Vm-Tsentral'naya — Hotel in Magadan

I came to this hotel for few days on a business trip, which extended to more than two weeks in August 2011. The hotel was booked by our local counterparts and we found later it was the best on offer in Magadan.||The hotel has two buildings – upper and lower. The lower one is being occupied by offices so most probably you will end up in the upper one.||The hotel building does not look encouraging, looking same as surrounding ones: with some efforts on refreshing the painting and plaster failing at places. The lobby is large with fireplace, reading area and a souvenir shop. The lady in the souvenir shop was very helpful in offering advice on things to do and where to go in Magadan. ||Stayed in a de-luxe room on third floor and with no lift provided had to lug the heavy suitcase all the way up. The room was decent size and clean. The furniture and bathroom fittings looked outdated, but all equipment was operational and hot water available at all times. The room was too warm at times with central heating working and had to open the window for cooling off at times. Contrary to mentioned in one of the reviews the rooms are split into non-smoking and smoking with fines energetically imposed if smoking in non-smoking room. ||The hotel has sauna, bar on second floor and restaurant on fifth. I did not use the sauna. The bar was made like pub with similar ambience and snooker room attached. The bartender spoke good English and quickly remembered what we liked and offered it the way we liked it. ||The breakfast in the restaurant was made of eggs on order or sausage, salad, cheese and meat platter, some sweets, milk and local wild berries juice (called morse). The girls in the restaurant were most helpful heating my milk in the microwave. We had dinner in the restaurant two or three times only when returning late from work, otherwise preferring to go to some other places for better choice. The food was OK, but not spoiled for choice. It took some time to work out how to put the bill on the room with the girls. For better choice I would recommend the Green Crocodile restaurant and bar, both located within walking distance from the hotel. Have in mind in Magadan few places accept payment by credit card therefore stock some cash from teller machines.||There was wireless Internet in the rooms with cards from the reception, but it was pricey and not too fast. A better option is to buy local GSM card with Internet plan and use it around town.||The best thing about this hotel is its staff. They were trying to look after us and help in every way. I would like to thank specially to Larisa and Yana. ||The checkout was a hassle as it turned out preparation of an invoice for the stay has to be advised in advance. So if you need one make sure you order it the day before you checkout.||The development of oil and gas prospects is just starting and in few years probably better hotels will be built, but until than this is the hotel to...

Two nights in Magadan...... the best hotel in Magadan.... I had a stop over here (on my way to where??? Vladivostok....) The best hotel in Magadan is this hotel. This is a relic from the soviet era; it is basic, and to a westerner, it is marginally above a youth hostel standard. In fact, I have stayed in better youth hostels. However, in the far east of Russia, it ain't the west and you should not expect western standards. The room was clean (ish) but smoking is compulsory in Russia and every room, every corridor, every place smelled of smoke. The bathroom was interesting: each item - bath, bog and sink - were different colours (pink, green and white respectively I recall) but we were not there for the aesthetics. The carpet was scabby, the mattress dirty but bed sheets clean. It was adequate, no more and no less. The staff were fantastic and helpful, especially if you took the time to try a few words of Russian. I have rated this average, but this is not to be taken as an average Western hotel. If this was in the USA or the UK, it would be a zero star. We had limited amounts of time to see the sights but the main one is the Mask of Sorrows (Maska Scorba) about a three mile hike out of town. You can't miss it: it is the huge concrete monolith, looking rather like the Easter Island statues. Look up and you will see it in the distance. Or ask a local!! On the way, you will see a brand new office block which is the only smart building in Magadan). On the second floor you will see a cafe advertised. It is utterly weird: fantastic food, decor, coffee, staff... It is like being in Geneva or London. The food in the hotel is good after a fashion, but there are plenty little supermarkets around to stock up on crisps, fruit and other provisions at next to no cost. The bar is nice enough, although if you take a drink up to the room they make sure you provide your room number in case you nick the glass. Fair enough I suppose... They stored our luggage in a secure room, and when i tried to "tip" the lady who unlocked it and went out to get us a taxi, she was clearly insulted at my trying to slip her some cash. Tippers beware... It is not expected as a matter of culture. Not even taxi drivers expect tipping. Must be the only place in the world apart from London where taxi drivers are insulted if you...

I stayed here with a tour group for 2 nights. The hotel is well located on the main street (which is the start of the Road of Bones, making it arguably the longest street in the world). It has a lively bar at night.||||The rooms are fairly typical for a Russian hotel, but my bed was very uncomfortable - it seemed to have a lumpy box-spring section only in the middle part of the mattress.||||Several of our group experienced problems with plumbing. The bathrooms are reasonably clean, and some effort has been invested in replacing tapware, but unfortunately the tapware used is very cheaply made and fails. In our room it was not possible to switch the water flow to the shower because the switch was worn out - this was reported but not fixed during our stay. Others had an inoperative bathroom and as a remedy were offered use of the sauna showers/toilets, provided they fetched and returned the key from reception each time.||||To be fair, we stayed on a weekend - but as the plumbing issues were not isolated, it seems fair to assume they had been brewing for a while.||||There are not many options in Magadan, but if I returned I would be inclined to try an...