Land Hotel

The room was large, but old and very basic. There’s no lift, and after the woman showed me upstairs, she went off somewhere before coming back with the key. At check-in they checked my online booking and then searched for it in a notebook. I booked for one night because this was one of the more affordable places in the city centre. Music from the ground-floor bar carried into my room one floor above. Breakfast was bread, scrambled eggs, pastry, and coffee or tea. I’m not fussy about where I stay, so it was fine for me, though the room was a bit disappointing for what I paid. Maybe it was peak season or something.

The location is good for the price, and it works if you’re in a pinch or only staying a night or two. I could pay in dollars. The staff didn’t speak English or Russian; some were friendly, while others weren’t. The Wi-Fi was my main problem. In some rooms, including mine, it barely worked. There’s no room service or cleaning, and some rooms are a little run-down.

The rooms I looked at were good, but the lobby didn’t have enough light. The corridors are laid out strangely and it’s easy to get lost. Some evenings people sing karaoke. The food and service were really bad: the meat smelled good but was very tough to chew. The kitchen isn’t sealed off from the dining area, so the smell of things burning reaches your table. The hotel is more or less affordable.

I liked the daily festive feel downstairs, with music in the dance hall and people dancing. The cafe-bar on the ground floor served delicious food, including a Greek salad made with pickled cucumbers, which is unusual. The hotel is clean and well located, though the wallpaper in my room was peeling a little. That didn’t bother me. The one negative was an extra $20 charge that nobody told me about. I’d never encountered that before.