Sochi National Park and how to visit it

Sochi National Park is not a separate attraction that can be visited, but an extensive protected natural area, which is home to many natural attractions that tourists love to visit during their holidays in the resorts of Sochi. The National Park occupies a huge area along the coast and the whole of Greater Sochi, and this is no less than 105 kilometers, or 140 kilometers along a winding road. It also includes the mountainous areas around Krasnaya Polyana. If you are interested, you can see the map of the territory on the official website of the park.

For tourists, the National Park and its headquarters in the central part of Sochi are of no interest. But the sights that are located in the park are very interesting. Most of them are waterfalls, canyons, Mountain Lakes, peaks, there is even a mineral spring. Some of them are visited as a separate attraction, for example, as a waterfall or mineral spring, but most are easy one – day hiking trails where you can see several interesting and beautiful places at once. Also, the Arboretum Park belongs to the National Park.

How to visit

Visiting the hotel routes and attractions of the National Park provides hiking, less often by car. Attendance is paid. Entrance is paid at the ticket offices at the entrance( at the checkpoint), registration of vouchers at the headquarters of the Reserve and registration of border passes in the FSB border guard is not required. Everything is extremely simple and well organized: arrive at the entrance to the Route, pay at the ticket office, get a ticket and instructions for passing (if required) and go ahead. Payment at the cash desk is made in cash, in some places (not everywhere) by bank card. In low season, the ticket offices can be closed, then you can just go on the route.

We advise you to see interesting options for individual and group tours of Sochi, including the attractions of the National Park, on these proven sites:

• 📷 search for excursions in Sochi on Sputnik8.com
• 📷 excursions from the tour operator TEZ Tour
• 📷 search for excursions in Sochi on Tripster.ru

What to see

There are a lot of official walking routes and individual attractions in the Sochi National Park, but, unfortunately, there is almost no useful information for tourists on the official website of the National Park. Therefore, we have compiled separate guides to the most popular routes to visit, indicating how to get to them and what to see there:

• 33 waterfalls - the best complex of waterfalls and water slides in Sochi.
• Volkonskoe gorge - a unique monolithic Dolmen, the only one of its kind.
• Chvizhepse mineral spring and bear corner - this is a pump room with mineral water, for the entrance to which you will have to pay as for the entrance to the National Park.
• Waterfall deep Yar or Dragon's mouth - a high beautiful waterfall, but full-flowing only in spring and early summer.
• Mount Akhun - from the mountain, or rather from the observation deck on the mountain, there are panoramic views of the coast.
• Agur gorge - a scenic trail along the Agur river with several waterfalls and places for swimming.
• Eagle Rocks and Prometheus - this is an observation deck, which is best visited as part of the circular route from the Agur Gorge, and in itself is not very interesting.
• Vorontsov caves - the most spectacular of the caves equipped for tourists, visited for an additional fee.
• Ivanovsky waterfall - a small and little-known waterfall, more interesting is the walk to it.
• Psaho Dry Canyon - an unusual Canyon in the bed of a dry river and a break in the rocks.
• Wet Psaho Canyon - a picturesque but very short rocky canyon along the river. In our opinion, it is not worth an independent visit, but only in conjunction with the dry Psakho Canyon.
• Navalishchenskoe Gorge and white rocks - one of the most picturesque (in our opinion) canyons on the river in the Reserve.
• Sochi Arboretum - botanical park with exotic plants, paths and gazebos for relaxation.
• The berendeyev Kingdom - a simple route along the mountain river to several waterfalls and a dolmen in the vicinity of Lazarevskoye.
• Mamedov gorge - another traditional route with waterfalls and dolmens along the river is near Lazarevskoye.
• Svir gorge - the most convenient hiking route from Lazarevskoye along the gorge is located on the outskirts of the resort.
• Achipsin fortress - an easy one-hour eco-route from the resorts of Krasnaya Polyana to the ruins of the medieval fortress of Achipse.