Fodor's Expert Review Courtyard Marriott St. Petersburg Vasilievsky Ostrov

Airy bedrooms, decked out in subdued gold, beige, and red shades, have highly comfortable beds, and from some it's possible to watch the traffic on the Neva River below through floor-to-ceiling windows. The Pierrot restaurant offers Russian and French cuisine, and there's a wide choice of other eateries nearby, but it's a 20-minute walk along the river embankment to the Hermitage—a delight on a sunny day but an inconvenience for sightseers at other times.