We had a 2-day stop in Irkutsk on our Trans-Siberian rail trip. We booked a comfort studio and got a river facing room on an upper floor with wall to wall windows giving us a great south facing view of sunrise and sunset over the river. The staff were helpful, spoke English well enough, and we loved the young restaurant waitresses who, while lacking experience, definitely made up for it in their willingness to please and practice some English. The breakfast buffet was good, and while the main dining room was definitely lacking in ambiance, there is another restaurant/bistro there that seems to have a similar menu but is a bit more "cosy". $5 cab ride to/from the train station across the river. We were very happy with our choice of hotel.

We paid 3700rub for a doubleroom. The minuses come because we were located to the nineth floor right next to a room that was under renowation. Rooms are big we got the perfect view for river Angara. The breakfast was plus. We asked for late checkout. TWICE. and still got called to our room 12:00 pm for checkout.. when checking out the late checkout fee was considered for the room price of 6700rub so we paid about 1000 for three hours.. On the checkoutday the renewation was on its full and the banging from the next room was horrible. Otherwice.. ok hotel..maybe.

The room was clean and although tired some attempts had been made to smarten it up. We were here for an over night stay so the main consideration was a good night's sleep after a couple of so-so nights sleep on the trans siberian train. And that we had a good firm matterss and a couple of okay pillows made for a reasonably good sleep. The breakfast fare was spread out widely and okay for the level of the hotel. The staff seemed to be playing catch up in clearing tables at breakfast.