Excellent Hotel

We had only one review to go on when we booked the Petro Palace and some of the reviews of other hotels were quite scary.

We were amazed/delighted to find that this place is right up there with any 4 star hotel in Europe or US. We had twin deluxe rooms (404, 405 and 406). The rooms were large with pristine decor, heated bathroom floors, television, internet, minibar (very expensive), slippers, bath robes and air conditioning.

Reception staff were helpful, efficient and obviously well trained. We did not eat in the hotel (apart from breakfast, where seating was a bit chaotic) or use the swimming pool.

The bar downstairs was small (alongside a large aquarium) and quite expensive as you would expect in any hotel.

We ate our evening meals in two restaurants on the 'Alexander' side of Nevsky Prospekt - one had a dummy of Puskin seated in the foyer, the other was further up on the same side. Food in both places was very good and also reasonably priced.

The hotel is well located for walking to the Winter Palace (the Hermitage), the river and St Isaacs cathedral. We took a boat tour from outside the Alexander memorial - this is absolutely recommended.

St Petersburg is a beautiful city, much classier than we expected and if the authorities could get rid of the visa requirement delay and get direct flights organised it will be a prime destination in a few years time.

We will definitely return.

Delighted with our choice

I had spent much time reading reviews of hotels in St Petersburg and decided on the Petro Palace for our 4 day break. I was looking for cleanliness, location and value for money. We could not have been more pleased.

The standard room was good, though not exceptional. However, it was spotlessly clean with a minibar and many little extras in the bathroom. The hotel boasts a fitness club, but I have to say that we were too busy getting our exercise walking the city streets, so cannot comment.

The staff were extremely helpful, and arranged visa support and registration free of charge (after an initial communication problem - a telephone call is probably best), and transport to and from the airport at a cost of 1400 roubles each way - money well spent.

We are both reasonably fit 50 somethings, and were able to walk everywhere from the hotel, and feel that we saw so much more this way. I would like to dispell any safety concerns people may have about St Petersburg. It is a wonderful city - go for it.

In all we had a wonderful time and our hotel choice certainly added to our holiday.

Good, but not really 4 star

A good tourist class "3 star" hotel.

We had a deluxe room - massive. Nothing to complain of - clean and tidy. Except that the maid kept turning the air con to max and the room was "freezing" everytime we came back in the late afternoon!! Still, better than no air con!

Restaurant downstairs - the Baron - very disappoijnting. Expensive and food not really that good.

Breakfast also an experience. Tiny dining room - pandemonium and waiting staff rushed off their feet. Lucky to find a table to be honest, and hope you can get tea/coffee. Something like 50 covers for a 300 person hotel! Actual quality of the buffet was not bad but the experience was just far too manic. Not what you need first thing.

Bar in the reception was tiny. Desk staff were good relative to Russian standards.

Overall, a good hotel, but don't pay 4 star prices for what really is a good 3 star tourist hotel.

This hotels has plusses and minuses

The hotel is in a good location. Staff try hard to please. Rooms are good sizes and towelling etc is very clean to immaculate but.....we were there on easter week-end when the hotel was busy breakfast room full and a dozen or so people waiting in line for a chance to get a table for breakfast. It was grab a table where you can, when you can and be glad of it. Dining rooms were poor and cramped table to table. Groundfloor bar is a total non starter. I don`t usually grumble but I had booked our party of four in here, the entire reception areas were a mix up of levels of flooring....several hundred people staying but only about a dozen places to sit.... pity otherwise good value for money from expedia.com. The hotel taxi driver drives like he wants to be dead as soon as possible.....fast fast. Overall the hotel is a good advert for the SAS Radisson.

Wonderful Petro Palace

We have just returned from wonderful 4 days at the Petro Palace. There was absolutely nothing we could complain about. The de luxe room was fabulous, as were the staff, and the breakfast was great. Our towels were even changed twice a day. The location was perfect--walking distance to the Hermitage and 2 minutes from St. Isaacs. The gift shop was excellent for our souvenirs as we actually found the prices cheaper than the markets. We used Peters Walking tours and had a great guide called Mike for our first day. We found a great wee informal restaurant with great food, wine and beer at very inexpensive prices. The menu was in english so we had no problems (2nd steet on the right past the hotel with an emblem of a man with a beer and a pipe --downstairs). The Baron restaurant in the hotel also serves wonderful food though a wee bit more pricey.

Lovely staff who take pride

We stayed at Petro Palace and the position of this hotel for sightseeing was brilliant. The room was excellent with all amenities (slippers, hairdryer,dressing gowns etc) The staff take pride in everything they do and the concierge arranged everything from theatre, taxis and a tour guide for the day. The Baron Restaurant was as good as any 5 star hotel in the u.k. if not better and they did everything they could to please. The champagne was cheap and very good quality and we had a wonderful birthday dinner. The staff on the desk spoke brilliant english and we intend to go there again next year in May or June.

Loved it, Loved it, Loved it!!

Very nice hotel. Room was very large, very clean, everything smelled new and fresh. Linens were soft, clean and fresh. Television was large. Hotel has excellent in room high speed internet from the tv (no need to lug your laptop), which only cost $5.00 per hour to use (a bargin.) Free electronic mini safe in the room. The staff was very nice. They had free bottled water in the rooms (mini-bar was WAY overpriced, but what hotel doesn't). The hotel was within walking distance of money changer, a casino, Hermitage, resteraunts, the list goes on.

Now for the bad, the gym, ppol, and hot tub were only free to the guests from 7-9am. Otherwise you pay $12.00 a person. Not GOOD. That is the only reason I did not give them an Excellent rating.

Beautiful city

Just returned from,St Petersburg,Russia.What a wonderful city.Weather wasn't too good,but thats too be expected in November. Stayed at the Petro Palace hotel.Very good,clean and recently refurbished hotel.Hotel staff were excellent and all spoke English at reception.Only had breakfast there but a very good choice was available and the waitresses were very good.Bedroom was very clean an tidy,plenty of room,the only complaint being that it was too hot in there at night! The hotel is situated in an excellent position,very close to Museum and churches. i would recommend the hotel and the city to anyone thinking of visiting Russia

A Great Hotel

I stayed 5 nights at the Petro Palace Hotel. I booked a king sized bedded room and ended up in the original part of the building overlooking the main street. The room was large, warm and overall very good. Slightly noisy from the street but not too disturbing.

The breakfast buffet was excellent and varied.

The rooms were serviced more than once a day to a high standard.

The staff were attentive and their service excellent. The concierge even managed to get me tickets for a ballet performance at the Marinsky Theatre on the same Saturday evening. Well done!

I have syated in a lot of so called 4 star hotels in London and the Petro Palace Hotel was far better then most of them.

Happy at the Petro Palace

We were there for 4 nights with a tour group. Hotel has only been open a few months and still has some rough edges, but the room was good sized, clean, and ours had a fine shower with plenty of hot water. In addition, during one of the hottest Julys on record, the room's air conditioning was most welcome. Our biggest problem was returning in the late afternoon to find that the staff had turned up the air to its max and the room was freezing. The hotel's location is ideal, about a 10 minute walk from the Hermitage Museum and very close to the Neva River. The hotel dining room is reputed to be among the best but we only ate there for breakfast, The breakfast buffet was satisfactory but we were disappointed with the quality of the bread. We would certainly stay there again.