Traveling to Sochi – Everything You Need To Know

This trip to Sochi was not planned. In fact, two days before the flight, I was still sure that during the holidays this year I would stay in Israel. Yonatan worked during the vacation days and we decided to devote the many days off to arranging and restructuring our house, completing the missing items and re-designing different areas.

A day and a half before the flight my parents suggested that Itay and I join them for the trip to Sochi which they just booked spontaneously. Without much thought and after a brief check with Yonatan that he is surviving the breakup, I booked tickets for the same flight with my parents and also ordered a room in the same hotel. We spent a total of 3 full days in Sochi.

I like to be spontaneous in the decisions of traveling abroad (happens to me quite a bit), it adds excitement. But I also love taking the time, exploring the destination and planning – so I have a full picture of the place, what I’d rather do and what to skip.

This time, in retrospect, I realized that planning was an important part that was not worth giving up. Because I had a minute and a half (literally) to prepare, I did not fully understand the locations of all the recommended places and found that we missed a lot of activities that we were right next to them and would enjoy if we participated in them.

That’s why I decided to write a comprehensive guide about the whole area. After returning from the trip, I sat down and re-explored all the areas we visited, this time with an understanding of what and where, and created this guide.

I’ve also read a lot of comments that if you don’t know the Russian language it is not easy to get by in Sochi. Many service providers don’t speak English and most of the signs are written in Russian. Some restaurants don’t even have an English menu. I speak and read Russian, so I didn’t have this problem, but for those of you who don’t know Russian, I have tried to make as much order as possible in this guide. I added links to the maps so you could find the exact location (I have to admit that it wasn’t easy for me to find the places on the map before I was there myself). 

Most of the links in this article are leading to Russian-language sites because the English versions have limited information. I recommend opening the links in Google Chrome and allowing it to translate into a language that is convenient for you to get the full information. 

To all places’ names I added their name in Russian so you can copy and search more accurately.

I hope this guide will help you plan your next trip to Sochi and enjoy everything this charming area has to offer, which turns out, is quite a bit.

So make yourself a large cup of your favorite beverage and let’s get started. It’s going to be long 🙂

Table of Contents

Breaking Down The Regions and Some History

Let’s start with understanding the different areas. I will try to make some order and get you familiar with the area.

Location: When you say “Sochi” many times it means different places. Basically, Sochi (Сочи) is a city in the Krasnodar region of Russia and lies on the shores of the Black Sea. Make a notice, in a lot of articles I saw that when written Sochi they actually mean Adler. Don’t get confused, my explanation is next.

Fact: The city of Sochi covers an area of 175 square kilometers, with a population of about 410,000, as of 2017. 

Our hotel was located in Sochi center.

Location: But, when they say “Sochi city” it means a much bigger area. I know, it is confusing. It confuses me too. The area around Sochi is annexed to the city itself and so the city gets the definition of an urban district and includes all the places in the area marked below.

Fact: The district lais on 3,502 square kilometers, making Sochi one of the longest coastal cities in Europe with a coast length of 145 km. 

History: Sochi area began its construction in 1835. The first people to live in the area were Circassians, mountain people, who settled on mountains 560 meters above sea level. At this height, drinking water springs were found and also this height considered optimal for the human body. Below, at sea level, malaria prevailed and area residents tried to stay away from the shore. As the region began to develop, a professor from Moscow invited to fight the disease. For 30 years he worked and eventually managed to eradicate it from the ground up and since then the area has been free of malaria. 

Location: The Sochi city has a lot of other towns in it. One of them is Adler (Адлер). Adler is also a coastal town and located southeast of Sochi towards the border with Georgia.

Fact: Adler is the town where the Olympic Village was built for the 2014 Olympic Games held in Russia. And since then, the whole area is full of the Olympic symbols and is an attraction for many travelers. 

History: Throughout the 5 years prior to the Olympics, a massive construction took place in the area and the town turned from a neglected small village into a resort town with luxury hotels, restaurants and attractions set up to serve the masses coming to see the Olympic games. The residents say that the pace of the construction and its extent was so great that for five years, a constant cloud of dust hovered over the city and every little rain would pour huge drops of mud. They say the cars looked as if clay buckets had been poured on them. In addition to dust, city traffic was constantly and unexpectedly interrupted by frequent routing changes.

Location and History: The Sochi International Airport also is located in Adler. Its construction started by a Yugoslavian company many years ago but was suspended in the middle because of an unclear reason. Before the Olympics, the construction of the airport was completed. 

If you come by train to the Sochi area, please note that there are stations both in Sochi and in Adler. If your goal is to get to the Sochi airports, you need to get off at Adler station and not Sochi, as you would probably think.

Location: From Adler, if you take the A148 road north and drive along the river Mzymta (река Мзымта), you will arrive at a ski town called Krasnaya Polyana (Красная Поляна). The town is located 560 meters above sea level. Here the Winter Olympics games were held.

History: This town was built almost from scratch for the Olympics and half of it belongs to the government. To build it they had to reroute the river Mzymta, which considered a wild and unpredictable river especially in periods of the thaw, then the river was overflowing and destroying areas of land and causing damage to the villages. 

Fact: Another interesting phenomenon happens on the way from Adler to Krasnaya Polyana is related to the tunnels along the road. Because of the height of the mountains that climatically divide the area, a situation sometimes occurs that you enter the tunnel on one side of the mountain in sunny and summery weather and exit on the other side of the mountain, after about a minute’s drive, into a flood.

Fact: The area itself is a nature reserve and is listed as one of the UNESCO conservation sites. It contains lots of animal species from bears to wild cats. Putin’s government is currently restoring a species of a tiger which extincted from the area. 

Fact: The new roads built for the Olympics that connect Adler with Krasnaya Polyana and its area cost the government a fortune. The roads are planned to endure Grade 8 earthquakes on the Richter scale. Because the Caucasus Mountains in the area are considered young and still grow about 1 mm a year, although there were no earthquakes in the area yet, it was decided not to take any risk and prepare for the worst. The roads cost the same amount of money if black caviar 2 cm thick was spread over the area of the roads or 15 cm high of Hennessy Cognac was poured on top of them.

History: This road replaces an old road that is no longer in use. It is called by locals “God, let me pass through” (in a free translation). The old road is very narrow and built on a hillside, with the mountain on one side and an abyss on the other. The abyss is so deep that when those, that God did not hear their prayer, fell into the abyss, the cars looked like someone had taken a box of matches, squashed it, and threw it away. On the other side, the mountain is so high that if a stone fell from the mountain, it would slot a hole in the roof of a car. But as much as this road was scary so it was beautiful.
This is the least frightening part of this road that can be seen from the new road.

History: Originally the area’s inhabitants were simple people and sometimes were cut off from the cities, mainly in winter, due to the problematic roads and the weather conditions, so each farm had to maintain itself and each household had 50-60 acres to be able to grow various produce. Local residents later became the wealthiest people in the area when the government needed the land for the Olympics and each acre sold for about €100,000.

Interesting Fact and Location: Now here comes the difficulty with the names. Basically, the name of the town is Gorky Gorod (Горки Город) or Estosadok (Эстосадок), in its original Estonian name, how you will also find it today on Google maps. On the local maps, you can also see the name Rosa Valley (Роза Долина). But another complication here, especially difficult for me, is that from October 2019 the government officially changed the name of the town to Krasnaya Polyana, when Krasnaya Polyana being the name of a town located a few minutes earlier, and even bigger than the previous one.

Interesting Fact and Location: In the pre-Olympics times, people used to travel to the Krasnaya Polyana area (the original) for winter vacations, and in fact the common phrase was “to go to Krasnaya Polyana”, and so the habit remains to this day. Even after the Gorky Gorod ski town was established, people continued to say “we go to Krasnaya Polyana” so the government decided to give it the legendary name. It is the closest town to the ski area, mountain tourism and winter tourism. The original Krasnaya Polyana is called Little Switzerland and I guess it has its own magic. So pay attention when booking hotels, etc. Make sure you are staying where you intended to. From this town, the various cable cars go up the mountain, to various lookout points and mountain activities.

Interesting Fact: Just before the entrance to the town located the Olympic facility that cost the government the most of all other Olympic facilities – the ski jumping track. The jumping track should not be influenced by the wind from any direction and so they found this ideal spot and for building it they took down half a mountain. The track is built from the material used to create dental crowns for teeth, which is very expensive. But because of a mistake in the engineering calculation after the track was built, it collapsed and had to be rebuilt. The women’s jumping track was also built here and this was the first time women competed in this field at the Olympic games.

Location: The part of the town of Krasnaya Polyana / Estosadok / Rosa Valley, where the river Mzimta splits to the left and becomes river Laura is called Gazprom (Газпром), you will not find this name on the map. It is basically the region’s most prestigious mountain tourism area. It contains two resorts, one at 560 meters above sea – the Grand Hotel Polyana, and the other at 1389 meters high and so is its name – Polyana 1389 Hotel & Spa.
Gazprom has its own funicular lanes and its associated ski areas. Adjacent to the Grand Hotel is Putin’s residence and here the ministers of the Russian government come to relax during the winter holidays.

Where should you stay when coming to Sochi area

1. Sochi itself – If you plan a city vacation with beach time and a botanical park combination with everything in a walk distance or a short taxi ride, this should be a good choice. It is also a good location if you arrive for a short break and not at the peak of the hot season because the humidity here is severe in the summer. It is worth to be located in the downtown, within walking distance of the old port (Morport – МОРПОРТ).
2. Krasnaya Polyana – If you are coming in the ski season and this is your goal, or if your goal is to participate in multiple adventurous activities in nature with children or without – this is the area for you. 
3. Adler – If you want to combine the beach vacay with some escapes to the mountains and have a taste of all the worlds, Adler would be a good place to settle in. 

Everything About Sochi

What to do in Sochi?

The boardwalk and the beach – Sochi is known for its maritime recreation. In the Soviet era (when Russian gates were locked and international holidays were not an option) the Russians used to come here to bathe in the sea and spend a few days (or a whole month) on the beach. The sea in Sochi on the hot days is very calm and allows nice swimming. The beaches will probably be pretty crowded at the peak season, but a little into the fall or late spring, when there are only a few warm hours a day, you will probably be alone on the beach.
The boardwalk is full of shops, restaurants and cafes and you should definitely take a walk there at any time of the year.

The port (Morport – МОРПОРТ) – It is the old port building and is the city symbol. You can stroll inside the marina and overlook the wide building. Inside the building located designer shops.

St. Michael’s Cathedral (Собор Архангела Михаила) – This is a kind of a yard with a garden where several sacred buildings are located beside the church. After the fall of communist rule, where religion of any kind was forbidden, Russia began to invest in churches and religious places. This place is very well kept and maintained. If you are passing near you can come inside for a quick look, if it is not on your way, you can easily skip the place.

Riv’yera Park, Vystavochnaya Galereya (РИВЬЕРА, выставочная галерея) – A large park with lots of activities mainly for children. You can find a complex with different rooms, like illusion room, a room with huge balloons that the kids can drown in and it’s fun (although the child seems to be lost), a room that you can break plates – one of Itay’s favorites and a room of giants, where furniture and objects are enlarged several times. 

The park has a small amusement park with various carousels. 

The dolphinarium is also located here, where you can see dolphin shows. Please note that on Mondays there are no shows and you cannot enter the dolphinarium. On other days there are two shows a day at 1pm and 4pm. We had not checked the details before and arrived here on Monday, so we missed the show. To be honest, I was a little glad we didn’t give a hand to holding these animals in captivity. 

In the dolphinarium building you can find a petting zoo. In the same complex there are a few other animals in the cages (too small cages, I may say) and you can also visit a room with penguins and seals (all in aquariums) and another room of butterflies. Both are not very impressive and mostly give the feeling that the space designated to these animals is not enough at all.

* Side note – There is a feeling in general that the Russians are not amazing at honoring the natural place of the animals. Everywhere you go, you can find tourist traps that are in some way related to wild animals. Cages of various birds (including ostriches) can be found in almost every park. Some keep eagles tied to a rope at their feet so you can take pictures with them.

On our walk in the park, we only got to the dolphinarium, which is basically half of one path (there are two), because about every 10 meters there is an activity complex that Itay wanted to visit and so we spent about 3 hours in the park including lunch at a non-recommended buffet. In the end, we just wanted to get out of there (it is possible that we are too old to spend a long time in activities for small children).
But you can continue walking along the path of the activity complexes and return on the parallel path where you see more of the vegetation, sculptures and buildings. And if the activities are not of interest to you, you can just retire to the left lane immediately after entering the park.

Circus (Sochinskiy Gosudarstvennyy Tsirk – Сочинский государственный цирк) – In the city, you can find the permanent Sochi Government Circus (so is its name). I remember as a girl I really liked going to the circus (I know, you guys, you’re shocked  ;-)) and always when we came to a city that had a regular circus I was very excited. This time I wanted to share the experience with my kid, but unfortunately on the days we were in town there were no shows. So I don’t know if this circus is worth a visit or not. And from the photos I was able to find on Google, I think it is a circus that still holds shows that incorporate animals (is it not something that is outlawed all over the world?) Anyway, go on their site and check the dates of the shows.

Park Dendrariy (Парк Дендрарий) – This is a huge park with lots of trees and plants. Because of Sochi’s special climate, it grows tropical plants such as palms and bamboo as well as plants that are more suited to colder climates, such as oak and pine. The park contains a total of 1800 species of different plants collected from all over the world, including exotic and rare ones. The park contains also many buildings and sculptures.

The park covers an area of about 460 acres and is mostly on a hillside. At the bottom of the park (near the circus building), there is a cable car that goes to the highest point in the park and is recommended to go by the cable car and take a walk down the park. Please note, the cost of admission to the park (250 Rubles per adult) is in addition to the cost of the cable car (350 Rubles per adult). Also check the cable car and park’s opening hours – varying in each season and on different days of the week.

The cable car’s top station is also a viewpoint over the whole city. As you can understand, the park is huge and you can spend a whole day in it. There are cafes where you can eat lunch (not something to write home about) and many kiosks that sell Russian ice cream, tastes a bit like the McDonald’s cone (which for me is a taste of childhood so I had one at any possible chance). 

Since the park is huge you can easily miss the nice areas to visit, so be sure to have a map (at the park site or at the entrance for a fee of 50 Rubles) and try to plan a route that will include the central areas. When we got down at the end of our tour we discovered that we skipped parts that should be beautiful and impressive, but we didn’t have the energy to go back and try to see at least some of them.

If you do not have a lot of time you can visit the section below the cable car station. This is a significantly flatter and smaller area than the upper one. You can also enter the large (upper) section of the park from the bottom entrance and walk up the mountain to the area of the buildings and sculptures.

Zimniy Theater (Зимний Театр) – The famous theater with its unique 88-columns supporting the roof of the building. If you understand Russian it is worth checking if there is a play you would like to see.

In general, wander around the city and enjoy plenty of greenery and the many statues of the important (and less important) historical figures scattered at every corner.

Where to sleep in Sochi?

We slept at Marins Park Hotel Sochi, close to the sea and 10 minutes walk from Morport, which is the center of the city. But the hotel is not recommended. As mentioned, my parents booked a package with their travel agent before talking to me so this hotel was not my choice. Although the hotel is rated 4 stars (a friend recently told me that in the advanced world there is no star rating for hotels anymore), the level of this hotel is not even close to two. Very old-fashioned rooms, rich breakfast but almost all dishes are not tasty. The only thing we enjoyed at breakfast was the blini, a kind of flat pancakes that were fresh and hot and their tray constantly refilled.

So where to stay? Hyatt Regency Sochi is a very high standard hotel. It is adjacent to the hotel we slept in and every morning I woke up to the view of this hotel. The hotel has a pool and spa and the design of the hotel is modern and cozy.

Hotel Swissôtel Resort Sochi Kamelia – Also considered a very good hotel. It is one of the oldest and well-known hotels in Sochi that has been renovated and changed the name. Many Israelis choose it. The hotel is located just outside the walking distance to the city itself in a greener area and with spectacular sea views.

Sochi is loaded with quality hotels at affordable rates for every pocket. Look for the hotel you like the most in booking.com.

Where to eat in Sochi?

The restaurants in Sochi are open till late – midnight or even one o’clock, unlike many places in the world, especially in Europe where the kitchen closes at ten or eleven and if you remember too late you are left with fast food options at best or a snack from the grocery store.

Hinkley Restaurant Belie Nochi (Хинкальная Белые Ночи) – Russian-designed restaurant in every aspect, including the smile-less service. The restaurant was right in front of our hotel and on the first evening we arrived in Sochi and needed a restaurant for a late dinner it fitted our needs. The restaurant serves home-cooked food. There is nothing fancy about the dishes but the food itself is good and tasty. Their Hinkley is considered a good choice in the area. But we didn’t taste it (too much dough for a late-night hour).

Fettuchchine (Феттуччине) – Itay asked for pizza (pizza and pasta are his default dishes – dad’s boy), so I searched for a recommended Italian restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. The restaurant turned out to be very nice. The design is cozy and warm with large and comfortable sofas. I loved that every table has a coat rack so as not to ruin the appearance of the restaurant when everyone hangs their coat on their chair or throws on the couch. The best feature in the restaurant is the children’s playroom, you can “drop” them there and enjoy your meal. The pizzas we ordered were really tasty. The desserts were also nice but were not caught in the camera lens. The rest of the dishes were good but needed improvement. Overall we enjoyed our time at the restaurant.

Grill’Age – The best restaurant on our visit to Sochi. I got a recommendation about this restaurant from a friend, and on the evening of the day that we visited Krasnaya Polyana and Adler we went back to Sochi directly to this restaurant. We arrived after nine o’clock and the restaurant was quiet and cozy. We chose one of the tables with double sofas on both sides and just enjoyed their comfort at the end of a busy day. Itay fell asleep in the car on our way back, we moved him to the comfy couch so he could sleep comfortably and we could enjoy a relaxed dinner.

This restaurant as well as the previous features a children’s room with games that can keep the little ones busy while the parents enjoy the meal quietly.

All the dishes we ate that evening were very tasty, and the dessert of Napoleon cake overcame them all with its puff pastry that was crisp and at the same time melted in the mouth.

We enjoyed the restaurant so much that we came back the next day to sample more dishes. The second time we arrived earlier, around seven. At this hour the restaurant was bustling and children were running around. It turns out that till eight o’clock a nanny is working in the playroom, playing with the kids and keeping them safe. This time Itay was awake and could play with other children and also enjoy the pasta dish he ordered for himself (from the main menu and not the kids’ menu, because the fine shmaker he is ;))

Krasnaya Polyana/Gazprom and Roza Khutor
– All There is to Do

Krasnaya Polyana

First, you can stroll along the river and in the towns themselves (Krasnaya Polyana and Gazprom) and enjoy the new ski towns built in an old classical style, sit in a cafe or restaurant and just rest.

Gazprom

Park Green Planet (Парк Зеленая Планета) – This is a cute park where the animals and other things made of grass. This park was in my plans, but somehow I missed it when we got to the area. I think we could enjoy it there and it is a pity we did not visit it. 

Rts Galaktika Complex (РЦ Галактика) – A complex located in Gazprom and contains a water park, ice skating, bowling, 3D cinema, shopping gallery, interactive technology exhibition, restaurants and bars. 

Roza Khutor

Roza Khutor (Роза Хутор) – It is actually a ski resort, but not only. It has lots of activities for all ages suitable for all year round.
The name of the place was given in ancient times. When the Estonians settled in the area and founded the town of Estosadoc, one of them settled furthest away, his name was Roza (unclear if it is a family name or private name) and people would say “ley’s go to Roza’s farm (Khutor, in Russian)” and so after years the name stuck and remained.

Most activities are in the mountains and are reached by funicular railway. The cable car stations are located on both sides of McDonald’s in Estosadoc.
The full information about the activities can be found on the official website of Roza Khutor, in section “activities” (the site is in Russian, open the link in Chrome to translate into your language). Roza Khutor also has an app.

Each activity page shows where it is located, from what age kids can participate in the activity, what is the cost, a detailed explanation and pictures. It is worth exploring it well before your flight and deciding what interests you, so as not to be overwhelmed upon arrival or to be disappointed afterward if you missed something that looked really fun (as happened to me). The selection is really huge and most likely you won’t be able to do them all even if you have a week in the area. I will try to summarize the things that can be done at the various stations.

• Even before boarding the cable cars in the Roza Valley (Estosadoc) there are various activities you can experience, such as:
  • Omega over the river
  • Karting
  • Upside-down house – where everything is upside down and if you take a photo and flip the image 180 degrees it will look like you are walking on the ceiling
  • Ice skating center (open only during winter season)
  • Rope park
  • Also you can find additional kids’ activities centers like this and this.
  • From the town, you can go out on a guided tour (check if there is a tour in English) during which you can enjoy the spectacular views and listen to explanations about the ski resort development and its subsistence during the winter and summer days.
  • A mountain club where you can listen to lectures (I would guess in Russian). There you can also buy or rent equipment for all winter and extreme activities in the area.
  • In addition, in the town you can rent summer gear and different mobility equipment, like a bicycle.
  • There is also a bathing beach (or rather a deck) on the lake. 

• Cable car named Olympia (OLIMPIA – Олимпия) (the station is to the left of McDonald’s) will take you to the Olympic Village in the mountains at 1100 meter-height. This is a cute little village with hotels and restaurants you can sit in and enjoy the view.
  The area has a bunch of activities to offer for kids, like: 
  • Tubing in the summertime or in the wintertime
  • Trampolines
  • Sleds riding on rails 
  • Husky dog farm 
  • Climbing wall and more.
  • Here too, you can find activity centers for young children: kids’ club  and  riders kids’ club.
  • One activity that is especially close to my heart and only opens in winter-time when there is snow is Toboggan, which is basically sliding on classic sleds downhill. It’s totally nostalgic for me and this is how we used to go from place to place in Russia during the winter when snow covered the sidewalks. Instead of sitting in a stroller when someone is pushing it or riding a bicycle at a later age I would sit in a sled and someone would pull it. And when we wanted to have fun, we would do exactly what the activity offers – going up a road on foot and sliding down the sled, sometimes a full kilometer long. One of the fun things I remember from my childhood.

• From there you can board the ZAPOVEDNYY LES (Заповедный лес) cable car to the next stop at 1,350 meter. There you will find Yeti Park (Йети Парк) – a park with ropes and ladders hanging high among the trees. The complex is for children over 90 cm high.

• From 1,350 meter level station, it is possible to get on an open cable car Beseda (Беседа) towards Rosa Stadium and the upper lake. At the moment, you can only observe the greenery and the waterfalls from the cable car but you cannot exit at the station. In May 2020, construction of the Veyk Water Park will be completed, which will include extreme water activities.

• Also from the 1,350 meter level (Yeti Park area) you can get on the KAVKAZSKY EXPRESS (Кавказский Экспресс) cable car line to the highest station at 2,320 meters above sea level, enjoy the beautiful scenery and have a view of the town from above. From there you can also see Putin’s residence in which he stays when he comes to his winter holidays.
  Here too, there are various activities like: 
  • Swings flying over the clouds 
  • A hanging bridge between two mountains that can be crossed walking
  • Tandem flight on a para-plane
  • Also, there are special tours at sunrise or sunset.
    
  • From here you can get off the open cable car Edelweiss (EDELWEIS – Эдельвейс) to the Mendeliha (Менделиха) waterfalls park and take a walk along the marked paths. All the details can be found on the official website.

The Hanging Bridge


Swings Over the Clouds

** Note that with the ticket you buy for the cable car you can only travel in one direction and of course back, meaning you cannot go up one station, go back down and then go up again, even if you have not used all the cable cars you will not be able to use the card again.

• Other things to do in the area:
  • You can go on hiking trails in the various green areas and connect with nature. The range of routes is large and varies from 2 km to 12 km routes. Some can be done alone and some in an organized group.
  • You can also find various fitness activities and spa and beauty centers.
  • Restaurants – this is the complete list of all restaurants in the Rosa Khutor area.
    We had a late lunch at Red Fox Restaurant. It is considered a very high-level restaurant. It has a seating area inside, which is warmly and elegantly decorated, outside on the restaurant terrace and across the road on the river-side. I have to say I didn’t fall for the food. The flavors are pretty banal and almost every dish was missing something that would give the dish a special character.

• • And of course, we cannot do without shopping. Here you will find all the shops in the area.

What to Do in Adler?

In Adler, as mentioned, is the Olympic Park and a bunch of activities around it. The city also has a new promenade and a seaside.

The Olympic Park (Olimpiyskiy Park Adler – Олимпийский парк Адлер) – The Olympic Park is basically a large area that includes the compound where the Olympic Games took place and an area with various amusements and activities. The park also includes the Bogattir Hotel which is considered one of the high-quality hotels.

You can take a walk through the various buildings where the Olympic Games are held and see them from the outside. Each building is built differently and corresponds to the type of sport is played in, for example, the ice hockey building looks like a hockey disc. 

It is possible to make a short round before arriving at the fountain show (see below). You can also do the tour in a golf car with a guide. The tour includes a ride through the entire Olympic Park and explanations about the various buildings. The cost of such a tour is 500 rubles per person. We didn’t take one. 

Some of the attractions within the Olympic Park are worth visiting:

The Fountain – The main attraction in the area of the Olympic Games is the fountain adjacent to the eternal fire torch. The fountain is inactive most of the day but at night the fountain comes to life and there is a colorful and musical show in which water jets are lit in various colors and fired up to 50 meters high accompanied by the sounds of popular Russian and international songs.

Ice skating – The Olympic Games area has an ice skating facility. The complex is open from March to the end of November. Pay attention to the hours of operation.

Hotel Bogattir – the hotel is part of the Olympic Park and belongs to the state like the rest of the park. The hotel is built in the shape of a castle and at night it is lit by different colors. Worth seeing.

Sochi Park (СОЧИ ПАРК) – The Russian Disneyland. It is a park with different fun activities for kids of all ages including roller coasters and multimedia rooms. Pay attention to the park’s activity days. Unlimited admission to the park is included in the room rate for the Bogattir hotel guests.

Ferris Wheel – In front of the hotel is the park’s Ferris Wheel.

Museums – there are some museums in the park.

• Tesla Museum, where you can see how to generate electricity and participate in scientific experiments yourself.
• Leonardo Museum, where you can see the inventions of the scientist.
• Museum of the USSR – Soviet nostalgic museum. The museum presents from Soviet children’s toys through cleaning materials and products to the Soviet furniture and interior design.

Watch a play – In addition,  there are various shows and games taking action in the park. I would go see an ice show, which is an ice skating show with a storyline, costumes, decor, etc. It seems like a really fun experience, or if you are into a particular sport, it is worth seeing a game in one of the Olympic complexes. (check the site to see what else is of interest to you)

Beach and boardwalk – the shores of the Black Sea filled with large polished stones instead of sand. Some beaches have dark gray sand – the dust of the stones. You can swim and lounge on the beach or just take a walk along the promenade and sit in one of the restaurants overlooking the sea.

Activities in Between

Skypark (Скайпарк) – At a third of the way from Adler to Krasnaya Polyana, a 439-meter-long bridge is hanging between two ridges at 207-meter-high. From the bridge, you can jump bungee at two heights: 207 or 69 meters. You can do different types of omega, alone or together on a kind of a seat, swing on huge swings or just cross the bridge over the river and overcome the fear of heights. The park also features a climbing wall, Maugly park for climbing ropes between the trees and mountain climbing routes.
The founder of the park is AJ Hackett, from New Zealand, who in the 1980s was inspired by the ceremony of turning a boy into a man of Vanuatu natives (south of Australia) and developed the bungee into an extreme sport.

Aquarium and Dolphinarium (Sochi Discovery World Aquarium) – On the way from Adler to Sochi there is an aquarium or basically an oceanarium. We did not visit it, but the guide who took us to Krasnaya Polyana claimed that we must have seen more impressive ones in our lives.

*** Today we will not have Yonatan’s nonsense corner (as he did not travel with us this time). Instead, we will play “Where’s Waldo?” or Where’s Itay:

General Tips

• Ural Airlines does not serve food or drinks, not even water. Take food and water with you.
• Keep the slip that you receive at the immigration control at the entrance to the country safe – this is actually your visa, especially when you are asked for a passport at all kinds of places in the city. If you lose it there is some procedure that you can pay some fine at the airport to cross the border back. But it is best to keep it safe so that you do not deal with bureaucracy while traveling.
• Money – Change some money in your country so not to land empty-handed. Most places accept credit cards – my favorite way of paying abroad since the exchange rates on my credit card are best out of all the rates I could find. If you need more cash for tips, cabs, and places that do not accept credit, withdraw it inside the bank’s ATMs and not on the street for safety.
• Communication – A local Sim or a package from your country (don’t understand why to do so when a Sim card with 5G costs 250 rubles) is a must in Sochi! When shopping for a local Sim you must present a passport, not a copy or a photo of it, the passport itself! – this is why I left without constant internet connection throughout the trip. In order to connect to Wi-Fi in the restaurants, the system asks for a Russian phone number to send an SMS with a code, so there is no escape for at least one of you to have a Sim card. In the hotels, the receptionist will usually connect you to the hotel Wi-Fi with their own phone number.
• Tip – 10-15% in the restaurants. Pay attention that some restaurants are adding the tip already in the final bill, especially in Krasnaya Polyana.
• Getting around 
  • Taxi is usually cheap. While still at home download the Yango app (Yandex taxi) and register – the app requires sending a code via SMS. We couldn’t sign up in Sochi on a phone with a mobile package from home. If you will have Russian Sim I believe there will be no problem signing up. Try to book taxis only through this app or through the hotel reception, this way you will know in advance the price you should pay and avoid fraud. We paid 300 rubles for a 4-minute ride at a taxi we stopped on the street and we paid the same 300 rubles for a 15 mins ride with a taxi that was ordered through the app. 
  • It is customary in this area to hire a guide with a car that will take you for a full day to all places worth visiting or you can build your own route. We liked the guy who picked us from the airport to the hotel (transfer service we booked in advance) and asked him if he could do a day tour on one of our days in the city. Turned out this is one of the services his company provides. Anyway, you should know where you want to go and what exactly to do at each place because the driver brings you to the places and explains to you about the places themselves but can’t always be aligned with your taste or alternatively miss an attraction that he would think is unimportant and that you may be interested in, as happened to us with the Green Planet Park.
    Our driver spoke only Russian, so I will not put his credentials here. But if you prefer a Russian guide, please leave a comment below and I will send you his details. There are a lot of recommendations on the internet for the local drivers speaking English or even Hebrew, you can find one that you like the most in a short search.

That is it, guys. There is a lot of information to digest but I hope it answers your questions and will help you plan the perfect trip to the Sochi area. Just writing this guide made me want to go back, this time also with Yonatan and enjoy the great things that this place has to offer.

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Have a great vacation!

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