The first thing you will notice when arriving at the Golden Ring Hotel is the towering neo-gothic edifice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, directly opposite the hotel. One of the "Seven Sisters", the Stalin-era skyscrapers that were key to Moscow's post-war renewal, the 172m Ministry was completed in 1953. Looking west from the upper floors of the Golden Ring, you will be able to see one of the Ministry's "sisters" - the Radisson Royal Hotel (formerly Hotel Ukraina), which is around 600m from the Golden Ring.
The Golden Ring Hotel lies just three minutes’ walk from Ulitsa Arbat, once celebrated as Moscow's bohemian heart due to its tiny literary cafes frequented by the capital's great writers, actors and scientists. Pedestrianized in the early 1980s, the street rapidly became the hippest quarter of Moscow, attracting young Muscovites and tourists alike. Now its restaurants, souvenir stalls and street performers make it one of the most lively and interesting areas of the city. Within short walking distance of the hotel visitors can find museums dedicated to Alexander Pushkin, Russia's most treasured poet, the great Symbolist writer Andrei Bely and the eccentric composer Alexander Scriabin, who spent the last few years of his life living on a small street just off Arbat. Running parallel and just a few minutes walk away from the hotel, are the busy commercial, shopping and entertainment centers of Ulitsa Novy Arbat.
