39 Best Hotels in Moscow, Russia

Fresh decor, with cream-colored walls, button leather sofas, and good, firm beds, make up for the rather small rooms here, while soundproof windows ward off incessant street noise from the narrow, traffic-jammed ulitsa Brestskaya. The surrounding buildings remain shabby, making the views less than desirable. Breakfast is hearty and tasty, and the intimate nook of a restaurant serves a large selection of reasonably priced Russian and European fare.

One of the most luxurious of Moscow's hotels combines the traditional and modern, with a sparkling lobby, light and spacious rooms elegantly done with beige furniture and glass tables, and beautifully equipped bathrooms. The Café Ararat, a replica of the landmark café of the same name that stood on this site in the 1960s, serves Armenian cuisine and has design elements based on ancient Armenian culture. The Bolshoi Theatre and the Kremlin are a short walk away.

Rooms in this former guesthouse for the Georgian embassy are a mix of the basic and the updated, with brown wall-to-wall carpeting and cramped bathrooms, but also plasma TVs and large beds. Some nice quirks remain: a marble staircase with a cherub statue; a mystifying ceramic piece by much-maligned artist Zurab Tsereteli, who is famous for his statue of Peter the Great that stands at a bend in the Moscow River; and a small portrait of Ramzan Kadyrov, the controversial president of Chechnya, hanging in the stairwell. Views from rooms are nothing special, but the surrounding area is one of the city's most charming.

Rooms are large and equipped with every amenity at this hotel, busy with conferences and meetings but far from the city center. An executive floor has a lounge for breakfast, butler service, and a separate reception area. Among the many amenities is a theater that shows English-language films. Athletes competing or musicians performing in the nearby Olympic Sports Stadium—used for volleyball, tennis, swimming, and other sporting events, as well as large-scale concerts—often stay here.

Many of the stately and well-equipped rooms at this deluxe hotel, perched on the banks of the Moskva River, have extraordinary views of the Kremlin and Red Square. The building is from the 19th century, but the plush interior dates to the 1990s (with recent updates), when the Baltschug became one of the first hotels to introduce post-Soviet-era Russians to luxury lodgings. The mezzanine bar is known citywide for its voluminous vodka menu, and for the underage set, a special program for guests under 12 starts out with sweets upon arrival and continues with a kids' menu in the restaurant and a range of cultural events.

What opened in 1876 as a club for noblemen became a hotel for visiting Soviet bureaucrats to stay while on official business and now is a homey if somewhat outdated place to stay in the city center with high ceilings, skirted bedspreads, and tasseled lampshades. A restaurant serves a conservative range of European dishes, there's a cozy bar, and just up the block there's Gogol, a trendy and inexpensive café that serves traditional Russian food. The Kremlin is also just a short walk away.

These spacious, functional, and comfortable guest rooms, some with views of the Kremlin, are in the heart of the historical center, across from St. Andrew's Anglican Church and near the Moscow Conservatory. Three interconnected buildings include a cozy atrium and a two-story historical structure facing pereulok Voznesensky.

A serene and lovely setting inside the walls of the Danilovsky (St. Daniel) Monastery provides a backdrop of fountains, religious-themed paintings, and domes for these simple, tidy guest quarters with crisp new linens, lacquered-wood furnishings, and polished parquet floors. Three deluxe suites, complete with stone dining tables and canopied beds, are vast. The restaurant sources many of its recipes from old religious texts, though its real forte is baked goods, multitudes of which are continually extracted from tall ovens to provide guests their daily bread. The monastery is the official residence of Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow and All Russia, and the church holds conferences here and also sponsors concerts and exhibitions. Though far from the center, the hotel is just a five-minute walk from a metro station.

This mammoth complex comprises four hotels: Alfa, Beta, Gamma, and Delta, with the last two most commonly used by foreigners and, though the Soviet past is much in evidence, offering well-maintained rooms with modern furnishings. A two-minute walk from the lively Izmailovsky flea market, this is a convenient place for the serious souvenir shopper. It's also adjacent to a metro station, close to Izmailovo Royal Estate, and near Izmailovsky Park, one of the biggest in the city; otherwise this is a trek from most tourist sights. Staff members treat guests reciprocally, so be convivial if you want good service.

These accommodations are cozy, stylish, and quirky all at the same time, designed with plenty of color and contemporary flair. You get a sense of what's in store from the moment you walk through the door—shiny metallic panels clash with bright, oddly shaped armchairs in the lobby bar, and the enormous golden apple next to the front desk turns out to be a comfortable sofa. Each of the hotel's seven floors is painted a different color, and in a reference to the Chekhov play, some rooms have huge propeller-like iron seagulls hanging from the ceiling.

This 12-story hotel's big advantage is its conference facilities and central location on Lesnaya ulitsa, near Belorussky station and just steps away from Tverskaya ulitsa. Rooms are spacious, with walls stylishly decorated in beige, ivory, and terra-cotta. All standard rooms have Wi-Fi and tea and coffeemakers. The hotel offers guests "a pillow menu" from which to choose various types and sizes of pillows. The restaurant isn't much, but there is a wealth of eating options on its street in both directions.

Years of heavy tourist traffic have dulled the shine on the French-furnished interiors here—the 26-floor complex was built by the French for the 1980 Olympics—but the rooms are adequate and clean, and some have been recently renovated. The spacious, two-story lobby is decorated with a sculpture that resembles a model of a molecule, typical of the Soviet-era decor throughout. Major sights are a distance away, but the metro is nearby and if a convention or trade show brings you to town, the All-Russian Exhibition Center is across the street.

Accommodations are bare bones, with linoleum floors, plain furnishings, and low beds, but the price is right, and as a bonus, a sense of elegance prevails in this estate-like setting on the grounds of the sprawling park of the same name. While you'd be hard-pressed to find a better rate for this level of hotel in Moscow, you can expect a few perks, too, including a friendly welcome for kids and a playground, and a convenient location two stops south of the center on the metro's green line.

If you seek historical splendor, assiduous service, and plenty of plush comforts, this 1903 landmark, the city's most elegant hotel, is for you. Downstairs, a great marble staircase, prodigious portraits and landscapes in gilded frames, and a Viennese-style café with a spectacular panoramic view strike a note of refined grandeur. Upstairs, rooms are furnished with polished-oak furniture upholstered in silk, sumptuous beds, and all sorts of technologically advanced gadgetry. For some capitalistic indulgence, you can stay in a two-room suite where Lenin lived for a time in 1918.

Quarters are small but much more comfortable and attractive than you might expect in this bargain-priced, dorm-like setting near the prestigious Moscow State University. A few flourishes include views from some units that extend all the way to the golden domes of the Kremlin and an in-house restaurant and bar. The hotel is managed by the Pilgrimage Center of the Moscow Patriarchate, so expect to find yourself surrounded by religious groups.

These distinctive new lodgings on the site of the demolished Soviet Minsk hotel pamper guests in contemporary luxury, accented by an enthusiastically helpful staff. Acres of marble and glass swath the sophisticated surroundings—rather gaudily in the sprawling lobby but with especially pleasing effect in the lavish bathrooms. The Tverskaya shops, several metro stations, and the Kremlin are within walking distance.

Comfortable, modern rooms occupy this renovated prerevolutionary mansion and a modern eight-story annex, complemented by nice views and friendly service. Dark-blue furniture contrasts smartly with the yellow-fabric-covered walls, which are lined with watercolors. A fully stocked—and free!—minibar is a pleasant extra. Staff is friendly and helpful, views of the picturesque Moskva River and New Savior Monastery are splendid, and the on-site Stockholm restaurant, serving traditional Scandinavian and Russian cuisine, is a big plus.

In this small, attractive hotel built in the style of an old Georgian town house, guest rooms are large and have views of a small square and a fountain through floor-to-ceiling windows. It's in the heart of one of Moscow's most glamorous neighborhoods: the massive Cathedral of Christ Our Savior and the venerable Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts are nearby, and the Kremlin is only a mile north. Two suites have hot tubs, and one two-story supersuite has a hot tub and sauna.

The slick and minimalist rooms that line two floors of what was once an employee club at the Krasny Oktybr chocolate factory on an island in the Moskva River still give out an industrial vibe, softened with stylish contemporary furnishings. On the ground floor there's a restaurant with a trendy eclectic menu and prints of prerevolution advertising posters on its walls. The metro is a 10-minute walk away, and the Kremlin and other sights are just a bit farther.

With towering black marble columns and a spiky crystal chandelier, the lobby feels like the palace of a fashionable but villainous monarch, while guest rooms surrounding an atrium are warm, plush, and fully equipped. A touch of chilly luxury also permeates the low-lit lobby bar and the hotel's showcase restaurant, Les Menus Par Pierre Gagnaire, named for the French culinary great who constructed its menu. Down a staircase from the expansive lobby is a Japanese restaurant and an enchanting, catacomblike spa, one of the hotel's highlights, where passageways with white pebbles underfoot lead to private chambers for massages and other treatments. On the western end of ulitsa Novy Arbat, which is essentially one long shopping center, and just over the river from one of Moscow's skyscraper-filled business quarters, the Lotte is convenient for just about everything but sightseeing.

Rooms at this rather puzzling place at the end of winding ulitsa Pokrovka, all of them suites, pull off that elusive combination of poshness and comfort; there's lots of empty square feet to stretch out in and many have well-equipped kitchens. The lobby, with circular violet-and-gold couches that evoke flying saucers, is a refreshing contrast to the humdrum facade. Through a glass door across from reception, a restaurant with hanging steel-globe lamps and blob-shaped couches keep you aboard the starship. The staff can seem less than affable and there's no view to speak of from any room, but the neighborhood is peaceful as well as close to the center.

Once a former residence for English teachers then later the exclusive domain of the Communist Party, this hotel has many rooms with balconies overlooking a quiet green residential neighborhood near Patriarch's Ponds. In warm months, the inner courtyard is an attractive place to relax. This is an intriguing choice for those interested in the Soviet era: the auditorium was once the movie house where party insiders came to see Western films unavailable to most Muscovites.

Once you step inside, past the renovated turn-of-the-20th-century facade, you'll likely feel very much at home—if home is the United States and if you've ever stayed at any of this ubiquitous chain's other business-oriented hotels. You'll even find eggs Benedict on the breakfast buffet. The Western-style rooms are spacious, and some overlook a peaceful courtyard. A round central staircase ascends from the lobby's sunny atrium. Service is pleasant and Red Square is half a mile (1 km) away.

Rooms meet Marriott's typical standards of corporatized comfort, but stellar service sets the bland surroundings—a product of Moscow's mid-'90s construction boom—apart from most business-oriented lodgings. The Bolshoi Theatre is a short walk away and there's full butler service for all guests.

A haven of calm in an art noveau landmark amid bustling ulitsa Tverskaya, this hotel offers the standard chain amenities and more—a small, peaceful lobby, four-story atrium, and understated guest rooms done in a palette of ivory, rose, and olive with dark-wood furnishings. A sunny guests-only lounge offers coffee and tea in the morning and drinks at the end of the day, and the in-house restaurant, Gratzi, serves Italian fare.

If you're looking for privacy and quiet in the very heart of the city, these spacious, clean, and functional guest rooms in a 19th-century mansion are the place for you. Almost all include miniature mobile kitchens with electric burners, dishes, and refrigerators, and on the ground floor is a fairly good Italian café.

Built between 1899 and 1903, Moscow's most fabled hotel transports you back in a time—whether it's the art nouveau facade, the opulent restaurants, the guest rooms with hardwood floors topped with Oriental carpets, or the antiques-filled suites. Lenin spoke frequently in the assembly hall and David Lean filmed part of Doctor Zhivago in the restaurant, and the outstanding service and amenities carry on the tradition. The location, opposite the Bolshoi Theatre and a five-minute walk from the Kremlin, is top-notch.

Functional and efficient, if a bit unimaginative, rooms here come with all the usual amenities, and some of them have rather interesting shapes (the building itself is cylindrical). The 18-story tower stands next to the Meyerhold complex, which includes a theatrical center, offices, and retail space.

In this refreshingly homey place, hallways are lined with Oriental rugs and the plainly furnished guest rooms are large and some have tremendous views of the tower and onion-domed church of Novospassky Monastery to the east. The staff strives to make guests feel at home, and there's an affordable full-service restaurant in a neighboring mixed-use building, where a basement-level spa is also open to hotel guests.

This 1955, Soviet-era tower is a Moscow landmark, offering old-fashioned accommodations that, though upgraded, still evoke Stalinist Russia, as may the service and amenities. Guest rooms vary in size, so it makes sense to ask to see a few before checking in. Request one on a higher floor if any are available, so you can enjoy the views of central Moscow.