5 Best Hotels in Kitai Gorod, Moscow

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became a hotel for visiting Soviet bureaucrats to stay while on official business and now is a homey if somewhat outdated place to stay in the city center with high ceilings, skirted bedspreads, and tasseled lampshades.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.

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.

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.

Surround yourself in the atmosphere of an old Russian fairy tale: there's massive carved oak furniture, stained-glass windows, and wall paintings depicting popular tales like "Little Scarlet Flower" (the Russian version of "Beauty and the Beast"). The lobby bar is nicely set in the winter garden, where there's rich vegetation. Guest rooms are quite modern, with all amenities, though they aren't as imaginative as the hotel's public areas. Though centrally located, Sretenskaya is a 25-minute walk from the Red Square. Moscow's famous boulevards and the Garden Ring are only steps away.

Functional rooms in the back of a monolithic government building have drab modern furnishings and cover all the shades of beige and gray, colored only by 17th-century-style lithographs, at this hotel. The main attraction is the surrounding historical neighborhood; also highly praised are the reception attendants, who greet you with cheery smiles. An upbeat attitude is also audible some nights in the restaurant, where the house band is led by one of Russia's most celebrated jazz musicians, saxophonist Igor Butman. The tree-lined Boulevard Ring is a two-minute walk away and Red Square a pleasant half-hour stroll.