1 U Verby Apartment

We booked a room at this hotel using Booking.com largely because it had decent reviews on that site and was significantly cheaper than most hotels in Kostroma, a Golden Ring city with a very nice city center, that is heavily visited by Russians and foreigners alike. The picture on TripAdvisor showed a dimly lit sign in front of what looked like a typical Russian apartment's front door. We didn't know what to expect. When we finally made our trip, we pulled into the parking lot and really weren't sure if we'd made it to the right place or not. The building was old, slightly dilapidated looking, and one part of it was an auto parts store. Some grouchy guy barked at us from inside his fenced off parking lot that we couldn't park where we did. We rang the doorbell to the hotel anyway, not expecting much. It actually looked pretty nice inside. It wasn't anything special, but it was clean and orderly. A receptionist greeted me, and I told her about our reservation. She called her manager because it seemed she wasn't entirely sure what to do with a family of six Americans, but everything ended up being fine. The typical passport registration process took quite a while (so much so, in fact, that we went to dinner while the receptionist messed with it all — experience tells me that this is not that unusual in Russia), but was otherwise smooth. After getting all checked in and paying, the manager himself showed up to show us to our room. I thought this was a little odd, but he explained that they decided to put us in one of their larger rooms, which was in a building across the street. We followed him in our car across the street and through the typical maze of alleys between Russian apartment buildings. He gave us the code to the door, showed us to our rooms, introduced us to the woman (receptionist, basically) looking over the rooms in that building, and even helped us in with our bags. He and the receptionist were very personable and enjoyed talking to us and, like many Russians outside the big cities, were happy to see kids. The room was a one-room apartment with a full kitchen and bathroom and a small entryway. It was actually really nice. We commented over and over that our first impressions pulling into the parking lot by the main part of the hotel were very far removed from the reality of the room we got. There was a small refrigerator, a few dishes (setting for four, basically), a kitchen table, a queen-size bed, a fold-out couch, and a desk with a TV on it. Everything was in working order and was clean. The bed and couch worked well for us. This hotel worked really well for us since we were driving. If one was coming on train or some other way, it might be a little more inconvenient and you'd have to use local transport or taxis since it's not downtown. There was a shopping center about 100 meters away that included a grocery store and an a la carte restaurant. We were satisfied with both. The hotel staff encourage visitors to use the fenced-in parking lot that we encountered when we pulled in upon arrival. (The attendant the next morning was much nicer and I enjoyed talking with him for a few minutes.) It cost something like 50 rubles to park there for the night, so I'd recommend it, especially since it's fenced and gaurded. To sum it up, don't judge a book by its cover. We'd definitely stay at Hotel Verba again and would recommend it to others, especially if you've got a family or a group that needs or would like an apartment-style room. Kostroma the city is well worth the visit, too.