gardengrl

Going to a Winter Olympics is on my husband's bucket list. Add to that, that freestyle pipe & park skiing are in for the first time (older son's favorite sport) and my husband speaks Russian (although has never been to Russia) he has it in his head it's a great idea for a family trip.

First, wondering if anyone has been to Sochi? Any advice for getting there, particularly NOT flying through Moscow? We are coming from the east coast of the U.S. and could go out of NYC, BOS or Montreal.

Second, anyone here ever attended the Winter Games anywhere? How easy is it to get tickets to venues? Honestly, would could care less about the big events, like figure skating and hockey. Probably more on the hill alpine events (not necessarily ski racing though), and perhaps some nordic. How much did you see hotel rooms, etc. jacked up for the Olympics over the usual cost.

Any other advice is appreciated as well! Thanks

tower

suggestion: fly to Kiev and connect to Sochi via Krasnodar. I don't think there are direct flights from Kiev to Sochi so you may have to change to a more local puddle jumper in Krasnodar. As an alternative, there should be a train or bus from Kras to Sochi(approx 150 kms.)Possibly just for the olympics, there may be some direct flights from Kiev.
What an exciting trip in store for the family!
stu

TracyLynn

Gardengrl,
My husband and I also plan on going to the Winter Olympics in Sochi. I have just started doing my 'recon'.
We have been to three summer Olympics and it is relatively easy to get tickets. In the past, one agency has been given the task of selling event tickets in the US. Since we are not going to London, I am not sure who is doing it this year. Anyway, about a year or a year and a half before Sochi 2014, there will be an announcement about who is selling the tickets. Logon to their website and sign up for their emails.
We generally go to the less expensive events. Softball was $8pp. I think fencing was our most expensive at $60pp.

Airfare: It looks to be about $1300pp/rt this year. On Kayak the top ones to come up are AlItalia and Delta. Both use Aeroflot which my husband is not too fond of. Since both of those airlines go through Moscow, we are thinking about spending 3-4 days there after Sochi. It will be cold, but we probably won't be in that area of the world again.
Hope this helps. If I get any other info I will pass it along.
TracyLynn

TracyLynn

Gardengrl,

I just found out that the US event ticket agency for London2012 is CoSport. This is the same agency that was used for Beijing2008 and Athens 2004.
https://www.cosport.com/

My thought is that they will probably be used again for Sochi.
TracyLynn

colduphere

I know TracyLynn was in Beijing because I slept beside her - okay one room over. You might want to eventually look at flying through Istanbul on Turkish airlines. And if you have not been to Istanbul it is worth a few days.

I would be very surprised if tickets are sold out for many events.

gardengrl

Thank you for your replies! Now begins the big save-up. Yes, going to Istanbul sounds fabulous!

tony_bobfan

Hi,

I have just started looking into travel to Sochi as well, and if you go to Kiev then you also have an option of a train journey from there to Sochi, which takes about 30 hours.
- so this would avoid Moscow.
- you could also fly to London and take train to Sochi via Kiev and use the train journey as part of the adventure.
- bahn.de says that takes 42 hours via Paris, Munich, and Budapest.

I have seen on About.com a post that says that ferries from Turkey are hard work in winter.

I attended the Vancover 2010 Winter Games as a fan from GB, and it was great!! Very friendly people and well organised.
- I watched Bobsleigh and Curling when I was there.

I hope this is helpful.

Regards, Tony

tony_bobfan

Hi,

I forgot to make a comment about getting hold of tickets.

When I went to Vancover 2010, I felt that since I was going a long way I should make sure that I had my main event tickets organised, so I used an Authorised Ticket Reseller (ATR).
- which was Sportsworld, who were great!
- Cospan seem to be organised as well.

I arranged to pick up my tickets in Vancover as I booked at last minute.
- Cospan seem to offer this as well.

Sochi2014.ru says that they will have ticket reselling in Sochi, which will work but if you definitely want certain events you might want to buy in advance.
- I bought most of my Vancover tickets in advance, and 2 in Vancover.
- VANOC also have a trading site for people who could not use their tickets, and controlled the issueing of new tickets when sold on that which gave me protection for my purchase on that.

If you want to take a chance then you can, but if you have come a long way then you might want the certainty of seeing something.

I hope this is useful.

Regards, Tony

Moglin

You can try flying via Istanbul, there's a direct flight from JFK and then a short 2-hr flight to Sochi. Don't stay in Moscow even for 1 hour in February, it will be the most miserable experience for you if you are not used to temperatures like this.
Someone commented on Aeroflot - I would take them over Delta any time. About a decade ago they were a typical Soviet company but things have changed dramatically since then, and the prices are very compatible (esp. JFK-SVO flight).
All in all, you will probably have a great experience. Different. We decided not to go (despite the fact that my parents live there hence a free place to stay). I want to see how Sochi will make the whole thing work.....

gailscout

I went to the Calgary games in 1988. Even though I have watched the olympics for years on tv, I did not realize how long many of the events are - especially the various ski events. I ended up with tickets for afternoon events I could not use. There was also a central location where people would end up selling tickets - pre-Craigs list obviously - or look to purchase tickets. Even outside the figure skating events, non-scalpers, would sell tickets. Probably not like that now or in the past decade. Wonderful memories of the week in Calgary.

surfmom

we are considering going... late, I know to organize everything, but nothing is available yet anyway. Frustrating trying to book things - either $$$$ or nothing available. Looks like Sochi is a large (geographic) city, so trying to pay attention to that.

Everything I read says that last minute everything opens up - hotels, tickets, etc.

Looking at staying a few days in Moscow afterwards - I know it will be cold, but thinking about springing (with points) for the Ritz Carlton right on Red Square. I think it would be magical and if only a few days, possible.

anyone else? thoughts? experiences?

sparkchaser

I looked into doing this and after doing a bit of searching, I might not do it. The tipping point wasn't the lack of lodging or price of tickets or even the language barrier. It was safety. I have had several Russian and Ukrainian colleagues and acquaintances, plus a sweet woman from Georgia, caution me on going citing safety, and emphasizing (wink, wink) Sochi's close proximity to Georgia.

I'd love to go though.

surfmom

sparkchaser - fair point. And one that I hadn't considered.

Struggling with what to do - found airfare that is reasonable (JFK-AER, AER-SVO mid-week, and SVO-JKF).

Hotels? non-existant. not really crazy about staying on a cruise ship. Also concerned that I would eventually find something and not in a convenient area (apparently Sochi is extremely long and thin). Would rather stay in the Mountain Cluster area, but I think those will be tough hotels. Everyone says things will open up, but it feels like a gamble.

Tickets? would need and not at the exorbitant cosport prices. I find it interesting how different countries official ticket sellers have different prices for the same tickets.

I would be more willing to risk it if we weren't a family of 5. grrrrr.

surfmom

ok, since I wrote my last response, I had a conversation with the little surfs (serfs?). Littlest one (age 9) wants to go to Universal. REALLY wants to go there. Last time, he wasn't tall enough to ride The Hulk and other big roller coasters and apparently, it is a bigger deal than I realized. Oldest surf (age 13) wants to go to the Winter Olympics ... but not only with me - as a family.

we are at an impasse. At this time, Florida is cheaper by $$$$, so I've been outvoted. Will have to wait for a year that seems interesting (not really interested in South Korea).

colduphere

Does the 9 year old understand he can watch Olympic curling in person?

trvlgirlmq

There are a lot of hotels still being built and I don't know if reservations have opened yet. It may be very last minute as many of them won't open until January or so.

surfmom

cold, excellent point. curling WOULD be the highlight.

trvlgirl, lots of hotels still being built - I talked to a person at Marriott corporate today and they aren't releasing any rooms at all - they will be taken by corporate and Olympic committees. We probably could risk it... just not totally comfortable because they aren't many Plan B options.

specs

We might be going to the opening week of the Olympics in Sochi.

It seems that the only way to get to Sochi is thru Moscow. I know there are flights from Frankfurt to Moscow to Sochi. Are there daily flights to Moscow from other European cities? We'd like to spend a week in Europe before the Olympics. Any suggestions for cities other than Frankfurt with good airline access to Moscow?

Note to surfmom: I consider Universal a once in a lifetime experience because having been there I would never go back again. Seen one theme park, seen 'em all IMO. Each and every Olympics is a once in a lifetime event in that they all happen for just a brief moment in time and they are all unique.

sparkchaser

<i>It seems that the only way to get to Sochi is thru Moscow.</i>

Incorrect.



<i>Are there daily flights to Moscow from other European cities? </i>

Of course. Why wouldn't there be? It's 2013 -- the Cold War has been over 20 years. You can even fly there direct from the United States, believe it or not.



<i>Any suggestions for cities other than Frankfurt with good airline access to Moscow? </i>

MUC, DUS, TXL, NUE, CDG, AMS, LHR, LGW, EDI, GLA, WAW, KBP, AGP, MAD, LIS, VIE, ARN, RIX, VNO, IST, KIV, PRG, etc. I think you'll notice a pattern here.

specs

Duh. My bad. Lesson learned: never do travel research when you are too tired to think clearly. Thanks for all the suggestions and the wake up call.