Nevsky Aster Hotel in SPg

Nevsky Aster Hotel, SPg

This post is just about our hotel in SPg. We are here on the recommendation of & arrangement by the Finnish Travel agency in Turku. Anne was not real happy with them, but I have no complaints so far. Yesterday (Friday) I called from Helsinki to arrange transportation from the Finljandsky Train Station to the hotel. I spoke with an English speaking clerk who explained they did not have a shuttle (but they do from the airport) but they could arrange a taxi for us. He said the driver would have a sign with our names & we should just look for him with the sign, out side of the station. The pre-arranged fare was 1200 Rubles.

Within a very short time after we got off our train I saw a pleasant looking young man, slightly apart from the older taxi driver crowd, holding a handmade sign that said "Varjonen Orkola Mauren." He was our guy!

Even more amazing, he spoke English & obligingly pointed out landmarks like the Admiralty, The Aurora ship, the Neva River that we passed and pointed out Nevsky Prospect just beyond our hotel. The entrance to the Nevsky Aster reminds me of some of the places I stayed at in Italy 20 years ago. It is within a courtyard, off the street, accessed by a very narrow driveway.

Our driver squeezed in and parked with no problem. Perhaps I tipped him too soon, because he carried my suitcase all the way into the lobby & got me a receipt from the front desk.  The best part:  even with my tip, it was 200 rubles LESS than the pre-arranged fare.

Ludmilla, the English speaking desk clerk who checked us in, was very young and as we found out from the other helpers there, did not really have the "concierge" thing down.  Nevertheless,  our room was small but clean, the beds & linens good, the bathroom sparkling with lots of water pressure and hot when we wanted it.  It was also quiet except for some next door giggling one morning...

The breakfast (included) was very Finnish-like:  a buffet of oatmeal, good breads, cheeses, old cuts, sliced tomatoes & cucumbers, juices, yogurts, strong coffee. Many of the guests were Finnish (no surprise there) but there were also some French-speaking tourists.  No other English speakers that I heard.

There was lots of security.  We had to ring the door buzzer  to get in the front door.  See picture above.  Perhaps as a hold-over from the Soviet era, there were separate magnetic "keys" for each floor and we were given only one of those.  The room "keys" were the magnetic strip kind that looks like a credit card, but were made of heavy paper.  It was a quiet place with no shady looking characters in sight.

Best of all, it was a GREAT location for walking to many major SPg attractions.  In the middle of its block at Bolshaya Konushennaya 25, 101186, The Nevsky Aster is only 1/2 a block from the major street in SPg, Nevsky Prospekt, and only 5 minutes walk from the Church of the Savior on the Blood and The Kazan Cathedral and maybe 10 minutes walk from The Hermitage and The Winter Palace Square.   On the basis of location alone, I would recommend it.

Near hotel on 1st Day in SPg