Хороший отель Good hotel

So another vacation is over. This year, since the country seems to be in a crisis, it was not planned, but rather accidental. I don’t really want to get into credit, I don’t really want to get money, but it seems like it’s necessary to relax. Therefore, the long pendulum - where to go and whether to go at all stopped after my wife stamped her foot and said: "That's it !!! ! I want to go to Egypt. " No sooner said than done. We went to a travel agency and chose several options. I want to say that the most unpleasant thing on vacation for me is the choice of a hotel. A million options, a million reviews and all this to read - moods and desires, to tell the truth, no. The search for the hotel was undertaken by the wife, and it turned out that her colleague from work had just returned from Egypt and told about the hilton sharks bay hotel with the wildest enthusiasm. Photos from the sites, to be honest, did not make any impression, but those reviews that I read through force were 90% positive. This actually happens very rarely. The negative that they wrote is always standard for hotels - they settled in the wrong place, they didn’t smile and blah blah blah. I agreed right away, because remembering our throwing in the past vacations, when we were looking for hotels for weeks, we shoveled many dozens of reviews, even wrote off with tourists, etc. - all this somehow went sideways and, in the end, what else can surprise me in Egypt?
In short, on April 12, we flew from our Khrabrovo airport in Kaliningrad to Sharm El Sheikh.
4 hours flight, and landing at the Egyptian airport. 15 minutes for registration - and we are already sitting in the transfer bus. Our tour was organized by the tour operator "CORAL". It's not in my rules to advertise tour operators, because for the most part, the main shoals of vacations are their work. But CORAL, as always, did not disappoint. Perfectly speaking Russian, attentive guides, polite, smiling, in general - trained to serve. Well done!

A little bit about Sharm El Sheikh. This city is very young and consists mainly of hotels. According to the hotel guide, in this city there is not even a population, only hotels and housing for staff. The city is being built and growing very actively - therefore, there is probably no need to talk about some beauty and charm of the East here. Dirt, rubbish, scaffolding…. There are a few attractions, but more on that later.
So, to our sheep. Despite the fact that we can see the hilton sharks bay hotel from the airport, the transfer to it took about forty minutes. Some ring road, looking at night (it gets dark very early in Egypt), we were brought to the hotel. As always, the first tension is what number they will give. I initially decided to come to terms with Fate and accept everything that they would give us at the hotel, but this unpleasant feeling - the expectation of a freebie - was to be recognized. There is a Russian-speaking administrator at the reception, who said that he was giving us a chic room 6108. He said several times that the room was chic, with a smile, looking into my eyes. I also thanked him several times with a smile. (This is me now about the favorite word in Egypt - “baksheesh”. I never gave money at the reception. I dissuade all my friends from this - you don’t need to spoil people who didn’t lift a finger to do at least something. There are a lot of attendants in the hotel staff who really deserve to be rewarded! And the receptionist is not one of them. But this is just my personal opinion....). So, realizing that money was not expected from us, we were put in an electric car (!!!!! ) and taken to the room.
Number. Our room was on the second floor of the sixth building, and when the front door (electric lock) opened, I regretted for the first time that I had not given the guys money. The area of ​ ​ the room is 25 sq. m. Toilet-bath - 10-12 sq. m. Air conditioning (split), LCD TV, refrigerator, iron and ironing board, new non-creaking bed, gorgeous balcony with breathtaking views. Looking ahead, I will say that every day they changed linen, washed the floors, brought 1.5 water. They left 1 dollar a day - every day a surprise in the form of figures from towels. There was a joke - somehow they returned to the room in the heat, we open the door, the TV works, there is a movie. What the hell, we turned it off like. We pass further, on the couch sits (!!! ) a sloth from the ice age, made of towels, in its paws the remote control from the TV set. On my nose are my glasses. Neighing with his wife. We still remember and laugh. Well done, guys... There are a lot of mirrors in the room, even full-length ones. There is a safe and cabinets with automatic lighting. Bath-toilet deserve a separate discussion - everything is in a new tile, new plumbing. A chic shower - with my 110 kg of weight and 192 cm of height, I did not touch the walls of the cabin with my elbows. Gorgeous mirror with lights and wow-wow-wow…. But it does not happen without a fly in the ointment. How the mosquitoes got me! It's impossible to sleep with the windows closed, and with the windows open too. . . We bought Fumitox (there is a shop right next to the reception) - it practically didn't help. With closed windows and with air conditioning - more expensive. You can easily forgive. . .
Territory. The hotel is very big. VERY!! ! It consists of two parts. The first part is older, with small numbers. But it is located on the first line - go to the sea for 5-7 minutes at a leisurely pace. Mostly Russian-speaking tourists settle in this part. There is a restaurant, a couple of pools with bars, and there is also a reception. The second part is newer, with large rooms, one large pool and a restaurant. There are a couple of bars. There are a lot of Europeans here - especially Germans and Spaniards. Between the two lines of the hotel there is a large landscaped area with a mini-golf course, a volleyball court. To clearly imagine the area of ​ ​ the hotel, I will say this - from the sea (the extreme point of the first line) to our room (the extreme point of the second line, building 6) was just over 1 km. An open bus runs between the lines, but its schedule is still a mystery to me. It seems to have to go every 15 minutes, but the Egyptians have their own understanding of time, so we were on foot like nowhere else. This is the first nuance of this hotel.

Nutrition. When the first enthusiasm subsided, we remembered that it was time to eat. Hotel restaurants in Egypt for me personally is a very interesting place. It seems to be a lot of food, especially a lot of all sorts of sweets and delicacies - but for some reason, everything early on draws on the usual scrambled eggs with sausages, fries with meat and soups. Hilton restaurants are no exception. The service here is top notch, the staff is awesome. Upon entering you are greeted and seated at a free table. If there are no seats, then you have to wait. This is not long - a maximum of 5-7 minutes. I consider this a plus, because it is not necessary, as in other restaurants, after typing food, to look for a place. Everyone will find food to their liking. There was frankly not much meat, in most cases the cook put it on, and then in very small portions, as if he had stolen it. I'm not a gourmet, so I only ate what I know. I was always full and satisfied. I can say about my wife that she experimented with incomprehensible fruits, but without consequences (? ). Hilton has two main restaurants on both lines, there are practically no differences. So you can eat wherever you like. To be honest, we liked the first line restaurant more.
Bars. There are several of them and they are all basically the same. I really liked the bar near the sea (SUNSET bar). Great view, enough tables, big umbrellas. All bars have one big unpleasant feature, which I read about in reviews and which I saw personally - very often there were dirty, unwashed glasses. The glasses here are plastic. Reusable. The flow of tourists is very large. I understand the special attitude of the Egyptians to hygiene. But very often, especially in the first days, dirty, poorly washed glasses simply froze me. The first time we encountered this in a restaurant right at the first dinner, we ordered beer. Brought in dirty glasses. My wife begged me not to raise a storm. We didn’t drink, of course, and then the waiters swooped in, like, what happened, etc. How can you explain the problem to them? I said nothing. Later in the restaurant I took only juice - I poured it myself, so I chose the glasses myself. In bars and on the beach, glasses had to be wiped with a napkin. I'm not a hypocrite, but……… Beer is always fresh, it's called PHARAOH. Not bad, normal. You can take any number of glasses. There are also plenty of cocktails for all tastes. There is always delicious ice cream - popsicle.
Animation. She's practically non-existent. In fact, she is very average. On the second line, where almost only Europeans lived, the animation is very boring. The one that is designed for children, more or less . . On the second line, in general, everything was boring and sterile, like in a hospital. You lie like a vegetable in the garden and do nothing. Even the music is not loud. Boring! On the first line, the guys-animators standardly pulled everyone out to exercise, to sports events, darts, etc. The music is loud but not annoying. Much more fun than the second line. But in the evening - a complete kapets. A special bar is allocated for animation programs. Where is quite good equipment, etc. But tasteless uninteresting competitions, extremely careless dances, etc. It feels like the animators are having fun with themselves. There were no discos. Big, huge minus to the hotel!! ! Evening entertainment is not organized just do. This is the second nuance of the hotel. Young people are likely to be bored here. For evening entertainment, you can visit SOHO Square. A man-made oasis with very beautiful shopping and entertainment establishments, a singing fountain, even an ice arena (!!! ). But establishments in SOHO are all very expensive, designed for European tourists who overspend. For example - a glass of 0.5 Heineken beer for me and a cocktail for my wife - 11 e. d. The area is not large, for 20 minutes at a slow pace you can go through everything. A little advice - there is DUTY FREE on the square, where within 48 hours upon arrival you can buy alcohol on your international passport. It is not difficult to find, advertising is everywhere. Be careful - only three bottles per passport. Russian-speaking tourists are operating in the dutik, who ask for help from new tourists, such as buy a couple of bottles for your passport. Usually they collect a lot of alcohol, and the tourist himself can no longer buy it. Be careful!
Hotel guide and excursions. It is also a very interesting and multifaceted topic. The hotel guide guys are the smartest workers in CORAL. Meeting with them is a must, where you will learn some useful things you need for your vacation. They (guides) will very logically and beautifully convince you of the need to buy excursions from them. They will start talking about different types of tourist registrations (such as if you don’t buy an excursion, then you will have a closed registration only for staying at the hotel, etc. ), about security, about CORAL responsibility, etc. My wife bought a sightseeing tour of SharElSheikh and a diving trip. On a sightseeing tour, a monotone Russian-speaking Egyptian almost put the entire bus to sleep (I'm not exaggerating). But at the same time, he showed me a beautiful mosque, a simply gorgeous Orthodox (!!! ) temple, took me to some dubious restaurant for dinner, where cats run around the tables. The restaurant was called Mahone, after the hero of the "Police Academy". Plus, we were taken to some kind of mini market, near the garbage dump, where they sell “super-quality” goods from Egypt at incredible prices. By the way. I accidentally found out that almost all Egyptian sellers were in Russia and have relatives and friends (? ) there. The attitude towards this excursion is very strange, it seems that they looked at something, but it seems that you feel deceived. The work was done to "fuck off", and the guide did not even hide that he received kickbacks from marketers for bringing them a whole bus of tourists.

The second excursion is diving. We took it because we were already on a similar trip to Egypt last time. I wanted to go scuba diving and see the Ras Mohammed reserve, which was presented to us as a one-of-a-kind reserve with a bunch of charms, etc. And again the hotel guide just earned his money and was like that. On an old boat, without music, a minimal lunch that no one ate (and this is after diving and diving, when you really want to eat), although they promised a full lunch like a buffet. And again, the unpleasant feeling that they simply deceived. Someone was promised two dives. We were promised one dive for 25 minutes. Actually 10-15. At the same time, the last time we were in Hurghada, there were two dives for the same money. I mean, no matter how the hotel guide praises the services of CORALA for excursions - do not flatter yourself and do not be fooled. All this can be bought cheaper. You will be taken to the same instructors and you will get everything the same, but cheaper. Moreover, there was such an impression that the hotel guide himself bought these excursions somewhere, and resold us at a high price. And CORAL is not in business at all. No organization. They brought it to the pier, waited for something for almost an hour, then, like firewood, they loaded it onto an old boat, where there was not even music. In general, a disappointment. The Ras Mohammed reserve itself did not make an impression, there are not many fish, the hotel's own reef is much more beautiful.
Useful tips. On the way to SOHO, there are a number of pavilions where tourists can buy all sorts of things. I highly recommend tent number 1 - it is there that you can buy all excursions cheaper and a Russian girl Anna works there, who will tell and show everything. In the next tent we bought 2 masks and 2 pairs of silicone fins (total 70 e. d. ). I recommend reading the information about diving and snorkeling in order to choose the right paraphernalia for yourself. Don't cheap out, especially on masks and. . . BARGAIN!! ! Then there will be a good pharmacy, where we bought sunblock for 10 e. d. , and a bunch of all sorts of souvenir-clothes shops. Walk around, walk around and. . . BARGAIN!!
Beach and sea. The main theme of Egypt is the Red Sea. I never tire of admiring him and his beauties. For the sake of this sea, you can forgive Egypt for all its shoals, and the shoals of hotel guides too. Although the beach is another cant of the hotel. It is too small for so many tourists. Sun loungers and, most importantly, umbrellas are not enough. To take a seat you need to go to the beach at 6-30 or 7-00 in the morning. And now let's remember where the sea is, and where are the numbers of the second line. Therefore, already on the third or fourth day, my wife and I mutually came to the conclusion that the first line, with all its shortcomings, is more preferable. After breakfast, at 9-00 hours on the beach there is nothing to catch, there are no places. Sometimes happiness smiled and sunbeds were released, but you had to constantly watch and wait. It's annoying to do this on vacation. Huge minus to the hotel, very huge!!!!
The hotel has its own small but beautiful reef. Because of him, the entrance to the sea is only from the pantone. But that's for the best. Diving from the pantone (very large, by the way) you immediately plunge into the underwater world of the Red Sea. An incredible number of different types of fish, hundreds and hundreds of individuals that swim at arm's length, and some, especially curious ones, swim up to the mask itself. Ras Mohammed doesn't even come close. You can also go scuba diving here. The guys from the local diving club will help you with this. They also provide paraselling services - parasailing behind a boat, ride you on bananas and buns on the waves. Everything is very cool and inexpensive. Paraselling - 60 ed for two, bun on the waves - 25 ed 10 minutes. Everything is very professional and clear. Well done!

Conclusion.
1. Once again I can say that you need to rest, and Egypt is what you need for this. Each hotel has its own set of pluses and the same set of minuses. Hilton has a bunch of pluses more. Nice, big, beautiful area. Normal food. Superbly trained Russian speaking staff. Its very beautiful reef. Diving club. Normal beer, a good contingent of vacationers - there were no drunken excesses.
2. I would give preference to the first line - closer to the sea, more fun. No mosquitoes.
3. The main thing for the hotel is to solve the problem with a small beach and lack of space.
4. I highly recommend traveling for couples with children or two. Active youth will be bored here.