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Hotel Esplanada is situated in an ideal spot to start exploring St Petersburg from. We stayed here for 3 nights and was very pleased with the service we received. It's only a 5 minute walk from the nearest metro station (which is very cheap to use), and main attractions such as the State Hermitage Museum and Nevsky Prospect are only minutes away. There's a cafe inside the hotel as well which is a good option for breakfast if you don't want to be wandering around the city wasting precious time. They have everything you need from soundproof windows, to a heated towel rail, to free Wi-Fi and air conditioning.
We got in very late on the train from Tallinn to St Petersburg, and took a taxi from the station which only took a few minutes. Russia doesn't have Uber, instead they use a similar service called Yandex which is perfectly safe to use. If you only have 72 hours in St Petersburg, then you're going to want to have a comfortable hotel to come back to, which we did. I'd highly recommend staying here if you are travelling to St Petersburg on a budget, but still want to stay in a clean and safe hotel.
Hotel Esplanada
Welcome! The entrance to Hotel Esplanada is very easy to find, as it sits overlooking the river and isn't far from a main intersection and metro station. The name of the hotel isn't in English however, so make sure you're using Google Maps. I also double checked the logo on their website just to be sure we were in the right spot.
Who doesn't love some extra pillows? Our double bedded room was perfect for the 3 nights we stayed here, and spotlessly clean tpp. The hotel maintains its classic design but has also added in some modern amenities. Did I mention that you could sit in the windowsill and look out over the river?
Although there wasn't too many decorations in the room, I absolutely loved the painting we had of an historic St Petersburg. Sometimes it's the little details that make all the difference in a hotel room.
Our room had an en suite bathroom with a walk in shower - my favourite. The tiles were in keeping with the classic Russian theme of the hotel but everything appeared to be fairly new and I couldn't find any fault with it at all. If you're researching hotels in St Petersburg, make sure you check out the photos of the bathroom. There's nothing worse than checking in and finding out you have a horrible one. Luckily this wasn't the case here!
The bathroom also came fully loaded with some toiletries for each of us, and they were replenished daily. Even though Hotel Esplanada is considered a cheap hotel in St Petersburg to stay at, it's nice that you're still given toiletries in case you forget yours or run out.
Yes, there's a television, although none of the channels were in English apart from one news station. It's still nice to have one though. We also had a cute writing desk, which has a mini fridge hidden away inside it.
Fancy a hot drink? No problem. There are coffee cups for you to use, as well as glasses for colder drinks. There's also a water machine in the hallway (filtered of course) which we used daily to fill up our water bottles before heading out for the day. The hotel is quite centrally located in St Petersburg, so we didn't mind walking a bit to get to the attractions when the weather was nice. It's not easy to find a budget hotel in the city that is both safe and in a good location, but Hotel Esplanada fits the bill perfectly.
>> Click here for the most up to date prices at Hotel Esplanada <<
You can also save 15% at the time of booking with the code "krista2019".
There's lots to do in St Petersburg, so make sure you check out my blog post to help you plan your itinerary. I also have some recommendations for things to do in Moscow and Tallinn if you're heading to either of these cities. And of course, keep connected with me and follow my travels on Instagram!
