Вилла Алиса, Шарджа - выбор большой семьи Villa Alice, Sharjah - the choice of a large family

I'll start from afar, so if you're short on time, jump straight to the 2nd paragraph. Our love for the Emirates was born long ago and has been going on for many years. We rested in hotels of various prices and status. From "poor but clean" Ajman Beach to chic Le Meridien Abu Dhabi. We stayed in Sharjah twice: in a quite decent Coral Beach and in a rather shabby Carlton... Meanwhile, our family grew and, having once again gathered in the UAE, we found that visiting this country with three children is not so easy. The vast majority of "package" tours are designed for a family with a maximum of one child and accommodation in a standard double with extra. bed. For five, we were offered two separate rooms, but this is both more expensive and unsafe - can you accommodate the children alone? Moreover, no one guaranteed that these rooms would be next to each other or at least on the same floor. If, for example, in Turkey we have repeatedly booked a family room through a tour operator, designed for a large family, then in the UAE this accommodation option is not available as a class! More precisely, it is absent only on the Russian market. Hotels have such rooms. We tried to book them directly, but the issue arose with visas - hotels do not make them. With one exception. . .
This exception was a Russian hotel called Villa Alice. We contacted them by e-mail, decided on the terms of stay and they opened visas for us without any problems!
Despite the recommendation of our Moscow friends who stayed at Villa Alisa, it was scary to go there. There are few reviews, and those that are, to put it mildly, are strange... The habit of package tours also affected, when all issues are somehow decided for you. And here we took air tickets ourselves (you can buy tickets to Emirates without leaving your home, choose seats on the plane, order special meals and check in for the flight), we bought honey. insurance. . . And booked a hotel room - two rooms, very spacious, with two single beds and one double bed. True, there are no cots in Alice, so for our youngest daughter we brought a folding playpen bed with us and checked it in on the plane as a separate piece of luggage. Such accommodation cost us only 90 dollars per day: 45 dollars per adult, and children under 14 years old are free of charge (our beauties are 11.10 and 2 years old). This price included three meals a day for everyone! The food, by the way, is pretty decent. Buffet. The choice of dishes is small, but you won't leave hungry. Especially delicious meals. Dinners are more modest. And for breakfast, you could always take porridge for the child, which you won’t find in most other hotels during the day with fire.

In general, everything that is stated on their website http://www. villaalisa. com is true.
The room was cleaned and towels changed daily. Everyone is very friendly - both the Russian management, and the service staff (Filipinos), and the Pakistani driver. As we were told by the people who recommended this hotel, at Villa Alisa you will feel like you are relaxing in a friend's country house. And this is true!
The only drawback of the villa is the lack of a private beach. Therefore, they take those who wish to swim to the beach of one of the coastal hotels. This beach is paid - the entrance is 40 dirhams per person (about 320 rubles). Free only for very young children under 2 years old.
And one more small fly in the ointment. If you get a room with a sea view (and the view is really gorgeous), do not rush to rejoice. Since there is a very busy road between the villa and the sea. Noisy, especially at night. Especially if you can't sleep. However, if you have already fallen asleep, then the sounds no longer interfere.
And in general, for the ridiculous money that they will take from you, all the shortcomings can be treated philosophically. And if you really love (or are just about to discover) this country, but cannot afford a luxury hotel, go to Villa Alice without a doubt. By the way, a small hotel has advantages: you can agree on a more convenient transfer time for you to and from the beach (by default - there at 9.30 and back at 13.00), move check-out a few hours, ask to feed you if you are late for dinner, etc.
The villa has its own swimming pool - small, but nice and clean. Although... if you came to the sea - why do you splash in bleach?

If this is your first visit to the UAE, a variety of excursions can be booked at the reception. And we acted differently. With a small child, you don’t particularly travel on long-distance excursions, and we organized the neighbors ourselves. In the lobby of the Coral Beach Hotel (where they take Alice to the beach), you can take free booklets "Museums of Sharjah", incl. in Russian. There is a description of each museum and its location on the map. Sharjah is the most enlightened and cultural emirate, it has a lot of museums. Take a taxi and go!
Be sure to visit the Sharjah Aquarium. Marvel at electric rays, huge turtles, pulsing jellyfish, dancing crabs and more.
And also go to the Wild Life Center - animals and birds that live in the desert and oases are collected there in natural conditions. You will be surprised how inhabited these endless and, at first glance, lifeless sands!
In the neighboring emirate - Ajman (this is very close) - there is a very interesting ethnographic museum, where scenes of ancient life are recreated.
Unfortunately, we did not get to the museum of calligraphy, the house-museum of the Arab pearl trader and many other interesting objects. But, as the Arabs say, “Inshallah” (“God willing! ”), We will return there.