Where to Stay in Moscow - Moscow and St. Petersburg - page 103

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with the investor and luxury tourist classes, the Sheraton's attitude and prices are some-
what more upmarket than those of Sheratons in North America.
19 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Ulitsa. & 495/931-9700. Sheraton 800/325-3535. Fax [phone]. www.
sheratonpalace.ru. 215 units. 7,500 rubles double; 13,500 rubles double suite. AE, DC, MC, V. Metro: Belo-
russkaya. Amenities: 3 restaurants; cafe; bar; babysitting; children's playroom; concierge; executive-level
rooms; health club; Jacuzzi; room service; sauna; smoke-free rooms; free Wi-Fi. In room: A/C, TV w/satel-
lite, fridge, hair dryer, minibar, Wi-Fi 430 rubles/day.

MODERATE
Holiday Inn Lesnaya The hotel scene has finally expanded into this up-and-
coming district of Moscow, at the upper end of Tverskaya just beyond the Garden Ring
Road. Holiday Inn's first Moscow venture was a resort-type facility outside city limits.
The Lesnaya, opened in 2005, is a much more convenient, though much less green,
option. Its meeting rooms attract business visitors, but its overall range of services makes
it a tourist- and family-friendly option as well. Guest rooms are rather large and more
luxurious than those in many Holiday Inns in the United States. The Lesnaya is one
of the few moderately priced Moscow hotels offering rooms that are fully wheelchair
accessible.
15 Lesnaya Ulitsa. & /fax [phone]. Fax [phone]. www.holidayinn.com. 301 units. 6,200
rubles double; 10,000 rubles suite. AE, DC, MC, V. Metro: Belorusskaya. Amenities: Restaurant; concierge;
executive-level rooms; health club; room service; rooms for those w/limited mobility; smoke-free rooms;
free Wi-Fi in lobby. In room: Satellite TV, fridge, hair dryer, minibar, Internet 900 rubles/day.
Pekin This lemon-colored confection is situated at the crossing of two major arter-
ies: Tverskaya Street and the Garden Ring Road. A plethora of dining and nightlife
options, including the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall across the street, are close by. Its win-
dows are reinforced to keep out the traffic din, but courtyard-facing rooms are still
preferable to street-facing ones. Named in honor of Sino-Soviet solidarity, the Pekin fell
into disrepair and Mafia hands in the 1990s. It has been undergoing gradual renovation
in recent years. The new rooms cost about 30% more than their older counterparts but
boast wider, firmer beds and calmer, sleeker decor; some even have bidets. All rooms are
spacious by Russian standards but the older rooms suffer narrow creaky beds, chipped
furniture, and flowery wallpaper that seems to have absorbed 3 decades of cigarette
smoke and dust. The thugs who made the Pekin notorious a decade ago have largely gone
straight or elsewhere, and now the lobby is frequented by Russian and foreign business-
people and tourists attracted by its location and reasonable prices.
5/1 Bolshaya Sadovaya Ulitsa. & 495/650-2215. Fax [phone] units. www.hotelpekin.ru. 6,000
rubles double; from 12,000 rubles suite. AE, MC, V. Metro: Mayakovskaya. Amenities: 2 restaurants; cafes
on each floor; nightclub and casino; concierge; room service; sauna. In room: A/C, TV w/satellite, fridge,
Wi-Fi 300 rubles/hr.

5

INEXPENSIVE
Tsentralnaya One step inside and you understand why these are the cheapest accom-
modations in the heart of Moscow. The price and its location (the hotel's name means
“central” in English) are the only reasons to stay here. They just barely compensate for
the dilapidated rooms, shady guests, and overtired staff. Only the two “deluxe” rooms
have showers or bathtubs; the rest have hall facilities with irregular plumbing. The hotel
does not arrange visas. Securing a room takes persistence or a Russian-speaking mediator.
That said, the high ceilings of the pre-revolutionary building suggest former grandeur. Its
once-solid reputation soured when many Soviet nomenklatura staying here were arrested