AGNI Hotel

A group of 8 friends decided to do the Helsinki-St Petersburg cruise to visit Russia visa-free. This hotel was one of the options that was on the affordable end of things. What you should know: LOCATION-This is well-located on Nevsky Prospekt. A quick walk to a metro station gives you access to all of St Petersburg. There are plenty of restaurants, shops, and even a grocery store within short walking distances. We did the 3 hour tour off of the cruise which dropped us off at the Hermitage. We walked from there to the hotel and that took us about 45 minutes with all of our suitcases/backpacks. Recommended? Probably not, but it was a nice day for it. CHECK-IN: Quick, friendly, and they spoke English well. They offered a note to purchase in case we were stopped by the police for being in Russia on the visa-free tour. We all bought it and picked it up in the morning. Did we need it? Nope. But better safe than sorry. It was cheap enough where it didn't matter (about $5 US if that). Reception is one floor up from street level. The elevator is European sized. THE ROOM: Beautiful tall ceilings were the first thing we noticed then the extra tall windows. The room was pleasantly sized with a desk and bathtub. Views of the side street for us and windows opened for fresh air (and closed which shut out most of the street noise). The room got dark enough to sleep, the bed was good, the pillows were skimped on unfortunately, but the water pressure was good. INCLUDED BREAKFAST BUFFET: Enough options to keep it interesting. Everything was fresh. CONCLUSION: Value for money. It's not a high end hotel, but what it does, it does well. We would all stay in this hotel again.