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RussiaWhat to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting
Samur Forest is a unique natural area in the south of Dagestan, the only subtropical liana forest in Russia and one of the northernmost in the world. It is part of the Samur State National Park in Dagestan, which is home to thousands of plant species, including Red Book, 51 species of rare birds, and there are hundreds of species of animals. Of the interesting and iconic tourist places in the forest, an ancient plane tree, allegedly 800 years old, a trout farm and a black sand beach on the shores of the Caspian Sea are also visited.
The national park itself stretches for tens of kilometers in the valley of the Samur River, and includes flat and mountainous areas. The Samur forest occupies only a small part of it, but it is definitely the most interesting for tourists. Moreover, the Samur forest is approximately equally divided between Russia and Azerbaijan, the border runs right through the forest. Of course, it is impossible to cross this border within the forest, for this there is an automobile border checkpoint.
And now let's move on from these beautiful descriptions to reality and tell you how to visit the Samur forest. His visit involves a walk or a trip through the forest on his own or with a guide. And although there are signs prohibiting movement through the forest by car, this does not stop anyone and the traffic here is quite active. Moreover, although this is a protected natural area, local residents calmly arrange picnics with bonfires, cut down trees, graze livestock and conduct economic activities, and, as a result, harm the national park and leave a lot of garbage.
There are no equipped roads, paths, signs and developed tourist routes for visiting the Samur forest, and therefore visiting it without a guide, by and large, will turn into a walk for you just like an ordinary forest, and you will not see anything special here. Therefore, we advise you to hire a guide if possible, which can be done at the information center at the entrance to the forest. Unfortunately, this information center is usually closed, so it is more convenient to book an excursion online in advance at Sputnik8.com from Derbent or from Makhachkala, and also to Tripster.ru from Derbent and from Makhachkala.
If you still decide to visit the forest on your own, then it is most convenient to choose the village of Samur as a starting point. You can get to the village from Derbent by train, and if you are on your own transport, then the road signs to the Samur forest will lead you here. For example, we approached the forest from Pervomaiskaya Street, but you can also drive up from Dachnaya Street, then you will find yourself much closer to the center of the forest and to the beach. Even if you get lost, ask the locals the way to the forest, they will be happy to help you.
At the border of the forest and on the outskirts of the village you can leave the car and go for a walk on foot, or in violation of the rules you can go further by car. But walking to the shore of the beach with black sand and an 800-year-old plane tree is a very long and far walk, about 7 kilometers in one direction, which will take 2-3 hours. If you decide to go by car, then do it carefully and do not move off dirt roads, otherwise there is a chance to get stuck. In general, it should be said that not every car and not every driver will be able to drive through the forest, you need skill and knowledge of local roads. It is better to drive a car with a high ground clearance, because you can sit on the bottom of the "puzoterka".
🕐 Working hours
Around the clock, it is better to visit during the day.
💵 Entrance fee / ticket price
Free of charge. You don't need to issue any permits to visit the Samur Forest, you can just come to the place and go for a walk.
🚶 How to get there
The Samur forest is located on the southern outskirts of Dagestan near the border with Azerbaijan, it is one of the southernmost points of Russia (Samursky forest on the map). It is 60 kilometers from Derbent and 190 kilometers from Makhachkala.
The easiest way to visit the forest with excursions that start from Derbent and Makhachkala, you can buy them on the spot or online on websites:
- Samur forest on Sputnik8.com from Derbent
- Samur forest on Sputnik8.com from Makhachkala
- Samur forest on Tripster.ru from Derbent
- Samur forest on Tripster.giz Makhachkala
If you want to get to the Samur forest on your own, we still recommend that you do it with local tour guides, if possible, which you can try to find through the Samur Forest information center at the entrance to the village of Chakhchakh-Kazmalyar (infocenter on the map), or try to find contacts via the Internet. We also came across information in the reviews of tourists that you can come to the place and arrange a trip or a walk through the forest with locals who know these places very well and will show you everything, but this, of course, is a matter of luck. For example, no one met us at the entrance to the forest, the information center was closed, and therefore we had to explore it on our own.
So, it is easy to get to the Samur forest on your own by your own transport, a good asphalt road leads here. Along the way, you will have to pass a checkpoint with a document check, because this is a border area, so take passports and birth certificates for all passengers just in case. You need to go to the village of Samur, there will be signs for the forest along the way. As we have already written above, there is a check-in to the forest from Pervomaiskaya, Dachnaya and others streets. Then follow the route on foot or by car, as we wrote above in the main text.
You can also drive into the forest from the village of Tagirkent-Kazmalyar, but we have not passed this route ourselves, so we do not know the details from our own experience.
If you do not have your own transport, and you really want to walk through the Samur forest, then it is easy to do it during the day by train from Derbent, or with a transfer by bus / train from Makhachkala. You need to go to Samur station, about an hour on the way, the fare costs only 40 rubles. Trains run several times a day, here is the schedule:
| Рейс/направление | Отпр. | Время | Приб. |
| 🚅 6804 Дербент — Граница (2454 км) | 05:45 | 58 мин | 06:43 |
| 🚅 6808 Дербент — Граница (2454 км) | 13:33 | 1 ч 0 мин | 14:33 |
| 🚅 6826 Дербент — Граница (2454 км) | 18:25 | 58 мин | 19:23 |
| 🚅 6803 Граница (2454 км) — Дербент | 07:32 | 56 мин | 08:28 |
| 🚅 6807 Граница (2454 км) — Дербент | 15:21 | 57 мин | 16:18 |
| 🚅 6827 Граница (2454 км) — Дербент | 20:10 | 55 мин | 21:05 |
When you arrive at Samur station, you will have to walk less than a kilometer to the forest border, but then it remains to walk through the forest on foot. If you wish, you can even walk to the beach with a black dog and an old plane tree, but, as we wrote above, you will have to walk quite a lot.
💥 We remind you that it is much more interesting to get acquainted with the sights of Dagestan with the help of excursions, and therefore we advise you to look at online booking options on these proven search and price comparison sites: