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AbkhaziaWhat to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting
Akarmara is one of the most mysterious and intriguing sights in Abkhazia, the famous abandoned ghost town, also known as the "city of stalkers". Excursions from the beach resorts of Abkhazia are taken here, and you can also get there yourself by your own transport, but we will tell you more about this at the end of the article. And first we will introduce you to this city, its history and what to expect from it.:
In fact, Akarmara is not a city, but a village, but it just so happens that it is called a ghost town, because "ghost town" somehow does not sound at all. Unlike the other ghost town of Tkuarchal, widely advertised by guidebooks and tour sellers, this village is really abandoned, or almost abandoned.
Akarmara was founded in Soviet times in 1938 as a settlement for miners and their families, because large deposits of coal were discovered here, which the young Soviet state needed so much. Several mines were opened in the area for its extraction, which became especially important during the Second World War, because almost the entire Black Sea Fleet worked on coal mined in local mines. The village quickly grew, was very comfortable and convenient for living. Interestingly, most of it was built by German prisoners of war.
However, with the collapse of the USSR, a big disaster came to Akarmara: the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict or the 1992-1993 Patriotic War began. The village came under a 413-day blockade, and all this time it was constantly shelled by artillery. Civilians fled, and as a result, the five thousandth village was completely deserted.
A few years ago, residents began to return, and now it is not quite a dead village. There is electricity here, some houses and apartments are residential, in the courtyards you can see children walking, pets, cars are parked. At the entrance to the village in summer, life is in full swing: there is always a lot of transport and tourists, jeep drivers offer sightseeing trips to the waterfalls further beyond the Akarmara, there is a cafe. In general, during our trip we counted at least one grocery store and three cafes in Akarmara. However, with all this, the village has not lost the charm of the abandoned city, so it will be quite interesting to take a walk here and you can take a lot of fascinating photos.
From our personal experience and feedback from other travelers, we can say that not all locals are happy to see tourists (and this is understandable in principle). So do not be surprised by the signs on the houses facing tourists and forbidding entry, and the fact that you will not be answered by your smile or greeting. If you don't want to run into rudeness and discontent, then you definitely shouldn't look inside residential buildings and apartments and take pictures of them. With all due respect to the locals, according to our personal impressions, it seemed to us that some of them are as gloomy and unfriendly as the village itself, but this is possible only in relation to tourists.
How to visit Akarmara
It is best to visit Akarmara not as a separate attraction, but together with other interesting places near it and on the way here. There are four powerful waterfalls further down the road outside the village Saint, Irina and the Giant, Gold carrier, pedestrian suspension bridge, abandoned villages of Dzhantukha and Polyana (before them you can get there by sightseeing jeeps or on your own, read the links (they told everything in detail). Before Akarmara there is another conditional the ghost town of Tkuarchal, Gup Waterfall and New Gup waterfall, Radon baths, and a few more interesting places. But it's difficult to visit all this for a trip in one day, the bark just doesn't have enough energy and time. Therefore, group excursions from resorts here usually include Tkuarchal, Akarmara, and three waterfalls.
If you want to see more, then you can go here yourself on your own transport with an overnight stay. That's exactly what we did, and with one overnight stay we managed to see everything (or almost everything). You can spend the night here in a guest house with hot radon springs, and there are a couple of hostels in Tukarchala. And if you are traveling with a tent, you can set up a tent anywhere along the way (there are many exits from the road and convenient sites for overnight stays). Or as we did, we set up a tent near the cafe "Paradise Corner", and met the dawn right at the waterfall. However, for this we advise you to coordinate the installation of the tent with the owner or the cafe staff, in our experience they allowed it without problems and were even very happy about it. But in Akarmara itself there are no options for accommodation yet.
🕐 Working hours
Around the clock.
💵 Entrance fee / ticket price
Entrance to the village is free, a fee (eco–collection) of 300 rubles / person is charged for travel / passage to the waterfalls further beyond the village, children under 10 years old are free.
🚶 How to get there
The ghost town of Akarmara is located far in the southeast of Abkhazia in the mountains (Akarmara on the map). For reference, from Sukhum there are almost 90 kilometers, and from Gagra 180. You can't get here by public transport, a taxi will be very expensive, so you need to go with an excursion or on your own:
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The ghost town of Akarmara with a guided tour
Inexpensive group excursions to the abandoned towns of Tkuarchal and Akarmara are now sold in almost all beach resorts of Abkhazia, you can buy them from distributors on the street. For reference, they cost from 2600 rubles from Sukhum and from 3000 from Gagra, and this price already includes all entrance fees, lunch and a jeep ride to the waterfalls. Additionally, if desired, they will offer to visit radon springs and other waterfalls for a fee.
If you prefer individual trips rather than in a large group, we advise you to watch these excursions with online booking:
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The ghost town of Akarmara on its own
If you are traveling by car, then this is a great way to get to Akarmara, and at the same time see other sights along the way. As we have already written above, ideally you should come here with an overnight stay, but in principle you can see a lot in one light day. But it is advisable to come as early as possible, ideally you should be here already at 10 o'clock before the appearance of large groups with tourists.
The road here is difficult, but passable for any car in good weather. There is only one route here, so follow the navigator and you won't make a mistake. At first, excellent asphalt leads to the city of Tkuarchal. After Tkuarchala to Akarmara it will be necessary to drive 9 kilometers along the old heavily broken asphalt road, which in places turns into a rocky primer. You can drive any car, but be careful, take your time.
In 2023-2024, the road to Akarmara and waterfalls is being repaired. To what condition it will be repaired, and whether a hard asphalt surface will be laid, we do not know, but it will definitely be even easier to get here!
At the entrance to Akarmara you will be met by drivers of sightseeing jeeps who offer trips to the waterfalls of Zolotonosets, Svyatoy, Irina and the Giant at a price of 3,500 rubles per car for 6 people. In 2023, it was really possible to bargain even up to 3,000 rubles, but here you need to discuss where you want to go for this price, and ideally you need to negotiate a trip to all the waterfalls at once. But in fact, it is not necessary to hire an excursion jeep here, and you can continue driving on your own. However, be careful, it's still a mountain road with difficult conditions, and if you have no experience and feel sorry for the car, then it's better to agree to a jeep ride.
As for the city itself, it is better to walk around it. You can park the car at the parking lot with jeeps, or you can drive further to the center of the village along the main road and park the car there, there is plenty of room for this.
The road near Akarmara is like this, but maybe it will get better soon
💥 We remind you that it is much more interesting to get acquainted with the sights of Abkhazia with the help of excursions, and therefore we advise you to look at online booking options on these proven search and price comparison sites: