Transport in Sochi - how to travel for tourists

The information in this guide about transport for tourists in Sochi is valid for recreation in all resorts of Greater Sochi, including the center, Adler, Lazarevskoye, etc. You will learn how and in what cases it is better for tourists to use this or that type of transport, its features, cost and schedule. And to begin with, a brief overview of the use of one or another way to move:

• Walking. It is suitable for short walks within one resort area of Sochi, but it is not as easy as it seems. It is not always possible to walk along the shortest path because of obstacles in the form of fences, roads, private properties, sanatorium territories, etc.
• Personal car. This is convenient, but not so easy because of the difficulties with parking, the high cost of gasoline in Sochi, road serpentines.
• Commuter trains. The fastest way to get from one area or resort to another, but you need to adjust to the schedule, because they don't go often.
• City buses. You can get from anywhere and anywhere, but they walk slowly and rarely. We do not recommend using it for long trips, but only for short distances.
• Taxi. The most convenient option, but also the most expensive, if you do not know how to use it correctly.
• Car Rental. In total, from 1300 per day of rental, you will have complete freedom of movement, but there will be the same difficulties with parking and so on as with a personal car.
• Minute-by-minute car rental. An advanced, modern and economical option for short and not very long trips.
• Rental of bicycles, electric scooters, tricycles, ATVs. You can ride bicycles from 100 rubles an hour and for 500 rubles a day, but the high prices for renting electric transport make it more of an entertainment than a means of transportation.
• Minute-by-minute rental of bicycles and electric scooters. If you need to quickly travel short distances within the same area, then there is no better way to come up with.
• Excursions. In our opinion, this is an ideal option to get acquainted with local attractions instead of contacting local transport.
• Tourist transfer. An analogue of a taxi of increased comfort, which is convenient to use to get from the airport or railway station to the hotel or vice versa.
• Tourist bus "Matryoshka". It is already history, and whether it will work again is unknown.

And now let's get acquainted with each method of transportation in Sochi and the subtleties of its use:

Walking

• 🕐 Working hours: around the clock
• 🎫 Cost: Free

Within the same resort area or in the center of Sochi, it is quite realistic to move on foot, besides, it is sometimes even faster than waiting for a taxi or bus, and then standing in traffic jams. But keep in mind that in the intricacies of local streets it is sometimes very difficult to navigate even with the help of a navigator. In addition, there are insurmountable height differences that are not marked on maps, fences and barriers, private properties, sanatorium territories and transport interchanges, because of which sometimes you can not even go to the beach. The most comfortable area for hiking in all resorts of Sochi is the embankment and separate pedestrian streets.

Personal car

• 🕐 Working hours: around the clock
• 🎫 Cost: Free

If you came to Sochi on vacation in your own car, then you will probably have a desire to go around and see everything on your own. It's really very convenient, but not always cheaper. Usually the use of public transport, taxis or even excursions is more justified.

Personally, we (the authors of the site) prefer to use a personal car in Sochi only for trips to places that are difficult to access by public transport, for example, to mountainous areas or villages, or for moving between districts. In other cases, it is better to move without a car. The fact is that when traveling by your own car, you will have to face the following difficulties:

• The road north of central Sochi (towards Loo, Lazarevsky, Tuapse) is very winding, traffic on serpentines is slow and expensive in terms of gasoline consumption. It is much faster and safer to travel by train.
• In large resorts, near attractions and beaches, it is very difficult to find free parking, sometimes there are no places even on paid ones. The price of paid parking is 50 rubles / hour, in the mountain resorts of Krasnaya Polyana - from 200 rubles / hour.
• There are many signs prohibiting parking and parking. And although cars with local license plates often stand under these signs, do not look at them as an example: foreign regions are evacuated first of all, besides, photo and video recording of such violations works.
• There are a lot of cameras on the roads, unknowingly it is easy to get fines in completely unexpected places.
• The price of gasoline is 5-10% higher in Sochi than in other regions.

Commuter trains

• 🕐 Opening hours: 05:00 - 00:00
• 🎫 Cost: from 40 to 440 rubles

Along the coast, a railway runs through all the resorts of Greater Sochi, along which ordinary trains and suburban trains "Lastochka" run. After Adler, the road continues to the Olympic Park in the new village of Sirius, and then goes to Abkhazia. There is also a branch to the airport and Krasnaya Polyana. There are stops in every district and almost every resort, up to small villages. Trains also go beyond the Greater Sochi to Tuapse, Goryachy Klyuch, Krasnodar and other cities of the region.

In most cases, this is the fastest way to get from one area of Sochi to another for long distances, but for short trips to one or two stations, trains and trains are not very convenient because of the rare timetable. In addition, this is not the cheapest way to travel, and sometimes it is even more expensive than a taxi when traveling with a family or group.

• Long-distance trains. These are ordinary trains with compartments and reserved cars, which come from distant regions on vacation. They make stops at large railway stations in Sochi, and it is quite possible to travel even for short distances, but tickets for them are disproportionately more expensive than the other two types of trains, so we recommend using them only as a last resort. And such an extreme case may come if you need to get there urgently, and there are no inexpensive commuter trains on schedule.
• Trains "Lastochka". Lastochka trains are not the same as commuter trains, although they are very similar both externally and internally, i.e. they have only seats. Such trains run between Sochi, Krasnodar and neighboring regions, and are also great for trips inside Sochi, but they do not stop at all stations. It is especially convenient to use them if you need to get to the airport or to the resorts of Krasnaya Polyana. Their advantage is that you buy a ticket for a specific place with a number, i.e. you do not have to hang on the handrail during rush hours. Tickets for the Lastochka trains are a little more expensive than for regular trains, and standard discounts from Russian Railways are provided, including for children, and as a result, the family can travel even cheaper than on regular trains. But it is important to know that tickets for them cannot be purchased in the car, but only on the Russian Railways website, through the Russian Railways application or at the box office.
• Lastochka trains. Lastochka trains are an ordinary commuter train/commuter train with tickets without a seat. They go more often than all other types of railway transport, the cheapest, make stops almost everywhere. Tickets can be bought at the ticket office or vending machines at the stations, as well as pay for the fare already inside the car to the conductor. But there is one big disadvantage - during rush hours and on weekends they can be crowded, so you may have to not only drive standing up, but just hang on the handrail.

The fare for all types of trains depends on the distance, is charged by zones. When buying a ticket, you need to specify / name the arrival station. Payment for travel can be made by buying tickets at the ticket office of stations or terminals, you can pay in cash or by bank card. At small stops, there is no train station as such, and boarding takes place immediately in the car upon arrival. In this case, you can pay the fare already in the car in cash or by card to the conductors who constantly walk between the cars. We advise you not to "hide" from them, and when you appear, immediately pay for travel, otherwise a fine may be issued. But do not forget that you cannot pay for travel on comfortable Swallow TRAINS (not ELECTRIC trains) in the car, but you need to purchase a ticket in advance at the ticket offices or via the Internet.

There is a trick that, in theory, will help save money – it is to buy a ticket not to the destination station, but to an earlier one, since ticket control is not performed at the exit. But, again, there is a chance to run into control on the line, and then get a fine.

See also:

• 🕐 Sochi/Adler Airport commuter train schedule
• 🕐 Train schedule at Adler station
• 🕐 Train schedule at the Imereti Resort (Olympic Park) station
• 🕐 Train schedule at Adler station
• 🕐 Train schedule at Lazarevskoye station
• 🕐 Train schedule at Khosta station

City buses

• 🕐 Opening hours: 06:00 - 00:00
• 🎫 Cost: from 28 to 260 rubles

The entire Greater Sochi and its individual resorts are covered by a network of bus routes, there are about fifty of them in total. The fare is not so cheap: a short trip will cost from 28 rubles, and the long ones between the districts already cost hundreds of rubles. There are large buses and small minibuses on the routes. Theoretically, buses with transfers can be taken from anywhere and anywhere within Greater Sochi, but you need to be able to plan a route. For tourists, this is in principle a useful form of transport, but it is not always convenient to use it, since they walk very slowly with many stops, and in some directions it is extremely rare.

There are features of using local buses:

• Not all transport stops are equipped, some of them are marked only with a road sign.
• The fare is not fixed, it is charged by zones depending on the distance.
• Payment is made at the entrance in cash or by bank card. Bank cards may not be accepted on certain routes due to poor coverage area, so it is better to have cash in stock.
• A stop with the same name can be located at the intersection in four places at once in each direction.
• The same route may pass through the same stop in different directions, so check with the driver about the direction of travel before boarding.

For trip planning, including transfers, you can use the map application, Google, Yandex, 2GIS. There is also an official application of the Department of Transport "Transport.Sochi" and the site transport.sochi.ru, but judging by the reviews, they work with failures. But keep in mind that they do not always accurately and correctly build options. For example, in our practice, when building a trip between two points, none of the mentioned navigators could build a route on the existing direct route, but offered exclusively with transfers. Therefore, we advise you to double-check everything with the locals, and check with the driver when boarding.

We will not give descriptions of specific routes that are useful for tourists, but in the description of each attraction, districts and beaches in our guide, the numbers of routes that can be reached are indicated.

Taxi

• 🕐 Working hours: around the clock
• 🎫 Cost: trip from 69 rubles

In Sochi, there is a taxi rental by meters, and the good old "bombers" still work at a negotiated price. In most cases, ordering a taxi by the meter through the applications of aggregators Yandex. Taxi, Uber, etc. is cheaper, the price of the trip starts from 69 rubles, but increases at times in bad weather, on weekends and when traffic jams occur.

If it is not possible to order a car through the application, you can use the order by phone. Here are the phone numbers of the largest taxi companies and aggregators operating in Sochi:

• Red Taxi +7 (862) 290-00-00
• Maxim +7 (862) 222-22-22
• Yandex +7 (862) 444-44-42
• Lucky +7 (862) 244-44-44
• Citymobil +7 (862) 300-00-00
• Tap Taxi +7 (862) 448-48-48

In some cases, it is more profitable to use fixed contractual prices if you know how to do it. At every resort in Sochi there are traditional places, usually near major transport hubs and important bus stops, where drivers are on duty, ready to take long distances between resorts at a better price than taxi meters. You can learn about such places from local residents (they themselves use the services of such taxis). But there is one feature: drivers collect several people for a trip to share the cost of the trip, so you will have to go in a car with other people, and you may have to wait for the start of the trip.

For example, here is the cost of a trip at a fixed price in the low season of 2021, and to compare the price on the counter:

• Sochi-Adler – 200 rubles per person / according to the meter 700 rubles for the whole car.
• Adler-Krasnaya Polyana – 250 rubles per person / according to the meter 1400 rubles for the whole car.

And here is an approximate table of prices for taxis on popular routes around Greater Sochi for the entire car when ordering by phone or through applications. Of course, you need to remember that prices vary depending on the season, time of day and day: at night, on holidays and in bad weather can be twice as high. Especially strongly prices "dance" on the site from the center of Sochi in the direction of Lazarevsky, Loo, Tuapse because of the difficult road situation on serpentines.

Car Rental

• 🕐 Working hours: around the clock
• 🎫 Cost: from 1300 rubles/day

The most favorable prices for car rental are offered upon receipt of the car at Sochi airport (Adler) or with delivery to the right place in central Sochi. In other resorts, it is problematic to find a rental or car rental point, but it is possible. Of course, it is more convenient and cheaper to book in advance via the Internet, and not on the spot. We recommend using these proven car search and booking sites:

Before renting, we advise you to take care of a parking space in advance, since there are big problems with this in some resorts. Ideally, it is worth booking a hotel with its own free or paid parking, otherwise you will have to put a car in paid parking lots from 250 rubles / day, but more often it is 300-500 rubles. In the mountain resorts of Krasnaya Polyana, a day of parking costs even more - from 700 rubles, for residents of the resort from 400 rubles. Short-term parking costs 50 rubles/hour.

Minute-by-minute car rental

• 🕐 Working hours: around the clock
• 🎫 Cost: from 5 rubles/minute

Minute-by-minute car rental or carsharing is another advanced and economical way to travel, which is suitable for trips between resorts and transport hubs (airport, railway station), where special free parking for "Squirrels" is equipped. But if you want to save so much during a trip to remote natural attractions in the mountains and villages, it will not always work. The fact is that the minute-by-minute payment in the parking mode is written off early. You can stop paying only in special areas allowed for parking, which usually do not happen in the mountains and villages. Therefore, if cost is primarily important to you, and not convenience, carefully build a trip plan and make a preliminary calculation.

To rent, you need a smartphone, mobile Internet, driver's license, age at least 21 years and experience of at least two years. The usage scheme is as follows:

1. Install the Belkacar app (website Belkacar.ru)., register and link a bank card.
2. Find a car on the map and book. It will open automatically when you approach, the keys are already in the car. 7 free minutes are given to inspect the damage to the car and its completeness.
3. After the inspection, you can start the trip. The time of the trip and parking with the engine turned off is charged differently.
4. Refueling is carried out at the expense of the service.
5. To complete the trip, you can only park the car in the parking areas highlighted on the map.

Details about all the rules and answers to frequently asked questions are available on the website and in the application, it will take 10 minutes to study them.

Service rates:

• Travel mode - from 5 rubles/ minute.
• Parking mode - from 2.5 rubles/ minute.

Rental of bicycles, electric scooters, tricycles, ATVs

• 🕐 Working hours: Daytime
• 🎫 Cost: 100 rubles/hour, 500 rubles/day

Long-term hourly or daily rental is offered everywhere in resort areas. There are separate stationary rental points (mainly along the beaches), as well as in many hotels.

Here are the prices for the benchmark as of 2021:

• Bicycle - 100 rubles/hour, 500 rubles/ day, 800 rubles/day.
• Bicycle with child seat - 150 rubles/hour, 700 rubles/day, 1000 rubles/day.
• Electric tricycle, ATV – 800 rubles/hour.
• Electric scooter - 500 rubles/hour.

As a rule, prices within the same area between different rental locations do not differ (presumably due to price collusion), but you can bargain if you take a few days or several units of transport.

Minute-by-minute rental of bicycles and electric scooters

• 🕐 Working hours: around the clock
• 🎫 Cost: from 5 rubles/minute

One of the most advanced and economical ways to quickly move around the resort areas is a minute–by-minute rental. Please note that this is advantageous in the case of short-distance travel along the streets of resorts or along the embankment, but for a leisurely trip outside the resorts and to the sights in the vicinity, it is better to choose hourly or daily rent.

Minute-by-minute rentals are available in all major resorts of Sochi, as of 2021, these are the center of Sochi, Adler, Sirius, Lazarevskoye, Krasnaya Polyana. Free transport is found literally at every step in tourist areas and on embankments, so there will be no problems with finding and using it, you only need a smartphone and mobile Internet.

There are a lot of rental systems now, and everyone has their own applications and their own fleet of individual vehicles. Currently, at least: Urent, Citymobil, Whoosh, Seagull, BusyFly, E-Motion are working. There is not much difference in terms of convenience, stability of work and tariffs between them, so you can choose any of the ones you like or the first one that comes to your taste, even by the color of the scooters. In our opinion, the most common systems are Urent and Citymobile, but only Urent has rental bicycles so far.

The usage scheme is as follows:

1. Install the Urent, Citymobil, Whoosh, Seagull, BusyFly or E-Motion app, register and link a bank card.
2. Use the map in the app or visually while walking to find a free transport.
3. Read the QR code attached to the transport through the app. The transport lock is unlocked, after which 3 minutes are given for verification and after that the money begins to be debited.
4. At the end of the trip, place the vehicle in the parking zone allowed (determined by the map in the app) and complete it in the app. After that, you need to take a photo of the parked trapsport in the application.

The rules and answers to frequently asked questions are available on websites and in applications in more detail, so we will not duplicate them at home. Just install the app, take 5-10 minutes to register and study the rules, and you can use it. And here are the rates:

• Bike rental: activation at the beginning of each trip up to 20 rubles, then from 2 rubles / minute.
• Electric scooter rental: activation at the beginning of each trip up to 50 rubles, then from 5 rubles / minute.

The size of tariffs is not fixed, but varies depending on demand: it is usually cheaper during the day, more expensive in the evening. In general, all rental systems have almost the same rates, despite the advertising promises of a free trip or a start without activation. But there are paid subscriptions and promo codes for which you can get a free starting trip or trips without activation.

Please note that every minute of use is paid for as long as you have a ride enabled in the app, regardless of whether you are driving or standing. Also consider the cost of activating the electric scooter, because with frequent short trips it "eats up" all the benefits from its use.

Excursions

• 🕐 Opening hours: according to the Schedule of tour operators
• 🎫 Cost: from 400 rubles

Group or individual excursions are also a good way to move around to explore the sights and entertainment. You can even say that this is an ideal option for those who have come on vacation. Inexpensive group tours are sold almost at every turn in the resort areas and on the beaches, their prices are very reasonable. For example, there are sightseeing tours that cost from 400 rubles + the cost of entrance tickets.

You can also pick up standard group tours and original individual tours from local residents 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

Tourist transfer

Tourist transfer is an analogue of a taxi, only with increased comfort and booking in advance. In Sochi, as a tourist transfer, you can also order a regular taxi at a very good price, but it makes sense to use it only for long trips between districts. It is especially convenient to order a transfer instead of a taxi in order to get from the airport or from the railway station to a place of rest or vice versa:

Tourist bus "Matryoshka"

The tourist bus "Matryoshka" according to the Hop-on-Hop-off system consisted of two lines in central Sochi, Adler and Krasnaya Polyana. As of the beginning of 2021, it is not functioning, there is no information about the resumption of work.

🕒 2 April, 2026