In this week’s government’s decision all tourism infrastructure in Russia – that includes hotels, ski resorts, beaches, and other tourist and recreational venues – will go through mandatory classification. And it will all start with hotels in Sochi.

Hotels in Russia are not in a hurry to get classified, as the procedure can be expensive, but the benefits are not always clear. Currently, only 5% of all Russia’s hotels went through classification. Meanwhile, Sochi’s commitement to the Olympics is 57 000 hotel rooms ranging two to five stars. Mandatory classification of all hotels will help to understand what is currently missing, what needs to be built.

How soon all this will start rolling wasn’t annouced.

On unrelated (well, related to hotels) news, Hilton will open Doubletree by Hilton Sochi-Adler hotel in the year 2012.

Turkish Airlines announced launch of flights from Istanbul to Sochi this summer season. Flights to Sochi will be three times a week.

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone said he aims to bring the motor-racing series to Russia by 2012 and New York by 2013, in a move to have up to 20 events in the Grand Prix calendar.

Formula One will most likely be held in the Russian capital of Moscow or in Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, while at least three places have been identified for a circuit outside Manhattan, Ecclestone said.

This info is from Bloomberg.

Formula One is quite popular in Russia (my brother is huge fan, and doen’t miss a single qualification or a race), and Russian fans have had hopes for Moscow to get onto the F1 series calendar for years. The location for the stadium outside of the city has been selected, and, if I’m not mistaken, even the construction has been started. However, no finalized plans and dates were ever stated, and I don’t know where this project is. There have been talks about F1 and Moscow’s government not agreeing on how to split the profits.

This season, for the first time ever, a Russian pilot, Vitaliy Petrov, is participating in Formula One, as one of the Renault drivers. Btw, if you are flying Aeroflot this April, check out his interview in their onboard magazine.

Formula One has already been to Sochi, last year with exibitory race. It was Renault who brought it’s cars to Sochi. Here are some pictures from that event.

(c) shuriksochi

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m sorry, this picture is probably a little aggressive. But that’s what jumped into my head when I read new Sochi mayor’s initiative: all waiters and cab drivers will have to learn English or loose their jobs.

I recognize that it’s extremely important for services to be available in English by the time Olympics hits the city. And it’s really great that there will be free opportunities for everyone to learn it. But the ultimative tone of the mayor with which it was announced during his press conference irritates me a great deal. Let’s look at this straight – it’s really hard to learn a foreign language, and it’s harder yet to keep what you’ve learned if you don’t use it. Along the fine improvements promised, which should improve live in the city, come real problems to many when their lives come across anything related to the Olympics – people loose great living locations, property, businesses, or will be relocated quite far from where they lived all their lives. And now you intimidate them with possibility to loose their jobs? That’s just not right.

Well, this is the the twist in the news of the day, which is apparently, soon, English language courses will be available to all Sochi residents – free. No dates have been mentioned, it just been revealed that the money for this are allocated for in the target-program «Sochi — hospitable city».

And this is the good news!

Because stuff like this is embarrassing: Read the rest of this entry »

Sochi native Alexey Voevoda (Алексей Воевода), and his teammate Alexandr Zubkov won Olympic bronze medal yesterday in two-man bobsleigh event in Vancouver!

This is Alexey’s second Olympic medal – he won silver in the four-man bobsleigh event at the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin.

Congratulation Alexey!

Alexey Voevoda

Vladimir Putin, working as a prime minister of Russia these days, said today during live video call with Vancouver, where the Olympic Games will take off in a couple of days, that preparations for the next Olympic Games (to be hosted in Sochi, Russia) have already attracted 500 billion rubles ($16.5 billion US). He also confirmed that so far we are on time financing and time vise.

“Laura” (Gazprom) ski resort

Горно-туристический комплекс “Лаура” (Газпром)

About:

“Laura” (name came from the name of the local river) ski resort was built by Gazprom company, and is second most popular ski park in Krasnaya Polyana. Today they have 16 trails, and more (higher up the mountain) are under construction.

Pros: new resort – modern lifts and infrastructure.
Cons: during warmer days there is no snow, while on «Alpika» there could be snow on the highest trails. It’s also popular among VIP persons, so parts of the resort can be closed during their visits.

How to get there:

Public transport doesn’t go directly to «Laura» resort, as far as I know. But it is located very close to the “Alpika Service” resort, which is is final stop for all public transportation going to Krasnaya Polyana. So, there could be some shuttles going to the Laura.

When driving, make left turn 400m before Alpika, Laura only 500 meters down the road.

Public transportation to Alpika

From Adler’s Center:

• Bus № 135 — 50 rubles ($1.7)
• Minibus № 135 — 60 rubles ($2)

From Sochi (Central district) and from Airport:
Bus № 105 goes from central district’s bus terminal every hour, and makes a stop in the airport in Adler.

• from Sochi bus terminal – 64 rubles ($2.2)
• from airport – 50 rubles ($1.7)

There’s also minibus from from central district’s bus terminal – 65 rubles ($2.2)

Taxi prices:

• from Sochi: taxi firms – 1300-1400 rubles (~$45), private – 2000 rubles ($68)
• from Adler: taxi firms – 1200 rubles ($40), private – 1000-1200 rubles ($35-$40)

Taxi rides to get around Krasnaya Polyana are 200-350 rubles ($8-$12). There are no taxi service firms in Krasnaya Polyana, you’ll have to catch a ride with private taxi cab.

Prices (2009-2010):

Ski lifts/passes (weekdays/weekends/holidays, 9:00 – 17:00):

• adults: 1000 / 1200 / 1500 rubles ($34/$41/$51)
• children: under 7 yo — free; 7-12 yo — 50% off

There’s also Evening rates (17:00 — 23:00 : ~ -$10) and Day + Evening (~ + $10).

Read on to see trail map and photos Read the rest of this entry »

Sochi administartion introduced ban on smoking in public areas – all educational, healthcare, and cultural establishments are declared smoke-free zones. Smoking is no longer allowed in parks and beaches as well.

Smiking is allowed in open-air cafés, though.

There already are similar federal laws in effect in Russia limiting smoking in some areas. But they are seldom enforced, and same thing will likely to happen to this piece is local legislation.

I’ve installed ratings plug-in on this site, which adds 5-star rating widget to the end of each article. It available when you open an article. Please rate my posts, this will help me understand what I should write about and how. Thanks!

The Nissan Russian Adventure 2010 got underway with the opening ceremony yesterday in Sochi. You can follow the event – blog, videos, photos and results are available – on the official website.

“Alpika Service” ski resort

ККД «Альпика-Сервис»

About:

“Alpika” ski lifts were first in Krasnaya Polyana. Today they have four queues of ski lifts servicing 1698 meters drop (from 540  до 2238 meters above sea level). First lift queue was built in 1992, and fourth in 2004.

Pros: great slopes, an location for skiing.
Cons: old and slow lifts. Also, many people complain about service and food.

How to get there:

From Adler’s Center:

• Bus № 135 — 50 rubles ($1.7)
• Minibus № 135 — 60 rubles ($2)

From Sochi (Central district) and from Airport:
Bus № 105 goes from central district’s bus terminal every hour, and makes a stop in the airport in Adler.

• from Sochi bus terminal – 64 rubles ($2.2)
• from airport – 50 rubles ($1.7)

There’s also minibus from from central district’s bus terminal – 65 rubles ($2.2)

“Alpika Service” is final stop for all buses and mini buses going to Krasnaya Polyana.

Taxi prices:

• from Sochi: taxi firms – 1300-1400 rubles (~$45), private – 2000 rubles ($68)
• from Adler: taxi firms – 1200 rubles ($40), private – 1000-1200 rubles ($35-$40)

Taxi rides to get around Krasnaya Polyana are 200-350 rubles ($8-$12). There are no taxi service firms in Krasnaya Polyana, you’ll have to catch a ride with private taxi cab.

Prices (2009-2010):

Ski lifts/passes (weekdays/weekends/holidays):

• adults: 1000 / 1200 / 1500 rubles ($34/$41/$51)
• children: 500 / 600 / 750 rubles ($17/$20/$25)

Rentals: 300 – 1500 rubles; open 8am – 5pm.

Read on to see trail map and photos Read the rest of this entry »

Since there’s still some time left in current skiing this season, I’ll post details on all ski resorts of Krasnaya Polyana the next few articles.

I recently stumbled on a Whitelines Snowboarding Magazine article about a snowboarding trip to Sochi’s Krasnaya Polyana published back in 2006. The authors’ feedback in this article about Russia, Russians, and Sochi is very negative. Nonetheless, it’s a view of a person who actually went to Sochi, and it has a right to exist. So, I’d recommend reading it to anyone thinking about going to Sochi, especially for a winter trip.

In spite of author’s disappointment with Russia, he does recognize and praise unique nature’s gift of Krasnaya Polyana. The article is rather long, so I’ll quote only some paragraphs about KP here.

on Krasnaya Polyana
…we hiked and rode all day. For large parts of it, I was out of my comfort zone – particularly as it was only my second day riding of the season. But it turned into one of the most memorable days riding I’ve ever had. Krasnaya’s incredible terrain helps to explain why so many people make the trip to this tiny, out of the way Russian resort. It is a serious mountain with serious dangers, but the rewards and scope for exploration for those with enough experience to handle it are limitless.

on living in Sochi (from Englishman living there)
How is it living here?
It’s great. In the winter I ski and ski, and in the summer it’s walking and mountain biking. It’s great here. There are actually more people here in the summer than in the winter. And there’s a yacht club 40 minutes away. So in the summer it’s fantastic, sometimes you can ski in the spring, and then in the afternoon you can take a yacht. It’s a great time.

on doing business (from the same Englishman)
So difficult is that to get off the ground? Is there a lot of red tape?
As soon as you speak the language, everything here becomes very transparent and open. You understand what’s going on. Without the language it’s pretty difficult. But I think our pub will be ready by the end of 2007.

… and conclusion
One thing is for sure: the secret is out about Krasnaya. How it develops from here is impossible to say, but it’s going to be interesting.

You can read the complete article here: From Russia with Love

Sochi Winter Music Conference 2010

The Fifth winter music conference SWMC 2010 is to take place in Sochi Marins Park Hotel conference hall on February 4 to 7. The conference is known as the most significant forum for both music industry professionals and electronic dance music amateurs. Its traditional format will comprise two-day business forum and rich three-day music program involving all Sochi club sites.

The conference will gather well-known show business figures, professional music journalists, showmen and DJs, producers, sound producers, promoters, night club and record company owners and managers, event managers, radio and TV presenters, booking agents, brand managers, festival organizers, and representatives of other spheres in music industry.

Dozens of special music events, planned to take place during the conference, will give a chance to colorfully spend the week-end in the form of a non-stop party and enjoy a great variety of electronic dance music genres. As part of SWMC extensive night program, around a hundred Russian and foreign DJs and musicians are meant to perform at the event. It is these parties that yearly attract electronic music and dance club culture amateurs from all over Russia and neighboring countries. Participants and guests gladly spend February first week-end at SWMC special parties and Sochi night clubs, which is a sure indicator of SWMC contribution to event tourism development in Russia.

Official website: www.swmc.ru