Sochi or Crimea

In a fit of patriotism, deciding to save a little, or just for a change, you decided to give up a trip to exotic distant countries and set your sights on your native shores and the Black Sea familiar from childhood. We'll have to choose: Sochi or Crimea - where is the best place to relax? Everyone will answer this question in their own way: both Sochi and Crimea have fans.

The nature of our southern resorts, which have always competed for the attention of tourists, is unusually rich and varied. They are also not deprived of cultural and historical sights worth visiting and detailed study. Let's try to compare the two most popular resort areas in our country and understand their advantages and possible disadvantages. To do this, consider the defining positions.

Best time to travel

The optimal travel time depends on its goals, the company you are traveling with, and, of course, on the planned budget. The natural area in which Sochi is located is a real humid subtropics. The beach season here begins in mid-May and lasts, as a rule, until mid-October, sometimes longer.

From May to mid-June it is already very warm, but the water is not yet warmed up well enough. At the height of summer, from mid-June to late August, it can be hot and humid, the water temperature reaches its maximum values.

The weather is good in September-October and the warm water is still good for swimming. If you tolerate the heat and high humidity well, you can safely go to rest in July-August. If you want moderate temperatures, and there is a great desire not only to lie on the beach, but also to see local sights, it makes sense to choose a cooler time. The high season in Sochi is considered to be the period from mid-June to August, and the trip during this time will cost more.

Well, if your goal is to ski in Krasnaya Polyana, it is best to go there in February, when the probability of stable snow cover is the highest. Then it gets warmer, the snow can melt, and spring avalanches are possible. But prices also fall at this time. If you're lucky with the weather, you can go for a great ride and save a lot.

The Crimean peninsula is located a little further north, the beach season is shorter, and the climate is somewhat different. There is no Sochi humidity and sometimes stifling heat, for which many people love it so much. The clean air of Crimea, filled with the aromas of coniferous forests, juniper and sea salt ions, is curative, and the heat is easier to bear.

The best time for a beach holiday and swimming begins in July, when the sea warms up enough, and continues almost until the end of August. This does not mean that you cannot swim in June and September, the weather often brings surprises, but at this time it may still (or already) be cool.

The cooler weather is conducive to travel, and nowhere else is there such a combination of historical and natural attractions as in Crimea. In May, you will see the lush blooming of tulips, in August-September, enjoy the abundance of fruits.

Popular resorts

Greater Sochi resorts have always been and remain very popular. Each has its own characteristics, and is good in its own way. Luxury hotels, the most comfortable beaches, the most entertainment in the Central District, that is, in the city itself. Adler can boast of a developed infrastructure, new modern hotels, a gorgeous beach and a neighborhood with Olympic facilities - the Imereti resort.

Krasnaya Polyana welcomes not only skiers, but also those who like to walk in the mountains, enjoying nature. Lazarevskoye has a lot of entertainment for children and youth, there is a dolphinarium, an amusement park and a water park. A more relaxing holiday with your family can be organized in Yakornaya Shchel, Vardan, Golovinka.

People come to Kudepsta and Matsesta to improve their health, using local mineral springs and healing mud. The beauty of nature, ancient palaces, temples, architectural monuments, olive groves and cypresses invariably attract a large number of tourists to the Crimean resorts.

Yalta is beyond competition, it was chosen for their residences by representatives of the royal family and noble families back in the 19th century. The city itself is the administrative center of Big Yalta, which unites resort villages on the coast - Mishor, Foros, Gurzuf, Alupka, Gaspra, Simeiz, Koreiz and others.

Alushta is famous for the abundance of hotels and sanatoriums, many entertainment venues. There are water parks, a dolphinarium, aquariums. Prices are lower than in Yalta.

Since the time of Maximilian Voloshin, Koktebel has been attracting creative youth. The beaches here are made of large pebbles, there is no sand at all, and the water is always clear and clean.

Evpatoria is the best place for family rest and recreation. The shallow pebble or white sand beaches with gently sloping water entrance make it an ideal resort for children.

Sudak will be remembered not only for its comfortable hotels, but also for its proximity to the Novy Svet, stunning views from the Golitsinsky trail over the sea and the grandeur of the Genoese fortress of the 15th century.

Feodosia is an ancient city with a rich history, founded by the Greeks. There is everything here - historical monuments, golden pearl sandy beaches, cafes and restaurants on the embankment, artists painting portraits of passers-by, healing mud, mineral springs, air saturated with coniferous aromas.

Entertainment

Lovers of theater, cinema, nightlife, water parks, attractions will always find something to do in the recognized resort capital. The entertainment infrastructure of Sochi is well developed. The grandiose Sochi Park, the Olympic Park, the Starfish Water Park, the Amfibius Water Park, the Big Sochi Dolphinarium in the Riviera Park, the Adler Terrarium, the Winter and Summer Theaters and many other places will impress neither adults nor children. There are many parks and attractions specializing in children's entertainment.

While vacationing in Crimea, visit the Skazka zoo in Yalta, the Yalta Crocodillarium, Taigan Lions Park in the Belogorsk District, the Akvarel Dolphinarium in Alushta, the magnificent Banana Republic water parks in Pribrezhnoye, Zurbagan in Sevastopol, and in Lukomoria ... There are many entertainments, but less per unit area than in Sochi.

Tours

Greater Sochi offers guests many opportunities to travel around the city and its picturesque environs. Excursions-walks in the center of Sochi with visits to city attractions, excursions to Mount Akhun, 33 waterfalls, Krasnaya Polyana, Agursky waterfalls, to the Olympic village and many others are organized. You can go to Abkhazia, see the legendary Lake Ritsa, New Athos and ancient Gagra.

Crimea is a peninsula with unique natural conditions and cultural and historical sights. For many centuries, different peoples have sought to settle here and fought for the possession of this amazing land. Excursions introduce travelers to the remains of ancient civilizations, medieval fortresses, temples of different centuries and religions.

Swallow's Nest, Bakhchisarai, the rocky town of Chufut-Kale, the legendary Sevastopol and much more - the visiting cards of the Crimea, places that will remain in your memory forever. One trip is not enough to cover even a small part of everything worth seeing, so it is worth choosing the objects closest to your holiday destination.

Hotels

Hyatt Regency Sochi 5 * - has an ideal location for recreation and exploring the resort capital - the city center and the first coastline.

Many cultural and entertainment venues, restaurants and boutiques are within walking distance. You can walk along Kurortny Prospekt, walk to the Riviera Park, visit the Arboretum, the Art Museum, go down to the Seaport.

It fully justifies its high star status.The balconies of the superbly appointed rooms offer unforgettable views of the sea and the city. Exclusive apartments and special services for organizing weddings, restaurants with Caucasian, Russian and European cuisine, well-trained and friendly staff - all this gives guests a VIP-class vacation. There is a fitness center, a heated pool with a bar serving gourmet signature cocktails.

From Mercure Sochi Center 4 * in 2 minutes you can walk to the seashore. We will suck next to the Festivalny Concert Hall. There is a swimming pool with a bar serving refreshing drinks and cocktails, a SPA center with a hammam and a sauna, gyms. From the hotel you can go down the stairs to the equipped beach. Rooms have everything you need for comfort - air conditioning, modern TVs, free Wi-Fi. The Kruzheva restaurant is known for its good cuisine; drinks for every taste are offered in the lobby bar.

Marins Park Hotel Sochi 4 * is one of the largest in Sochi in its category. Conveniently located in the center. Its own territory is small, but the hotel is located on the 1st line from the beach, in a park area with benches, and is surrounded by greenery. It has different types of rooms, from inexpensive standard to luxury apartments. A wellness center with a sauna and a swimming pool is available.

Sea Galaxy Hotel Congress & Spa 4 * is a thoroughly renovated building of the famous sanatorium "Svetlana", located 100 meters from the city beach. The modern, well-equipped hotel welcomes guests all year round. There are rooms for people with disabilities. On the territory of 3 bars, beauty salon, fitness center. Children under 7 years old are admitted free of charge, at the request of the parents a baby cot is available.

Lazurnaya Hotel & Spa 4 * is located 15 minutes from the city center, in a picturesque corner on the 1st line from the sea. Consists of a high-rise building and 6 two-storey villas. The windows offer excellent views of the sea and the city. The hotel has its own private beach, three restaurants, cafes, bars, a nightclub, swimming pools and a fitness center.

Brevis 3 * is a modern complex located in the park area of ​​the embankment of the central district of the resort. It offers comfortable, spacious apartments that can accommodate up to 8 people. The rooms have kitchen areas with necessary household appliances, balconies, bathrooms with washing machines and ironing facilities. There are playgrounds, cots and high chairs are available on request. Sports equipment and strollers can be rented. The hotel sells vouchers for the well-maintained beach.

Sochi Breeze SPA-hotel 3 * - is located in the central part of the city and 300 meters from the seashore.

Arboretum, Winter and Summer theaters, circus, seaport are within walking distance. The living conditions will satisfy any needs of the guests. There are standard rooms, family suites, apartments, junior suites, themed rooms. The cuisine of the restaurant "Breeze" will delight you with delicious and varied dishes, the lobby bar with exquisite drinks. Animators entertain little tourists in the playgrounds. The SPA center offers a variety of procedures required for complete relaxation and recovery.

Oreanda Premier 5 * is a visiting card of Yalta.

The snow-white palace, which first received guests back in 1907, is still considered the best place to relax in Yalta. Of course, the building was reconstructed and updated. Today the hotel offers all modern conveniences and services, preserving the veil of the bourgeois past of Yalta and the atmosphere of the times of the reign of the Romanovs.

The types of rooms are varied, from classic standard rooms to suites and personalized apartments, consisting of several rooms, with a jacuzzi and a sauna. At guests' disposal there is a restaurant, a banquet hall, a cafe and a lobby bar.

Located on the seashore with access to the embankment. There are two swimming pools with sea water, indoor and outdoor, Russian, Turkish and Finnish baths, salt room, gym, private comfortable pebble beach. The hotel is comfortable to relax with children - there is a children's room, animation, babysitting services, children's Wellness, children's menus in restaurants and cafes.

Yalta Intourist 4 * is a large hotel complex.

Located on the sea coast at the foot of Mount Ai-Petri in the Massandra Park, not far from the city center. The hotel's own pebble beach has been awarded the Blue Flag. It offers many restaurants with delicious dishes of European, Russian, Ukrainian cuisine, bars, a pub, a spherical cinema, swimming pools, a sauna and hot tubs, tennis courts, gyms.

There is a rope park, a water park, extreme slides. The Aqua Tower play complex with a pirate ship, slides of different heights, platforms and passages and a children's pool with attractions will appeal to children. The complex has a unique mud rejuvenation center and aesthetic medicine center.

Palmira Palace Yalta 4 * is located 10 km from Yalta, in the village of Kurpaty, in the eastern part of the Yalta reserve.

This unique complex, which occupies a former royal residence, is surrounded by cultural and historical attractions. Nearby are the Vorontsov Palace, Livadia, Swallow's Nest, the Tsar's path. Vacationers are offered rooms of different levels of comfort - from cozy standard rooms and suites with stunning views of the sea and the park, to residences from several rooms with huge terraces.

At the guests' disposal are restaurants, bars, swimming pools, a well-equipped private beach. Everything has been done here to make the rest with children as comfortable and interesting as possible. Themed animation shows, creative workshops, and outdoor recreational activities for children are held. All year round offers a full range of professional SPA and medical services. Guests can visit the Russian bath and infrared sauna, use the Japanese barrel, get massages, physiotherapy and beauty treatments.

Porto Mare 4 *, one of the best hotels on the coast for family holidays, is located in a relic park on the second strip from the beach.

Here you can relax with children of all ages, including the smallest, the rooms are equipped accordingly. Children under 7 years old stay for free. Food and drinks are provided by the restaurant complex, which includes several bars where you can have a snack. There are attractions and a children's playground on the beach, there are several swimming pools, tennis courts, a volleyball court and a football field, a gym, a beauty salon, and an amusement park. Clubs are organized for children of all ages, there is even a club for babies.

Livadiyskiy 3 * - located in Yalta, 30 meters from the beach. All rooms have everything you need for a comfortable stay, they look modern and elegant. Vacationers with children are offered family apartments. It offers 4 swimming pools, a large SPA-complex where you can take mud baths, use the services of masseurs, go to the bathhouse, sauna, hammam. There is a professional animation team, entertaining both children and adults.

Bristol 3 * is located in the very center of Yalta.The central promenade and the famous Blue Flag Massandra Beach are just a short walk away. The hotel consists of two buildings: the historical one, built in the middle of the 19th century, and the modern one. Guests can use the indoor heated pool, visit the SPA-complex and the gym.

Service

Sochi gained fame as a world-famous popular resort of the European level, renewed its infrastructure, and acquired high-class hotels. In many respects, this was facilitated by the 2014 Olympics. The level of service of the Sochi resorts is at a fairly high level and, as a rule, raises no objections. This applies to all areas - service in hotels and restaurants, on the beaches, the provision of entertainment services.

Crimea in this sense was less fortunate, the lack of attention to this important component of good rest for many years before the return of the peninsula to Russia affects. Fortunately, this is not the case for the well-known hotels with a tradition, which have provided and still continue to provide services of the highest standard, despite the emerging problems. Now the resorts of Crimea are going through a period of rapid development and growth in popularity, and the service is gradually being pulled up to the level necessary for a comfortable stay.

Vacation prices

When planning a summer vacation in Sochi and using the information available today, we will calculate the approximate cost of travel and accommodation for two adults traveling from Moscow for 7 days. In the calendar of low prices on the aviasales website, we find out that a round-trip flight will cost from 8,000 rubles.

The cost of train tickets in a compartment is about the same.

Accommodation in one of the most popular hotels, Marins Park Hotel Sochi 4 *, in a standard room, with breakfast, from 45,000 rubles. Thus, travel and accommodation costs will cost from 53,000 rubles. The cost of a package tour to the same hotel with the same conditions + medical insurance today was 55,027 rubles.

Let's calculate the cost of a trip to Crimea. The cost of air tickets in both directions for two is from 15,600, railway tickets are slightly less - from 11,200 rubles. Accommodation in the popular Yalta-Intourist 4 * hotel for 7 days in a standard room for two, with breakfast, will cost 49,000 rubles. The total cost is 64,600 rubles with air travel, and 60,200 rubles in case of train travel. A tour to the same hotel on the same conditions (with air travel) costs 80,590 rubles.

Beaches

The entire coast of Greater Sochi is a long strip of beaches. There are very beautiful, almost all comfortable, with sun loungers, umbrellas and an abundance of entertainment. There are more "wild" ones with less developed infrastructure, but there are practically no secluded ones. The best beaches in Sochi are Imeretinsky in the Adler district, Dolphin in Lazarevsky, AquaLoo in Loo, Riviera, Swallow, Albatross, Primorsky in the center.

In 2020, 21 Sochi beaches have been awarded the international certificate of quality and environmental friendliness "Blue Flag". But when choosing a place to rest, do not forget that a railway stretches along a large section of the beach strip. There are no natural sandy beaches in Sochi, there are very few loose ones.

The strip of Crimean beaches is much longer, and they delight with their diversity. Beautiful sandy beaches stretch from Feodosia to the Kerch Strait. On the coast from Sudak to Yalta and Sevastopol - pebble and stony. The most comfortable and well-equipped beaches are located within the resort areas, but they are more busy.

In Crimea, you can find secluded deserted beaches that attract fans of "wild" rest and nudists. The only beach in Crimea with a "Blue Flag" is Massandrovsky, and it confirms this award every year, starting in 2017. Mojito beaches near Sudak and Yashmovy at Cape Fiolent are recognized as some of the best in Russia. The Azov coast is famous for its long sandy and shell beaches.

Shopping

Shopping and buying souvenirs is not the main part of your vacation, but a pleasant addition to it. In Sochi, there are many large shopping and entertainment centers where you can buy everything you need, good rest and fun. In the city center, in the shopping and entertainment center "MoreMall", for example, there are 250 shops and boutiques, about 50 cafes and restaurants, cinemas and other entertainment.

About 100 stores, a hypermarket, a food court, a bowling alley and cinemas operate on 5 floors of the Olimp shopping and entertainment center. If you want a southern flavor, go to the market. In the Central region of Sochi, it is located near the railway station, in Adler - at the bridge over the Mzymta river. There you can buy local sweets, cheeses, nuts, wines, honey, spices, the freshest fruits, vegetables and much more.

There are no huge shopping centers in the Crimean resorts, and if you need serious purchases, you will have to go to Sevastopol or Simferopol. There are quite enough private shops and markets, and souvenirs and pleasant trifles can be purchased there - products made of wool of Crimean angora goats, jewelry made of onyx, turquoise, jasper, natural cosmetics, natural ointments and balsams, Crimean essential oils, products from aromatic juniper, and of course, Crimean wines.

Vacation with children

When planning a vacation with children, we take into account all the nuances - age, health status, individual needs. The humid subtropical climate during the hot season may not be suitable for a child, or may not cause any problems. At the same time, Sochi provides young tourists with a huge variety of entertainment - water parks, dolphinariums, aquariums, theaters, circus, zoos. In every hotel designed for staying with children, a team of animators is engaged in children's leisure.

The Crimean climate is considered more suitable and beneficial for the child's body, even acclimatization is not really needed. The sandy beaches of Crimea are ideal for children, while in Sochi there are practically none. Children's entertainment in the resorts and hotels of the Crimea is also there, but not everywhere, and not so diverse.

Conclusion

What should you choose? Both options are good in their own way. Sochi is usually chosen by connoisseurs of excellent service and a variety of entertainment. Today the Crimea in this sense loses a little, but will please with the opportunity to unite with the unique nature and get acquainted with the rich history.

Families with small children choose comfortable sandy beaches and specialized children's resorts in the Crimea, attracted by the drier climate. Fans of water slides and attractions will prefer Sochi. To form your own opinion, you need to visit both wonderful resorts in Russia.