Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace St. Petersburg
A palace-set indoor pool steps from St. Isaac's Cathedral
About this hotel
The indoor pool sits inside the spa wing of a converted 19th-century palace, the kind of setting where the architecture does as much work as the water. St. Isaac's Cathedral is four minutes on foot, close enough for a morning visit before the pool opens up for a quieter mid-morning swim. Three restaurants cover breakfast through late dinner without leaving the building, and the fitness center and business center round out a property built for travellers who want a full-service stay rather than a simple room and a pool. Evenings tend to center on the restaurants and bar rather than the pool, which reads more like a wellness amenity than a social hub here.
- Indoor pool
- Palace building
- Full spa
- Near St. Isaac's Cathedral
Our take
This suits travellers who want a five-star, full-service stay with the pool as one part of a larger palace-hotel experience rather than the headline feature. Couples marking an occasion or travellers who want everything, from breakfast to a business center, inside one building will get the most from it. Anyone on a tighter budget should look elsewhere, since the nightly rate here runs well above the other pool hotels on this list.
- ✓Book a spa treatment alongside pool time if you're staying more than one night, the wellness floor rewards a slower schedule.
- ✓Walk to St. Isaac's Cathedral first thing in the morning, it's four minutes away and quietest before the tour groups arrive.
- ✓Reserve a dinner table early at one of the three restaurants, they fill up with outside guests as well as hotel guests.
Why we love it
- Indoor pool inside a converted 19th-century palace
- Four minutes' walk to St. Isaac's Cathedral
- Three restaurants covering breakfast through dinner
- Full spa alongside the pool
Why guests love itA stay at Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace built around the indoor pool tends to feel more like a spa retreat than a typical hotel swim, helped by the palace architecture and the quiet mid-morning hours before the wellness floor fills up. St. Isaac's Cathedral being four minutes away makes it easy to fit sightseeing between pool and spa time without much planning. The three restaurants remove any need to leave the building for dinner, which suits travellers who want the whole stay, pool included, to feel considered.