Nearest metro: Admiralteyskaya
Situated directly opposite St. Isaac's Cathedral, one of St. Petersburg's most stunning buildings, the Astoria Hotel is right in the heart of the historic centre, with almost all of the city's major attractions, including the Hermitage and Nevsky Prospekt, just a short walk away.The Astoria Hotel is roughly ten minutes' walk from Nevsky Prospekt and Gostiniy Dvor' Metro Stations. Moskovskiy Railway Station, which serves almost all trains to the Russian capital, is just less than 2km away, and can be reached in 15 minutes by car. All other mainline stations are similarly close to the Astoria, except Ladozhskiy Station, which serves trains to Helsinki and Petrozavodsk, and is in the city's eastern outskirts. By car, it will take around 30 minutes to reach.
Depending on traffic, Pulkovo Airport can be reached by car in 30-50 minutes.
Local Sightseeing
St. Isaac's Cathedral, located right opposite the Astoria Hotel, is St. Petersburg's largest church. Built between 1818 and 1858, it was the life's work of French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand, who died the year the cathedral was completed. Featuring a mind-boggling quantity of marble and malachite, the cathedral's lavish interiors are particularly famous for their vast mosaics. Also unmissable is the superb view from the colonnade, 300 steps up around the massive golden dome of the cathedral.The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg's most popular visitor attraction, is housed mostly in the Winter Palace, about 10 minutes' walk from the Astoria Hotel. The museum has a collection of over 3 million works of art and artifacts, including works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and unique collections by Rembrandt, Rubens, the French Impressionists (Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Monet, Pissarro), plus Van Gogh, Matisse, Gaugin and sculptures by Rodin.
The Mariinsky Theater is one of the most famous and respected opera and ballet theaters in the world, known more often abroad as the Kirov, its Soviet name. Since its resurrection in the 1990s under artistic director Valeriy Gergiev, it continues to provide world class productions of Russian and European masterpieces. Currently expanding to include a new concert hall and second stage, the Mariinsky is also one of St. Petersburg's most beautiful buildings. From the Astoria Hotel, the Mariinsky is about 20 minutes on foot, or five minutes' car ride.
