Hotel Giuseppe is probably The hotel to be in during your stay in Kazan, that is unless you enjoy big concrete blocks (which you will almost inevitably experience if your plan is to continue East). The place has a boutique feel to it and is well run. The rooms are spacious, clean and comfortable. The southern European design gives the place a cool touch, which is good in the summer, but not too sure if suitable in the winter (to be tested). Breakfast is a feast and the hotel let us stay an extra half day for free, since our train was in the evening. It is also next door to the tourist information office (the only one we found during our trip through Russia) and the beautiful Kremlin. The downstairs pizza place could do with a bit of re-designing, though the pizzas are good and cheap. Our guide during a tour told us that this was the first pizza place in Kazan, and it used to be a huge hit with the locals, but it has now been thoroughly copied throughout town. Finally we had enquired about room availability by sending an email and the hotel spontaneously offered us a discount. You didn’t hear it from us, but it might be worth asking, the hotel wasn’t really full during early September…
