Green House Guest House 

Initially I thought about booking a room with booking.com or similar internet service, but after contacting the hotel directly we found a bit more attractive price, so we made the reservation over phone and transferred required sum. Now I’m confident that for this particular hotel such kind of reservation works safely. I believe you can do the same. We arrived to Sochi to Adler airport which is about 30 km from the hotel. Official taxi service was presented in the arrival hall but they offered transfer to this hotel for 1500 Roubles. Fortunately I did my homework and collected a list of other taxi companies. That’s why I immediately ordered a taxi through Internet with certain discount and for me it cost 630 Roubles only. Please follow my advice and have phone numbers of taxi companies which you could call right from the arrival hall while you are waiting for your luggage. The hotel’s interior impressed us from very first steps in the lobby. It was a bright hall with shiny marble floor and reception counter decorated with brown polished wood. The check-in passed quite smoothly and fast as they had been waiting for us. We got a huge room on the second floor with wide window and balcony overlooking snow-covered pool below and Black Sea somewhere in the distance. I must mention here that the hotel was located on the hill and the view was terrific and I anticipate that it should be absolutely fantastic especially in summer. Ceiling lights in the room could be switched on both from beside the entry door of and from bedside. So we didn’t have to get out of bed and walk to the door to switch off the light. I know this is not something special but still that was very convenient. We noticed an air conditioner on the wall but obviously we didn’t start it as we were staying during winter and room temperature was already pretty comfortable without additional chilling. However we noted that this appliance would be extremely useful in summer. On the contrary, since outside temperature in Sochi in beginning of January was slightly above zero (35-40F) the room was heated with real hot water radiators under window-sill. That’s why we felt very comfortable in the room. Like a said, we got spacious room with double bed. The bed was wide and very comfortable indeed with white spotless linen and many pillows. We slept well and enjoyed our rest. Rather modern wide Samsung LED TV was in front of the bed. It worked fine but had very few analog channels. Fortunately RT TV channel (Russia Today in English) was found in TV set. Good. Wireless internet also existed and certainly was included into our rate. Surprisingly I discovered a Wi-Fi router in our room on lower shelf of a bedside table. Judging on its flashing lights it was working but for me it wasn’t obvious how to connect to it, attached labels didn’t shed light. But after calling to reception we knew to which wireless network to connect and what password to enter. It worked quite fast even for watching movies online. Everything was nearly perfect until this moment. But then we realized that our room didn’t have an electric kettle. That was the biggest disadvantage, please recall title of this review. For such a tea addict as I, absence of a cup of fresh hot tea was like a disaster. Moreover, we were staying on the second floor and for each gulp of water we had to walk to water dispenser located on the first and third floors only. That was awfully inconvenient. On the top of that we saw only small glasses with thick base not suitable for drinking tea. Although receptionist was so kind to provide us with coffee cups, which were too small for tea, the next day we visited a cup shop for buying normal tea cups. Thus they became additional souvenirs from Sochi. Nonetheless, I‘d suggest a tradeoff to the hotel’s management: please deploy a water dispenser on the second floor as well if it’s not possible to dedicate electric kettles to rooms. Bathroom was bright and absolutely clean. Shower cabin is sufficiently spacious, I could freely turn around and even juggle with a sponge if needed. However showerhead was vertically fixed on the cabin’s wall and could not throw water in other directions. I always had to hold it in one of hands and direct to wherever was needed. Surely, it was not a big problem, it was rather an inconvenience. Branded hotel toiletries were generic but with pleasant scent. I didn’t mind using them alternating them with mine. Hair dryer was in a drawer under bathroom sink. Towels existed, bathrobes weren’t hanging in the bathroom but were available for extra charge 150 Roubles per a bathrobe. Unfortunately we noticed that faucet was extremely loud and when it was working it was audible even in the room. It was so loud that could easily wake up somebody. Breakfast in that hotel was one of the best and deserves many pleasant words. It was held in a beautifully decorated dining-room on the ground floor. Additionally to generic selections of food which can be found in other hotels they offered good hot oat porridge, cottage cheese casserole with sour cream. One day additionally to oat porridge they added buckwheat porridge. You know, I’ve never seen buckwheat porridge in other hotels for breakfast. And I enjoyed it with milk. I recommend. There were even potato with fried ham and pilaf. They even put beef stroganoff. I wished I had them all for dinner, not for breakfast. Nevertheless all that meal was available and its variety impressed us. Several types of tea bags were found on the tea table. Coffee was served on demand, don’t hesitate to ask. During low seasons buffet breakfast changes to on demand menu which was also pretty eatable. As we stayed a bit longer after Russian winter holidays, we covered both high and low seasons and had a chance to taste both types of breakfast. Those days we ordered oat porridge and curd cake. Tea and coffee were also available. This dining-room certainly serves as a restaurant in the evening. But we never tried it because we mere never had a chance – we usually were away from the hotel exploring the city. Still I can recommend a couple of other places for evening dinner. First of all, you can go down the hill to the crossing with Kurortny ave. It should take about 7 minutes and you will see “RIS” restaurant and “Kinkalnaya”. We dined in both as they worked till late at night. Climbing up back to the hotel took about 9 minutes especially after hearty dinner. Actually “RIS” is a chain of restaurants. We found and enjoyed coffee with dessert in another one near the lighthouse in the center of the city. By the way, please don’t be afraid of “climbing the hill” back to the hotel: sidewalks are covered with good asphalt; you can check this on Yandex.Panorama (a kind of Street View). But we were keen on a restaurant called “Rukkola” on Vorovskogo 36, visited in several times, please check my other more detailed review here on Tripadvisor. They were situated in the center of the city and served perfect European cuisine; we were thankful that our hotel receptionist advised visiting that place. To reach center of the city and majority points of interest, you could take one of municipal bus routes. The nearest bus stop is only 20 meters from the hotel’s entrance. Most bus routes passing there will carry you to the center of the city with restaurants, shops, promenades and all other places in a few minutes. By the way, if you need cash, ATM is located right in the hotel’s lobby – very convenient. The conclusion should be obvious: I’m seriously thinking about visiting Sochi in April or May and this hotel will be one of the first I’ll be considering.