Hotel Spbvergaz   J&   Email: hotel@vergaz.spb.ru   Phone: 7 (812) 327-8883

Peak Season Rates: Single $70; double $100 to $110; luxury suite $140; apartment $190. Breakfast is an additional $6.

Location Rating: Very good. A very nice pedestrian street is a short walk away. McDonald's is there as well as the metro and a Pizza Hut. Walk 2 long blocks and you are at the scenic Neva riverfront. If you walk another direction from the hotel you will also be able to enjoy a river view in about 5 minutes. Cross the bridge there and you'll find Sportivnaya Metro Station and a stadium.

Proximity To Metro: Excellent. It's about a 5 minute walk to Vasileostrovskaya Metro Station.

Lobby Appearance: It was being remodeled during our visit. Modern elevator. When I walked in I had the impression I might be surprised here.

Room Appearance: Yes, I was surprised and impressed. This whole building has been remodeled. The rooms are all modern and nice and the bathrooms and corridors are fine.

Useful Nearby Businesses: A karaoke bar is across the street. A "productie" store (where you can buy snacks, drinks and various things) is about to open on the other corner, and you are within minutes of tons of other shops here.

Hotel Restaurants: They have a small bar/cafe. It has a new look to it.

Other Amenities: They have a sauna and two meeting rooms.

Would I Stay Here? Yes, absolutely. The location is very good. It's close to the metro with interesting nearby areas to walk to. If you wanted to, you could hike to Palace Square (30 to 40 minutes?) and it would be a very interesting stroll. The interior is modern and clean with a touch of class. This is a great little spot to stay.

Staff Speaks English? The woman who showed us around understood French and a little English.

Comments: Only 18 rooms here. Book early. Nice facility. A playground and an old Russian orthodox church is right next door. I really, really like the neighborhood around the McDonald's and the metro station. The pedestrian street is a very nice place to walk and shop and eat. The old buildings have been restored. Another old church at the end of that street is in the process of being restored. A very expensive apartment building is going up in that neighborhood right now. Pizza at the Pizza Hut just went up to 55 rubles per slice. At McDonald's you can get a plain hamburger for 17 rubles. You can easily walk to some excellent restaurants from here to. I especially like (my very favorite) the New Island Riverboat Restaurant. Just walk to the Neva, turn left and you'll find it. The restaurant is expensive, but well worth it. The views are great as you eat and travel up the river. On a perfect summer evening it is simply wonderful!

Hotel Sportivnaya   Lh  I almost couldn't believe the room quality.  
Phone 7 (812) 235-0236

Among hotels that accept foreigners, this is one of the worst.

They rarely have foreign visitors. Nobody speaks English. They've got a nice river view on a very quiet section of an island. But the facility is awful. You can get a room for only 1000 rubles though, which is like $33. But that's still a greedy sum for the quality of room you get. It's not worth it.

Location Rating: Fair. And very far from the excitement of the inner city.

Proximity to Metro: Good. Krestovsky Ostrov Metro Station. About a 10 minute walk.

Lobby Appearance: Quite unimpressive. Looks like it was last updated in 1970, maybe... with little to no maintenance work done since then.

Room Appearance: Wow, they showed us a regular room and an updated room. The regular room looked absolutely horrible. The bathroom facility was awful. The updated room? I didn't notice much of a difference... hmm, I think the paint wasn't peeling off the wall in the updated room. Everything else looked the same -- horrible!

Useful Nearby Businesses: I didn't see any businesses at all. It's all residential. Tanya says it is becoming a "money" neighborhood, but I wasn't impressed. It's very quiet here.

Hotel Restaurants: They have a cafe.

Amenities: None.

Would I Stay Here? No. If there was a game show that offered big money to stay in a place like this, then yes, I might do it. Otherwise, absolutely not. This is no place to stay during a vacation. A big thumbs down for this one.

Staff Speaks English? No.

Comments: They had the courtesy to show us a couple rooms, which we appreciate. They were cordial. But this place is absolutely third world in quality. You've got to be really, really desperate to spend a night here. They say it actually fills up to capacity in the summer. Another thing, the price they gave us was for foreigners. The foreigner price is 1000 rubles for 1 or 2 people. So if you're poor and you have a buddy, you can stay here really, really cheap. But I am telling you this place is the pits. Mark my words... this is rock bottom. And if you're prone to bouts of depression, don't go there because as soon as you see your room, you're not going to be happy. Tanya says the area has a lot of fitness facilities and parks. She was surprised and didn't think the Sportivnaya would be that bad. It's bad. If you are giving a trip to Saint Petersburg as a gift and you don't like the recipient, then this is the perfect place. Otherwise, I strongly advise against booking a room here. It's horrible!

The one positive thing I can say about it is the area looks like a great spot to launch a small sailboat. The river is small and calm here.

Hotel Sputnik   K   (No website.)   Phone: 7 (812) 552-5632

Rates For Foreigners: Single 1300 rubles ($43.33); double 1740 rubles ($58); suite for 2 people 2640 rubles ($88).

Location Rating: Very poor. It is far north of the core of the city. The neighborhood is not interesting. And the metro is a major hike. You do not come to Saint Petersburg to see a neighborhood like this.

Proximity to Metro: Poor. There are 3 metro stations in the vicinity, but each is approximately a 20 to 25 minute walk.

Lobby Appearance: Clean. Brand new furniture. New paintings on the walls. A flower store just opened up in the lobby.

Room Appearance: A step up from the Hotel Rossiya. Not depressing, but very basic.

Useful Nearby Businesses: There is a nightclub in the building. It's very dark (bring night vision goggles), and probably entirely intended for the locals. A billiards place is also there.

Hotel Restaurants: There is a small cafe on the 5th floor that is actually nice. When we arrived, 4 female employees were dancing to the sounds of loud music. We could tell they were very happy -- probably because they had no customers.

Other Amenities: No internet access.

Would I Stay Here? If I was desperate for a room, yes. As a last resort.

Staff Speaks English? No. They said maybe some of the staff might know a little. But we didn't believe that.

Comments: The desk person had an attitude when we arrived. We were pestering her and she almost refused to allow us to see some rooms. Foreigners probably seldom come here. The corridors and rooms were better than the Hotel Rossiya. The rooms are definitely better than the Hotel Neva. But there is nothing interesting to see in this area; it's too far from the heart of the city, and it's too far from a metro station. Tanya gave this one the thumbs down. She thought foreign travelers would not like to stay there and guessed it was maybe a 2 star hotel. I think if you're desperate and you can't find a room any place else, then this place is still okay. Memories to cherish probably won't come from this hotel, but it appears clean. Communicating with the staff probably won't be easy or pleasant unless you know some Russian.  

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