Эйлат не стоит таких денег Eilat is not worth that kind of money

We traveled to Eilat on March 14.2011 for 11 days, with the "assistance" of the Southern Cross tour operator. At the local travel agency, we were chosen 5 stars, then it turned out that it was not 5, but 4+, and that the hotel was not the one for which we paid, to which we were professionally answered in the style of “oh, the slip came out. ” In general, the city of Eilat was painted for us as a pearl of the Red Sea, with sandy beaches, a warm sea, with a bustling nightlife and a bunch of all sorts of entertainment. So many praiseworthy words were said about Rimmonim Central Park that we had no doubts - a chic hotel, cheap tours, we were lucky! So Eilat is a 3+ city. I liked it - clean cars, an airfield in the city center, a beautiful view of the mountains, the sea, sunset, clear sky, palm trees, the night illumination of the city, and, in general, the whole atmosphere of the south - I finally got out to relax. Unfortunately, what I didn't like turned out to be more. The city is dirty. Small garbage (steers, bottle caps, packaging, etc. ) was almost everywhere, on the beach, in the water. There are few sandy beaches, mostly pebbles. Sun loungers, umbrellas, chairs and in general all the "beach furniture" was a bit old, it seems that they have never been changed. The architecture of the city is extremely poor, the situation was saved by 4 luxury hotels. The sea was cold, which is probably not surprising in March, although... I never noticed or heard the bustling nightlife. When we walked along the beach and in the center at 12 at night, there were practically no people. From the entertainment there were various banana-tablet rides on the water, some other attraction in the city center, a yacht with a transparent bottom (do not take it - the corals are brown, there are few fish, and the transparent bottom is not so transparent), a comfortable yacht (take this , I liked it very much) and excursions, of course, to Jerusalem and other holy places. In general, the impression of the city is cool, the sea, the sun, but everything is done “on the spot. . just buy it! " Now the hotel. In fact, it turned out to be 3. I'm not picky, for me the hotel and the room are not so important, but what matters is what you pay for and what you see in the end. So Central Park stood out from all the buildings in the center with its bright blue color and non-standard architecture. From the outside, it looked very nice, especially in comparison with other buildings. . But, having bypassed it from the side, it became clear that not only in Russia they ennoble the facade of the building, but the rest of the perimeter “let it stand like that for now”. Stained-glass windows were knocked out in three places, part of the building was not completed, the lights were not on everywhere at night, the central park around the hotel is a completely different story. Eilat Central Park - about a dozen palm trees scattered without any idea, a yellow lawn with cigarette butts and a giant wasteland in front of the hotel with various debris, a garbage in the center, under which someone even relieved himself. Now inside the hotel. The interior decoration can be described as tasteless, in the style of "let's hang it up". Pictures, carpets, vases, etc. were all out of topic and did not fit together in any way. The picture that depicted the panorama of New York and the inscription Rimmonim Central Park was especially killing. In the room - carpet and curtain burned in one place, dirty windows with stains, oldish furniture, soiled pillow. Cleaned every day, bed linen and towels changed almost every day and upon request, plumbing for 4+, a couple of times you had to wait for hot water. The staff was different, someone smiled affably, someone showed “dude, leave me alone” with all their appearance. Now about food. There are even more minuses, but there are also very, very pleasant and tasty pluses. There was a lot of food, but there was very little tasty food, you had to take a little bit of everything and then choose. Foods such as potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes most often ended up on our plates. They cooked an omelet and meat very tasty (we only made it once). I really liked the desserts, it's 5+. I have never tried such delicious cakes, pies, tartlets and marshmallows. If everything in Eilat were treated the same as cooking desserts in our hotel, then this city would actually be the pearl of the Red Sea. In general, very tasty desserts were))) But! Sometimes I came across such a ge (and some dishes stank of this ge) that all breakfasts and dinners were reduced to a standard proven menu. Special exotics were not served in hotels, well, or this exotic was not to our taste at all. The result is this - only those who want to visit the holy places in Israel, but for some reason could not take a ticket “closer” should go to Eilat. At the same time, if you go with your loved one, then any palm tree, sea, mountains and sunset leave an unforgettable experience. And so, this city is not for active and not for a beach holiday, but something in between - “about nothing”, and not for 32 thousand per person. It is better to save up and go to Europe or to another place where the tourism business is DEVELOPED and not “just developing”.