In September and October the city attracts fewer visitors, partly because of the start of the school year. These two months, when the Black Sea is still warm, air is not very hot, and streets are not filled with tourists' crowds, seem to be the most enjoying time to visit Sochi.
The off-season autumn , coming to Sochi in the end of October, is warm, but with more cloudy days and rain. Sochi is one of the most multinational cities in Russia with people of more than ethnic groups living there.
Russian is the predominant language spoken by almost everyone in the city, including nearly all minorities, but many local placenames came from Abkhazian and Circassian languages. Orthodox cathedrals are represented in all the parts of the city. The only Catholic cathedral in Central Sochi was built in most churchgoers are Catholic Armenians.
There is also a mosque, albeit a very small and remote one in Tkhagapsh community, 15 km towards the mountains from Lazarevskoe. The city authorities are planning to build a new mosque and a synagogue by Greater Sochi occupies km along the Black Sea coastline.
However, most of the population is spread along the narrow coastline stripe, while the mountain area 1, square km mostly belongs to Sochi National Park and partly to Caucasian Biosphere Reserve. The city alignment is from north-west to south-east, from the neighboring city of Tuapse right to the Russian border with Abkhazia.
Greater Sochi has 4 administrative districts. Central Sochi District is the core of the city and its most developed and populated part. Many of the city attractions, hotels and most shopping centers are there.
During the summer season, Central Sochi is usually overcrowded and traffic-jammed. Lazarevskoye District is the largest km 2 and the longest 65 km coastline one among Sochi districts, includes 34 sub-districts, most of them are spread along the sea shore. Lazarevskoe district is less urbanized that other ones in Greater Sochi.
In fact it has many various settlements, often poorly connected with each other and lacking basic infrastructure. Khosta District is to the south-east from Central Sochi, this district contains some major attractions, such as Akhun mountain.
While Adler District is the city's important transport hub, which includes Sochi International Airport, Adler train terminal final point for most trains going to Greater Sochi and the only open border crossing with Abkhazia. The role of Adler is rapidly increasing now because it will host all the Olympic venues for the Games the Olympic coastal cluster at Imeretinskaya lowland and the mountain cluster at Krasnaya Polyana.
By the look of Imeretinskaya lowland and Krasnaya Polyana has drastically changed, as well as the local transport infrastructure.
The best developed, urbanized and monolithic part of Greater Sochi is the coastline between Dagomys south-east of Lazarevskoe district and Imeretinskaya lowland of Adler district. Like elsewhere in Russia, the Russian rouble RUB is the only currency officially accepted in the city. Money exchange is not a problem, but use only official counters at banks and avoid people offering you exchange at major transport hubs.
By Russian legislation passport is needed for exchange operations. Take into account, that Visa and MasterCard are widespread in Russia, but American Express cards are usually not accepted even at major tourist places. Also, expect possible problems with paying by card at minor shops or restaurants and at small private hotels.
Have some cash with you for such cases. Sochi is among several Russian seaports, where international tourists have the opportunity of visa-free entry for up to 72 hours applicable for cruise ships and ferry line passengers only.
Check limitations and requirements carefully before use. For other foreign visitors standard Russian visa requirements apply. Several flights per day connect Sochi with Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Taxi service at the airport is chaotic, taxi drivers can rarely speak English, and the declared price for a ride can be inadequate. To protect yourself, book taxi or hotel transfer in advance.
The price varies greatly depending on the district you are going to. Russian Railway company has completed a two-way railway to Sochi airport and it is the easiest way to get to Sochi Adler from the airport. Tickets are fairly cheap and the train goes approximately every hour. Sochi has two major rail terminals in Central Sochi and Adler. RZD opens ticket sales 45 days prior to ride, book in advance during the high season.
There are regular train connections with key cities of Russia, and also with major cities of Belarus and Ukraine. Round-the-year destinations include:. During the high season May to September the number of trains and the diversity of destinations increase dramatically. The quality of this busy road differs from a narrow serpentine to a highway depending on its section, tending to improve during last years.
Normally it takes 2 days to reach the city from Moscow and hours from Krasnodar , depending on traffic. Going to Sochi from Europe you can use transit roads through Ukraine or Turkey. In the last case a car can be transferred to Sochi from Trabzon by ferry. Entering Sochi via Georgia and Abkhazia is impossible because the border between these two countries is closed.
Sochi main bus terminal is near the main train terminal in Central Sochi. The second important terminal is in Adler.
Going to Sochi by a cruise ship or by a regular ferry can be an attractive opportunity to visit Russia without a visa. Passengers are allowed to stay up to 72 hours at Russian territory if they live at the cruise ship or at the hotel, which is arranged for this particular group tourist program.
Unsurprisingly, up to now, most international tourists come to Sochi by cruise ships please check the itinerary. The seaport of Sochi operates several regular international routes, mainly in the period from May to October:. There are also regular ship connections with neighbouring cities of Novorossiysk , Tuapse and Gagra , Abkhazia.
Within Central Sochi most distances are walkable, with some regard to hilly landscape and appropriate physical efforts needed. Other districts of the city have signuificant spaces between their parts, so it's better to use some transport to get, for example, from Matsesta to Kudepsta or from Loo to Lazarevskoe.
To walk between districts and sub-districts of Greater Sochi is also usually not convenient due to lack of sidewalks, hilly terrain, and intensive traffic. It may seem that the city extended along the sea coast should have long promenades. In fact, most of the coastline space behind the beach is taken by the railroad. The other one is under construction in the Olympic Park of Adler.
Due to the resort specifics of Sochi, the usual approach there is to measure the distance in meters from the beach. This may play a bad joke: you can find yourself at a hotel or apartment close to the sea, but far away from any infrastructure and transportation.
So, be attentive while booking. In contrast to other Russian cities of the same size, Sochi does not have any trams or trolleybuses. The initial bus transportation system after the collapse of Soviet Union was doped with smaller private buses and marshrutka minibuses. The last category mostly duplicates the existing bus routes with some minor, but often useful additions. The service is quite frequent and relatively cheap, that makes it the most popular way of transportation in Sochi.
Numbers from have flexible fare system depending on the travel distance. The km length of Greater Sochi makes the trains one of the fastest and most suitable transports to travel between the city districts. Sochi used to have the only track along significant part of the route between Tuapse and Abkhazia , beading 5 major stations, 4 minor ones, and 28 platforms inside the metropolitan area.
Preparing for the Olympics, Russian Railways RZD built two new lines, connecting Adler, International Airport, Imeretinskaya lowland and Krasnaya Polyana region , having a total length of 48 km, with 5 new stations. Commuter trains of Sochi have been constantly improving, upgrading from standard Russian elektrichki to modern and comfortable ones. One or two trains run daily to Krasnodar and Maykop.
One-way ticket for a ride in an old train elektrichka from Sochi to Lazarevskoe has a travel time of 1 hour and 45 minutes. A ride on a new commuter train has a travel time of 50 to 70 minutes. While summer hot season brings more interregional trains to Sochi, the number of local commuter trains is decreasing for that period.
So, there are only 6 round-the-year local trains 16 in off-season period. The good news is that each long distance train will also stop at Adler, Khosta, Sochi, Loo and Lazarevskaya stations, so it is possible to travel inside the city by these trains.
The bad news is that you will need a passport each time you are buying a long-distance train ticket. As usually in Russia , putting your hand out on the street will attract several cars willing to earn on your ride, and only a few of them will be licensed taxis.
Such unofficial transportation is still popular in the country because it is usually cheaper and faster than official taxi services. In the same time, it is less safe, cars are less comfortable etc. You will hardly find any English-speaking taxi drivers in Sochi. So, unless you are a bit adventurous or familiar with Russian , it is highly recommended to use mediators such as hotel receptionists to arrange a ride.
Even official services rarely use meters, more often measuring the fare by time of ride or using fixed prices. Have cash with you as only few services accept credit cards. Driving style in Sochi is more chaotic than in most parts of Russia : southern blood affects it. So, expect the road culture similar to that one in Greece or Turkey and be extremely careful while driving, if you have finally decided to do that.
Another issue is that Sochi is extremely lacking parking space, especially in the central part of the city. Drivers often have no alternatives to leaving their cars at bus stops, pedestrian areas etc. Together with the fast increase of car users this leads to traffic jamming at the streets. Regular ship service from Central Sochi to other city districts was stopped in due to an obsolete fleet and several local piers' destruction.
Restoration of this shipping is underway. The city bike rental service allows a bike to be taken and left at any of 30 automated terminals pilot ones are installed in Central Sochi and Khosta districts. The service is free, but you must leave a deposit before you return the bike.
There is also work on cycle lanes allocation in the city. However, Sochi is still uncomfortable for cycling due to heavy traffic and a lot of construction sites.
Generally, Russia has a huge gap in the level of accessibility for people with disabilities. Several cities have started their improvement programs in this area, and Sochi is among them. The accessible city is a requirement for Paralympic Games organization.
So far, at least the airport facilities and new commuter trains in Sochi are accessible. The project to create the accessibility map of Sochi has been launched in , giving the start to the same all-Russian project.
Hopefully, next few years will bring the significant improvement in the city's accessibility, as it happened in Khanty-Mansiysk prior to another Paralympic sport event. Among the traditional Russian set of monuments left as a legacy of the collapsed Soviet Union , Sochi has several original artworks worth to be explored by the city's guests. The stadium capacity over 47, is actually in Adler, 25 km east of Sochi and only 3 km from the border with Georgia.
Long-distance and metro trains terminate at nearby Olympic Park Station. As a rule with some exceptions, Sochi outdoor sights are inside the area of Sochi National Park. This means that in some cases you will need to pay the park entrance fee. All major sights attract both independent travellers and guided groups. Tours can be arranged at hotels or at the hot tourist areas in the city. There is no sustainable practice of learning Russian as a foreign language in Sochi. Two places can offer such classes potentially:.
Getting a work permit in Russia is not usually an easy process, at least if you are not a former Soviet Union state citizen. Sochi can possibly be an exception, as the preparation of Olympic Games will create many new workplaces. Some of the potential vacancies will require international expertise. Highly qualified international candidates will have simplified visa and work permit procedure. There are potential vacancies for English tutors, as the demand for English study in the city is constantly growing.
It is also possible to find sport instructors' jobs, in both winter skiing, snowboarding and summer diving, yachting, kitesurfing sports, but knowledge of Russian is essential for those positions. Sochi has more than hotels, and their number is steadily increasing, but the cost of stay may seem to be overpriced, comparing to many European destinations.
There are more than enough gigantic health resorts and hotels, which were a pride of former Soviet Union resort industry, but which are completely obsolete. On the other hand, many mini-hotels have opened in Sochi, but only few of them are able to meet average international service requirements. Hotel staff often has problems with hospitality, helpful answers and advice, and with speaking any other language than Russian.
Between these two extremes, there is a gap of normal chain or chain-like star hotels with reasonable prices and acceptable level of English and hospitality skills of staff. Tourism and related services are the backbone of the local economy. The Big Sochi has a lot of hotels, motels, restaurants, cafes, bars, entertainment centers, water parks, marinas, piers, etc. Sochi is a major transportation hub of southern Russia. Sochi international airport offers flights to Moscow, St.
Public transport is mainly represented by small buses marshrustkas , taxis and a small number of buses. An alternative way is to hire or rent a car. A similar climate is observed in nearby Abkhazia as well as in the south-eastern United States Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia.
Maximum precipitation occurs in the winter season, mainly in the form of rain. Winters are warm, summers are hot and humid. As the city is located on the northern edge of the subtropics, frosts and snowfalls sometimes occur in winter. The average temperature in January is plus 6. In summer, the water temperature reaches 26 degrees in August. The average number of sunny days is The most important factors that attract tourists in Sochi are its warm, subtropical climate, the Black Sea, mineral sources, the proximity of the mountains, relatively well-developed tourist and recreational infrastructure.
There are more than 30 Orthodox churches and chapels in the city. Rate this page: Currently 2. Visit Our Blog about Russia to know more about Russian sights, history Check out our Russian cities and regions guides Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to better understand Russia Info about getting Russian visa , the main airports , how to rent an apartment Our Expert answers your questions about Russia, some tips about sending flowers.
The city of Krasnodar krai. The population of Sochi is about , , the area - sq. Sochi city flag. Sochi city coat of arms. Sochi city map, Russia. Sochi history The territory of Sochi has an ancient history. Sochi is beautiful Author: Vyacheslav Leksin. Sochi - a fashionable old resort town Author: Vyacheslav Leksin. Sochi seafront Author: Vyacheslav Leksin. Sochi River Author: Vyacheslav Leksin. Sochi cityscape Author: Al Jamir. Marine station in Sochi Author: Vyacheslav Leksin.
Welcome to Sochi comrade! Author: Andrew Slesarev. Matsesta spa and resort in Sochi Author: Ryb Kirill. Krasnaya Polyana ski resort Author: Yuri Pankratov. The comments of our visitors Sraa. Wow, it's cool to see a city with pine trees and palm trees in the same photo like with Sochi! I was adopted from a town near Tver and I stumbled upon this site when researching the geography of Russia!
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