The rooms were clean and comfortable and the breakfast was very nice caviar and smoked salmon. It is a little concerned going into the area at night when I arrived but once in side every thing was normal. If you have the gumption use the local bus system. Travel like the locals they only cost 12 py about $0.50 and will take you down town. The front desk was very help full in giving us the numbers. Day time you will have no problem there is a post office a block away and may Bistros and shops along the main street. This is a good place if you want to get a sense of the real Russia. If you are less adventurous stay at one of the Hotels near Nevski Prospect.

St. Petersburg is a sprawling city that is easy to get lost in. We were more than a little concerned when our taxi from the airport took us to what seemed like a remote and very rundown section of the city. When our taxi stopped at the gated compound of the Matisov Domik, we were quite relieved. The Domik is a wonderful hotel that has great rooms and a very nice staff. The floorplan is a little weird and takes some getting used to, but we were very pleased with our stay. The only word of caution is that I wouldn't venture out of the hotel compound at night because the surrounding neighborhood is very industrial and rundown. You'd be plenty safe walking around in the daytime, but the central part of town would be a long walk. We did it once, and I think it was 2-3 miles, we decided to use taxis after that. This brings me to my second warning about staying at the Domik, and St. Petersburg in general. Taxi cabs are a rip off and they'll take you to the cleaners, especially at night. Most hotels will call a taxi for you and quote you an "approximate" price, and the Domik was no exception, but what the hotel tells you it will cost and what it actually does can be two very different things. Try to negotiate a price before getting in. Avoid taxis with meters because most of them have been rigged to run at various superfast speeds. Case in point, we took one metered taxi downtown for a price of $5.00. Going back to the hotel (still daytime), we hailed a cab near the same place we were dropped off. Seeing a meter, we assumed we'd be okay and that we'd be paying the same $5.00. Wrong. The meter was spinning so fast that we were freaking out, demanding that the cab let us out 3 blocks from our hotel with the meter showing $15.00. Total ripoff. Also, don't bring traveler's cheques to St. Petersburg. We had to scrounge almost every bank on Nevske Prospect to find a band that would take them (they were Visa). The one we finally found that did take them charged us a huge fee.