Hao Guesthouse, Hongdae, Seoul, South Korea
Hao Guesthouse is in the Hongdae area of Seoul – just a five-minute walk from Exit 7 of the Hongik Metro Station. The Hongdae area is clean, has lively pedestrian streets full of restaurants, shops, market stalls and buskers. The atmosphere in this area is fantastic and an added bonus is that there is a newly opened Information Centre on the pedestrian mall.
Mayakovka House Hotel, Moscow, Russia
Mayakovka House is a lucky find for us in Moscow. It is a very good hotel and we can highly recommend a stay.
Location
The location of the hotel is excellent. It is in a side street off Tverskaya Street (the main street in Moscow) and about a 5-minute walk to the closest metro – Mayakovskaya Metro Station. It is about a 20 minute walk to Red Square or just two stops on the Metro.
The area around the hotel is very interesting – there are a number of theatres, shops and a pretty park – Patriarch’s Ponds Park, a short walk away.
In the same street as the hotel, there are two good restaurants, a pharmacy and a store selling takeaway food, cakes, pastries, drinks, etc. Around the corner on Tverskaya Street there is a very good grocery store called Daily.
St Petersburg Apartment – Air BnB – St Petersburg, Russia
We have booked a spacious, 2-bedroom apartment in St Petersburg through Air BnB. It is one of the best apartments we have had on our trip to Europe.
The apartment is in an excellent location – just a short walk from the main street of Nevsky Prospect (Nevsky Avenue). It is a hip area with lots of restaurants and an excellent supermarket across the road. We are a very short walk to the nearest Metro – Dostoevskaya Station.
Experience Living Apartments, Helsinki, Finland
Experience Living Apartments manage a number of apartments throughout Helsinki. We book a two-bedroom apartment with a sofa bed in the living room. It is a modern apartment in a good location close to public transport.
Our apartment is Apartment 81, 2nd Floor, Eerikinkatu 43D, Helsinki. We collect the key to the apartment from the office of Experience Living Apartments and take a taxi to our accommodation.
We enter the apartment building through a locked metal gate from the street, and then walk through a courtyard to the front door of the building then up a flight of stairs to the 2nd floor (in Australia we would call it the first floor).
Delta Apartments, Tallinn, Estonia
Delta Apartments manage a number of apartments in Tallinn. The apartment that we stay in is Apartment 3, 4 Lai Street – one of the Old Town Family Apartments. It is a well-located, very spacious 2-bedroom apartment, opposite the NUKU Theatre building (puppet theatre) in the Old Town.
Elegant Apartment, Riga, Latvia
Elegant Apartment, Riga is a case of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. While the building is old and a little run down, this large 3-bedroom apartment has been recently renovated and is spacious, clean, fresh and comfortable – and excellent value for money.
We arrive at the apartment by taxi from the train station, and are met by the friendly owners who help us carry our luggage up the stairs. The apartment is on the 3rd floor and unfortunately there is no lift.
Entering the apartment, there is a short hallway, off which there are three large bedrooms, a bathroom, a separate toilet and the kitchen. The apartment has plenty of natural light and Latvian charm.