Review - Garden City, Egypt ⭐️
(Update - December 2021. The Facebook page for Garden City has been removed, so it may well be that it has now shut. I’ve contacted the owner to try and find out more.)
Shortly after I started this website, I began to see Facebook posts highlighting a new resort, Cairo Garden City.
I was excited to be able to go to an Egyptian themed place,, and wondered what the blend of the ancient and modern would be.
The months passed, and nothing seemed to come of it, until last month when I got a message, telling me that it was shortly going to open.
It turns out that London (the owner of NuWave Destinations, which also owns the Savasdee) had spent almost every day of the past ten month building what has turned out to be an astonishingly detailed and immersive resort experience.
London developed the concept and designed the murals, with Inori Raikage and Gemini Rhose working on landscaping, and interior design is from Loly Hallison.
For me, Cairo Garden City is up there with the now shut Lotus Palace, as the gold standard in a Second Life resorts, so much so that Margeaux DuPont (who came with me for the weekend) and myself extended our stay for a few more days.
Here’s the review from our stay:
Overall look and feel
I often think that Second Life resorts that try and mimic something from RL are like theme parks. They give a flavour of the place, without being a direct copy.
And the reality is, making a direct copy is almost impossible to do given the challenge of fitting everything into one or two sims.
In the case of Cairo, I’m glad they’ve not tried to do an exact replica as the RL Cairo is a huge, sprawling place. Instead a resort has been created that I’d say is 70% Ancient Egypt and 30% Modern Egypt.
For me, this is the right way to go, and it’s what most guests will probably want.
But I loved the way the ancient and modern blend, for example Ancient Egyptian themed murals are placed along the road, in the villas and in public areas such as the restaurant.
Actually, in this way it reminded me of some five star hotels I’ve seen in Sharm El Sheikh and Hurgahda (on Egypt’s Red Sea Coast) which have added Ancient Egypt themed decor to their builds.
The resort actually spans two sims, ‘Cairo’ and ‘Alexandria’, the latter having sea, beach and sports activities on offer if that’s what you want (my view? You can get a beach in lots of places, we skipped this and spent time walking around the sim taking it in).
Each sim has an airport, with a helicopter service connecting the two. An awful lot has been packed in, from a replica of the Sphinx to a bazaar type area, so much so that you’d be hard pressed to see everything. We certainly missed quite a lot and intend to go back soon.
A final mention should go to the overall lighting and effect, the resort Windlight seems to have a permanent evening feel and the ground literally shimmers when you are walking across it (you do need advanced lighting on and region environment enabled).
Overall - 5/5
The villas
The interior design of the villas came from Loly Hallison.
We stayed in the "Hathor Goddess of the Sky" villa, which featured a kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom and upstairs bathroom (with a gold toilet!).
Our villa (and I had a look inside the others) was beautiful and exquisite. No, it didn’t have a private pool (the larger group villas do), but actually - so what? Again, there are plenty of resort experiences where you can get a pool with your villa and it’s not what we came for.
You also get a choice of car parked out front. I went with a Silver Jaguar. We never used it though, preferring to walk.
One thing I will mention is the prices, if you are coming as a couple it will cost you minimum 5000L a night.
I didn’t begrudge paying what I did given the unique experience on offer and the amount of time it had taken to build it, but it will of course be a factor for some.
However, if traveling as a group (and some villas can accommodate up to ten), the cost per person of course is much less. On that, I wonder if the resort should offer a specific couple’s package?
Overall - 4.5/5
The facilities
A non-extensive list of facilities include a reception building with rooftop pool, a bazaar, a replica of the Grand Mosque, an antiquities museum and the Dahabi restaurant, where Margeaux and myself had dinner one night.
Here, the detail and design was excellent, right down to the menus we were given.
Then there is the Cleopatra nightclub, which would be a great place for a birthday celebration, or some other special occasion.
Finally, we booked a spa experience at the Hamman El Hanna Spa, and I had a ‘shave’ at the barbershop. Margeaux made a point of mentioning how impressed she was with both the look of the spa, and the staff, based on what she’s experienced in RL.
The truth is though, the whole resort is the experience. This is a place where you don’t have to “do” anything, the joy actually comes in discovering it and taking it in.
And on that, one thing I would change is moving the bus tour (on offer when you book), to a walking tour. As mentioned, this is a place where you will want to walk and see everything slowly.
Overall - 4,5 / 5
The animations
Our villa had a MH Elara Bed Adult bed, which I believe was customised by Loly Hallison, the villa designer.
The bed anims worked well, but we actually ended up rezzing our own, which as a guest you can do.
The sitting and cuddle animations in the villa were quite good, while the restaurant ones, though they took a bit of adjusting, were standard.
Overall - 4 / 5
Other considerations
This is a restricted resort, you need to book via the Facebook page. You then get a group tag on ‘check in.’
As this is an incredibly detailed build. I did experience some lag,. You need to have advanced lighting enabled to get the full effect and on high graphics, on a 2019 Macbook pro, I was sometimes stuttering along at 5-6fps. However, Margeaux on windows, told me she was getting a better 13fps.
The resort is adults only, this is not a family venue.
Overall
I’ve mentioned the price. Coming here is not cheap, but I think it is worth it.
Just like in the real Egypt, staying at the famous Mena House with the view of the Pyramids is going to cost you more than staying at the Holiday Inn Cairo, and so it is here.
This is somewhere where it’s worth saving your Ls for and coming for a special occasion.
Want to impress a new significant other? Bring him or her here.
Is it an anniversary or birthday, and you want to do something unique? This is the place.
The detail, design and look and feel is exceptional, and as I’ve mentioned we weren’t even able to take in all of it, which is why we will be coming back. Definitely highly recommended.
Garden City Facebook page (this is a closed sim / resort, you need to book by sending them a message).
