A decade ago life was tough in Russia, but in today’s Moscow the city and its citizens are in fast-forward. Muscovites work hard and play hard as well. A plethora of shopping malls stacked with luxury brand boutiques pay testament to the wealth of newly disposable income, many of the browsing shoppers looking as refined as the wares. Restaurants are at every turn, regional dishes going head-to-head with international cuisines, and bars are uber-cool, rivalling those of London or New York in design, ambience and bling.
Alongside the boom in business and entertainment comes an increase in traffic. Avoid making road journeys at rush hour (8am to 10am, and 6pm to 9pm). Instead dive down into one of the most historic, beautiful (and efficient) metro systems in the world. The network takes a while to learn how to negotiate, and deciphering the Cyrillic can be fun (or frustrating), but the engravings and statues, chandelier-lit mosaics and archways make the metro a museum in its own right.
Getting to and from the airport by road can take 40 minutes or four hours. Outside rush hour top hotels will pick you up before you’ve cleared immigration, but during peak times it’s better to take the super-efficient Aeroexpress, which zips in and out of town in 40 minutes, delivering you to central Kievskiy, Paveletskiy and Belorusskiy metro stations, depending on the airport.
The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow
You can’t get more central than The Ritz-Carlton opposite Red Square. While old-school elegant, the guestrooms are the most spacious in town, hiding cutting-edge technology including free wifi and futuristic room controls (there’s a technology butler if it all gets too much) behind the dark cherry wood accents and marble-clad bathrooms. From The Ritz-Carlton Club’s terrace Moscow’s most iconic view is spread out before you, Red Square and the Kremlin in all their glory, while inside there’s food and drinks served all day and a 10-person meeting room (complimentary for one hour). Join the city’s glitterati a few floors up on the terrace of the O2 Bar, or take refuge in the ESPA Spa for a Jet Lag Eliminator Massage.
The symbol of Moscow, Red Square is the city’s oldest, flanked by the Kremlin, Lenin’s Tomb, the glorious GUM building with its airy floors of boutiques, and St Basil’s Cathedral, which was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible. Closeby are the newly renovated Bolshoi Theatre, the Pushkin Museum and tree-lined Tverskaya Boulevard. Nearby metro stations include Okhotny Ryad, Teatralnaya, Ploshchad Revolyutsii, Tverskaya and Bibilioteka Imeni Lenina. The hotel is of course happy to pre-order a taxi or limousine.
Rates: Start from 27,000 rubles (US$863, excluding 18 per cent VAT) weekdays, 18,000 rubles (US$575) at weekends. www.ritzcarlton.com/moscow
Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow
A few blocks from Red Square, the Park Hyatt is also very central. The look here is historic on the outside, sleek and modern inside, with Tony Chi-renovated rooms recently available. The open plan lobby includes a café, and an interior glass elevator that shoots up to the top of the building’s atrium, where on the 10th floor the Conservatory Lounge & Bar is the place for pre-dinner dinks overlooking Red Square in one direction and the Bolshoi in the other. Surrounding the atrium are 211 guestrooms and 26 suites, each designed to make working and internet browsing easy, and with bathrooms sporting delicious under-floor heating. The second and third floors house 10 conference rooms.
A stone’s throw from the hotel’s entrance is the TSUM department store with over 1,000 brands behind its beautifully arranged windows. Red Square and its historic buildings are just a short walk away, but the absolute must-see is the renovated Bolshoi, six years and 21 billion rubles (US$669 million) in the making. Ballets and operas are so popular that booking at least three months in advance is almost essential. However, function halls can be hired for events, as Bulgari did last year.
Transport facilities include Lubyanka, Kuznetsky Most, Teatralnaya and Okhotny Ryad metro stations all within five minutes’ walk, as well as Belarusskiy, Kievskiy and Leningradsky railway stations 10 minutes by car, traffic allowing.
Rates: Start at 24,000 rubles (US$767, excluding 18 per cent VAT) weekdays, 16,000 rubles (US$511) weekends. (During the weeklong Oil and Gas Exhibition starting June 25 prices may well be higher.) http://moscow.park.hyatt.com
Lotte Hotel Moscow
This Korean brand on the New Arbat is in the middle of Moscow’s newest financial hub, west of the city centre. Business guests should go for an Atrium Room with private terrace overlooking the winter garden. Those staying on the club floor are automatically whisked through express check-in, and can then head to the club lounge for food stations, drinks, a working room of computers, scanner and printer, two meeting rooms and the summer terrace. The wow factor comes in the shape of Michelin-star chef Pierre Gagnaire’s delightful Les Menus restaurant, with three private rooms and a huge wine cellar, making it an impressive place to entertain. Asia’s renowned Mandara Spa brand provides innovative treatments using London’s Elemis skincare products.
The nearby pedestrian street of Old Arbat has long been a draw for visitors, with rows of stalls selling art, curios and souvenirs between shops, cafés and restaurants. Parallel is the New Arbat, with its own boutiques and restaurants, and nearby Lotte Plaza mall hosts the recommended rooftop Kalina Bar and Balkon’s open kitchens by The Ginza Project. A few minutes away the Moskva River shows a different side of the city from its river cruises. The nearest metro station is Smolenskaya.
Rates: Weekday rates start at 25,000 rubles (US$800, plus 18 per cent VAT) for a superior room including breakfast. www.lottehotel.ru
Hotel Baltschug Kempinski Moscow
On the bank of the Moskva River, opposite the Kremlin and Red Square, the Baltschug Kempinski has a southern view of St Basil’s from the quieter Zamoskvorechye district. The first international five-star in the city, it inhabits a historic building that used to be filled with artists’ studios; a recent renovation has resulted in quietly elegant contemporary rooms and new Design Suites, including the Linley Suite created by Viscount Linley. Conference space has been doubled, with a new ballroom, boardrooms and Library Hall with a Red Square view from the terrace. There’s also a health club and beauty centre, and the renowned Les Clefs d’Or Concierge service.
While just a bridge stroll away from Red Square, and near the State Tretyakov Gallery and Gorky Park, the Kempinski is also very close to the Krasny Oktyabr (Red October) area of bars, restaurants and clubs – previously an industrial area renowned for its chocolate factory. As evening sets in Muscovites arrive in droves to party the night away at Rolling Stones and Gipsy, the two best-known clubs. The Kempinski’s concierge Pavel Nikolaev also recommends bars like Strelka, Zarya and Belka, and restaurants Bon Tempi and Art Academy.
Nearby metro stops include the Novokuznetskaya, Ploshchad Revolutsii, Okhotny Ryad and Teatralnaya. The Aeroexpress train to Domodedovo Airport leaves from Paveletsky railway station, one metro stop away (or 10-30 minutes by car).
Rates: Start at 16,000 rubles (US$512), not including VAT or breakfast. www.kempinski.com/en/moscow
Mamaison All-Suites Spa Hotel Pokrovka
The fun, design-centric Mamaison, set back from the street behind a park, has 84 suites created with an eye to differing colour palates depending on the floor, sleek bathrooms and eye-catching art. There is free wifi throughout. Downstairs the art-deco Numbers Restaurant – designed by Anton Gorlanov – sits under a skylight and during the summer the Champagne Terrace is open all day. Start your evening with the chief sommelier helping you pick a bottle from the specialised champagne menu, and end it browsing the digestif cart and range of cigars.
Drop in to the fascinating KGB Museum, or travel a few metro stops away to the Izmaylovo Market for antiques (and “shamtiques”), art and souvenirs. For a wonderful morning or afternoon, the hotel is just a walk away from Winzavod, an art village of contemporary galleries featuring fine art and photography, sculpture and installations as well as shops, restaurants and cafés.
Metro stations include Kurskaya, Krasnie Vorota, Christie Prudi or Kitay-gorod stations, and railway stations like Kursky, Leningradsky, Kazansky and Yaroslavsky are convenient.
Rates: Start at 7,500 rubles (US$240)excluding VAT and breakfast. www.mamaison.com/moscow-pokrovka.html
Break from the city
Barvikha Hotel & Spa
Eight kilometres outside Moscow is the city’s most prestigious suburb, home to the president as well as Barvikha Hotel & Spa, a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. Travel out from the city in one of the hotel’s Bentleys, and you’ll arrive in style at the Antonio Citterio-designed property, which makes striking use of wood and glass. Its 65 suites are studies in hospitality perfection; some have central open fireplaces, others are spa suites, and all boast terraces, luxury soft furnishings and Bang & Olufsen entertainment systems.
Designed to host events, the hotel can impress guests with spectacular occasions using their 20-person conference rooms or the 100-guest ballroom, alfresco summer terrace (perfect for high-profile weddings) and nearby concert hall. The hotel service is impeccable throughout, restaurants serving up Anatoly Komm’s experimental and contemporary Russian dishes or healthy, organic cuisine inspired by Domenique Chenot, the expert behind the Spa Domenique Chenot. The spa is truly outstanding in its design and facilities, programmes and personnel, offering a pampering massage and perfect manicure à la carte, or a health retreat designed to heal.
On the hotel’s doorstep is the Barvikha Luxury Village, where the world’s most exclusive luxury fashion, jewellery, watch, automobile and motorcycle brands are clustered in low-rise designer malls. The Barvikha Luxury Village Concert Hall is a venue for high-profile events, with global names like Placido Domingo and Naomi Campbell having graced its stage.
Transport via the hotel’s Bentley pick-up service is of course the easiest way to travel to Barvikha, but it is possible to take a helicopter to the nearby MKAD. The only practical alternative is a taxi. Room rates for a Lifestyle Junior Suite start at 23,000 rubles (US$635). www.barvikhahotel.com
Moscow heating up
It has taken a while but the Russian capital is certainly growing in importance as a travel destination, evident by increased connectivity and upgraded air links. At the end of last year, Japan Airlines (JAL) began deploying one of its four new Boeing B787-800 Dreamliner aircraft on the Narita-Moscow route. This summer, British Airways deploys four-class B747s and three-class B767s on the London-Moscow service, replacing the two-class 767s and A320s previously used. It is also the shortest flight on which the airline will offer fully flat beds.
On the hotel front, the city has a growing international presence. Starwood marked its debut in the city by adding to its Luxury Collection Hotel National (www.national.ru), a storied structure built in 1903 right across from the Kremlin by Russian architect Alexander Ivanov. Prior to the rebranding, the hotel was a Le Méridien. Phased restoration is ongoing, with the Alexandrovsky bar and Moskovski restaurant due to be completely refurbished by 2012.
At the end of last year, IHG (www.ichotelsgroup.com) opened its first InterContinental in the city with 203 rooms, on bustling Tverskaya Street. The property features 19 suites, all-day dining restaurant Chekhonte serving traditional Russian cuisine with a contemporary twist, P-Square Bar, six meeting rooms, a 24-hour fitness centre, spa facilities and a business centre. IHG also has five Holiday Inn hotels and a Crowne Plaza Moscow.
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (www.fairmont.com) is in the process of taking over the management of Moscow’s Pekin Hotel, adding the iconic landmark to a portfolio that includes The Plaza in New York, London’s The Savoy and Fairmont Peace Hotel Shanghai. An extensive restoration programme is under way, aiming for completion in 2017 before the property reopens as Fairmont Pekin Moscow. Located at the junction of the Garden Ring and Triumfalnaya Square, the hotel is to feature 236 guestrooms and suites, a selection of restaurants, 950 sqm of meeting and function space as well as a Fairmont-branded spa and fitness facilities. Completed in 1955 to designs by one of the Soviet Union’s most famous architects, Dimity Chechulin, the structure reflects the style of post-war Moscow.
The Hyatt Regency Moscow is also joining Ararat Park Hyatt in 2015 with 297 rooms in a complex that includes the redeveloped Dynamo Moscow football stadium. It will form part of the Arena Park development next to Petrovsky Park, and will feature meeting and ballroom space, four food and beverage outlets, and a fitness centre and spa. Arena Park will also house an ice hockey and basketball arena, retail and entertainment zones, offices and residential space. This hotel is to become the fourth Hyatt property in Russia after the Hyatt Regency Sochi, the Hyatt Regency Vladivostok, Golden Horn, and the Hyatt Vladivostok, Burny.
Hilton Worldwide is to open its second and third hotels in Moscow in the first quarter of 2013. The 270-room Doubletree by Hilton, Moscow Leningradsky-Riverside will be located in the northwest of the city and feature a full-service restaurant and bar, fitness centre with indoor swimming pool, 1,200 sqm of meeting space, a business centre and wifi internet access throughout. There will be a yacht club and marina next to the property, from where it will be possible to reach downtown Moscow by water. DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Moscow-Vnukovo Airport is also expected to open around the same time. These two properties are to join the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya, housed within one of the city’s famous “Seven Sisters” skyscrapers.
