Khostel Tsiolkovskiy na VDNKH

The hostel is in the middle of VDNKh (or VDNH), an amusement park and museum complex. VDNKh is huge and interesting, but it is located far outside Third Ring Road, so the hostel's closest metro station might be Botanicheskiy Sad on the new Moscow Central Circle about 20 minutes away. However, the location is ideal if you wish to spend some time in VDNKh, which I did. Note that as the hostel is in the middle of VDNKh, the nearest supermarkets and ATMs are quite far away. Also, VDNKh is going through a huge amount of renovation, so if you're bothered by noise or dust, this place may not be ideal. I was fine with it. Kitchen is decently-sized, with a stovetop, microwave, and refrigerator. Beds had their own personal outlet and light, and towels are offered for free. Mattresses are a bit thin, but I had no trouble sleeping. I was unaware of any personal lockers. Toilets are a bit claustrophobic, but I never had to wait for one. The hostel is on the older side but is kept decently clean. Interactions with the receptionist were unusual. I'm not sure if I had inadvertently broke enough Russian norms that I was a hassle to deal with, but I'm giving her the benefit of doubt and assuming it was tough love. For example, she kept on telling me during check-in that I needed to take a shower. (Walking for about half an hour from the metro station with all my bags on a hot day will make one sweat.) Also, I learned that a common (but not always-held) standard in Russia is to keep your bags under your bed. It's not an international standard, but I know now to check if that is the norm when I'm at a new place in Russia. Still, it was surprising to be told to keep my hair tied up so that she doesn't have to clean any stray hairs that fell in the kitchen, or be woken up to make sure that I checked out on time.

It seems not many foreigners stay here. When I presented my passport, the receptionist turned to the page with my visa, and complained that this was just the visa, not the passport. So I flipped the passport to the first page. They ask for 350 RUB for registration. I think fees for registration are legal, but this might be on the upper end of legal, if not beyond. However, since the offering on Booking.com didn't mention this fee (including in the fine print), and the reservation stated that the offered price is the final price ("No Surprises!"), they may be violating the Booking.com agreement. I've travelled through Moscow for over a month, and all the other places I've stayed at didn't charge a registration fee. The hostel claims to accept cards, but when I checked in, they took only cash. There's a sign saying that the terminal is temporarily down, but the sign didn't look temporary at all. I would have gladly paid cash if I knew, but I didn't have enough then, and I was told that the closest ATM was about 20 minutes away. There might be a curfew. The receptionist spoke Russian so quickly that she may have mentioned it but I didn't catch it. I came back once after 01:00 and found the front door locked. I rang the doorbell and the receptionist answered angrily and pointed to her watch. I would've felt bad if she was asleep, but she was just hanging out in the kitchen. In the reviews, the owner says the staff has to give his/her phone number to guests to communicate in English, but I never got it, and was afraid to ask as I didn't know if I had angered the receptionist by not speaking Russian. Also, one of the showers actually doesn't have a showerhead; it's basically just a hose. In addition, there's supposedly a transport system in VDNKh, but I've never seen it used.