Elegy Hotel

Close to Nevsky Prospekt, metro & train station. Friendly & helpful staff. However, rooms are quite basic...

What you see on the pic is not a hotel. It's an old and famous theater. Hotel uses a small part of the top floor, with access through a locked side door. Rooms are small, but clean (+daily cleaning), with working air-conditioner and TV (all channels are in Russian). Water pressure is an issue, especially when others are using it. Another problem is poor soundproofing. However, this mini-hotel is small enough for it not to bother us much during several weeks of stay. Location and safety are two great features. Will come back, unless win lottery.

20 years ago this would have been a great hotel, now it is convenient and trustworthy but not at western standards. The staff is very friendly and makes up for the lack of common areas. The breakfast area is at the size of a kitchen and what is offered is simple but enough. The shower cabin needed very fine tuning to not produce too hot or too cold water and even if preset it would take about 7-8 minutes to arrive with pressure being very low at peak hours. Wireless internet connection (the only available) was between very weak an non-existent in the room. The location is the best I can think of, as it is quiet but within 10-15 minutes walking to the very center (nevsky/kazanskaya) and metro stations. I had read in some previous reviews about the municipality registration fee but this is apparently standard for longer stays. Overall it gave a secure feeling which was important when being first time in Russia.

Hotel is close to sights, only a short metro ride. Metro stations are a couple of blocks away. It's also a block away from main shopping and restaurants. Staff was very helpful and accomodating; spoke very good English. They get out of their way to explain how to get to places/sights we wanted to visit. We had ample breakfast in the morning; much more than the usual continental breakfast in the U.S. The only hard part was to find the place for the first time. There should be a bigger address/title of hotel on the exterior of the building. But once you know where you're going, it's okay. We enjoyed our stay and would recommend it to others who are looking for good, budget places to stay.

Good location, next to Nevsky Prospekt (shopping street) and a 24 hour convenience shop just across the street. Elevator to bring your luggage to 5th Floor (small but great to have, trust me, the B&B i booked in Moscow has no elevator and I have to climb 4 flight of stairs). Comes with breakfast and private bathroom but the water pressure is too low, a little to the left, it's too cold, a little bit to the right, it's too hot... took me an hour fiddling with the tap to take a simple shower.