Now that The Budapest Times office has switched from a decidedly unartistic garret in the wilds of District III to the sumptuous surrounds of the five-star inner-city Corinthia Hotel Budapest, it seemed loyal to stay at the Corinthia’s sister hotel in St. Petersburg on a visit last month.
In our experience, Corinthia Hotel Budapest is one of the three best-looking in the capital. Before setting up office there in July we attended several business functions over the years, and the architectural and decorative splendour always inspired a certain awe. In May there was a dinner in the Grand Ballroom to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its refurbishment and reopening in 2003 after years of decay.
The event was attended by Alfred Pisani, of Malta, the chairman and founder of the Corinthia Group. Apart from Budapest and St. Petersburg, his company now has prestige hotels in Lisbon, London, Tripoli, Prague, Khartoum and Malta.
Our flight from Budapest to St. Petersburg was booked early this year and entailed a transfer in Munich. There is now a direct flight with another airline. Corinthia 
Hotel St. Petersburg is 17 kilometres from Pulkovo Airport and stands right on historic Nevsky Prospekt, the main thoroughfare in the city once named Leningrad, former capital of the country and symbolic capital of the Russian Revolution.
As in the Budapest hotel, the classical 19th-century facade houses a complete restoration job, opening 15 years ago. Entering from bustling Nevsky Prospekt, we find a lobby of considerable size and grandeur, with shiny black stone floor and pillars setting the tone for a pleasant stay to come.
Thoughtfully, a small bar sits opposite Reception, offering a refresher for those who have braved desert, typhoon or airline food to be there. Dead ahead, a stately Y-shaped staircase leads up to myriad conference facilities in this business-oriented establishment.
But the plain old tourist is equally welcome – as coming-and-going groups attest – in our case with the pleasant news that we have been upgraded to an Executive Class room, something akin to being rescued unexpectedly from cramped Economy and deposited into another-world Business Class on an airplane.
Executive Class ensures a spacious and well-appointed bedroom and bathroom fronting a quiet courtyard, thus removing the threat of a Russian motorcyclist roaring down Nevsky Prospekt and disturbing the slumber at 3am.
Rather, we holiday-makers look down on the many trolley buses, tourist coaches, taxis, cars and pedestrians, beginning another busy day, from our buffet breakfast next morning in the first-floor Imperial Restaurant. We are right up over the Nevsky pavement and the selection of food and drink is wide, with red caviar and Russian bubbly to start the day with a bit of fizz.
The Imperial is also the Corinthia’s main restaurant, offering smoked Baltic salmon, the traditional Russian beetroot soup borsch and Chicken Kiev, to remind where we are. From further afield: Chilean Seabass and New Zealand Lamb Chops.
Second eatery Landskrona can be booked for special occasions and, being on the top, eighth, floor, a location it shares with the adjacent fitness centre, looks over the spectacular golden onion domes and spires.
Café Vienna is another option, with not only coffee and tea but, in this hard-drinking country, a full range of the hard stuff plus cold and hot dishes to go with the beautiful delicacies. Chocolate Truffle with Raspberry or Passionfruit Soufflé today?
And quick mentions of the Nevsky Bar and Lounge for cigar-and-whisky types, and the Conference Centre, where up to 1,000 delegates have 17 meeting/banquet rooms and the Grand Ballroom. As Executive Class dwellers, we are ensured all-day access to the Executive Lounge, where edible and liquid refreshment are covered by the room bill.
Now, where are those other Corinthias again? Perhaps in 2014.
Corinthia Hotel St. Petersburg
Nevsky Prospekt 57
191025 St. Petersburg, Russia
Tel. (+7) 812 380-2001
www.corinthia.com