Moscow Marriott Royal Aurora Hotel

This five star hotel – by far the classiest of the several Moscow Marriotts – is located slap bang in the city centre. As well as easy access to many of the city’s main sights and shops, it offers a comprehensive spa, great dining and drinking options, and sumptuous rooms and public areas.

Location

9 / 10

The hotel’s location on Petrovka Street puts it in walking distance of major sights like the Bolshoi Theatre (four minutes), the Kremlin and Red Square (15 minutes), and shopping centres such as TSUM (three minutes). Tverskeya Street, with its many shops, bars and restaurants, is also just a 15-minute walk away and the Kuznetskiy Most metro station is 10 minutes on foot.

Style and Character

9 / 10

The hotel exterior, with its small towers, arches and tiles on the walls, is classic Russian. The showpiece circular atrium, remodelled in 2018 by Russian company InterComplect, features an eye-grabbing multicoloured ceiling and a mix of striped Lupino armchairs and luxurious sofas. It’s surrounded by polished luxury shops like Ulysse Nardin, Dior, Cartier and Chanel, and public areas such as the (also revamped) bar and lounge area, and Aurora restaurant, one floor up and accessed via a marble staircase.

Service and Facilities

9 / 10

The fitness centre is very well-equipped with Icarian and Precor machines, and there’s a decent-sized swimming pool and saunas, a full-service business centre, concierge desk and 24-hour room service. For business guests there are six meeting rooms, plus the sixth-floor Executive Lounge, which has fruit, snacks and light meals throughout the day and a boardroom.

Service, whether from reception staff or the concierge service, is impeccable throughout, offering car rentals, an in-house shoe polisher, babysitter and laundry services, currency exchange and more.

Bar
Fitness centre
Laundry
Parking
Pool
Restaurant
Room service
Sauna
Spa
Steam room/hammam
Wi-Fi

Rooms

8 / 10

The 232 rooms span several categories from Deluxe and Superior to Executive and Suites. The décor is colourful (purples, greens, reds) but refined, blended with crisp white bed linen, heavy wooden furnishings and a decent amount of space even in the standard rooms. Most rooms have baths as well as showers and the musically themed suites (Tchaikovsky, Glinka, Borodin) are well worth the splurge thanks to their extra size, personalised libraries and music collections, and excellent views – some of which include the Bolshoi Theatre.

Food and Drink

8 / 10

The hotel’s two restaurants and lobby bar are destinations in themselves. The sophisticated Polo Club is one of the best steakhouses in Moscow (and has great seafood too), while the Aurora offers a more casual dining experience with a menu of international and Russian specialities (pelmeni and borsch, Ceasar salad). The latter also hosts the hotel’s extensive Continental breakfast (cold and hot dishes, eggs, caviar and sparkling wine) and a popular Sunday Brunch. The lobby bar, used for coffees, informal drinks and meetings, as well as business meetings, also has a pleasantly green patio terrace and offers dishes like baked shrimps marinated in creamy cognac sauce, salad with smoked duck and cherries, and the signature Aurora Spritz cocktail.

Value for Money

8 / 10

Double rooms from RUB 15,500 (£180) in low season; and from RUB 30,000 (£350) in high. Buffet breakfast – RUB 2400 (£28) per person; Continental breakfast – RUB 1800 (£21). Free Wi-Fi in all guestrooms and public areas; high-speed internet costs RUB 950 (£12) per day.