12 дней в Сиерра 12 days in Sierra

Good afternoon!
Rested in Sieera in June 2010. I'll tell you everything in order, because before the trip we read all kinds of reviews, maybe mine will be useful to someone!
I'll start from the airport in Sharm. A visa costs $15, but when you receive a card at the window of your tour operator, you are offered to buy it immediately for $20 and not stand in line. Visas are sold in 3 windows, near the desk of tour operators 2 and a little further one more, near passport control. If there was a crowd near the first two, then a little further there were at most 5 people. We were met by representatives of ANEX TOUR and told where our bus was.

We were taken to the hotel first. At first we did not give money and we were settled in the 5th building. The room was terrible. The air conditioner was out of control and hummed like crazy. There was no talk of a terrace or a balcony at all. The view from the window was generally on some utility building. Without unpacking, we went to the reception in the hope of changing the room. But we were told that the hotel is full and we can come tomorrow at 14.00 and they will try to do something. The next day we had a meeting with our hotel guide. We told her everything and she came to the reception with us and repeated our request. We were given a number 4405 in the 4th building, though also without a terrace, but 2 times more than the previous one. And the bed was one large, and two moved together, and the bathroom is much larger, and the furniture is newer. The doors of the building overlooked SOHO Square, next to the beach bus stop. They gave $ 15 for the services, because. the employee who showed it to us hesitated for a long time and did not want to leave. I think it could have been less.
It's really a 10 minute walk to the sea. If it was very hot, then we went by bus. There are always a lot of free places on the beach, since almost all foreigners, and 95% of them in Sierra, relax near the pool. The sea is amazing. The pontoon is not big. The bar is open until 17.00. From 12.00 you can eat French fries and all sorts of sandwiches on the beach.
The food in the restaurant is delicious. Sweets - the sea) The cakes are amazing! Breakfast and lunch are the same almost every day, but dinner is themed every day. For example, on Monday - Eastern night, and on Thursday - Italian. You won't leave hungry, that's for sure! The staff is very polite! At lunch and dinner, there is a table with tea and coffee behind the counter with vegetables and salads. You can eat both in the restaurant itself and on the outdoor terrace. There are fruits, but we didn’t like watermelons, for example, they are generally tasteless. Very tasty dates, melon. From alcohol in the restaurant beer and wine.
The bars mainly drank gin and tonic, whiskey and cola, beer and all sorts of cocktails. DO NOT TAKE ICE in drinks!!! ! They make it from tap water! By the way, there were no problems with water, in the room every day there are 2 bottles of water of 0.6 liters each, and you could draw in the cooler, the water in them is normal. Juices are all from paet, you can drink. Ice cream is provided free of charge from 15.00 to 17.00 at the pool bar.
The lobby bar is open until 1.00. Live music every evening. A girl and a man sing Latin songs excellently. Just a lot of positivity!
For shopping, it is better to go to Naama Bay or the Old Town. From the hotel there is a free bus to Naama Bay, you need to sign up at the concierge for the day. We did not go to the Old Town, but we were told that there are the cheapest prices for souvenirs. And that a taxi there will cost $ 8 one way.

We bought 3 excursions, and one was given to us by ANEX TOUR - a sightseeing tour of Sharm (I say right away that there is nothing to see there, except that they will be brought to the Old Town for half an hour). We took an excursion on quads - $ 66 for two, Ras Mohammed (reserve), a yacht trip and scuba diving - $ 55 per person + $ 5 per person. entrance to the reserve (in which we did not swim, because the sea was stormy. ) You can not take water with you, they feed and water on the yacht. Russian diving instructor - Andrey. A very pleasant young man. He suggested underwater shooting and we agreed. It cost us $40 per pair and we did not regret it. I’m unlikely to agree to dive again with scuba diving, but the memory remains))) But they say that it’s better to go to Ras Mohammed by bus. And for diving it is better to go to the island of Tiran.
We also went to Cairo. The tour cost $180 for two. travel at least 6 hours by bus. Before reaching Cairo km. On the 20th we had an accident, crashed at full speed into a truck. Thank God, everyone is alive and well. They didn’t even have time to get scared, everything that was happening came to me only after I saw our bus, which lost its door, windshield and three glasses on the left side. In short, there is still a whole story, a long story, but we lost a lot of time. At first everyone wanted to go back, but then they calmed down and decided to go further. The tour was very fast paced! But everyone looked, and the pyramids, and got into the museum and rode along the Nile. I want to express my deep gratitude to Natalia, our hotel guide!!!! ! As soon as we wrote to her about the accident, she immediately raised the entire office to its feet and also beat out compensation for us !!!!!
There is not much entertainment in Sierra. Animators on the beach work perfectly, and volleyball, and yoga, and competitions for children. We went to a disco in Pangea. Good disco, I liked it! Starts at 23.30. For guests of Sierra and Savoy 2 drinks free of charge (choice of beer, wine, whiskey or non-alcoholic cocktail). Beer 0.5 l. it costs $7. There are beautiful singing fountains on SOHO Square. Hookah smoking costs $3. SOHO has Duty Free, which is available only 48 hours from the day of arrival in the country. Duty Free, which is on SOHO, which is more expensive at Sharma Airport than in Boryspil. Also the fountain bar is free for Sierra guests until 22.00.
Everywhere it is better to pay in pounds, so it turns out cheaper. Course: $1 is equal to 5.66 pounds. They changed money in the bank for SOHO. Always COUNT money! Changed money 2 times, tried to cheat 2 times!
Look like that's it......

And another nuance, our plane was delayed for 2.5 hours. It is better to take some kind of jacket with you, and if you are with a child, be sure to have warm clothes for him. It's VERY cold at Sharma Airport!