Hotels in Perm

The tourist heart of Perm is the Leninsky District, where Permskaya, Monastyrskaya, Sibirskaya and Lenina streets meet. From here it is a walk to the Esplanade with its "Heroes of the Front and the Home Front" monument, the Teatr-Teatr playhouse, the art gallery with its collection of Perm wooden sculpture and the Cathedral — almost every downtown hotel stands within a kilometre of the Esplanade, and a taxi is simply not needed on a trip like this. A good fit for anyone coming for the culture, for meetings downtown or for a city weekend.

The Kama embankment with its "Happiness Is Not Far Away" sign is the reason people come to Perm the first time, and the line of hotels near the water runs along Monastyrskaya Street, a block from the descent to the river. The waterfront promenade and the downtown museums are equally close from here, so you can start the morning by the Kama and carry the day on into the city. This works best for a first visit and for the warm season, when the embankment doubles as the city's main walk.

The Opera and Ballet Theatre stands on Petropavlovskaya, and the hotels around it — on Petropavlovskaya itself, on Kuybysheva, Permskaya and Lenina — are the first to go in June: the Diaghilev Festival runs in the middle and at the end of the month, and rooms within walking distance of the theatre disappear before all the others. If your trip is tied to the festival, start looking in winter, as soon as the lineup is announced — by April the choice downtown narrows noticeably. The rest of the year this is simply the quietest and prettiest part of old Perm, an easy walk from both the theatre and the Esplanade.

Bolshoye Savino Airport sits southwest of Perm, and the road to it runs along Kosmonavtov Highway — the same road that strings together the factories of the Industrialny District and the approach to the Perm II railway station. From the hotels on this highway it takes about a quarter of an hour by car to reach the check-in desks instead of a good half hour from downtown, and there is no sense in driving into the centre and back for a morning flight. Ideal for early departures, late arrivals and business trips to the plants in the southwest.

More than half of everything on offer in Perm is flats and studio apartments, and downtown they sit in exactly the same places as the hotels: on Revolyutsii, Okulova, Permskaya and Sovetskaya, within walking distance of the embankment and the Esplanade. A kitchen and a washing machine change things considerably if you have come for a week-long work trip, with children or with a group. Pay attention to check-in: many flats hand over the keys through a key box or a door code rather than a 24-hour front desk.

Across the river begin Zakamsk and the blocks of the Kirovsky District, with Gayva to the north: people come here not for the sights but for the plants and holiday bases on the far bank, or simply for quiet and a night cheaper than downtown. Work out the drive in advance — at rush hour the bridge turns a ten-minute run to the Esplanade into a good half hour, but in return you get water and pine trees instead of city noise. A good choice for visitors to the factories across the Kama and for anyone who cares more about a calm district than about being close to the museums.

The most affordable places to stay in Perm are in the Industrialny District and along the approaches to Kosmonavtov Highway, though the centre also has small hotels and hostels near Monastyrskaya and Kuybysheva where a night comes to noticeably less than a hotel room. The difference between the outskirts and the centre here is measured less in money than in travel time — if you plan to explore on foot, the premium for a central address pays for itself. Suits a short business trip, a stopover night and any trip where the hotel is only somewhere to sleep.