Like most Soviet buildings, it’s hotels were built mostly out of concrete, and were designed to be, well, big and square. To be honest, it’s not a particularly attractive look for a hotel.

Today, these hotels still exist – there are two perfect examples of ex-Soviet hotels in Irkutsk for starters – but they’ve done a great deal to shake of their history. There is nothing much that they can do about the exterior of the building – there really is no disguising an eight story square box of concrete with windows – but most hotels have been totally gutted and re-furnished inside. What this means for the traveller is that, once they go through the front door, they’ll be hard pressed to tell the difference between their hotel and any other good quality hotel in the world.

If you really can’t stand the ex-Soveit look, though, there are several other options. In Irkutsk, for example, you don’t have to stay at the Angara Hotel Irkutsk. You could stay at a luxury four star hotel like the Europe Hotel or the Gloria Hotel instead. These are complete new build hotels, the kind that you could pick up and drop in any American city and not notice anything odd.

At the other end of the scale, you could also try staying in a local hostel. These are usually pretty anarchic, which is about as far from the true Soviet experience as you are ever going to get.

Personally, though, I still have a soft spot in my heart for the old Soviet hotels. When staying in one I can really feel that I’m living in a bit of history, rather than a brand new identikit hotel.