Where to Stay in Vladimir

contents: general info • hotels • homestay • camping

GENERAL INFO. Accommodation in Vladimir is cheap comparing to Moscow or St Petersburg. You can get a good quality double for $30, and a bad quality double for $8. There are 8 hotels in Vladimir, 3 of them ('Vladimir', 'Klyazma', and 'Zarya') are located quite close to the centrum. The prices for foreigners are the same as for Russians, but some hotels have the rule, that they can accommodate a foreigner only for 1-2 nights. If you need to stay longer, you or the organisation that invites you need to send a special request to the hotel. This is a typical rule of Russian provincial towns and is a bureaucratic atavism.
It is strongly recommended to book about 1 week in advance during summer. If you arrived without booking anyway, and everybody says that there's no space, try to push: say you don't have a place to sleep, offer money, ask if you can stay in the lobby etc. Some hotels (like 'Zarya') have booked rooms, where nobody lives for some reason.
If you don't want to stay in a hotel, there's another, more interesting option: you can stay in Vladimir with a local in a 3-room apartment. See below for more information.

vladimir / hotels listing
The hotels were personally checked by WayToRussia.Net team in August 2001. The prices are in $ US.

ZOLOTOE KOLTSO HOTEL.
Prices, Rooms & Interior.The singles are 200 roub ($7) a day, the doubles are 300 roub ($10.5) a day, the 'improved' doubles are 500 roub ($17.5). The simple singles and doubles have a shower, and a toilet. The simpliest rooms (singles @ 200r and doubles @300r) are clean, not big, and much better quality than the rooms of 'Zarya' hotel.
Description. The hotel building is almost the same as the one of 'Zarya' hotel: concrete and tall (so there's a view on Vladimir from the top floors) – typical Soviet hotel building. But 'Zolotoe Koltso' hotel is much cleaner than 'Zarya' hotel.
There's also a restaurant, two bars, a buffet, a casino, a night club, a barbery, a solarium, a dentist, a medical center, a sauna (opened 24 hours), an art salon.
The reception and maids are polite and helpful. The reception speaks some English.
Location. This is the main problem of this hotel: it's located around 30 minutes by bus to the centrum of Vladimir (and the railway station). It'll take around 1 hour walking.
The trolley #10 will take you there from the railway or bus station.
WayToRussia.Net Advice: a cheap and quality hotel, but too far from the centrum.
Address: #27, Tchaikovskogo Ul. Directions: take a trolley or a shuttle #10 from the railway or bus station to get there. The hotel is the only tall white building in suburbs, you'll see it instantly (don't mistake it with 'Zarya' hotel, which is closer to the centrum). Contacts: reception (0922) 24-88-07, reservations phone / fax (0922) 24-72-08 / (0922) 24-72-06.

VLADIMIR HOTEL.
Prices, Rooms & Interior. The singles are 140-210 roub ($5-$7.5) a day, improved singles (with 'remont' - renovated) are 430 roub ($15) a day. The 'improved' singles have a tv, a shower, a bath, a toilet. Standard singles are only with a shower and a toilet.
The 'improved' doubles are from 280 to 730 roub ($10-$25) a day. The doubles for 650 and for 730 have a bath, a shower, a toilet, and a tv. Most of the rooms available are improved, so count the highest price.
The hotel is quite neat inside, though not fancy.
Description. The staff is quite friendly, though the hotel is run by Intourist, and some receptionists don't speak English.
Location. The hotel is located just 5 minutes walking from the train and bus stations, on the main street of Vladimir: Bolshaya Moskovskaya. Withing 5 minutes walk there are Uspensky and Dmitrievsky cathedrals and the 'party' part of B.Moskovskaya street.
Our Advice: the closest hotel to the centrum, relatively cheap if you're lucky to get a room.
Address: #74, Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul. Location: walk up from the train or bus station to B.Moskovskaya street, the hotel will be on your right. Contacts: phone ((0922) 32-72-39, 32-44-47, 32-30-42 Email: tour@gtk.elcom.ru

ZARYA HOTEL.
Prices, Rooms & Interior. The simpliest singles with 1 room are 300 roub ($10.3), the simpliest singles with 2 rooms are 550 roub ($20). The simpliest 1-room doubles are 260 roub ($9), better 1-room doubles are 600 roub ($21). Improved doubles with two rooms are 900 roub ($31), improved doubles with 3 rooms are 1000 roub ($35). The simpliest singles for 300 roub are crappy and old, but not very dirty. There are a toilet, a shower, and a tv that doesn't work. The bedsheets look clean, but not trustworthy.
The improved double for 900 roubles is more clean, and has a living room with two armchairs, a table, and a tv, and a room with a double bed, and a bathroom with a bath, a shower, a toilet.
Description. The hotel is one of the highest buildings in Vladimir, so the 11th floor offers a nice view on the city, especially in the morning. The building itself is not nice, made of concrete, and isn't so clean. Typical Soviet hotel with 12 floors to stuff the tourists inside. There's a cafe outside and a couple of fountains.
The staff is really different: some receptionists are very helpful, and some receptionists are not.
Location. The hotels is around 25-30 minutes walking from the railway station, and 20 minutes walking (and 10 mins by trolley) from the 'party' area of the central Vlaimir street Bolshaya Moskovskaya.
WayToRussia.Net Advice: There are almost always free rooms, which are booked, but where nobody lives, so this hotel is a good option if you don't have a place to sleep. Besides, it's 30 minutes walk (which is not so far) from the railway station. The problem is the concrete nasty building, strange staff, and the rooms which are not so clean and are overpriced.
Address: #36a, Studyonaya Gora. Directions: walk along Bolshaya Moskovskaya street to the direction of Moscow. Where the street splits in two, take the left road, cross the bridge, you'll see the tall 12-story building of the hotel on your right. Also, a trolley #8 (or a shuttle - marshrutka) in the direction opposite of the railway station will bring you there. Contacts: reservations (0922) 32-79-60, reception (0922) 32-14-41

KLYAZMA HOTEL.
Address: #15, Sudogodskoe shosse, Directions: go to Sobornaya square (in front of Uspensky cathedral, on Bolshaya Moskovskaya street - main street of Vladimir), walk down to Klyazma ) river, cross the bridge (the bridge was being repared, but now it must be ok), walk straight ahead, the hotel will be on your left. It's around 20-30 minutes walk from the railway and bus stations. There's no public transport, because the only bridge over the Klyazma river is being repaired now, the closest bridge is 50 km away. Contacts: (0922) 32-44-83, 32-42-37

ERLANGENSKI DOM HOTEL.
Address: Bolshaya Nizhegorodskaya Ul., Directions: take the direction of Nizhni Novgorod along Bolshaya Moskovskaya street, the hotel is next to "Mir" cinema. Contacts: (0922) 32-37-95

DOBROE HOTEL ("PROFKURSY").
Address: #217, Dobriselskaya Ul. Directions: take the direction of Nizhni Novgorod along Bolshaya Moskovskaya street (around 5km from the railway station), the hotel is next to the brick factory (kirpichny zavod) in industrial part of the city. A trolley #1 will take you there. Contacts: (0922) 21-37-60, 21-35-64

UYUT HOTEL.
Address: Gorkogo ul., Contacts: (0922) 33-03-08

HOTEL.
Contacts: (0922) 27-42-36

Camping in Vladimir

CAMP IN A PARK. There are no camping sites in Vladimir, but there's Zagorodny park where you can put a tent, 20-30 minutes walk (no public transport) from the centrum of the city, on the side of Klyazma river opposite to the central part,
Local people say you can camp there, but it may be dangerous on weekend nights, when the whole Vladimir is partying and everybody is drunk. Don't be afraid of the cops, unless your visa or registration are not allright.
Don't try to swim in the nearby Klyazma river and in ponds at the park, locals say that when you get in the river, you walk out all black, because there are so many factories and plants around.
We haven't camped in this park ourselves, but if you really want to camp in Vladimir, save money, or you just don't have any place to sleep, Zagorodny park is the best place to do it.
How to get there: walk from the railway station to the main street - Bolshaya Moskovskaya. Make a left turn and walk along this street to the direction of Moscow. In 5 minutes you'll reach Sobornaya square, with Uspensky cathedral on your left, make a left turn and walk down to Klyazma river. Cross the bridge (only for pedestrians now, due to its poor condition), walk a bit further, there'll be the park on your right.