Grand Hotel Europe, St Petersburg, Russia
Grand Hotel Europe 3 Stars
"The leading luxury hotel in St Petersburg, a 19th-century rococo palace, full of history and Russian riches."
Hotel Overview
Review of Grand Hotel Europe, by Matt Morley
Russia's first five-star luxury hotel, the Grand Hotel Europe is an historical landmark dating from 1824. Situated in the very heart of St. Petersburg, it sits just across from the Shostakovich Philharmonic, next to the Russian Museum and within walking distance of the Hermitage Museum, meaning taxis are largely superfluous to any stay here, unless you wish to get out of town to visit one of the splendid palace residences of course.
New General Manager Thomas Noll is clearly intent on bringing The Grand Hotel Europe firmly into the 21st-Century, while still respecting the history and heritage of the city around him. Further improvements include the renovation of the luxury hotel's main entrance and a new concept for the Caviar Bar to give it more of a truly Russian feel.
The facilities
The luxury hotel already has a formidable food and beverage offering that includes a total of 4 restaurants and 1 bar. L'Europe restaurant is the fine dining offering, with elegant Russian cuisine at dinner with dishes such as Kamchatka crab, sterlet and Beef Stroganoff, while the breakfast buffet in the morning is perhaps the most comprehensive this magazine editor has ever seen, anywhere. If it were any larger it might almost be too much to cope with first thing in the morning!
A similar note of no-expense-spared indulgence can be found in The Grand Hotel Europe's delightful Lobby Bar, with its glittery Art Nouveau interior, live piano music in the evenings, separate cigar room and elegant twin fireplaces. Meanwhile the Chopsticks restaurant offers an Oriental dining alternative with Cantonese and Szechuan cuisine and Rossi's is ideal for a light Italian lunch or pre-ballet dinner.
Mr. Noll's guests are frequently reminded that they are staying in a truly world class hotel. The gym's plunge pool is set at precisely the right temperature - resulting in a refreshing and invigorating workout every time, and staff members who simply do not know the meaning of the word 'niet' go to any length to ensure their guests remain completely satisfied.
The rooms
Owners Orient Express wasted no time in starting a $9million refurbishment on the luxury hotel's 110 standard and superior guest rooms. Designer Michel Jouannet was given the task of creating the spirit of a private residence inside each spacious room. The result is warm, intimate lighting throughout and a palette of three soft colours adding notes of harmony and continuity to the luxury hotel, no matter what floor you find yourself on.
The Grand Hotel Europe's in-room jogging and walking maps mean there is one less question to ask the concierge in the morning, and a dozen different pillows to choose from ensure there is no excuse for complaining about a bad night's sleep. Other upgrades include DVD players and flat screen TVs in every room, Wi-Fi internet access, antique-style furniture made by local artisans, plus new upholstery and carpets that draw inspiration from original 19th-Century Russian designs.
Facilities
Come for...
- A sense a literary history - Pushkin and Dostoevsky are among past guests
- Old-school glamour
- Vodka and caviar in abundance
Not Suitable for...
- Shallow pockets
Eating in
A choice of five restaurants, two cafes and a bar, so there's a good chance of finding what you fancy! L'Europa Restarant is recognised as the best in St Petersburg, with prices to match.The Press Say
“This is an expensive venue in an expensive city but many will say it’s also the best.”The Independent 08“The Grand Hotel Europe has a winning location on the city’s principal street…with a five-star splendour that makes the most of its art nouveau interiors.” Telegraph 06
Reviews
Review of Grand Hotel Europe, by John Borthwick
Nevsky Prospect, St Petersburg's legendary main drag, is a welter of traffic jams, rattling trams, boutiques, cafes and bookstores. Just off it is the Grand Hotel Europe, a luxury hotel that has outlasted the cultures of both Tsars and commissars. Within its guest registers, dating from 1875, are scrawled the signatures of Dostoevsky, Gorky, Stravinsky, Pavlova and George Bernard Shaw. The menus of course still flaunt caviar.
The facilities
St Petersburg - think Pushkin, Peter the Great, Tchaikovsky, Crime and Punishment, the Winter Palace - is an architectural show-stopper. While cities in the imperialist West were going vertical, over-awing their citizenry with skyscrapers, the equally imperial Mother Russia was doing likewise on the horizontal plane: her great buildings are low-rise monsters - stretch palaces and wall-eyed ministries that go on for blocks, if not forever.
Around the corner from this luxury hotel, you can duck into the vaulted alcoves of the Literaturnoye Cafe on Nevsky Prospekt for coffee and cake; a violinist and pianist play in the next alcove. Other than a cappuccino machine and a few coats of paint, probably not much has changed since January 1837 when the poet Alexander Pushkin - author of Eugene Onegin - took his last meal here before setting out for a pistol duel. Pushkin lost and so did Russian literature.
The rooms
History ambushes you here, even in the city's serial names: Petrograd, Stalingrad, Leningrad, St Petersburg. The Grand Hotel Europe was the first five-star luxury hotel in Russia. Its roots date back to the 1820s, and for more than 150 years it has stood at the centre of the city's social and commercial life. Completely renovated in 1991, the hotel is more than a throwback to the days of caviar and samovars. The guest rooms are contemporary and comfortable, although not necessarily world-class five-star in their appointments. The baroque façade, as well as its lovely, original art nouveau interiors have been well preserved. And, mercifully, there's no Tsarbucks Coffee franchise plonked in the foyer.