If you have ever wanted to stay in a museum, here's your chance. The official State Hermitage Hotel, which opened in mid-2013, has Imperial-style rooms modeled after those at the Heritage itself. It's in a restored 19th-century building; the plush and elegant rooms have furniture handcrafted by Italian masters, and the marble used in the bathrooms is from Greece and Italy. The hotel is a little out of the way, at about a half hour walk to any central site, but the metro is nearby, and a free shuttle travels between the hotel and Hermitage during the day (it's about 10 minutes away by car). At this writing a spa and gym are on target to open by 2015.