The Best Hotels in Belarus

Dark wood veneer, back-in-the-USSR wallpaper, leather chairs and faux-marble bathrooms give the Crown Plaza an old-school atmosphere. Suites add crimson carpets, gilt-edged mirrors and jacuzzi-style baths. The stucco ceiling, chandeliers or backlit stained-glass panels in the choice of restaurants have a Stalin-era, Moscow-metro vibe, while the pervasive smell of smoke, pool and gym, chrome-and-neon nightclub and on-site casino feel more like the crazy ’90s. It’s within proximity of the central station and Karl Marx Street, a fun mix of craft-beer pubs, trendy coffee shops and the Belarusian National History and Culture Museum.

Right in the heart of the city, Minsk’s biggest five-star hotel offers classic decor and a long list of facilities, including a sunny gym and 25m pool. The Stolitsa restaurant’s comprehensive menu celebrates Belarusian national cuisine, including porcini mushrooms, sour cream and draniki (potato pancakes), alongside more exotic offerings such as baked pike-perch with mozzarella and olives. Standard bedrooms feature button-backed headboards, wood surrounds and neutral tones, while a variety of opulent suites offer extra sitting rooms, kitchens or four-poster beds.

The Smart Boutique is a five-minute walk from the red-brick Marc Chagall Art Center in a leafy garden near the wide Daugava River – the artist was born in 1887 near Vitebsk, approximately 300km (186mi) northeast of Minsk. Eight comfortable, minimalist rooms in a late-19th-century building have varied layouts, with half of them tucked under the slope-ceilinged attic. Grilled fish, Greek salads and other Mediterranean dishes are on offer in the restaurant, and there are several bars and eateries a short stroll away along the cobbled streets of the old town.

Along the shores of the Minsk Sea, also known as the vast pine-fringed Zaslawskaye Reservoir northwest of the Belarusian capital, the Robinson Club sprawls between a boat-fringed jetty and the long, airy corridors of its hotel. You can pick from monochrome, contemporary rooms or individual cottages, including some with hot tubs. The club’s Aquazone features a 25m indoor pool, a big, sun-lounger-flanked outdoor pool and a jacuzzi. The lawns are dotted with gazebos, and the restaurant’s summer terrace faces out across the lake. The Italian-inspired menu also includes local favourites, such as salmon with draniki and honey cake.

From the glass-domed atrium, full of elegant murals, trailing plants and leather sofas, to the polished desks and brocade bedspreads in the bedrooms, the central Hotel Europe is a classic luxury hotel. The original 1880s building gained three extra art nouveau-style floors in the early 20th century, making it the tallest building in Minsk at the time, with the city’s first elevator; famous guests included painter Marc Chagall and radical Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. It stands opposite an urban park and the neoclassical town hall, a few steps from the city’s hands-on Cat Museum. Live guitar music serenades the guests at breakfast, and there’s a choice of bars.

Just outside the city of Grodno in western Belarus, with its castle and baroque cathedral, the spotless Kronon Park Hotel is a renovated mansion with wrought-iron balconies hidden deep in the woods near the sandy-shored Neman River. Even the miniature swimming pool has views of the forest. The bedrooms, overlooking the trees or courtyard, are individually decorated in ruched swags of rich floral cloth with 18th-century French motifs and cheerful colours. The candlelit restaurant is similarly opulent, with soft piano music, glinting chandeliers and tasselled velvet curtains. Alternatively, sit between flowering roses round the courtyard fountain in summer.

Deep in the forests about a kilometre east of the Polish border, the pine-walled Chalet Greenwood has a sandy beach on the nearby Belea Lake with canoe hire, volleyball and a couple of resident swans. Bedrooms in warm, natural colours, with botanical prints on the wooden walls, echo the trees outside. A romantic restaurant juggles flavours from Italy and Belarus in an open kitchen with a roaring log fire.