Kharkiv Hotels

Mirax Boutique Hotel: Small and friendly

We chose this hotel on the suggestion of a friend as it was in a great location for the main purpose of our visit to Kharkiv – a match at the Metalist Stadium, which is a walkable 1.8 kilometres (or one Metro stop) away. Like many of the city’s hotels, this one is very new, having been opened for the Euro 2012 football tournament (one of the group stages was hosted here).

The Mirax describes itself as a boutique hotel and unlike many that do so, really lives up to the claim. It has just ten rooms and has an eclectic glitzy movie-themed décor that I imagine is pretty unique in Kharkiv. Take a look at our Marilyn Monroe room (photos two, three and four) to see what I mean.

We had a friendly welcome from Elena and were shown personally to our rooms, which I thought was a nice touch. Our friend Pete had room 7, just by reception (see my travelogue for a photo of this room) and we had number 4, the Marilyn room. Both rooms were a good size. We had lots of space for our things and the wardrobe would accommodate far more than we had brought. The bathroom too was a good size and looked really glamorous (photo four) but I was to find that the roll-top bath was not ideal for showering – the water went everywhere! The room had a flat screen TV (never turned this on), facilities for making tea and coffee, a mini bar with soft drinks, beer and snacks at reasonable prices, free bottled water, bath-robes and slippers, and in the bathroom was a hair-dryer and the usual range of toiletries. The large bed was firm but comfortable (but then I like a firm bed) but it was a shame that the duvet was smaller than the bed – a tiny detail but attention to these would lift the hotel from “great” to “really special”.

The hotel has free and efficient wifi access. Breakfast is served in a sunny room on the fifth floor (there’s a lift but on one morning that wasn’t working so we had to walk up). There’s a terrace there which I imagine is used in warmer weather. The breakfasts are cooked to order and you have a choice of several items and extras from the menu – I had the pancakes with cream cheese and raisins on two mornings and the omelette with ham, peppers etc on another. Chris and Pete also tried the “scrambled eggs with bacon” which were good, though more like fried eggs than scrambled!

One plus here is the friendliness of the staff. When we returned to the hotel after the match, which we had won, we had wanted to celebrate with a few beers in the nearby bar, but this had closed early (perhaps because of the match). So we bought a few cans and crisps etc in the Spar supermarket next door to the hotel and asked the receptionist’ s permission to have these in the small reception area. This she was happy to allow, even though we had two other friends with us who were staying elsewhere.

I started my review by saying that we chose the hotel for its location. This suited us, but might not suit everyone. The hotel is two Metro stops from the centre of town so if you want lots of bars and restaurants on your doorstep it may not be ideal for you. But with the Metro so cheap and efficient it wasn’t a problem for us, and I would certainly consider staying here again.

Next tip: more about the Mirax Hotel’s location on Moskovskiy Avenue

• Opinion of Price: about average
• Address: 86-A, Moskovskiy Ave, Kharkiv, Ukraine, 61001
• Phone: +380(57)-763-61-07
• Website: http://mirax-hotel.com.ua
• Written March 5, 2013

Reception

4 more images

---

Was this review helpful?