Sochi

The resort city of Sochi stands out among other international sea resorts as the second longest city in the world, stretching for 147 km along the Black sea. Its vast area features a wealth of venues and options, tailored to different tastes and expectations. To those who avoids getting stuck in one locality, Sochi offers a variety of tours – hiking, horse-back riding, motor tourists' routes and programs.

Nowhere else can you go downhill skiing in the morning and sunbathe and swim in the warm sea in the afternoon. It is only in Sochi that you can enjoy both pleasures on the same day.

Sochi is lavishly and generously granted by nature with its mild subtropical climate, the magnificent Caucasian mountains, abundance of sun and beaches, the warm sea and fast mountain rivers, abundance of gorgeous evergreens, breathtaking vistas and mineral springs. It takes just a couple of hours to visit several climatic zones in Sochi: the seafront is the realm of subtropics and evergreen subtropical vegetation, while a short drive into the mountains takes you to the taiga zone (also evergreen), and then, across the alpine tundra zone, up to the eternal snows (very much like the polar area).

Nowhere in the world is the subtropical zone so near to the never- melting snows of the mountain peaks. The average temperature on the sea shore never falls below 18◦ C in summer. July and August are the hottest months. However high in the mountains the snow does not melt even in the hottest season. The best time for swimming in the Black Sea is from May to October, when water temperature is 22◦-26◦C. Winter period in Sochi is warm and mild. The sea never freezes, and the Sun shines 300 days a year, warming the coast, the sea, and the air. It never snows on the sea shore, whereas in the nearby mountains (apart from the peaks that are virtually round-the-year snow-covered) the snow lasts till April. Sochi is a resort embracing many contrasts.

The city of Sochi is situated in Krasnodar krai, on the shore of the Black Sea between the rivers of Shepsi and Psou. The resort consists of several administrative districts: Lazarevski, Central, Hosta and Adler. The names of the local settlements and townships have long been internationally known: Hosta, Chemitokvadzhe, Chempetse, Sochi, Matsesta, Makopse, Magri, Lo’o, Lazarevskoje, Krasnaya Polyana, Dagomys, Golovinka, Vardane, Ashe, Adler.

There are several types of beaches in Sochi: public beaches, beaches that are property of health resorts (they are the most spacious) and the so-called wild beaches (without any facilities). There is a total of 138 well-equipped beaches, covering 700 thousand square meters. Some of them are sandy beaches; some are shingle beaches, armored with pebbles or small- to medium-sized cobbles. Practically everywhere the seabed goes deep very close to the shoreline, but it is possible to find kids-friendly beaches with shallow water. Most holiday-makers prefer public beaches that are free of charge yet quite convenient. Nobody feels bored with a variety of available entertainments and activities - from hang-gliding over the sea, to yachting.

In addition to beach holidays, Sochi offers a diversity of leisure and recreation programs, mostly for active pastime: rent of sea scooters, hydrocrafts, sailing, snorkeling and diving, wind surfing, jeep safaris, canyoneering, mountaineering, horse-back riding, cliff climbing, hiking trails of any level of difficulty, including easy ones for starters. One can choose any mode of transport: water transport (for sea trips and down mountain rivers), land transport (to alpine meadows and mountain peaks), air transport (paraplanes, hot air balloons).

Sochi is a business and culture hub

Life in Sochi is thriving in all ways. The resort hosts a multitude of cultural, sports and social events, of national and global scale. It has become a tradition to stage here the ‘KVN’ humor and wit contests of the national level, festivals of jazz and organ music, the ‘Velvet Seasons in Sochi’ high-fashion festivals and the ‘Sochi Velvet Season’ theater festivals, not to mention the most prestigious national and international film festival called ‘Kinotavr’, and its offsprings – the ‘Kinotavrik’ children’s film festival, as well as the ‘Magic of Fairytale’, the ‘Magic of Dance’ kids’ festivals. There are many more exciting events and activities to attend or participate in.

Sochi lifestyle is rich in sports events

Sochi is home to the National mountain biking championship, international cycling tournaments, rallies and regattas, world club pool championship. The opening of the XXII Winter Olympics on February 7, 2014, put Sochi in the focus of global sports. It was called an unprecedented case in the world history of sports, as the Winter Olympic games were hosted by the famous summer resort region.

One can come to Sochi by any type of transport: by air, by rail, by sea or by road (bus). Federal highways, the sea port, the railways and airlines connect European and Russian destinations with Sochi. The Moscow-Sochi flight takes about two hours, a flight from St-Petersburg – 3-4 hours, and it takes about 5-6 hours to get to Sochi from a number of European air hubs.