hotels

Let me begin this dialog with Moscow! When traveling to Khabarovsk, you will most likely travel via Moscow. As of this writing, the domestic Aeroflot plane leaves Moscow about 8pm, and arrives in Khabarovsk about 11am the following morning. If you have a several hour lay over between flights, treat yourself to some sleep at the Novotel Hotel, a five-minute walk from the international airport. Taxis are readily available if you prefer to go by car, although not many of the drivers speak English. On our journey we were totally exhausted when we arrived at the international airport, and welcomed the several hour nap we were able to catch before starting our second leg of the trip. The Novotel has a partial day rate, so ask for it! Most of the service staff spoke English, and we were able to walk in and get a room without a reservation. If you have the time to make a reservation, I would recommend doing so.

At one time, adoptive families were permitted to stay with host families in Khabarovsk, but that is no longer true. Most adoption agencies will recommend accomodations. This is a rather comprehensive view of the selections.

Medium sized hotel, with recently updated and enlarged rooms. We stayed here for both trips. We had a mini suite; bedroom, bath (no shower) and sitting room with pull out sofa to sleep 1-2 children. The room had a refrigerator, table with two chairs and a stocked china cabinet. The hotel has a coffee shop open from breakfast through dinner, no English speaking staff when we were there. Room rates were $20 a night, our agency charged us $65 a night for this no frills hotel in 2000. We were within walking distance of everything! The building is centrally heated as is most of the city, meaning no heat until mid October and hot water only a few times a week! Hotel ladies are happy to take your laundry home with them, launder and return it the following day for a fair price.

October 2002: The Amur hotel charged $60 per night for an upgraded, "American style" room. It had two double beds, a small table and chairs, and a refrigerator, as well as a hot pot for boilng water. The bathroom was renovated, and even had a bidet. To have the use of tea cups, spoons and plates, we had to ask the floor ladies, and they wrote down what we took in a book in their office. ( Would we be charged for them if they disapeared? I don't know) There was a water cooler on each floor where you could get drinking water. We were there during renovations, so there was no resaturant open, but there was a small buffet on the 3rd floor with simple things available. the Amur is right next to a market where you can buy most of the food items that you need, and there is an open air market a few blocks down. It is about a 15 minute walk to the World War II Memorial, and a 20 minute walk to the courthouse.

For phone service, you go to the phone room on the 5th floor, and can make long distance phone calls two ways. You can put some money on your tab for your room, and go back to your room and make phone calls. The phone will cut off when your money is finished. It is a little cheaper to make the call from the phone room itself- the lady will start a timer when you begin your call, and when you finish, she clicks off the timer and figures out your bill. They do not have internet service, but you can send and recieve emails from the phone room computer as well. ( Whenever an email came in English,they assumed it was for us, and they were right!)

Your laundry can be done by the ladies who do the hotel's laundry. When you bring your stuff down to them, they will look at your pile and give you a price. Bring money with you, and they will return it to your room even if you are out. The price was very reasonable. They also have cable television with BBC/MTV and oddly enough, the Cartoon Channel.

The thing we liked best about the Amur- each floor has a big lobby area where we would hang out with the kids. When we left, our floor lady handed me an English/Russian dictionary, and pointed out the phrases," Good luck" and "I'll miss you."

We had the foreigner's rooms on the third floor, which was a three room suite. This was a bedroom, dining area with refrigerator and sitting room. There was cable television as well as window air conditioners! There is a small buffet downstairs, which serves baked goods, omelets, pelmeni and other items. There is an "internet cafe" in the building, with internet service. Besides charging for time used, they also charge how much gets downloaded on their computer- don't be surprised. The Baby Home is about a 5 minute drive.

Not many Americans stay here- we were a real curiosity. However- the rooms we had were huge, and we liked it a lot. A three room suite- bedroom, living room and dining area with refrigerator. The floor ladies were very happy to do laundry for us for a very reasonble price. We also could buy tea bags and sugar from them. There is a nice market right next to the hotel. This hotel is also directly across the street from the new Orthodox cathedral, and the Baby Home is about a 10 minute drive. This Voshsod also had cable television, and a hot pot in the dining area.The downside- no internet access, and we never could figure out how to make phone calls, even with our translator's help. We had to drive to The Visit to call home.

Very nice. It was both elegant and comfortable at the same time. It was handy to have internet access available right off the lobby.

Speaking of the lobby, it is a lovely large room rarely used by others. There is a coffee shop in the building. I'm not sure of the hours, but I bought coffee there every morning and had some tasty cherry blintzes there for breakfast one day. They did provide a laundry service. Our room was quite large. It was a suite with a bedroom and a second room of equal size with living room furniture. I believe we had a refrigerator. We had a balcony that overlooked the Amur river. We had a phone in our room with no trouble placing/receiving calls. Walking distance to downtown shopping, located right off the Amur riverwalk.

The walk to the main streets is about 15 minutes if you walk fast, I think there is a bus??? it is really only doable in good weather. Otherwise, you are pretty much trapped in your suite, as there is no large lobby. This is the only major downside. To the best of my recollection the kitchen has a microwave but no stove. Some rooms have a bed, but some have only sofa beds, as mine did (see the picture). They are nonetheless spacious and attractive. The plumbing in the bathroom is fantastic: the shower works great, and the water was not yellow like in the other hotels. The menu in the cafe is limited, but the service is nice and the blini are delicious. The staff was courteous and eager to please..

The rooms are modern and clean, with satellite tv. They have a small refrigerator, and a hotpot for making tea, etc. There is a computer room on the 5th floor, where there is one computer, and you can get internet access there. ( On one visit, when the computer was busy upstairs,they let us use the front desk computer to send a quick email.) There is no elevator, but the doorman will take your bags upstairs. The Amethyst also has a small display case in the lobby with an English map of Khabarovsk for sale, as well as postcards. Even if you are not staying there, you are welcome to eat at the restaurant.

We were told that the Amethyst no longer wants families during the waiting period while the children are with the family, but we went there for dinner a few times, and they loved the kids. We have since talked with a family who stayed there with their child and had no problem.

*This hotel has at least 5 floors and no elevators.

The Amethyst is a very comfortable, well run hotel. It is located on a side street about a 5 minute walk from the courthouse and Lenin Square. There is a children's park across the street,and some shops with a food market and bookstore are nearby.

The front desk staff speaks some English, and the restaurant menu has a page with English translations as well. The restaurant itself is simple, but the meals are reasonably priced. The staff ooohed and aahed over the kids when we ate there.

The larger apartments (1 and 2 bedrooms) do have full kitchens with stove and oven, not just microwave. Our two bedroom apartment had a king-sized bed in one bedroom, a twin in the other and a pull-out couch in the living room. We didn't find the walk to town to be that bad before we had the baby, even in the cold weather. But I never did walk it once I had Nicole (10 months old) with me. We stayed in the Amethyst our first trip and I would recommend it before you have your child with you. But I felt that having a place with all the conveniences of home (plus some, like daily maid service) for the 10 day wait was invaluable.