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Sochi Station
Olympic Park Station
Rosa Khutor Station
Rosa Khutor Station
Rosa Khutor Station
Olympic Park Station
Olympic Park Station
Olympic Park Station
For more information about Sochi, use the site: www.sochimagazine.com
For accommodation and other services, contact: bruce@destinationsochi.com
Accommodation options in Sochi, Adler and Krasnaya Polyana are being booked rapidly for the period from now until the conclusion of the Games. However, new hotels, guestshouses and other options are also being added to existing inventory. Destination Sochi has a very complete database and an extensive network in Sochi, so we are constantly being updated on new inventory. Contact us about your accommodation needs: bruce@destinationsochi.com
Olympic Park Station- Sochi
Yesterday I took the new high- speed rail from Sochi to Krasnaya Polyana for the first time. The system, which began operations on November 1, is a spectacular improvement to the infrastructure in Sochi. The trains are new, the ride is smooth and fast and the views are great. I went from Sochi to Adler (through stops at Matsesta and Khosta stations) and from there past the airport. At this point, the train accelerated to 115 kilometers per hour and we made the journey up the Myzimta River Valley to Krasnaya Polyana in about 20 minutes. Along the way, the train passed over the river and through the steep mountain gorge.
We caught glimpses of snow-covered peaks as we approached Krasnaya Polyana. The train stopped for a few minutes at Esta Sadok Station and just after we left that station, passengers had views of the ski jump, where athletes will compete for gold in February. Then we passed the huge new development at Gornaya Karusel and the train arrived at the last station, Rosa Khutor (which like Esta Sadok and the rail line is new,too), less than 5 minutes later. I disembarked there and walked about 250 meters to Fort Evrika, a small hotel near the oldest ski lift in Krasnaya Polyana and just a short walk from Rosa Khutor. There were quite a few other daytrippers who had come from Sochi to ride the rails and to see the views, the new stations and the mountain resorts being finished for the Winter Games.
I have made the trip from Sochi to Krasnaya Polyana hundreds of times over the last few years. It can take anywhere from 2- 4 hours based upon traffic. Even from Adler Station it is never less than an hour and can take 3 with traffic. But I just made that distance in less than 30 very comfortable and relaxed minutes.
Esta Sadok Station
Rosa Khutor Station
I was first in Krasnaya Polyana in 2004 on a short trip to Sochi with friends. This was 3 years before Sochi won the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and at that time I was not even aware it was a candidate. We drove up the road and spent 2 nights at Fort Evrika. Then, this was pretty much the end of the road. There were only a few hotels in the area and the small mountain village of Krasnaya Polyana. There was not much to do, either. We took the single chairlift to the top of the mountain next to the hotel, saw the views and had a raft trip for several hours down the river.
Fort Evrika Hotel
While I was riding the train to Krasnaya Polyana and, after, when I walked to Fort Evrika, I thought about that first trip. It never occurred to me at that time that I would return to Krasnaya Polyana, much less that I would do it very regularly on a road choked with trucks and buses delivering construction materials and workers to massive mountain developments. And when I went to Fort Evrika, I looked at the small hotel now dwarfed by the new resort just up the road at Rosa Khutor, another just down the road at Gornaya Karusel and flanked by a world-class train station suitable for an Olympic destination.
Rosa Khutor and New Lift
Next, I rode back down to Adler and switched to the train bound for the Coastal Cluster. I followed this route because the direct route between the Coastal and the Mountain Clusters is not yet open. However, it is only a few kilometers from Adler Station to the station at the Olympic Park, so it was a quick trip. I have watched the station being built there for the last several years, but it was the first time I was onsite. The building is not yet open, but the platforms and the approach to the Olympic Park are prepared.
Olympic Park Station
Olympic Park Station
Several times I asked for information about train arrival and departure times. The main criticism I have of the system was that the information I was given was typically not accurate- even when I asked in Russian. However, these are growing pains in a system that is only a few days old. I noticed that train conductors had badges which identified the languages they spoke, most were pleasant and helpful.
All of the new stations- Adler, Esta Sadok, Rosa Khutor and the Olympic Park are built on a spectacular, grand Olympian scale and capable of handling thousands of passengers per hour. Sochi has a 21st century transportation system, leapfrogging the issues caused by traffic and construction on the road system.
Adler Station
We are providing trips to Abkhazia from Sochi. If you would like guided tours, travel information and reservations please contact us. Abkhazia, is the Black Sea's undeveloped Pearl for tourism. Abkhazia boasts beautiful mountains, alpine lakes, inviting beaches, interesting cuisine, some of the world's deepest caves and interesting cities such as Sukhum and Gagra. See it now, before it becomes a "destination" for adventure travel.
For tours/travel into Abkhazia, contact: pavel@destinationsochi.com
In the summer of 2011, the new Hyatt Regency Sochi began construction. The hotel rises from one of Sochi’s most central locations- the large lot between the Park Hotel and the Primorskaya Hotel. It fronts the very central Ordzhonikidze Ulitsa (Street) on one side and on the other the hotel building towers above Sochi’s famous boardwalk and faces the Black Sea. The hotel’s rooms have great views of either Sochi’s coastline or the city and Caucasus Mountains. The last several years, it has been an interesting process to watch the hotel rise floor by floor over the heart of the city.
I met with General Manager Jean Francois Durand earlier this month (September 2013). Mr. Durand has a long history in hotel management, both in Europe and in Russia. He was the General Manager at Hyatt Regency Hotels in both Yekaterinburg, Russia and in Dushanbe Tajikistan. He was also the Executive Chef at the Ararat Park Hyatt in Moscow. Jean Francois gave me a tour of the 198-room hotel as it readies to open before the Winter Games. We toured the hotel rooms, restaurant and bar areas, reception and function spaces and he told me about his vision for the hotel. With his background in food preparation, Jean Francois has taken particular interest in the development of the two restaurants in the hotel. Parterre Restaurant, the larger of the two and with longer hours, will have a mix of European and Russian “comfort foods”, while Bourride will provide Mediterranean specialties to hotel guests and other diners.
The hotel rooms will feature not only great views through floor-to-ceiling windows, but the comfort and understated elegance that the Hyatt brand is famous for. Individual rooms range from 37 to 190 square meters and are situated from the 6th through the 14th floors of the hotel. The entrance to the hotel will feature a dramatic drive-through approach from Orzhonikidze Ulitsa.
Guestroom
The hotel also has a number of function spaces that will serve as locations for events in Sochi for many years to come. The conference hall is about 450 square meters and will be a great meeting spot because of the great height and shape of the space, its size and the dramatic windows that will provide views of tree-lined Ordzhonikidze Ulitsa. Since the hotel is a very short walk to the Winter Theater and the Festivalniy Concert Hall, just across the street from Sochi’s Art Museum and only steps above the beach, it will be an important destination during events such as the Sochi International Economic Forum, Sochi’s Kinotavr Film Festival and the international sport events that are about to put Sochi on the world’s event map.
Ordzhonikidze Ulitsa (Street) Entrance
Jean Francois and I talked about the path that led him to Sochi and how his hotel will appeal to the increasing number of international guests who also are finding their way to Sochi. He said that the Sochi Hyatt Regency aims not simply to be a hotel, but rather a destination that will be an important part of the city’s social fabric, as guests come for dinner and drinks and to enjoy the unique ambiance that Hyatt has so successfully created with their Regency brand.
The Hyatt Regency is located at 15- 17 Ordzhonikidze Ulitsa (Street) in Sochi. Look for an opening in December of 2013.
Please contact us for accommodation: bruce@destinationsochi.com
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