Belmond Grand Hotel Europe
This stately hotel is one of St Petersburg’s oldest and finest, dating back to 1875. In addition to the opulent interiors and a slew of historically themed suites, there’s a caviar bar, a health club, an exquisite spa and L’Europe, one of the city’s most famed gourmet restaurants.
Location
10 / 10
The hotel backs onto Arts Square, just off Nevsky Prospekt, a busy avenue packed with restaurants, cafés, shops, bars and impressive palaces. The Hermitage, Russian Museum and the Church of the Savior on Blood are all within five minutes’ stroll away.
Style and Character
9 / 10
Italian architect Carlo Rossi was responsible for designing the grand exterior of what was then the Grand Hotel d’Europe. In its heyday, the classical hotel welcomed both royalty and cultural luminaries: The Romanovs, Tchaikovsky and Debussy have all stayed here. In 1908, its interior was given an Art Nouveau overhaul by Russian architect Fyodor Lidval and, subsequently, French designer Leon Benois, who installed the building’s showpiece stained-glass windows.
The hotel is a heritage monument: its restored stucco, original balconies, sculptures and main doors seamlessly blend with modern luxuries, such as marble-floored corridors, oil paintings by local artists, upscale boutiques and the indulgent caviar bar.
Service and Facilities
9 / 10
The marble-clad lobby is constantly awash with uniformed doormen and concierge staff busying themselves with guests’ requests. Service is crisply formal but smoothly efficient. A 24-hour room service, transfers, visa support and private theatre box bookings are available.
As well as a range of beauty treatments to avail oneself of, there’s a gym and plunge pool, two restaurants, a dapper bar, a mezzanine café, several elegant lounge areas and a caviar bar.
- Parking
- Restaurant
- Room service
- Bar
- Laundry
- Pool
- Sauna
- Spa
- Wi-Fi
- Fitness centre
Rooms
8 / 10
The hotel offers no fewer than 14 different room categories, ranging from Standard Deluxe up to extravagant suites with individual themes. The lower category rooms are comfortable, with a mix of antique furnishings, original Russian artworks and neutral décor; amenities include coffee machines and plush marble bathrooms with showers and tubs; the beds do sag a bit, but they’re still sumptuous.
The 10 Historic suites, designed by Michel Jouannet, are inspired by 19th-century artists and architects such as Dostoevsky, Stravinsky and Rossi. The five Avant-Garde suites, designed in collaboration with the Russian Museum across the square, celebrate the lives and works of Russian avant-garde artists such as Malevich, Archipenko and Kandinsky. Suites are almost double the size of the normal rooms, with original stucco, parquet floors and individual designs featuring portraits, artworks, musical instruments, architectural plans and other interesting touches; the Dostoevsky Suite, for example, is a corner suite in line with the rooms of many characters from the writer’s novels, while the Fabergé Suite is swathed in pink, lilac and gold – a nod to the famous jeweller.
Food and Drink
9 / 10
L’Europe, the hotel’s main restaurant, has been open since 1905. Notable guests include The Queen and Elton John, who gave a spontaneous performance on stage in the 1970s. The beautiful stained-glass window, depicting Apollo on a chariot, lends the restaurant a theatrical aura, complimented by carved wooden balconies on the mezzanine level. The menu is one of the best in town, featuring the only beef Stroganoff in Russia cooked to the original recipe, a meringue pavlova blessed by the ballerina herself and a signature Egg in Egg – a dish of truffled scrambled eggs topped with beluga, osetra and salmon caviar served in egg shells.
The stylish and breezy AZIA on the ground floor is more casual alternative, serving reasonably priced pan-Asian cuisine. It also offers a tasting menu, tea-infused cocktails and cooking courses focusing on tandoor, steam and wok techniques. The lobby bar is the most contemporary space in the hotel, with slick red leather stools and chairs and an alabaster marble bar topped with black granite. The Caviar Bar offers 15 types of caviar, 12 Dom Pérignon vintages, 35 kinds of vodka and 15 whiskey varieties; sommeliers are present to guide patrons through it all.
Breakfast, served in L’Europe, is inevitably sumptuous: a feast of cold cuts, warm dishes, fruits, breads and pastries, teas and mueslis, with a dedicated egg chef and live pianist to boot.
Value for Money
8 / 10
Double Superior rooms from RUB 15,000 (£170) in low season; and from RUB 44,250 (£510) in high. Breakfast RUB 2,600 (£30). Free Wi-Fi.
Access for guests with disabilities?
The hotel has one adapted room, and all areas of the hotel are wheelchair-accessible.
Family-Friendly?
Children are greeted with special welcome amenities, including a certificate for cake or ice cream at the Mezzanine Café, a teddy bear, mini robes and slippers. Special children’s menus at the restaurants are available, as well as colouring books and a playroom during brunch. High chairs are available in all restaurants.
Mikhaylovskaya Ulitsa 1/7, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russia.00 7 812 329 6000grandhoteleurope.com
