Hotels in Moscow

Inside the Boulevard Ring the Kremlin is a twenty-minute walk away, and Tverskaya, Nikolskaya, Bolshaya Nikitskaya and Pokrovka are all around you. This is where nearly every one of Moscow's legendary grand hotels stands: turn-of-the-twentieth-century buildings with stucco moldings, cage elevators and views of the Bolshoi Theatre and the Kremlin towers. People choose an address like this for a first trip to the capital, or for a stay where the hotel is part of the experience rather than just a place to sleep.

Staying in the center without overpaying is entirely possible in Moscow: small hotels with no grand signage operate in the side streets of Zamoskvorechye, on Pokrovka and near Nikitskie Vorota. Red Square is either a walk away or one or two metro stops, and the tourist buzz of Tverskaya never reaches the room. A sensible compromise when the budget is tight but commuting into the center from a residential district holds no appeal.

If you are arriving by train, it makes more sense to settle near Komsomolskaya Square than to drag a suitcase across the whole city. Kalanchevskaya and Krasnoselskaya sit on the Circle and Big Circle lines, so the Kremlin is one or two changes away, and you pay less for the address than inside the Boulevard Ring. The area is businesslike and a little noisy by day, but the logistics are as good as they get in the capital — the platform is a few minutes on foot.

When a trip stretches to a week or more, restaurant breakfasts wear thin and living by the hotel's schedule becomes tiring. Aparthotel rooms come with at least a kitchenette and a fridge, often a washing machine, while the front desk, housekeeping and security stay fully hotel-grade. Such addresses turn up both in the center, around Pokrovka and Myasnitskaya, and in the business districts, and the rate usually works out better when you book a long stay up front.

Business Moscow lives west of the center: the Moscow City towers on Presnenskaya Embankment, the Expocentre and the offices along Kutuzovsky Prospekt. Staying here works when meetings and trade fairs matter more than walks across Red Square — you can reach the meeting room on foot and the center is a quarter of an hour away by metro. This is also the area with the widest choice of conference rooms, parking and panoramic views from the upper floors.

An early departure changes your priorities: being close to the Kremlin no longer matters, getting to the terminal quickly does. The safest bet is a hotel right by the airport — a free shuttle runs from there, leaving ten minutes to the check-in desk. The cheaper option is Leningradsky Prospekt and the Dynamo area: Sheremetyevo is under an hour away by Aeroexpress from Belorusskaya or by taxi, and rooms come at more modest rates than at the terminal.

The east of the capital is the land of the large hotel blocks by Izmailovsky Park, where rooms are plentiful and cost noticeably less than in the center. The Kremlin is under half an hour away by metro, the Izmailovo Kremlin with its market is next door, and Kursky and Yaroslavsky stations are a short ride away. A good fit for anyone coming for a long stay, travelling as a large group, or simply unwilling to pay extra for an address inside the Garden Ring.

The cheapest bed in the capital is a dorm place or a tiny hostel room, and such places often sit a couple of minutes from the metro in Zamoskvorechye, by Paveletskaya and near the three railway terminals. For a city this size, it is a rare case where "cheap" and "close to the center" come together in one booking. The format suits a short trip where the room is only for sleeping, and travelling on your own.