Отличный бюджетный отель с прекрасным рифом Great budget hotel with a great reef

The hotel was chosen primarily for the beloved Gardens Bay, the budget and the beautiful beach.

Check-in and check-out. We had an early flight and a late flight. Since there are very few people in the hotel, the buildings behind the reception, in which those who had a “standard” ticket, are closed, then everyone is settled in the buildings between the reception and the sea. We were settled in room 4111, this is the second tier from the sea near the pool. Buildings on the first tier from the sea start at 6. Surcharge for reception - $ 20. This, of course, is how you bargain, some gave 35, but for 20 it was possible to agree. For this money, they immediately settle in rooms closer. Those who did not pay extra were settled a little higher, at the reception level. In terms of distance, this is not critical, but if you really want to live closer to the sea or with a sea view (we didn’t care about the view and we didn’t ask for a sea view, the view was on the pool), then get ready to pay extra.

Towels for the beach are issued and changed by the cleaner, upon departure they must be handed over to the reception. The room key card is one per room, they do not issue a second one, which is inconvenient. If you need to open a room, you need to ask the cleaner, he is on the floor all day or go to the reception. In principle, this was the only obvious drawback found.

Breakfast was not offered to us, the bracelets were hung up at 10.00. I must say that the staff somehow didn’t really bother with the question “where is the bracelet”. Some tourists even took pictures of them and no one asked. On the last day, the parents went to dinner, no one said anything and was not kicked out of the dining room. Check-out, as elsewhere, at 12.00. Surcharge for extension of the number - until 15.00 - $15, until 18.00 - $25, until 20.00 - $45. We paid extra 20 and extended until 16.00.

Wi-Fi at the reception seems to be there, but it catches weakly and not always. I had a local SIM card, my parents tried to get the Internet from the reception, it didn’t work. I understand that you need to ask them to reboot the router.
It's easier, of course, to buy a SIM card.

I liked the number. Yes, everything is not shiny new. But for this category of budget "fives" it was an excellent number. The beds were quite comfortable "one and a half". They brought us a third bed, this is a bed, not a folding bed. Wardrobe, safe, everything is in place. The number is like a number. If you find fault, you can find out that here and there something is already old, but in general everything worked for us. The light above the bathroom was not on in the bathroom (we didn't even notice), the cleaner himself called an electrician.

Cleaning. Here it must be admitted that the cleaner Said not only twisted swans, an elephant and hearts from towels for us and laid out red hibiscus on the bed, but also really cleaned it with high quality. Several times we had not closed the door to the room and the guard knocked on the door and asked: “Are you all right? The door is not closed. " Every day the cleaner left two 1.5 liter bottles of water in the room.

Staff. I really liked the atmosphere in the hotel.

A combination of care, kindness and unobtrusiveness. There was no obsessive offer of any additional services. Even the comrades on the beach who offered their services of diving, excursions, photo shoots, oil sales, etc. did it without undue pressure. Believe me, I have something to compare. I saw reviews where they write that they are looking straight into their pocket and extorting money, I did not feel this. I gave baksheesh (tipping) within reasonable limits, this is normal, but no one extorted anything from me.

Animation. 3 boys, all Egyptian. They honestly try. Volleyball on the beach, exercises, stretching, zumba, water aerobics in the sea. In the evening, a program on the terrace, then dancing. We are not particularly fans of watching animation, but there were Miss and Mr. Hotel and a fire show. We went to the fire show, we liked it. Children's animation was also. One of the animators actively fiddled with the children on the beach, there was a children's disco.
I don’t have children, but this question was asked and I took a closer look at this aspect. The kids club, as I understand it, does not work. In general, animation is standard for Egypt. The guys generally make a positive impression and, again, on the one hand, they involve, on the other hand, they do not pressure them to participate in activities.

Territory. This is where my love is. Kudos to the architect. One feels that the hotel was priced like a luxury five-star hotel. The three-story building, where the reception and the restaurant is located in the middle of the territory. Above it are the numbers of the standard, which are now closed and the water park. Below are the suites (called Coral), the road to the sea and the pools. This hotel has a completely gentle slope. Very convenient for people with joint problems and with strollers. A gentle descent from the dining room down into the center of the hotel. It turns out such a central alley.
If you turn right from the pool on the first line, then there is a completely gentle descent to the sea without steps. The hotel was built in the Moroccan style, two-storey buildings. On the second floor there is a balcony, on the first floor there is a terrace. Round turrets with gabled roofs create an interesting architectural solution.

The pools are beautiful and clean. We did not look for a heated one. People swam without heating, but I can’t say anything about the temperature.
The adjacent Continental Garden Hotel is now out of business and is now in a derelict state.


Beach. Just great. Sand line by the sea. Plastic beds with mattresses. I won’t say everything is super new, but not dead either. There are broken beds and torn mattresses, there are whole ones. There was nothing to be uncomfortable about lying down. Umbrellas have a strange solution in two layers (a circle and an additional diameter is attached around it, there is a hole between them). There are many palm trees on the beach. In general, there is both shade and sun.
There were few people, there was enough space for everyone. The bay is closed, the wind from the shore does not penetrate here. It started to blow from the sea in the afternoon, a couple of times there was a red flag for 1-2 hours. In the morning there was a perfect calm.

Entry into the sea from a plastic pantone. Pantone, like all its brethren, wobbles great when you walk on it. Its condition is monitored, there are new segments and already requiring replacement. There are no handrails or ropes along the edges of the pontoon. The only way to get on the pontoon is by stairs. For older people or those with back, leg or arm problems, this is difficult. The pontoon ladder has a negative angle, in order to get out, you need to pull yourself up on your hands. The handrails, fortunately, are wrapped with a rope and do not slip. There is a wooden pier on the beach of the closed hotel. You can go there along the beach, there is a barrier rope, but we climbed over it, no one stops.
There you can go down the stairs, but the bottom two steps are broken, you have to be very careful. In addition, this pier was chosen by major surgeons. In general, you can go down, but, again, with caution. There is a shore entry. You can swim in the shallow water and hang out with the kids. Depth is around the thigh. First comes the sand, then the stones. You can, in principle, swim from the shore. We did this with my mother, as it turned out that she could neither jump from the pontoon, nor, moreover, climb onto it (she underwent spinal surgery in the summer). We swam from the shore, keeping close to the pontoon, there are not high corals, it was quite possible to swim at high tide, after lunch it was already very dumb.

There are lifeguards Arafat and Mohammed on the beach. Budget hotels often save on beach staff and they whistle the maximum for swimmers for corals. Here the situation is different. Arafat is generally the father of the whole beach.

There is a moray eel, it can also often be seen in a cave not far from the pantone. Once I even watched how she “walked” - she crawled along the bottom with the grace of a Kaa boa constrictor, two meters long. In the morning the water is clearer and there are more fish.

Nutrition. Considering the crisis, the coronavirus and the fact that the hotel is budget, I expected much worse. Yes, there is not much variety and every day everything is the same. But everything is delicious and it's hard to stay hungry. In the morning they make to order scrambled eggs and scrambled eggs with additives (vegetables, cheese). There is pasta on order (with you they will add what you order, if you want it spicier or not). You can make yourself muesli with milk. Jam, honey and maple syrup of your choice. Meat, chicken, fish and french fries are given in portions, the cook imposes a small piece. One day was a kebab on the grill. There are a variety of stewed vegetables, salads (surprisingly quite edible). Fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers.
There were fruits (melon, oranges, tangerines, pomegranates, guava), although they were quickly taken apart. Sweets - oriental, sugar-soaked shortcakes, biscuits and three or four types of puddings. Baking - buns, puffs. There are several types of hard and soft feta cheeses (I really liked it, especially if you spread it on a tomato). Parents tried the puree soup, they were very pleased. Colored powder drinks, cola, sprite, tea. In general, not chic, but for the money - more than. The waiters are friendly, not arrogant, everything is cleaned very quickly. Tables are clean. The polish on the tables is sticky, but that's a feature of the table top, not dirt. There are no additional restaurants.

Bars and alcohol. We have not tried alcohol. He is, tourists say that he is bad. But in Egypt, most often it is bad. They said that the beer that is poured into glasses for free is not very good, but the one that is in cans and for $ 2 a can is completely nothing. There is a bar on the beach, there are two near the reception.

We took only water, soft drinks and tea. There were no problems. In front of the reception there is a cafe "Habibi", where you can drink natural coffee for money. There is no hookah, as it is prohibited throughout Sharm (for me, sadness).

Quarantine. It's more non-existent than it is. There are many tanks with antiseptic and signs that you need to be careful and keep a distance of 2 meters. But no one really cares. Tourists are not forced to wear masks, even in line at the canteen. The staff sometimes wear masks, sometimes not. When they need to say something to each other, they lower these masks on their chins, and then put them back on with their hands. In the dining room the usual buffet, no menu service. Sometimes they remember the coronavirus and start taking their temperature at lunch or dinner.

On the territory there are shops where you can buy oils, fruits, souvenirs.
The seller of oils (green pharmacy) walks along the beach and very politely invites you to visit his store, gives out a brochure describing the properties of oils. Promises a good price. Mango in the hotel shop was $2, in the Old City for $1.2. There is no pharmacy on the territory, but this is such a popular business in Sharm now that medicines can be ordered online, as well as a transfer to the pharmacy.

The contingent of vacationers. Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Egyptians. There were few Egyptians, there were no large and noisy families with many children. I understand that for poor Egyptians this hotel is expensive. In general, people were pleasant, without obscenities and rudeness, the atmosphere was very relaxed. One day at Charm Plaza, a vacationer said to me: "The main drawback of this hotel is our people with bulging eyes. " So, this time in the "Continental" I did not come across anyone with bulging eyes. Everyone was very positive and pleasant.

Departure to the city.

The hotel is not well located for walking. The hotel taxi asks for $15 to the Old Market and back. You can walk to the hotel gate and take a taxi there (there is always a car at the entrance) or walk to the highway. The road is about 800 meters away. On the highway, you can already easily catch a taxi or minibus. The normal price of a taxi is $3 to Naama Bay, $5 to the Old City, $6 to Farsha. You can bargain even less, but this is already if it’s really hard to bargain and when you arrive, they start begging or demanding another dollar, like no, you agreed on a different price. Minibuses run very infrequently. There are very low prices, officially 5 pounds, but they want to bring tourists for 1 dollar per person. We drove once - we waited a very long time and agreed on a dollar per person to the Old Market. Again, you can order a transfer to the pharmacy, skimp, and then go for a walk.
What is nice, if the driver shows his passport at the entrance, the taxi is allowed into the hotel.

In general, I really want to return. The hotel left a great impression. Perfect for a budget family vacation. If you like luxury options with chic and varied food and parties - you are not here.