Hotels in Loo

The centre of the village runs along Tallinskaya, Azovskaya and Vesennyaya streets: the pebble beach is a five- to ten-minute walk away, and the market, cafes, scooter rentals and Loo station, where commuter trains leave for Sochi, are all close by. Most of the guest houses and small hotels are concentrated here, and this is also where the village's few star-rated properties stand. It's the right area if you've arrived without a car and want everything within reach; on summer evenings you can hear music from the main resort street, so with small children it's worth looking at the quieter blocks.

North of the federal highway the village climbs into the hills — this is Dekabristov and Yeniseyskaya streets, cooler and quieter than the seafront, with the beach fifteen to twenty minutes away on foot or a couple of minutes by minibus. The main draw here is the health resort complex with its year-round water park, so people come not only in swimming season but in winter too, for the pools and slides. It suits families with children and anyone travelling by car: almost every place has parking in the yard.

The beachfront in Loo means a few dozen metres to the pebbles, the sea from your window and the option of going down to the water three times a day if you feel like it. The shore here is pebble and sand and runs the length of the village, and sun loungers and umbrellas are almost always paid for separately from the room. These buildings are the first to sell out for July and August, so it's best to book them well ahead.

A guest house in Loo means a simple room with a shower and air conditioning, a shared or private kitchen and a parking spot in the yard; breakfast is usually charged separately or isn't offered at all. It's the format for people who come for the sea and the sun rather than for hotel service, and who use the room only to sleep. Before booking it's worth reading recent reviews — especially on soundproofing and the state of the plumbing: in photos the rooms sometimes look fresher than they turn out to be.

With children it's easier to stay away from the main resort street: there's a pool and a garden in the yard, room to run around, and quiet under the windows in the evening. The walk to the water takes a little longer than from the centre, but in the August heat this part of the village is noticeably cooler, the entry into the sea is gentle and the pebbles are small. Almost every place has parking, which makes it convenient if you've driven here.

For two or three weeks it makes more sense to take a place with its own kitchen and washing machine than a hotel room — that way you won't be eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in cafes. Options like this exist both in the centre and on the northern edge of the village: on Obkhodnaya and Tayozhnaya streets and in the garden co-ops beyond the highway, where you park right under the window and the evenings are completely quiet. The sea is a twenty- to twenty-five-minute walk from there, but such places cost noticeably less than central ones for comparable rooms.

The top of the range in Loo is three-star hotels and private villas with gated grounds, a pool, a sauna and a cafe of their own; there are no five-star hotels in the village. People come here when a well-kept garden, a spa and quiet matter more than the showcase of a big resort. If you want service on the level of the large Sochi complexes, it's more sensible to stay in central Sochi or Adler and come to Loo for a day at the beach.