Подробный отчет по отелю Golden 5 Topaz 4*, инфраструктуре и некоторым экскурсиям от A detailed report on the Golden 5 Topaz 4 * hotel, infrastructure and some excursions from

Arrived on May 10 in the evening, around 20.00. We quickly received our luggage by issuing a visa (in a certain window behind you you can buy a visa for $ 25, it was quickly pasted from local guys for $ 27 in the “right place” (there are rumors that people make mistakes and paste it in the wrong place). However, time I didn’t want to lose after a long flight, so we took the shortest route and quickly slipped through the control, which casually canceled the visa, letting us in. There were no customs checks, only open doors to the outside and several taxi drivers.
At the exit from the airport of Hurghada, there was a platform with buses and a stall, from where we were guided according to the lists which bus to go to. Actually, in half an hour we were standing in front of the Golden 5 Topaz hotel. The bus drove carefully, the guide insistently demanded to change the time zone on all watches and be sure to come to the hotel guide in the morning, check the day and time of the expected departure back under cover (read, sell excursions, because they already have all the information on the departure) .
The receptionist was delighted with the prepared present, asked to fill out a guest card and sent us to dinner. When we returned after having a bite to eat, we were handed an electronic card from the door to the room. I must say that initially we ordered the Family Room and upon arrival the administrator was informed about this, and the presence of a present suggested a room from the minimum dead fund, which, in fact, we received - room 329, the most extreme, almost above the stage. Later, according to the crooked noses of the locals and their reviews, it became clear that they got worse, including on this floor.

The room turned out to be a two-room suite, obviously not for one person. A large hall with a medium-sized but flat-screen TV gave hope for connecting a netbook to watch movies and video footage via HDMI or a bunch of other options (I must say that I ordered a VGA-HDMI adapter from ebay in advance due to my netbook's lack of HDMI output, for only $10) . Nice sofa, with pillows, just like in the hotel photos. Next to it is a cabinet with drinks (2 bottles of local cola and 14 small bottles of drinking water, produced by Coca Cola Company. In the living room there is a wardrobe, a large bed, a dressing table and a bedside table with a similar TV. The bed also has small bedside tables. Sliding door to the balcony, on which there was a table and a couple of chairs. After entering the room, the card is inserted into a special loose holder and acts as a key for electrical appliances in the room. Everything seems to be normal, but there is only one card issued at the reception, so if someone leaves one of rooms, this is inconvenient, and you can’t leave the air conditioner running. For comparison, in the Radisson Blu hotel in Riga, for example, you can leave any plastic card in this holder in order to return to the cool room waiting for you, this will not work here. Special attention deserves the entrance door, more precisely, the door handle, which must be pressed with force until it stops, trying not to pinch your fingers, because it is so loose that it goes all the way to the door to Boxes.
The bathroom is quite simple, the sour plumbing was not surprising, the curtain barely reached the edge of the bathroom, and the water flowed with such pressure that it seemed that the entire hotel was being washed from one narrow pipe at the same time. However, it is enough to rinse and wash off the remnants of salt.
Having thrown our things, we went to finish the evening, getting acquainted with the local territory and alcoholic beverages. Alcohol deserves separate compliments, because when you drink a double portion of tequila / whiskey in a plastic cup (2/3 cup) without wincing and ask the bartender how many degrees there, his surprised eyes say that at least forty, at least. Local beer, bottled. They bring it, it seems, every day for dinner, because. in the morning it is simply not there, in the afternoon it is warm, and in the evening it is pleasantly cool. Actually, you can only drink it cold, pour 4 plastic cups (despite the fact that it is written 2 in one hand, but if you prove that they pour it into each). At dinner, it is better to take glass glasses, they are, but they are few in number and are taken apart first. After washing, take it out again. Actually, all other drinks by default are mixed with local cola / sprites and sweet syrups, as well as pseudo-juices. It cannot be said that these are even nectars, but not Yupi / Zuko (otherwise they would have been squandered on them). You can drink, but only super-cold and washed down with ordinary water or pseudo-vodka, because they are too sweet.
Checking in at the bar counter, we found a lounge behind glass doors and found out that the bartender is also a hookah man. Having settled down, we ordered for a fee of $3. I love hookah from time to time, but what they brought us turned out to be, to put it mildly, a quiet horror. An incomprehensible bottle with a plastic hose and obviously charcoal for barbecue on top did not inspire confidence, although the first charcoal, warming up the mixture, gave a pleasant aroma. Quickly decayed, he went out. We waited a long time for new coal to be brought to us, but did not wait. I had to go, look, call. From the second filling, the tobacco instantly tanned. In general, on a 5-point scale, there is at best a two. Needless to say, we came here later only twice in two weeks, and then, because of the close proximity of alcohol and the room.

The next morning we went to the hotel guide Peter. A normal guy, he knows his business, advertised teztur excursions for a long time, adequately compared them with street ones, etc. , etc. He paid special attention to the slop quality of local water in the water supply and forbade drinking it. By the way, I’ll note that it’s better not to even rinse your mouth with this water after brushing your teeth, because the rubbish is still the same - I appreciated it with my whole body and quietly rejoiced after a week that it was not in vain that I took an antibiotic (Ofloxin) with a supply of Smecta.
During the day, we were taken to a store of local oils and other liquids and a souvenir shop at fabulous prices. In the future, having talked with the locals, we were told that the oils are mostly similar and it makes sense to buy in original stores like this Nefertiti, even if it is more expensive there. Everything that is sold on the street, as a rule, is bred more than once. For the sake of interest, we tested it on the street, of course, after 15 minutes there was no trace of a bright aroma. I note that in addition to Nefertiti, we saw a similar shop with original oils at the Sheraton, the prices are slightly lower. Bargaining is a must.
In general, comparing with Turkey, where we took excursions on the street, we decided not to take risks and overpay a little, which we later did not regret at all. According to the schedule, they made them to us in a day and paid for it all with a Visa card right there.
I will write a little about the complex as a whole.
The huge territory of Golden 5 also includes a couple of second-line hotels (Sapphire and Topaz). The entrance is a tall pyramid with nice illumination in the evenings. On the hotel line, near the hotels themselves, there are countless small souvenir shops, each of which beckons with huge signs and names of fashionable shops and boutiques of our Motherland. In general, it all comes down to cheap souvenirs for which they ask from 300% of the price, which they will be ready to give after a tough bargaining with foam at the mouth and oaths before Allah, sometimes, for 110% of the purchase price, they will fight to the last. You pass by, they will definitely invite you. If you don’t react, in most cases they will ignore you, if you say hello, then you’ll fight back.

Inside Golden 5, parks are organized with many palm trees and lawns. Needless to say, lawns in the desert are a luxury, so specially trained people walk on all lawns, flooding swamps between cacti and incomprehensible shrubs. Mosquitoes breed there like rabbits, the stink is noble, so an old jeep regularly drives around the territory and intimidates them in the form of dense smoke with insecticides (we got hit, but you can breathe). The scale of the complex is amazing, but the dull look of 5 * hotels and peeling paint on the sculptures make a strange impression. The cable car, which has apparently been closed for more than a year, low buildings and bungalows scattered throughout the territory, the pools are empty and full of water. The absolutely illogical topology of buildings at first inspires fear, after a few days you begin to navigate, because. I want to move under the scorching sun faster and with dashes in the shade. The notorious train, crawling along unexplored paths through the territory, was met only twice, and an attempt to wait for it at the end in order to take a picture ended in sunburn. However, we were not very upset, because it is quite possible to walk from Topaz to the beach in 12-15 minutes at a calm pace and it is absolutely incomprehensible why some people are outraged by its remote location. Personally, we did not gain a single kilogram there, we even lost a little, constantly moving on foot and walking along the hotel line and Hurghada itself and eating normally.
The beach is an ordinary beach. Those who swear at the lack of sunbeds seem to come to bask in the morning sun. We acted more logically and went there to swim after dinner. Loungers are full, you can easily find both under an umbrella and at a distance from the loudspeakers screaming cyclic Zumba. The entrance to the sea is sandy in some places, but I recommend coral slippers or flippers - despite the seeming safety, at a depth of 30 cm, I found red hedgehogs in large crevices - that is still rubbish, right on the course of entering the sea, near the coast. We were in fins and masks, so everything is in order. A mask is necessary if you don’t want to be thrown by a wave on the coral (even if you swim on the surface), aunts with skinned thighs and abrasions abundantly filled with iodine walk all over the beach. By the way, masks and tubes are sold everywhere, the silicone on the masks is quite decent, enough for a vacation. We arrived fully equipped at home, my almost meter-long hunting fins inspired respect for the locals, and a high backpack behind my back aroused genuine interest (they asked, they say, a guitar, to which I answered that it was a hookah, they laughed at the joke and didn’t dig any more). If you buy a mask on the spot, I recommend that you clarify whether it is glass or plastic (usually you can see this, and there is a “T” sign on tempered glass), plastic cannot be thrown into the sand, and the glass should be torn off from the inside with a toothbrush and paste in the hotel, during avoid fogging at the wrong time in the water. Then dry and immediately before entering the sea, spit and grind into an empty mask. Then, after a minute, rinse with sea water and do not paw with your fingers from the inside. Option two - take an antifog from home (sold in a store with masks) or lower it into a soapy solution prepared on the spot. It's not the same for everybody. But people in sweaty masks floundering near the shore cause real pity. We usually swam at the buoys, the depth there is 3.5 meters maximum, but there are more interesting fish and you can safely dive corals there without fear that a wave will throw at him. There are a lot of fish near the shore only in the place where the lagoon connects with the sea, but there the coral is large and small. I swam there a lot with a GoPro, it delivers quite well. There is some food on the beach, strange, but you can eat it. Vodichka and pseudo-alcohol are poured. There is some animation, but we were not interested in it.
Pools around the territory are not particularly impressive, but it is worth noting that they are of different depths and clean. The water in them is very cold (23 degrees), but pleasantly refreshing. The mini-aqua park is open every day at a certain time. On a medium wide hill it turns around, at the exit it hits the fifth point quite powerfully. On the leftmost one, I got stuck in the middle - the inertia has run out, the joints are also peeling off the skin. Etc. Not impressed, once was enough. The large water park in the neighboring hotel is closed. In general, there are not many people at the pools, dark personalities periodically appear offering massages, hamams, excursions from leftist manufacturers, etc. They loosen up fairly quickly. In the evening, not far from the entrance of the show of singing fountains. Not very impressive, but once there is something to see.
Now about the food. According to the reviews of those living in the same Diamond, they have no meat, and the quality of food is depressing. In Topaz, however, it is really good and I have repeatedly seen people from other hotels pull up to the main restaurant to taste the meat by the end of dinner.

Breakfast is modest. Vegetables (tomatoes (quickly dismantled), cucumbers, salads, peppers, a bunch of pickles and sauces, fruits (2 types of oranges, small green melons, fresh large figs (they are also dates) - yummy). Any pastries (honestly - tasteless, apparently , stale, except for fresh croissants), unleavened pancakes, rice, tasteless paper sausages, boiled eggs, stewed beans, thin coffee from the cheapest arabica coffee. And so on.
Lunch - soups are made from vegetables (potatoes, beans), once we observed vegetable borscht. There is a relatively larger selection of dishes, there is stewed beef, chicken in various forms, there really is meat there. You can also grab tasty treats from turkey, liver and liver (warm beer appears).
Dinner - soups disappear, but a grill appears on the street. Grilled chicken, beef, liver (most likely beef), crabs (most likely Mediterranean), depending on the day - different grilled food on different days of the week. Crabs are delicious with beer, but on the grill, the meat in the claws dries out too much, and under the shell - on the contrary. In the building itself, delicious local fried fish, other poultry meat options and even quail stuffed with rice are added.
In general, the food is good, but the food is really boring. Those who say that they don’t give meat there, apparently, they don’t get anything anymore, or they live in other hotels. For those who do not have enough drinking water issued upon check-in, it is better not to throw away the bottles, but to freely replenish fresh water from the hotel's containers in the bar.
Infrastructure
Actually, sitting exactly there is boring, so it makes sense to take a walk around the neighborhood in the evening. It makes sense for fans of a fixed price to look into the Cleopatra store, to the left of Topaz, towards Hurghada. A little further, Sunrise Mall has a cool cafe "Kar Kar3" where for a modest price they make amazing fresh drinks (banana, strawberries) and wonderful hibiscus. In the evening after dinner, it is especially pleasant to walk there (10-12 minutes) and sit with soft drinks and, probably, the best hookah in the whole area (they wrap well, they regularly change coal (coal from an orange tree), it does not burn, fragrant, tobacco is picked), moreover, for $1.5-2, against $3 at the hotel for no one knows what.

If you go further behind the Sunrise Mall, you can get to the large Sanzo Mall complex (about 16-18 minutes from Topaz), there is definitely no point in taking a taxi there. There are ordinary shops and boutiques, like in an ordinary shopping mall, there is a large grocery / department store like Pyaterochka / Magnit, where you can buy the necessary snacks for liquid goods, purchased in advance in the dutik on the way, or with a trip from teztour, after all, you can come to the Egyptian dutik already within a day after arrival with a special excursion. You can also buy a Vodafone SIM card for the Internet. Personally, for us, a $6 SIM card with a prepaid gigabyte was enough for our eyes and ears for mail, contacts and calls home via Skype (Skype had a small reserve of funds for calls to regular mobile phones). It’s better to take a SIM card not in the Vodafone department, but in the department where they sell mobile phones and all kinds of equipment - there they will issue it not for your passport, but for the left one (you don’t want other compatriots to issue SIM cards later on your passport, but they downloaded would be indecent? J). Also, for those who are homesick, there you can find a fork of KFC with large portions (though a little more expensive than ours) and, of course, McDonald's (but we were not there).
Taxi drivers roam everywhere. Hurghada is about 20 kilometers away. You can take a hotel taxi driver and, after bargaining, get to the Sheraton for $ 10, and he will be waiting for you for 2 or 3 hours, if necessary. We made it easier - we took it on the street. We traded. We went twice to Hurghada, the first time there and back for $4 each way, the second time for $5. Moreover, the first time they drove back and forth very carefully and well, the second time after a long bargain (a painfully annoying taxi driver) he drowned the pedal of the poor Lanos and rushed, as if he had swallowed a kilogram of chili. Once he allowed a dangerous situation, slipping between cars approaching without turn signals, but after he shook his fist and said that I would give him less than $ 5, he stopped. Apparently, the lower the number on the taxi car, the longer the taxi driver works and the more carefully he drives, at least it seemed to us. The city (at the same Sheraton) is full of the same shops (it is more interesting to bargain there, moreover, if you move away), there are good cafes (including KFC / McDonalds). We walked and took pictures of the local color. The second time we went to the Alhalaka fish restaurant in the port, for $30 we gorged ourselves on huge shrimp, fish and a drop dead creamy crab and shrimp soup - probably the best there is. There is a certain Star Fish near Topaz, they say that they also feed well there for the same price, but we just didn’t have time to get there in 2 weeks J
In the Topaz hotel itself, there are animators who animate something in the pool and invite you to play volleyball. There is an opportunity to play tennis in 30+ degree heat and billiards indoors with air conditioning. The rooms have air conditioners, we got a very good one - one in the hall constantly cooled, and the one in the room with the bed cooled in the evening, and left only the fan at night - that's it. In the back area it is nice to swing on the swings in the evening and listen to the crickets. If you leave a dollar to the cleaner of the room, then in addition to light tidying up, he will make cool figures. Nothing amazing, but nice. Vodichka and cola are issued upon check-in for the entire stay, as it is written in a piece of paper and the norm for a week is also indicated there. We were two weeks, we were given water for 1 week. It was enough back to back, and then, due to the fact that they were given extra on excursions or filled themselves in the restaurant.
Golden 5 also has a la carte hotels. For example, Indian, Italian, etc. Actually, Italian and Indian are located in Topaz itself, you need to sign up there in advance, preferably 2 days in advance. Surprise people who come there in evening dresses and even in simple jeans, just like in Moscow restaurants. They launch at a certain time, give a short menu to choose from, but in fact it turns out that the choice is extremely small (chicken or lamb, meat or fish, etc. ). As a result, not hungry left, but the food there is relatively tasty, because the ingredients are exactly those that are cooked in an ordinary restaurant. Lentil soup, pizza on a morning yogurt dough (at least it seemed that way), but you can eat it. What no, but variety. The lamb stew in Indian is good, not to complain, and the rice is well boiled. They don't give beer, only pseudo juice. Many left without waiting for dessert or only after trying the second, even those in evening dresses. At the Golden 5 Club's Café , we were given a modest shawarma and a burger that we had to make ourselves. However, the cutlet is delicious, but the bun is just huge J. We decided not to go to others.

There are a lot of police with machine guns on the hotel line. He asked the taxi driver, he said, “to protect you, tourists. ”
Now, briefly, about excursions.
Of course, we took a trip to Paradise Island (which is "all inclusive"). In the morning we went to the yacht, along the calm sea we reached the bathing place, there, together with the operator (with the old minidv Sonya in the box), we swam on the surface (moreover, only part of the people, some remained on the yacht, even though everyone was given masks, fins and tubes). I dived with the operator. The maximum depth in that place is about 11 meters, further on the bottom, they scared off a beautiful stingray and a fat moray eel about six meters, the operator said not to touch it, because. she can pounce on herself. Not even half an hour had passed (although they laid 45 minutes) we were pulled out of the water and forced to dry. Then we got to the paradise island, where we were dropped off by boat. We determined a place under umbrellas and let them swim near the shore. The fish are few and far between. White sand delivers to someone, I made some good shots of needle fish, of which there are a lot, and one pot-bellied dogfish. Then we dined at a restaurant on the beach, everything is very tasty and without restrictions (except for drinks). Then they lay again under umbrellas, the operator pulled out young couples, including us, and meticulously took pictures, putting them in different poses. The horizon is littered, but the pictures turned out to be very tolerable. Tezturovsky hotel guide said not to take money with him on excursions, but don't listen. If it is important for you to bring home at least something other than what is on your flash drive, it is better to take $20-40 with you. Personally, we were not at all disappointed in our joint photos that the operator took on the tour. He also shoots from below how you swim and watch the fish. Well, in the end, we were taken back to the port, transferred to the bathyscaphe and sent to watch the fish through the windows. I think it will be interesting only for children, because. It's more fun to watch through a mask. Those who know how to dive - doubly. Our operator also dived and swam on the other side of the glass, feeding the fish and filming everything around. At the end of the tour, we were successfully taken to the hotels, and the next evening they brought the discs and demonstrated on a portable media player that the discs were not empty. We really liked it, in general we were not disappointed, the impressions are positive.
On another excursion we went to the desert. There we cheerfully rode a buggy, then we were transferred to ATVs, then to jeeps and there, already as passengers, we went to the desert for 20 km to run along the dunes, take a picture by a semi-dry tree and look into the Bedouin village. The latter were waiting for us. The Bedouins are densely settled there and live in close connection with tour operators, because tips are broken off by them regularly. They showed us their way of life, put us on camels, gave us cakes to eat (not camel, wheat, but cooked on an understandable basis), tried to drink herbs in the local “pharmacy” and, of course, multi-layered colored sand in bottles with camels (there is on every corner in Hurghada and hotels). Then they organized a performance, gave a hookah a smoke, fed and showed Jupiter and Venus through a telescope. Also there they have a mini zoo, a terrarium, etc. There are many goats that jump right on their hands and beg for bread. I recommend taking it with you (although Teztour already generously supplies dry rations for the trip). We really enjoyed the day, it's really cool there. Photos and videos were not taken from there, with the exception of one joint photo on a quadric.

Then we were in Sahl Hasheesh - a district in the opposite direction from Hurghada, we drove there for about 15 minutes. Apparently, a new area and a hotel complex, where all the hotels are 5-ki. There are few people there, the entrance is tightly guarded by the police. A large area, a beautiful bay and cleaner sandy beaches with a neat entrance. If next time we go to Hurghada, then J.
Some of the hotels are unfinished, apparently, everything is ahead. There are also shops and souvenir shops, but outwardly, decently. There we were sent to a spa with fish. The fish successfully ate the legs, destroying the dead particles (I can’t check, I left the microscope at home), but the sensations are positive. Then there was a light foot massage in the next room. When they gathered us again in a bunch, they sent us to a yacht, where we were taken out to the sea to swim, right in that area. The cameraman was new, he was also not averse to diving and shooting video, however, the video camera was a little more decent. He showed us beautiful reefs, we dived with him. Also shallow, about 12 meters (according to diver's watch). Then we had a great lunch on the ship, a chic soup and a lot of shrimp. Then we swam and dived again. Then we had a photo session in many angles and parts of the yacht (and even then on the shore, in the evening). Again, it was worth it, we ordered photos without hesitation and received them the next day. The third bath was for the most desperate, because. there were only four of us left of 22 people who wanted to swim. We were brought to the shore, where there were some “Pharaoh columns”, which in fact turned out to be molded from concrete with protruding reinforcement and dilapidated. Apparently, the decor is part of the one that is installed along the coast of Sahl Hasheesh. There were some drawings on the columns, but some of them were overgrown with corals and it was already difficult to distinguish what. Everywhere there are many black urchins with long spines, sitting in every crevice. Finally, we returned to the yacht, took some pictures again and went ashore. On the way we stopped near beautiful fountains, took some pictures and returned to the hotel satisfied and tired.
The fourth tour was a "gift" for $10 instead of $30 and we chose "1001 Nights". In the evening we were picked up from the hotel and taken to another hotel. There, they were first sent to a local museum with antiquities specific to Egypt and even a personal mummy in a sarcophagus. Then we went up to the stands, from where for about an hour we watched the performances of fakirs, dancers and dancers, acrobats riding horses, and for about fifteen minutes they told us about temples and tombs, as well as the Sphinx, pointing with spotlights at small copies of certain buildings. In general, cool, $10 worth it.
Summarizing, I will say that we are very pleased with the trip, sincerely glad that we stopped at Topaz, did not gain excess weight and got a sea and a sea of ​ ​ ​ ​ pleasant impressions from the infrastructure, people and excursions.

Departed on May 23.13 days, 14 nights. The charter was filed with a small delay of 20-25 minutes, but successfully made up for everything on the way and arrived on schedule.
Sorry for the littered horizon in the photo, but for the sake of completeness, these should fit.
PS. Among the 7 hotels Golden 5 is probably the best. Ratings don't lie. Reviews may be different, but here is a review of a not picky and calm person, whose goal was not to spend an unforgettable vacation at the resort, but just to take a break from everyday life in St. Petersburg and start the summer early.
I will add to it that I saw a cockroach once and then in the corridor (actually, on the street), a couple of geckos, there are few mosquitoes, but in the evening they fly out and eat their legs a little (they never used a fumigator and ointments for 14 days). You can't see them, but they are there.