Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace St. Petersburg

The Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace St. Petersburg is more than a 5-star hotel — it is the Lobanov-Rostovsky Palace, built in 1817, carefully restored and reopened as a hotel in 2013. The entrance lobby has tall marble columns, vaulted ceilings finished in classic Russian gilt, and crystal chandeliers that catch the light. Guests on TripAdvisor and Booking.com score it steadily in the 9.4 to 9.7 range, singling out the feeling of being looked after at every turn and an atmosphere warmer than they expected for a hotel at this level.

Rooms and decor

Rooms are done in cream and soft gold, with heavy patterned curtains and large, plush beds on top-grade mattresses. Several reviews mention rooms feeling larger than expected for an old-city hotel in Europe. Bathrooms are white marble, with a free-standing soaking tub and selected bath products. Higher-floor suites look out over the golden dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral — a view one guest said made them not want to leave the room. Rooms facing the courtyard are lovely in a different way, looking down on the glass-roofed Tea Lounge that gives this place its character.

Food and amenities

The Tea Lounge in the glass-roofed courtyard is the most praised feature — tall indoor trees, daylight through the glass, the feeling of sitting in a real palace garden on a snowy afternoon. There's also a Japanese restaurant and an Italian one, which reviews call good and high quality, priced as you'd expect at this level. The full spa adds an indoor pool, a gym and a range of massage treatments — very welcome on the days the temperature outside drops below 0°C, which happens often in a St. Petersburg winter.

Location and getting there

The hotel sits on St. Isaac's Square, one of the prettiest parts of the city. It's a 5 to 7 minute walk to the Hermitage and the Winter Palace across the vast Palace Square, with St. Isaac's Cathedral 5 minutes away and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood about 10 minutes on foot. Admiralteyskaya Metro is roughly 400 m away. During the White Nights (May to July), when the sky stays light almost all night and the city is at its most beautiful, the hotel fills up and rates climb — book at least 2 to 3 months ahead.

Things to know before booking

This is the priciest stay in the city by a clear margin, starting around $343 a night and reaching about $1,000 for the top suites, so it makes most sense for a special occasion rather than an ordinary trip. A few guests note that service can occasionally miss the seamless polish you'd expect at this price, and breakfast can run slower than expected. Demand and rates both spike during White Nights, so lock in dates early.

Our take

The Four Seasons Lion Palace is the one to choose for couples marking an anniversary or honeymoon, business travelers who want to make an impression, and anyone visiting St. Petersburg once in a lifetime who wants to actually stay inside a palace. It costs clearly more than the alternatives, but the quality and the feeling of being inside history are hard to find anywhere else in town. If the budget is there, this is the best answer.