Where to park in Balaklava - an overview of paid and free parking

The tourist area of Balaklava is located on the shores of Balaklava Bay, which is sandwiched between two high shores, and accordingly space is in great short supply here. Finding a free parking space here has always been a problem, and now with the growing popularity and increasing tourist flow, it has become a huge problem. Therefore, since 2017, paid parking has been introduced in the center of Balaklava. The cost of a parking space is from 35 to 50 rubles /hour from 08:00 to 22:00 hours, free of charge at night. Payment is made through parking meters in the paid parking area at the corresponding signs, through the mobile application by QR code and by SMS. Payment instructions are available at every plan parking.

If you put the car under a forbidding sign or without paying for parking, then at best you will be fined for photo fixing, and at worst you will be evacuated to a parking lot, which, by the way, is located very far from the resort almost in the center of Sevastopol.

Where to find free parking in Balaklava

Finding a free place in the tourist center, and this is the area Nazukina embankment and May 1 Square is now almost impermeable, and as an alternative, drivers are invited to park their cars in a free intercepting parking lot at the entrance to the city on Krestovsky Street. It is about two kilometers from the center (parking on the map). And it looks like a good idea, because you can leave the car there for free, but there are also disadvantages. This parking lot is very far from the tourist area, walking distance is about 30 minutes. You can use city buses, which cost 26 rubles to travel (in 2023), but they do not run often. To do this, after leaving the parking lot on Krestovsky Street, go in either direction about 250 meters to the nearest stop on the opposite side of the road, and there take any bus to the final stop "Square of May 1" in the center, there are only a few stops to go.

But in fact, it will not be difficult to park a car for free in the tourist center, or at least very close to it. The easiest option is to drive into one of the courtyards or driveways of a residential area closer to the center, from where the embankment and pier are 10-20 minutes on foot. There are such exits to courtyards and driveways from Krestovsky and Novikov streets, you can find places on Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street and on Terletsky Street.

If you want to park your car very close to the center and are ready to "take a chance", then you can drive to a residential area a little above Nazukin Embankment along Kalitsa or Kirov Street and try to find a free place there. But these streets are very narrow, and the locals are not very happy with the fact that they are blocked by the passage, and they can be quite understood. So even if you find an empty parking lot there, take a good look around to see if you are preventing someone from driving through or leaving.

Many places for free parking can be found on the other side of Balaklava Bay along Tavricheskaya Embankment, although for this you will have to drive under the forbidding sign "No traffic allowed" when turning onto Tavricheskaya Embankment Street from Novikova Street. In practice, local drivers and visitors ignore this sign and calmly drive under it. If you do the same, you will be able to park the car at the site near Museum of Submarines, or drive further to the end of the embankment and find places there.