The star system in LED for hotels is very generous. Deduct 1 or 2 from the rating.

There are only 4 upscale hotels in LED. Kempinski, centeral location, very expensive, the Shearton, which I stayed 10 days. A typical Shearton, good location, very expensive for what it is (over $250). The third is Astor & the 4th is the brand new Radison, next to the Shearton.

In the 4* hotels, a friend stayed at the Moscow, and we visited her a couple of times. This would be a 2 1/2* hotel in Paris, Venice, London, or DC. It was clean, somewhat convienent, and had English. (very important if you do not speak Russian). The rates were about $100. The hotel was close enough to the central area.

Some LED hotels are a long way away from central city.

We had great success hiring a cab for portion of the day. do not use the one in front of your hotel, but walk up to the street corner, and use the guy parking there with the little CAB sign on top of his 20 year old car. Ask rate to a place, or for a period of time.

This is a good site to look at all the hotels. I do not know where to find cheap rates.

http://www.hotels.spb.ru/