Lounges

Moscow, Moscow

Moscow's Patriarshiye Ponds (Patriarch's Ponds) lounge scene is the most literarily atmospheric cocktail destination in Russia — a neighborhood where Bulgakov set the opening chapter of The Master and Margarita (when the Devil appeared to Berlioz and Homeless on a spring evening at the ponds) and where the extraordinary concentration of outstanding restaurants and cocktail lounges serves Moscow's most literary and intellectually inclined social class. Patriarch's Ponds' remarkable Bulgakovian heritage and its outstanding contemporary cocktail culture create lounges of considerable Russian literary significance.

Malaya Bronnaya ul. 18, Moscow, 123001

Moscow, Moscow

Moscow's luxury wine bar and lounge scene has developed remarkably since the post-Soviet era — a city where the extraordinary concentration of wealth, the cosmopolitan ambitions of the Russian elite, and the remarkable development of Russian fine dining culture have created wine bars and cocktail lounges of genuine international quality. Moscow's outstanding culinary scene (the city had 2 Michelin-starred restaurants in 2022, the first Michelin guide for Russia) and its remarkable luxury hospitality create lounges of considerable Russian gastronomic significance.

ul. Lva Tolstogo 23/7, Moscow, 119021

Moscow, Moscow

Bosco Café inside GUM on Red Square is the most extraordinarily situated café and lounge in Russia — a coffee bar and cocktail space within the magnificent 1893 glass-roofed GUM department store (Russia's most beautiful shopping arcade) overlooking Red Square, the Kremlin, and St Basil's Cathedral, the most photographed view in Russia. The café's remarkable location within what was the Soviet Union's most important department store and its extraordinary Red Square views create a lounge of singular Russian cultural landmark significance.

Red Square 3, GUM Department Store, Moscow, 109012

Moscow, Moscow

Café Pushkin is Moscow's most beloved and romantically atmospheric cocktail lounge and restaurant — a magnificently designed 1990s venue in a 19th-century-style manor house on Tverskoy Boulevard that has become the most enduring symbol of Moscow's transformation from Soviet austerity to Russian luxury hospitality. The café's extraordinary four-floor design (library, pharmacy, and main dining room, each in meticulous 19th-century Russian aristocratic style) and its outstanding Russian Imperial cuisine create a lounge of genuine Russian cultural nostalgic significance.

Tverskoy bulv. 26A, Moscow, 125009

Moscow, Moscow

Hotel National Moscow's cocktail lounge sits in one of the world's most historically charged locations — directly opposite the Kremlin walls and Red Square, in an hotel where Lenin briefly lived in 1918 and where every major 20th-century political figure visiting Moscow has stayed. The Hotel National's extraordinary 1903 Art Nouveau building, its remarkable history, and its incomparable view of the Kremlin's ruby-starred towers create a hotel lounge of singular Russian historical heritage significance.

Mokhovaya ul. 15/1, Moscow, 125009

Moscow, Moscow

White Rabbit is Moscow's most internationally acclaimed restaurant and cocktail lounge — a dramatic glass-domed rooftop venue in the Smolenskiy Passage skyscraper that has been consistently ranked in the World's 50 Best Restaurants (reaching #17 in 2022) and offers extraordinary 360-degree panoramic views over Moscow's extraordinary skyline. Chef Vladimir Mukhin's remarkable contemporary Russian cuisine and the venue's extraordinary glass dome setting create a restaurant lounge of singular Russian fine dining and design significance.

ul. Smolenskaya 3, Moscow, 121099

Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg

Hotel Astoria Saint Petersburg is Russia's most historically significant luxury hotel — a magnificent 1912 Style Moderne building on St Isaac's Square where Hitler had already printed the invitation cards for his victory banquet when Leningrad (as the city was known during the 900-day siege) surrendered, but where Soviet resistance meant the dinner was never held. The Astoria's extraordinary 20th-century history and its incomparable location opposite St Isaac's Cathedral (the fourth largest cathedral in the world) create a hotel lounge of singular Russian historical significance.

Bolshaya Morskaya ul. 39, Saint Petersburg, 190000

Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg

Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art is Russia's largest private contemporary art museum — a remarkable Vasilyevsky Island institution housing over 2,800 works of contemporary Russian art in a stunning Stalin-era neoclassical building, with an outstanding rooftop restaurant and cocktail lounge offering extraordinary views over the Gulf of Finland. Erarta's extraordinary role in celebrating contemporary Russian art and its remarkable cocktail lounge create a museum bar experience of considerable Russian contemporary cultural significance.

29-ya liniya V.O. 2, Saint Petersburg, 199106

Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg's luxury hotel lounge scene exists within the most magnificent European imperial city east of Vienna — a UNESCO World Heritage historic center where the extraordinary Winter Palace (housing the Hermitage Museum, the largest art museum in the world), the Russian Museum, the Mariinsky Theatre, and hundreds of baroque and neoclassical palaces create a hotel lounge culture of incomparable Russian cultural heritage. Saint Petersburg's astonishing architectural density of world-class imperial buildings creates hotel lounges unlike any others on earth.

Nevsky pr. 54, Saint Petersburg, 191025

Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg

Terrassa is Saint Petersburg's most celebrated rooftop restaurant and cocktail lounge — a stunning venue with panoramic views over the historic city center, the Kazan Cathedral, and the famous rooftops that inspired Dostoevsky's descriptions of Saint Petersburg in Crime and Punishment. The lounge's extraordinary architectural setting and its remarkable views over the most magnificent baroque and neoclassical cityscape in Russia create a lounge experience of genuine Russian imperial heritage significance.

Kazanskaya ul. 3, Saint Petersburg, 190031