Hotels in Vologda

The top end of Vologda's lodging isn't chain towers but restored merchant mansions: every house has its own history and its own restoration, such hotels usually keep only a handful of rooms, and the ground floor often holds a restaurant or coffee shop of their own. They stand both in the center and across the river in Zarechye, so Kremlin Square is never far. Take one if you're coming for a weekend and want the place you stay to become part of your impression of the city.

Vologda's tourist center is dense: the Kremlin, St. Sophia Cathedral, the Lace Museum on Kremlin Square and Peter the Great's House all fit inside a one-kilometer radius. If you're here for a day or two and want to manage without transport, look for a room in the square formed by Lenina, Lermontova, Mira and Oktyabrskaya streets, or on Torgovaya Square — the cathedral is five to fifteen minutes' walk from there. The other advantage of the center is that there's somewhere to go out for dinner in the evening.

Across the river the historic 19th-century wooden houses have survived, and 6th Army Embankment offers the best view of St. Sophia Cathedral in the city — from close up it looks far less striking. There are noticeably fewer tourists here than on Kremlin Square, and the square itself is a ten- to fifteen-minute walk away across Oktyabrsky Bridge. Guest houses in Zarechye's old mansions work out appreciably cheaper than those in the center.

Vologda is compact, so saving on a room here doesn't mean living out on the edge of town: inexpensive small hotels turn up within walking distance of the Kremlin and near Vologda-I station, which is convenient for leaving on an overnight train. The price gap between a hotel on the outskirts and the same kind of hotel in the center is slight, but the savings on breakfast and a round-the-clock front desk are obvious — in some places they simply aren't there. This is the option for anyone arriving for a single day who only uses the room to sleep.

Fryazinovo and the other residential districts have plenty of apartments rented out by the night: no front desk and no breakfast, but a proper kitchen and a washing machine. That format helps on a business trip, and when you're staying in town for several days and don't want to eat out every evening. Apartments also turn up in the center, by Prechistenskaya Embankment, and in the quiet blocks across the river — choose according to where you'll be heading each day.

A northern city with early dusk and a damp wind is exactly the case where a hotel pool and sauna stop being a bonus and turn into the plan for the evening. Hotels like these sit in the districts around the center: in Verkhny Posad, on the southern streets and across the river, a short walk or a couple of stops by public transport from the Kremlin. A good choice if you're traveling with children or stretching the trip over several days and don't want to spend all of them outdoors.

The main sights outside town — Ferapontov Monastery with its Dionisy frescoes and the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery — stand more than a hundred kilometers from the city, and it's best to drive out there before daylight so you can see everything without rushing. That means you need a hotel with its own parking and, where possible, an early breakfast: small boutique hotels rarely have such options, while the hotels along the outbound highways and on the outskirts are built precisely for drivers. This selection includes central options with a courtyard of their own as well as hotels right by the highway.