On the Easy Pace Russia (St Petersburg & Moscow) will I have occasion to use a swimsuit either at the hotels or in the banya?

I also recall remarks about bringing towels & washcloths. Is that really necessary?

We will be on the tour in late September so any swimming pools would have to be indoors.

Hi Firebird,
Have just returned from this tour so these are my thoughts about it:
Firstly the hotel in St Petersburgh does not have a swimming pool, whilst the Crowne in Moscow does have an inside pool attached to the health/spa facilities. If you are a swimmer and would like to get up earlier or have a swim later then bring a swimsuit. You may have a stop over on the way home that you need it for. Also if you decide not to take one of the optionals you may have time, but again, there is a lot to see around the amazing cities and that may be more important to you.
However, the tour is full on. There are lots of optionals and the free time in between seemed to be taken up with deciding on souvenirs, food or spending lots of time taking photos or enjoying the different surroundings.
We hardly had time to eat we were so busy looking at things or enjoying the optionals. I am still behind in finishing my diary as well.
As to the towels - you wont need towels. Washclothes are a personal preference. Bring one if you really like to use it and then you wont need to worry. Cant recall what was in each room now but I know we used small towels sometimes as clothes or bath mats were necessary in some Scandinavian hotels so the Russian ones are a slight blur in that regard even though it was so recent!

You will have a wonderful time. We enjoyed it very much and the tour guides in each of the cities were lovely and extremely knowledgeable about their cities and Russian history and culture.
Have a fab time and let me know if you want to ask anything else. Am hoping to post photos and then diary soonish.
Cheers Eve

We have found that there always are hotels in Europe that do not supply wash cloths [even upscale ones.] We take some J-cloths and leave them behind.

quote:

Originally posted by ZGordon:
We have found that there always are hotels in Europe that do not supply wash cloths [even upscale ones.] We take some J-cloths and leave them behind.

In Europe, what you call a "wash cloth" is regarded as a "personal item" which the guest brings with them, like a toothbrush. Hence they are not generally supplied.