Hotel Baltschug Kempinski

Hotel description

Quite probably, this is Moscow′s flashiest hotel-at least, it′s where Elton John stays when he′s in town. Behind the Baltschug′s hundred-year-old facade beats a glossy and very up-to-date heart-huge rooms overlooking the Kremlin, internet access, and a blissfully serene swimming pool. People turn chartreuse with envy when you tell them you are staying here. This is the kind of place where the beds are almost too big, the pillows and duvets almost too white and the service almost too prompt. Shampoo and bubble bath come in matte black containers shaped like skyscrapers, sofas are a deep and lascivious red, and the room′s soundproof windows are cleverly positioned so that you only see Moscow at its best-the gold domes of the Kremlin, the lights of the Moskva River, and the colored cupolas of St Basil′s cathedral. The city′s traffic-packed streets, on the other hand, are exactly where they belong-out of sight and out of mind.

Sunday brunch buffet is probably the best in town, attracting locals and expats alike with its endless selection of hot and cold dishes, deferential chefs in tall white hats, and phenomenal smoked fish. The wild at heart must check out the British-run casino, with its genuinely stunning frescos. The more seriously inclined may choose to retire to the library bar, stocked with vodkas and books in all languages. The health club here has to be worth a trip down the basement-it has bubbling Jacuzzis beside its azure pool, lean Russian and non-Russian beauties relaxing in bathing suits, and the staff positively rushing to bring you another towel.

As you′ve probably guessed, servility and efficiency is de rigeur-what happens when the old Russian aristocratic spirit gets revived by German management. (Kempinski is based in Berlin.) An unflagging concierge will set anything up from dinner at a Russian palace to a ride on a supersonic MiG-29. A request for an aspirin brings room service running to your door with two little pills on an enormous silver tray with a jug of iced water. And best of all, uniformed bell-hops in gold and green wander the lobby with guest names chalked onto signs-just as you might imagine they used to do in the old days.