White Rocks and Navalishchenskoe Gorge in Sochi

What to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting

White Rocks Canyon and Navalishchenskoye Gorge is a natural attraction and one of the most beautiful places in the area Khosta in Sochi. We definitely recommend you to visit if you are staying for a holiday in central Sochi and in the resorts to the south (Matsesta, Khosta, Adler, Sirius). However, almost all pseudo-guidebooks on the Internet give incorrect information about the gorge and how to visit it, apparently reprinting "tourist fake" each other. We went to this attraction and sorted everything out on the spot.

Navalishchenskoye Gorge (also Navalishenskoye Gorge or canyon) was formed on the Bolshaya Khosta River. Its length is about 1.5 kilometers, on which the river passes through a crevice in the rock with a depth in some places of more than 100 meters and a width of only a few meters. Since the walls of the gorge compress the space for water, the river flows here in a bubbling mountain stream, forming small waterfalls and water slides, and immediately outside it spreads widely into a calm river. In general, the Bolshaya Khosta River, like other mountain rivers in Sochi, is very seasonal: it is full-flowing in spring and summer, while it feeds on melting snows and rains, but in late autumn and winter it can turn into a thin stream.

The gorge itself as a tourist attraction is often confused by guidebooks with the cafe and recreation area of the same name, which are located at the end of the gorge downstream. The cafe is pleasant, located in a beautiful place, there is a sauna and you can swim in the river. Many tourists and locals come here for a weekend vacation with their family. But there is no hiking trail here, and you can see the beauty of the gorge quite a bit if you are not afraid to climb the rocks. If desired, you can swim a little along it or carefully wade deep into the rocks, but this is by no means a safe tourist route.

The real tourist route is located in a completely different place. It is called the "White Rocks tourist route" of the Sochi National Park, entrance to it is paid.

How to visit Navalishchenskoe Gorge and White Rocks

• To visit the Bely Skaly tourist route, you will first have to get to the entrance and ticket offices. They are located in the village of Krasnaya Volya, here is the entrance on the map (entrance to the canyon "White Rocks" on the map). It is best to get here with an excursion or on your own transport, a car road leads to the entrance, and there are places where you can park for free. By the way, there is another entrance to the gorge at the end of Nizhnyaya Street, where there is an exit from the Belye Skaly ring route, but you can only get there by a serious SUV. If you do not have your own transport, then you can get to the center of the village by bus No. 128 from the bus station and the railway station of Khosta. The fare costs 29 rubles, departure to 07:15, 08:50, 12:30, 14:50, 16:15, 17:22, 19:40, 20:50. Back from the village to 06:30, 07:45, 09:30, 13:10, 15:30, 16:50, 18:10, 20:15. From the stop "White Rocks" to the entrance you need to walk a little more than a kilometer.

  

  After paying for the entrance at the checkout, we advise you to study and photograph the route. Also, the offline maps app on your smartphone will not hurt at all Organic Maps , OSM or others where the trails along the gorge are marked. After the ticket offices, the first thing you will meet is an observation deck and trolls on the other side of the gorge. After a few tens of meters there will be a descent to the river in the gorge. It is made in the form of a staircase, but you will have to go down 150 meters, which is more than 50 floors.

  

  After going down to the river, we advise you to first follow the trail to the left. It is in this part that the most "outlandish" rock formations are located. The trail will end in 200 meters, there is no way to go further. Here you need to turn around, and this is where most tourists finish walking along the tourist route and climb up the stairs where they went down. The whole walk will take about an hour.

  

  

  

  But this is not the whole route. We advise you to continue the walk by skipping the ascent further along the river. Here the trail is also well equipped, there are bridges to cross to the other side, and there are even more interesting views and places. You need to walk another 1.1 kilometers from the stairs to the end of the route. There you will get to the territory of the recreation center and cafe (this is the exit to Nizhnyaya Street, which we mentioned above), and from here you can go back to the entrance where you left the car (2 kilometers) or go to the bus stop in the center of the village (2 kilometers). The entire circular route will take 2-3 hours without rest stops.

  There is another variation of this route: at the end, do not go up to Nizhnyaya Street, but cross a shallow river over rocks and exit through a boxwood forest to the village of Khleborob (3 kilometers), from where you can go to Khosta by bus No. 127.

  

  

  

• To visit the cafe and recreation area "Navalishchenskaya gorge", you will have to go a completely different way. The cafe is located at the end of the gorge in the village of Khleborob (recreation area "Navalishchenskoe gorge" on the map). There is a good asphalt road leading to it, there is Parking for 100 rubles. By bus you can get from the bus station and the railway station of Khosta, there is a route No. 127, departure approximately every hour according to the schedule from 06:00 to 19:00, travel 32 rubles. You need to go to the stop "SNT Dawn", and from there on foot 1.7 kilometers to the cafe.

  As we have already mentioned, there is only the end of the gorge next to the cafe, but it is impossible to walk along it here.

  

  

  

However, there is another kind of unorganized tourist route from here. Near the cafe it is easy to get to the other side of the river on the rocks, it is shallow here. There's not much to do on the other side, there are no trails there either. But if you are ready to continue the journey, you can go from here to the village of Krasnaya Volya, and from there follow the White Rocks route. The path will not be easy. First, you will have to climb the hill from the shore to the first tower of the power line, and then follow the power line in the direction of Krasnaya Volya, the path leads constantly upwards. The trail will lead you to a private farm, through the gates of which you can go outside in the village, which is not very good, because it is private property. Therefore, before the farm, it is better to turn left into the forest on a dirt road that will lead you to the entrance and ticket offices of the White Rocks. Then follow the route as described above.

We also advise you to look at interesting options for individual and group tours of Sochi on these proven sites:

• 📷 Search for excursions to Sochi on Sputnik8.com
• 📷 Excursions from the tour operator TEZ Tour
• 📷 Search for excursions to Sochi on Tripster.ru