://www.introbyirina.com/apartments1.html

and the acme mini hotel has been recommended before. have you looked into the mini hotels?