While observing a small sampling of St. Petersburg architecture, you will quickly notice two types of buildings--cultural sites that are lofty, ornately designed architectural masterpieces versus the more widely seen massive, low-lying concrete box design. The city's modern builders were apparently inspired by the animal kingdom maxim that "size does matter." They completely focused their attention on making things large without adding even a hint of artistic touch to the buildings.
The Pulkovskaya Hotel is a modern collection of three of these gigantic structures. It is located eight kilometers from downtown St. Petersburg, and it is self-described as having international luxury-class accommodations. Sorry, but I must disagree. I'm certain that I was staying in the most basic of rooms, but I think U.S. prisons offer more space with larger, softer beds.
The hotel has 840 rooms with 17 luxury rooms and 80 first-class single rooms. Again, I would have loved to have seen the amenities that met the luxury and first-class standard. The hotel claims that every room has high-class furnishing (disagree), four-channel radio (didn't use), television (ancient model), refrigerator (small but nice), and highly efficient air-conditioning (hardly!).
While the rooms aren't spectacular, a wide range of amenities does exist within the hotel, including restaurants, a lobby bar, a beauty salon, a newsstand, gift and convenience shops, currency exchange and ATMs, and clothing/shoe repair services. While I never enjoyed a meal there, the Paulaner Brewery was recommended by many people within my tour group and got quite lively with Polka music and dancing in the early evening hours. The hotel lobby is also great for people watching with great seating and a lively late-night bar near the Odyssey Restaurant.
The Pulkovskaya Hotel is so incredibly large that I didn't even realize it also housed a 500-seat concert hall and "A Foreign Affair," an American-based marriage agency. Prior to my trip, I jokingly told my parents that I was going to find a mail-order bride during our stay. It never even occured to me that I could have so conveniently gone through with it.
I wasn't impressed with this hotel in the slightest, and I assure you that it is the furthest thing from luxury accommodations. However, I don't really have a problem with sleeping in lower-quality surroundings. My biggest problem was that the hotel was located so far from the downtown area. The closest Metro was a 10-minute walk, and many taxis refused to drive out to the southern suburbs. For a future stay, I would gladly spend a little extra on a more accessible location.
One positive about the hotel's location is the Victory Monument that sits next to it in the center of ploschad Pobedy. You have to take an underpass beneath the busy street to see it up-close, but it is a truly breathtaking tribute to the hardships endured during the WWII blockade of the city.