On the Chinese border with Russia and Mongolia, in the Inner Mongolian city of Manzhouli, there is a hotel shaped like an enormous nesting doll. It opened in 2025, has 418 rooms, and according to travel writer Young Pioneer Tours, it ranks among the top ten coolest hotels they have ever seen — even in the depths of winter, when the rest of the surrounding complex goes quiet.

The hotel sits inside Babushka Park, a sprawling Russian-themed entertainment zone that leans hard into a Chinese interpretation of Russia. Beyond the doll-shaped Building A, the complex includes Matryoshka Square with its giant nesting-doll sculptures, a castle-themed hotel, a newer 'intelligent' hotel, a Russian circus with acrobatic shows, a Matryoshka Theatre, illuminated fountain displays, a 6D flying cinema and an extreme rides park. There are Russian and Mongolian restaurants and gift shops throughout, though most of it only really comes alive in summer.

The hotel itself is a study in glorious kitsch. Think Soviet-era busts of Lenin and CCCP memorabilia alongside genuine opulence: designer outlets, an overpriced gift shop, a vast glass-roofed atrium, Chinese and Russian restaurants, a lobby bar, an executive lounge, service robots, a kids' club, wedding facilities, conference rooms and transfers to both the airport and railway station. As the reviewer put it, it's more NEP than New Soviet Man.

Room rates on a winter visit ran from ¥590 to ¥3,010 (about US$88–449) per night, with prices climbing sharply in peak season when the whole complex is operating. The building is hard to miss — Manzhouli is reachable by plane, train or road, and the reviewer arrived on a six-to-seven-hour drive from Qiqihar in Heilongjiang province.

Why should a traveller care? Because it's genuinely odd in the best way. Manzhouli itself has a frontier-town charm that sets it apart from other regional cities, and the Matryoshka Hotel is the kind of place you talk about for years afterwards. It's camp, it's kitch, and it works. Young Pioneer Tours can arrange visits on bespoke China itineraries or as part of a wider Russian trip — fitting, given this is proper borderland territory where three cultures meet.

Full details and bookings via the hotel's own site; the address is No. 23 Huabu Street, Manzhouli, Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia.