Stavnikov
October 2023
5
The bar really captures Yekaterinburg's unique vibe; a cool laid back place but warm and welcoming. Its serves great beer but the best was the vast selection of vodkas! From fruit vodkas to horseradish and even garlic! A very, very, happy evening spent. Many thanks.
M-Hotel
October 2023
5
Couldn't be better placed, right in the very heart of St Petersburg in a lovely quiet courtyard. Young, professional, and very welcoming staff happy to help. Decent sized rooms, nice clientele too who always say good morning so it felt just nice and homely. Loved breakfast here, big choice in the small dining room, especially loved their beautiful cakes! normally I wouldn't have cake for breakfast but well we were on holiday. Was a lovely place to stay.
The Library
October 2023
5
We simply loved this place. In fact, it is our favourite bar in all of Russia. We passed by whilst walking around the beautiful city of Irkutsk but made our back later as it looked so cosy. It's a smart cocktail bar which you might find in any cosmopolitan city like Moscow, London, N.Y. etc. except it has that Russian/Irkutsk twist: excellent service, a friendly welcoming vibe, a cool literary theme and and groovy ersatz fireplace, and best of all a large range of Russian style cocktails and vodkas. We opted for White Russian, [Bloody Mary is popular in Russia but we prefer that for breakfast in Scotland!] and a whisky based cocktail called 'Dead Poets', which is now my new favourite drink [Russia should start producing her own whisky like the Japanese and Taiwanese]. We had an early flight to catch otherwise we'd have stayed and made a night of it! Hope to be back one day. Thanks so much.
Harat’s pub
October 2023
5
O.K. so normally we wouldn't we try an Irish bar in Russia as we are on holiday to escape the West! but we needed the loo and thought oh this place looks nice for a beer. Luckily our great barman pulled us a delicious dark Russian beer [O.K. it was from St Petersburg not Irkutsk but it was great tasting, and much better than heavy Guinness for me]. It's in a great area for nightlife and restaurants. Alas our trip here was just too short.
Govyadina bar
October 2023
4
Great little restaurant in the beautifully renovated and restored district 130. We got a great deal of three courses and wine. My chicken Kiev was perfect as was the Russian honey cake.
The London Pub
October 2023
5
Our guide recommended this place and it was inside our hotel. Usually for us in Scotland/England pubs and their food comes up as just average served in a dark and dingy setting [still we Brits love that!] but in Russia of course it's quite different! This is a smart restaurant in a sophisticated setting [the style and atmosphere is more Mayfair/Knightsbridge than London's East End]. The service was first class and the food five stars. Really enjoyed it.
Angara
October 2023
5
We were here just for one night after finishing our Trans-Siberian rail trip. It's a Soviet designed hotel which we love - this means clean, simple and functional architecture with wide, spacious and light interior. We got a room overlooking the lovely square and the city, the rooms have an internal door making a small lobby or porch which ALL hotels should have, it makes the room so much more cosy and quiet. Sorry we were only here for one night in beautiful Irkutsk. Oh Breakfast starts at 3 am! which means it's perfect for travellers. Friendly check in and security staff and plenty of amenities inside the hotel [at least two restaurants, bar]. Wish we had longer here.
Taltsy Architectural and Ethnographic Museum
October 2023
5
Beautiful and large museum of wooden architecture and houses. It's lovely to wander around, but many of the houses have exhibits inside. Especially loved the school room with the teacher's accommodation and the ostrog fort which was what was originally the style of settlements that first appeared as the Russians migrated east.
Музей Кругобайкальской железной дороги
October 2023
5
We took the local boat for an enjoyable short cruise over Baikal to this charming village and it's little museum. It has information about the arrival of the railway here and in particular the challenges faced on this section of the Trans-Siberian.
Mayak
October 2023
5
Super hotel overlooking Lake Baikal with an outstanding restaurant. Clean, cosy, comfortable. Friendly service. Is a great option for Listviyanka.