Where is Sochi? Sochi: Russia, Krasnodar region

Sochi is a Russian resort city located on the Black Sea coast. This region is often called the Russian or Caucasian Riviera. Why is the area where Sochi and other cities on the Black Sea coast are located compared to popular European resorts? Does the Caucasus belong to Europe or Asia? Geographic maps provide answers to many questions: physical, climatic, political and administrative.

Sochi city (Russia)

Sochi is a city in the south of Russia in the Krasnodar region, located on the Black Sea coast. It is the country's busiest seaside resort and host of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Sochi is called the resort or summer capital of Russia, as well as the “pearl of the Black Sea”. This is a colorful southern city, which is famous for its long coastline and wonderful beaches, warm and clean sea, delicious cuisine and picturesque nature.

Sochi is one of the largest cities on the entire Black Sea coast, which became widely known in the world after it was declared the capital of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. This sporting event significantly influenced the life of the entire city and its infrastructure. Sochi is one of the fastest growing and dynamically developing resorts in Europe. The city receives about 4 million tourists annually. The vast majority of them are Russian citizens.

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Geography and climate

Sochi is located in the south of Russia on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea at a distance of 1600 km from Moscow and 300 km from Krasnodar. The city stretches for almost 100 km along the picturesque mountains of the Western Caucasus. From the southwest, Sochi is bounded by the Black Sea, from the east by the Psou and Mzymta rivers, from the north by the mountains of the Caucasus Range, and from the west by the valleys of the Magri and Shepsi rivers.

Panorama of Sochi

Sochi is the warmest city in Russia, having a humid subtropical climate characterized by hot summers and humid summers, as well as warm and rainy winters. Snow and frost are rare. From October to March there is a huge amount of precipitation (700-800 mm).

Population of the urban district

Tourist information

1. Population - 444 thousand people (districts - 600 thousand people).
2. Area - 176 km2 (Greater Sochi), 3506 km2 (urban district).
3. The average altitude above sea level is 65 m.
4. Administrative division - 4 districts: Khostinsky, Central, Adlersky and Lazarevsky.
5. National composition: Russians (70%) and Armenians (20%). There is also a large share of ethnic Ukrainians, Georgians, Greeks, and Circassians.

Sochi coast

Urbanization

The table shows the urban population of the microdistricts of Sochi proper. The municipal formation of the resort city of Sochi also includes an urban settlement and rural districts. The population of the municipality of the resort city of Sochi is 530,391 people. (2020), including:

Urban (within city limits: microdistricts) - 411.5 thousand people. (83.5%)

Gorodskoye (within the city limits and the urban-type settlement of Krasnaya Polyana) - 416.2 thousand people. (84.5%)

Rural (rural districts: villages, towns, auls) - 76.4 thousand people. (15.5%)

Dynamics of urban and rural population

84.56% of the population of the municipality live in urban areas (Sochi, Krasnaya Polyana).

The best beaches in Sochi

• Riviera is a famous pebble beach in the central region of Sochi near the park of the same name.
• Imeretensky is a long beach in the south of Sochi, almost on the border with Abkhazia.
• Primorsky is another beach in the center of Sochi not far from the park. It has a length of more than 500 m.
• Albatross (locals call it Santa Barbara) is a wide pebble beach not far from the hotel of the same name.
• Del Mar is a chic paid beach on the main Sochi embankment.
• Beach of the Dagomys microdistrict with a clean area and convenient entrance to the sea. Length - 700 m.
• Blue Sea is a famous paid beach in the Central region of Sochi.

Best time to visit

Sochi is the most popular resort in Russia. The beach season here lasts from June to October. In winter, the ski season begins in the mountains. The best time for a beach holiday is, of course, the period from July to September. The ski season usually starts in December and ends in the first half of spring.

Already in June, the water temperature in the Black Sea reaches 20 - 21 °C. By August the sea warms up to 25 - 26 °C. In September, the water temperature remains at a comfortable 22 - 24 °C.

Symbolism

The flag and coat of arms of the municipality were approved on January 21, 2003[6]. The coat of arms repeats the Soviet coat of arms of the city with the exception of external decorations in the form of a wreath with the motto and the “Hammer and Sickle” emblem. The symbolism of the flag reproduces the symbolism of the coat of arms.

The blason of the modern coat of arms, according to evidence, sounds like this:

The shield is divided into four parts by silver and scarlet, on top of which there is an azure shingle, burdened at the top with a silver bowl without a stand, accompanied at the top by a scarlet thunder arrow in the belt, and below by silver drops without number. In the first part there are three silver mountains, thinly bordered with azure; in the second part there is a golden palm tree; in the third part there is a flaming golden sun (without an image of a face); in the fourth part there is a thin azure lowered, chipped, curved belt.

Story

The territory of modern Sochi was inhabited thousands of years ago by mountain tribes and throughout its history was subjugated by the ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans. In 1829, after the Russian-Turkish War, the northeastern coast of the Black Sea was recaptured by the Russian Empire. In 1838, a military fort was founded here. This date is considered the founding day of Sochi.

Panorama of Sochi

Sochi received its modern name in 1896. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, this place began to enjoy the fame of a resort. In 1917, Sochi received city status and a railway. A new round of development of the city occurred in 1934, when under Stalin a large-scale reconstruction of the city was undertaken.

By the way, most of the city’s religious buildings date back to the Stalin period.

In 1961, the surrounding settlements were united into an urban district. After the collapse of the USSR, Sochi became the summer residence of the President of Russia. In 2007, the city received the right to host the Winter Olympics, and in 2014 it hosted the Olympics and Paralympics.

Post-revolutionary heyday

When the revolution occurred, the new Soviet government did not abandon the Black Sea city.

True, we had to go through difficult times during the Civil War. As throughout Russia, military operations took place in the Black Sea region.

Moreover, historically it turned out that the fratricidal massacre ended in Sochi. At one of the city dachas, on May 2, 1920, the parties signed an act of unconditional surrender of Anton Denikin’s army of 60 thousand people. The military leader himself, the commander of the White Guards, left Russia forever from the port of Novorossiysk even before the signing of the act.

The period after the civil war became a new era of development for Sochi:

1. In the 1920s, the only bison reserve in the young state was founded. Today it is called the Caucasian State Biosphere Reserve named after Kh. G. Shaposhnikov.
2. The railway station was completed, and the areas damaged during the hostilities were completely restored by the authorities.
3. In the 30s, Sochi became a huge construction site. The city was undergoing reconstruction of local infrastructure, roads were built, and new sanatoriums were opened.
4. The famous funicular, which connects the buildings of the Sochinsky sanatorium, was also built in 1932-1934.

Post-revolutionary period.

How to get there

Sochi has an international airport located in the Adler region. It has regular connections with some cities in Europe and the CIS (Vienna, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Minsk, Yerevan), as well as with most major cities in Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Surgut, Novosibirsk, Ufa.

Sochi is also a major railway junction. The city has two train stations and regular connections with other Russian cities. In the summer season, the number of destinations and their intensity increases.

Purchases

Large shopping centers:

• Moremall
• City Plaza
• Gorki mall
• Mandarin
• Sun City

Markets:

• Central market on Moskovskaya
• Adler market on Democracy.

What to buy in Sochi: leather goods, crafts made from boxwood and juniper, tea, wine, churchkhela, honey, spices, nuts and dried fruits.

Sochi

Attractions

Olympic Park

Olympic Park.
Fisht Olympic Park Stadium is one of the main attractions of Sochi and the central site of the 2014 Winter Olympics. It was built in the Adler district on the Black Sea coast. Not only the competitions took place here, but also the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. The park is adjacent to an autodrome (where, for example, Formula 1 races take place), as well as an Olympic village.

The most significant objects of the Olympic Park:

• Fisht Stadium is the largest building in the Olympic Park, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games, as well as matches of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The stadium is now the home arena of the local football club.
• The Olympic flame cauldron in the central square is 50 m high.
• Singing fountains are one of the main attractions of the Olympic Park. It is a synthesis of light and water jets of different heights, changing intensity to the music. A very beautiful sight to enjoy on warm evenings.
• The Bolshoi Sports Palace is the second largest building in the park, a hockey arena.
• Iceberg - ice palace.

Sochi Park

Sochi Park
Sochi Park is a theme park that is considered one of the best in Europe. Includes 21 attractions, a dolphinarium and the Bogatyr hotel. Sochi Park is divided into 6 thematic zones dedicated to Russian fairy tales and folklore. There are several unique attractions here, including the fastest and highest slide, as well as the exciting Firebird.

The official website is https://www.sochipark.ru, where you can buy tickets and find out the opening hours.

Marine Station

Marine Station
Marine Station is one of the symbols of Sochi. This is the central element of the Sochi seaport, built in 1955. The building is topped with a tower with a 71-meter spire. There are three fountains on the territory of the marine terminal, and its interior is decorated with stucco, columns and ceramics.

The most interesting side of the building is facing the sea. From here you can see that the station tower is decorated with three tiers of sculptures. The first tier is located at a height of 20 meters and is called “Seasons”. It consists of 4 five-meter sculptures depicting summer, autumn, winter and spring. On the second tier, at a height of 26 meters, the cardinal directions are represented. The third tier, located at an altitude of 35 meters, is decorated with figures of 12 dolphins.

Arboretum

Arboretum in Sochi
Arboretum is one of the most famous parks in Sochi, founded at the end of the 19th century. It covers an area of ​​more than 45 hectares and includes more than 1,800 species of plants brought from all over the world. The central element of the park is the Nadezhda Villa, which was built in 1899 by the founder of the park, Sergei Khudekov.

The arboretum is located on the slope of a mountain. You can climb to its top by cable car.

Rosa Khutor

Rosa Khutor
Rosa Khutor is one of the most famous ski resorts in Russia. Located about an hour east of Sochi in the Caucasus Mountains. Rosa Khutor includes 132 km of ski slopes, 56 ski lifts, and many excellent hotels.

Crime

Sochi authorities constantly report a decrease in crime in the city. But judge for yourself whether this can be. The city employs a large number of unskilled workers between the ages of twenty and forty. Some of them have a criminal past, which employers have little interest in. Many of those who came to work on the construction of Olympic facilities expected exorbitant wages. We don’t argue that in some places construction sites pay good money, but only to skilled workers and engineering and technical personnel.

What do you order the builders to do when wages were delayed at the Olympic venues? People who came to Sochi to improve their family’s well-being do not even have enough money to return home. Some people go on strike to seek the truth, others commit crimes. We are not making excuses, we are stating a well-known fact: along with the Olympic construction, the number of crimes in Sochi has only increased. This is especially true for crimes related to encroachment on the property of citizens.

Fisht Stadium. Photo by natalia (https://fotki.yandex.ru/users/nnp1603/)

The installation of CCTV cameras provided for by the Safe City program did not produce much results. Every second crime in the city is not solved. But one such camera, including maintenance, costs about three hundred thousand rubles.

They say that the cream of the Olympic pie was shared not only by the government, but also by the criminal world. Who knows, maybe that’s why the number of crimes involving firearms has increased in Sochi. But we were much more shocked by another crime.

On the night of August 6, 2010, in the Golubye Dali microdistrict of the Adler region, a 70-year-old old woman and her 17-year-old grandson were brutally murdered. After the crime was committed, the apartment was set on fire. A minor student, Ilya Orlov, and his grandmother received several stabbing wounds, the pensioner’s hands were tied behind her back. It turned out that the old woman had witnessed a crime. Moreover, having seen how the girl was being raped, the woman began to shout that she remembered the criminals. For which she paid with her life, and not only her own. It turns out that in order to protect your loved ones, you need to remain silent more... The conclusions are not encouraging.

Interesting places and buildings

Summer Theater
Summer Theater is a cultural object in the park named after. Frunze, built in 1937 in the style of Stalinist classicism.

Winter Theater

The Winter Theater was built in 1937 and has a portico topped with a pediment. This building is also a striking example of the architecture of the Stalinist period.

Church of the Archangel Michael

The Church of the Archangel Michael is the oldest temple in Sochi, built at the end of the 19th century in the style of traditional Russian religious architecture.

Abandoned sanatorium Ordzhonikidze

Kurortny Prospekt is the central street of Sochi, 10 km long. The avenue was formed in the 40s of the 20th century and renamed in 1957 to Kurortny. In its vicinity there are several interesting places: Singing fountains, the monument to the Golden Fleece, the Stalin's Dacha museum, the abandoned Ordzhonikidze sanatorium.

Art Museum

The Art Museum is one of the most interesting museums in Sochi, the collection of which includes more than 6,000 exhibits (including archaeological finds from Antiquity, paintings and sculptures). The museum is housed in an impressive building dating from 1936.

In Sochi you can see the ruins of several ancient buildings:

• The Byzantine Church in Loo is an ancient Byzantine temple built in the 10th-12th century on a hilltop. The church was rebuilt in the 14th century and later turned into a fortification.
• Godlik is an ancient Byzantine fortress built in the 4th - 5th century AD. Located in the Lazarevsky district of Sochi near Kurskaya Street. The fortress has a triangular shape and is not very well preserved. Although in its structure one can discern fragments of towers and limestone walls. The length of the perimeter walls is about 700 meters, and the thickness reaches 2 meters. The walls are topped with battlements, which were added in a later period by the Genoese.

33 waterfalls

Natural attractions of Sochi

The surroundings of Sochi are extremely rich in natural attractions: picturesque waterfalls and gorges, mountain peaks and tourist routes.

• Mountain lake Kardyvach is one of the picturesque places of the Caucasus Biosphere Reserve. This place lies at an altitude of almost 2 km and is surrounded by rugged mountain peaks. Lake Kardyvach is located beyond Krasnaya Polyana almost on the border with Abkhazia.
• Fisht is one of the largest and most famous peaks in the Western Caucasus. It has a height of 2868 meters.
• Akhun is a mountain in the Khostinsky district of Sochi, on the top of which a beautiful 30-meter tower with an observation deck was built in the 40s of the 20th century.
• Vorontsov caves are one of the largest cave systems in Sochi, located near the village of the same name.
• Nadzhigo waterfalls are a group of picturesque waterfalls on the Gumyshtepe River. The largest of them has a height of 32 meters.
• Polikarya is the largest waterfall in Sochi and one of the largest in Europe. The water here falls from a height of 70 meters. Located near the village of Krasnaya Polyana.
• Gluboky Yar is a 42-meter waterfall, at the foot of which there is an entrance to the cave.
• Maiden's Tears - a beautiful waterfall on the way from the airport to Krasnaya Polyana.
• White Rocks is a picturesque canyon on the Khosta River.
• Akhshtyrskaya Cave is a unique natural object, which in ancient times was the site of a primitive man. The cave is located in the Dzykhrinsky gorge near the village of Kazachiy Brod.
• 33 waterfalls - a magnificent cascade in the Dzhegosh tract (between Lazarevsky and Gorny Loo).

Travel to the Black Sea

On the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus Mountains there are the most famous and popular resort towns among the population. Most of the year it is warm and sunny here, which is conducive to a relaxing holiday. The azure sea beckons and the snow-covered Caucasus delights. To all this we must also add clean air, the bright green of broad-leaved forests and the dark green of coniferous forests. In Sochi, in addition to resort advantages and healing opportunities, there are valuable natural monuments and cultural and historical attractions. A rich entertainment program is offered by the cinema and concert hall, theatre, and circus. You can visit the arboretum, oceanarium, water park, dolphinarium, explore the city museums, and visit the port.

Bus and walking excursions complement swimming and relaxing on the beach. There are conditions for playing sports and combining them with a cultural program. Thrill-seekers enjoy rafting down mountain rivers, diving, kitesurfing and yachting. Hiking trails lead to the Bolshoy Akhun recreational area. Here are the cascades of the Agur waterfall, an observation tower at an altitude of 630 m. You can visit the sculpture of Prometheus breaking the chains. Legends say that the gods punished him for helping people. According to ancient legends, on the western slopes of the Caucasus is the very rock to which Prometheus was chained. The city of Sochi in southwestern Russia attracts numerous visitors throughout the year. There are ample opportunities for the development of beach, excursion, family, cruise, sports and other types of tourism. The bright and hospitable city is reminiscent of a caring Prometheus, who gave people his love.