The rest is super, and the organization and support is a Nightmare!
If you want to relax in Europe, go skiing and breathe in the mountain air, then you definitely need to go to Slovakia, but in no case buy a tour from the Helios Tour company. Given that everyone has the Internet and tourists can see not only the weather, but also the level of snow in the mountains, we observed grass in Zhdiar and puddles on the computer screen, but agency employees stubbornly answered our calls that everyone skis in Zhdiar , all the slopes work and in general there is a blizzard.
Arriving in Zdiar, the hotel told us that the snow fell 3 days ago and naturally only small slopes work. Unpleasant deception left its mark on the rest. But then it got worse. The organizers of the tour rested there with their company and they didn’t give a damn about all the other 200 tourists. They come there every year and know all the features that tourists do not tell. No one ever told us about the country, where the slopes, the shop, the restaurant are located, too.
Helios tour did only the following things: collected money, issued a visa and provided the train number. At the border, 2 buses stood for 2 hours, and the rest 6 hours. And it was possible to settle everything, but who needs it? As a result, it was necessary to arrive in Zdiar at 9 am, and we arrived at 7 pm, that is, we lost the whole day! But the organizers, who left Moscow on January 2, rested for 2 more days. It is interesting to note the escort in the bus: Svetlana Kuznetsova (who works as a teacher at a school and probably had to accompany schoolchildren, but we never saw her with them) was indignant at why someone wants to go to the toilet and buy water in the store for 14 hours!
It was more fun on the way back: knowing that we would arrive at the private security company at 6 in the morning, and the train at 11-30 we asked in advance to resolve the issue with the bus so that we would not be kicked out of it at the station and we could leave things in it before the train, and the children could sleep . The day before, we were promised to resolve this issue, but when she arrived at the private security company, the same Svetlana Kuznetsova asked us to quickly release the bus and go to the station, where there was nowhere to stand, let alone sit. Moreover, she boorishly stated that she did not give a damn that she was not going to take half a bus of small children who were sleeping and engaged in accommodation. Advised to walk around the city.
The picture of walking tourists with skis, suitcases and children in the ChOP did not inspire anyone and everyone stood at the dirty station, and no one had any money (and hryvnia is needed in Chop) to feed their families properly. During the tour, we booked a bus to Strbsko Pleso once, and the rest of the time we were offered to ride on the nearby slides for beginners. I had to find out for myself where there are slopes, where to rent a car. And it was also fun for tourists who lived far from the Victoria Hotel (the organizers and part of the tourists lived there), they were generally forgotten about, even on the day of departure. Information hung only in Victoria.
I can say about the hotel Patrick that the hotel is new, there are imperfections, but the owner Yar and his wife Marta are very good people and were happy to help their customers. Victoria is certainly better, although she also costs, but Patrick will also be at the level in a year. Victoria has a good bar, a selection of wines, beers and snacks, the rooms are large, but this is not the main thing. Mountains, air - super! If Helios Tour had at least some kind of concern for tourists, then one could say that it was a great vacation.
I got the impression that Helios, apart from schoolchildren, who can be shouted at as if in a lesson, does not take anyone to rest. The organization of shopping, horseback riding for children, convenient train and bus departures were only for their friends, who, it must be understood, went as supposedly accompanying them. There were 4 instructors, we saw 2, sometimes one more. We ride ourselves well, and did not use their services. But they didn’t have any identification marks on the mountain, so I don’t know how the rest of the uncertain skiers who didn’t go track after track looked for them.
The conclusion is this - if you want to relax, check the quality of the organizing company and read the reviews of tourists. But Helios is the soviet level of pioneer leaders for organizing campaigns.