Way to Russia Talk Lounge

Leeloo4_u · Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2005 7:51 pm Post subject: What will be expected of me?

Hi there, if I get invited to Russia will my host/friend expect me to stay at their home or in a hotel? And if I choose to live in a hotel will they be unbearably offended?
And another thing why are hotels in Moscow so damn expensive compared to St Petersburg?

e · VIP Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 654

Paul Holmes · Lounge Wizard Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 1012

mr. barley · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:17 am Post subject:

My wife and I paid about $100 a day at the Hotel Ukraina when we were there in January. I imagine it is more during the tourist season. We got a huge buffet breakfast with our room so I guess it wasn't too bad. It was an alright hotel, a bit old. It sure beat the one we got in Bryansk but that one was substantially cheaper.

mediashark · Moderator Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 1601

leeloo, you better clarify the accomodation question with your host. Do not assume anything! It's nothing 'Russian' or about 'customs'. You just have to check with them to avoid any misunderstanding.

barley--second the fantastic breakfast at Hotel Ukraina! I paid around the same for that too. It's nice if you like to get a taste of the ole Soviet grandeaur. (Rooms are a bit small though.)

Uncle Pasha's dacha operates outside of Moscow city. And it's quite far out. However sounds nice for a weekend trip with your friends to get a feel of Russian village life. But do check out the apartment links for Moscow accomodation.

mr. barley · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 4:38 pm Post subject:

Yeah, we filled up our stomach really good every morning (except for New Year's Day when I didn't even get out of bed) beforre we hit the streets of Moscow. We were not hungry until evening and we kept bread, cheese, sausage and fruit in our little refridgerator in our room.

You are correct, the rooms are a bit small but we didn't mind.We were on an adoption trip and we got caught there during the holidays and all the Govt. offices were closed so we ended up spending 3 weeks at the Ukraina.It got a bit expensive.But we brought home a wonderful little boy so it was worth every kopeck.

Leeloo4_u · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:12 pm Post subject: Interesting

That's very interesting, so that theory of "all foreigners are rich" really got stuck in everyone’s heads? Pity so I’ll have to save a lot of money for and have to wait a long long time to visit! All the hotel rates are in $ so what does Russian people do when they have to visit Moscow what do they do and where do they stay? Coz having to pay $80-00 - $100-00 for one night accommodation is a lot of money!!!

mediashark · Moderator Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 1601

Hope your friends who invited you to Russia has the intention to provide you lodging. If they don't think they can do this for you, ask them for recommendations on local hotels that are not too expensive. (Hotel Ukraine is one of the more upscale ones.) Otherwise take a look at short-term apartment rental or homestay accomodation.

Leeloo4_u · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:44 pm Post subject: thanks

Yeah I guess that would probably going to be the best, I'm thinking of going in winter (never seen snow kindu thing so I figured I have to go the place with the best snow) so going in winter would you say that's off peak season and should be cheaper in accommodation? I will be going to Moscow, is that where Hotel Ukrane is? (anybody have their website address?)

mr. barley · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:53 pm Post subject:

Just type in Hotel Ukraina and the search engine will get you there.It's not a far walk to the Kremlin , a few kilometers. If you stay at the Ukraina don't take the shuttle to the Kremlin and expect to get picked up when they say they will. We found out the hard way on our second day in Moscow. We ended up getting a city map and walking back. It was a good experience for us though. We come from a town of 13,000 people and here we are in a city of 13 million and we have to figure out how to get to our hotel knowing next to no Russian. After that we were not afraid to move about on our own.Use the Metro to get about. It's awesome. On our third day in Moscow we tried it out and that's how we got around the remainder of our stay.

mediashark · Moderator Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 1601

I booked Hotel Ukraine in winter. It still was around $100.

Leeloo4_u · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 7:32 pm Post subject:

Alrighty well I'll look around for that hotel... the price staying the same was what I was afraid of. I think it will be quite an adjustment for us to be able to take the metro and public transport apart from using a car and even more weird to be able to walk the streets of a city freely and safely. it's such a weird thought I can't imagine what that feels like Razz

It sounds silly but here you would not dare use trains or public transport in the city only selected busses are OK, apart from being extremely unreliable it's very very very unsafe. (not that I want to scare people from coming to SA but you just need to know where to go)

I think it's gonna be amazing going there can't wait.

Paul Holmes · Lounge Wizard Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 1012

Leeloo4_u · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 8:42 pm Post subject: thanks

cute looking hotel, looks very cosy... must admit most hotels in Moscow (don't know if it's just the ones I've seen) just look like a big brown squair!!!! And they all seem to be very very very big, how does the standards of Russian hotels compare to the rest of the world? Eg. they say that any 3 star hotel in the US would rate as a 5 star hotel in Europe, how would you compare Russian hotels?

mediashark · Moderator Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 1601

I don't know about you, but actually I'm not a very fussy traveller. As long as my room has a bed and they give me clean sheets on day 1, running water and hot water, heating and maybe a cafe or restaurant where I can grab a bite, I'm fine.

Big brown square? Most buildings look like that! I live in a big pink square, and will be moving to another pastel green square...

The ultimate BIG-brown-square is Rossiya. Maybe you want to try it before they tear it down! Very Happy