HotelChatter || Russian Hotels for Ballers: St. Petersburg Continued

Our Super Secret Hotel Maven network extends far and wide and thanks to another SSHM, we have a mini-guide to Russia's luxe hotels--perfect for ballers, high-rollers and Russian mobsters. It's a mini-guide because it's really only a few hotels in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Up next: The Eliseev Palace and Hotel Angleterre. Enjoy.

Eliseev Palace

St. Petersburg is a lovely city, I guess. The architecture is delightfully institutional. The snow, I mean slush, is a wonderful hue of mocha. And nothing says warm and fuzzy like Russia, right?

When it comes to the sites, St. Petersburg is all history--lots of palaces and museums and pretty things. Pretty things get boring, though, so this hotel freak decided to give in to addiction and give the sites the finger. Instead, I opted to tour the city's most famous hotels, and I am so glad I did because I can share my notes with you!

I already gave you a rundown of the spot I was calling home, Hotel Astoria, which was fine enough, but I felt I owed it to America to find something a hair better.

Though Four Seasons has promised a hotel coming to St. Petersburg (perhaps opening on the same cold day in hell, I mean Russia, that the "two" Moscow locations will open), we've got to work with what there is for now, and what there is has been there for a long, freakin' time.

Take for instance, the Eliseev Palace. If you're wondering why you've never heard of it, perhaps you know the same property as the Taleon Imperial. It's literally a 19th Century Russian Palace turned into a hotel turned into one of the fiercest construction sites I've ever seen. The hotel is currently expanding to offer large suites, the woman told me, a renovation that will increase the size of the hotel in a very big way.

Eliseev Palace is small but somehow big at the same time. It feels like a big place when you walk in, but the place only has 29 (creepy) rooms. The whole place is creepy! My tour was during the day, but I can only imagine what the space might have been like at night, and this is somewhere you're supposed to sleep?!

Then again, one man's nightmare is another man's home-sweet-home. So perhaps the Eliseev Palace does have its place.

If I were a travel agent, my ideal client for Eliseev Palace would either be an old lady with plastic on her furniture and paper in her pocket, or a client I didn't like that much who I wanted to get pillaged by a poltergeist.

The good news for the hotel is the expansion involves lots of new rooms and a swimming pool. The woman mentioned the swimming pool with a slight pause before it, as if to brace me for the unforeseen amenity.

There really aren't many swimming pools in this country, you can imagine, and most of them are indoors. For instance, Hotel Astoria doesn't even have one. It utilizes the one of the neighboring, sister property... Hotel Angleterre.

And speaking of Hotel Angleterre, I did that too. Let's talk about that for a minute. It's basically Hotel Astoria without the extra last touch (most rooms have NO bidets... couples beware!), with more friendly amenities particularly for business travelers, and about HALF the price.

Even more the discerning luxury traveler, I'd recommend Angleterre. We all like to save. But that's enough about Angelterre, because it is indeed Astoria Lite. And it really is the same hotel and doesn't warrant its own review otherwise.

More on Russian Hotels for Ballers coming tomorrow. Promise!

Hotel Reviews:
Eliseev Palace Hotel
Angleterre Hotel

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