Отличная городская пятерка Great City Five

Trip – 04.08. 2017-12.08. 2017, Hilton Sharjah Hotel, 5*, host – Voyage Tour.
FLIGHT. Air carrier UIA, airport "Borispol", Kyiv. Late arrival and late departure. No delays. The airliner has uncomfortable seats, sitting in which for more than four hours before Dubai is very uncomfortable. Also, the placement on the plane is chaotic in terms of seats, relatives are all sitting at different ends of the liner. Many tried to switch places to be near their own. Meals on board according to the menu, prices in euros (for example, soup bags 3 euros, panini sandwich 4 euros), only water is provided free of charge. If you want to order a personal menu, you can do it in advance on the airline's website.
THE HOST. Voyage tour. Accompanying tourists on "excellent". Met at the airport, transfer - for 4 people. We got to the hotel from the airport in 15 minutes. Return transfer filed on time, operational work in everything.

The next morning there was a meeting with the guide, a pleasant woman, Natalya Udalova. Of the proposed excursions, we chose Abu Dhabi ($ 65), since this is not the first time in the Emirates and we have already seen a lot.
HOTEL. Hotel Hilton Sharjah, 5 *, location on Corniche st. , Al Majaz, 3. On the left side of the entrance - the reception. There is a Russian-speaking employee, Irina, but she only works the first shift. So if you have any questions - contact her, she will help. We arrived at the hotel around 3:30 am. They settled in right away. They took a deposit of $ 100, they give it in dirhams, the rate is 3.47 dirhams / 1 dollar. The room was City View. They asked for a higher room, because on the lower floors you can hear the work of the hood from the kitchen of the Mojo restaurant and prayers from the mosque. If you have a late flight, you can ask to extend Check Out free of charge until 15.00.
On the right side of the entrance, by the elevator, there is a concierge desk. You can take an adapter, a map of Sharjah and a city guide from him. It also provides beach passes and towels.
The room (about 27m2) was on the 16th floor.
Everything is standard in it: a bed, a TV (more than 60 channels, no Russian-speaking ones), a mini-bar (for a fee), a safe, a hairdryer, air conditioning, furniture, a kettle, a tea / coffee set, 2 bottles of water 0.5 liters each. The bathroom has a standard set of cosmetics, slippers, bathrobes. There was also free wifi. The password for it is given at the reception, you just need to register on the hotel website at the Hilton club. The Internet is fast, watched movies without problems.
Cleaning quality, every day.
On the 2nd floor of the hotel there is a sauna, a gym and two swimming pools. The floor is open around the clock, entrance after 22.00 according to the room card, the pool - from 7.00 to 19.00. It's nice that the pools are on both sides of the building, when the sun is on one side, the other pool is always in the shade. There is also a small pool for children. Sun loungers, umbrellas are always available, towels are also issued.
NUTRITION. We had BB food. Breakfast is served from 6.30 am to 10.30 am at Mojo Restaurant, 1st floor.

The menu has not changed for all days: rice with vegetables, boiled eggs, beans, pancakes, scrambled eggs with various fillings, pancakes, honey, several types of sausages, cheese, pastries, melon, watermelon, pineapples from fruits, tomatoes, cabbage from vegetables , cucumbers. There were also muesli, dried fruits, several types of juices, yoghurts. At tables, waiters pour coffee/tea or offer orange juice. There were few people in the hotel, so the restaurant was not crowded. At breakfast, you can ask the waiters to place you near the window and you can admire the embankment and the canal. You can also order food to your room around the clock (for a fee), the menu is in the room table near the window.
BEACH. They take you to the beach of the Carlton Hotel for free, transfer three times a day (9.00, 10.00, 11.00), but we did not use it, we took a taxi (13 dirhams). The beach is half empty, the water is clean, there are sunbeds, umbrellas, a changing room, a left-luggage office, a hairdryer, a shower.
TAXI.
There are always free taxis near the entrance to the hotel, the average fare in the city is 12 dirhams. We noticed that taxi drivers of African descent drive disgustingly, create emergency situations, and drive in circles, winding up the meter.
NEAR THE HOTEL. The hotel is located on the waterfront (Cornich Street). If you need to change money, you need to exit the hotel to the right, walk about 400 meters forward through the canal, to the Golden Tulip Hotel. There on the 1st floor there is a changer and a 24-hour supermarket Carifur. On the way to it there is a pharmacy and Domino's Pizza. If you turn left from the entrance of the hotel - you can go to the Al Madina supermarket, Pizza Hut pizzeria and fast food Subway. Also near the hotel is a beautiful promenade, with Flag Island and a beautiful palm park. There is where to walk in the evenings.
MALLS and BAZARS. We went to Mega mall and Sharjah City Center. Prices in boutiques are the same as ours, only Mega mall saw good discounts in a sports store for branded brands Nike, Adidas and in an electronics store for Apple and Sony mobile phones.
There is also a good Smartmart supermarket, where they bought spices, dates, coffee, tea, and mixed nuts as a gift.
I didn’t like Sharjah City Center, this Indian-Pakistani mall with a huge number of people just got tired, they didn’t see anything interesting there.
Sharjah Central Bazaar (or Trains). Expensive, not crowded. Mainly gold, silver, stones, fabrics, clothes. A lot of Chinese consumer goods of the lowest quality. After the Dubai Gold Souk, I was not impressed.

Souvenirs were bought in the Gift Market chain of stores (for example, magnets 2-3 dirhams). There is also a good souvenir shop (magnets, oils) at the Carlton Hotel (Carlton Shop), bargain.
NUTRITION. Mega mall has a good restaurant on the 3rd floor - Friday's. They serve seafood (portions are huge, the price is from 64 to 119 dirhams). We went there for dinner. It also has nice coffee shops Costa, Starbacks, Gloria, where they serve excellent coffee (average bill 40 dirhams for two). We dined at Pizza Hut near the hotel or bought ready-made food at the supermarket.
Also, when we were on the beach at the Carlton hotel, we went to the Kazan restaurant of the Al Seef hotel, as we saw it in many tourist reviews. Tried strawberry milkshakes and honey cake, delicious. The owner of the restaurant, Ismail Shangareev, came out to us and asked if we liked everything. The restaurant is small, nice design and atmosphere.
TOURS. Since we were in the summer season, the museums worked in a reduced mode, due to the heat, the butterfly island, which they wanted to visit, did not work at all. And it was simply impossible to be on the street from 13.00 to 17.00. Therefore, we limited ourselves to a beach holiday and an excursion to Abu Dhabi. Departure from the hotel was at 11.00. End of the tour at 22.00. The guide - Sergey, worked clearly, smoothly. We were in the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, made an overview of the city, with a stop at the gallery of golden carpets and the date market. Next - lunch at the Crow Prince Hotel and the way home. The only negative is the heat, during the tour of the mosque it was +51.
I would also like to note that our guide Natalia took care of us, presented dresses (abayas) and scarves (sheila) for the duration of the tour, so we did not have to rent clothes for the mosque, where there is a strict dress code.
CONCLUSION. The hotel made a good impression. Great location, cleanliness. The employees know their job. I really liked Sharjah. We want to come back again next year.
Thanks also to the host of Voyage Tour for high-quality travel support and travel agent Anna (Helios Tour, Kyiv) for choosing the tour.

Have a nice holiday everyone! If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer!