Sochi.

History

Over the centuries this coast came within the orbit of Colchis, Byzantium, Georgia, the Genoese and the Ottoman Empire, before passing to Russia in 1829. In 1838 Fort Alexandria was founded at the mouth of the Sochi River and renamed Navaginsky a year later. The Caucasian Riviera resort opened in 1909, and under Stalin, who had a dacha here, Sochi became a fashionable holiday spot with neoclassical and constructivist buildings. In 2014 it hosted the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Culture & traditions

Every summer Sochi hosts the Kinotavr film festival. The Arboretum gathers tropical and subtropical plants, and the Tree of Friendship, a hybrid citrus, was planted in 1934. The city's landmarks include the Winter Theatre, the Cathedral of Michael the Archangel built in 1873–1891, and Stalin's dacha with his study preserved. Tennis players Maria Sharapova and Yevgeny Kafelnikov and the Nobel physicist Andre Geim are linked to Sochi.

Sport

The 2014 Olympics left Sochi with major venues, including the Rosa Khutor ski resort and the Fisht Stadium, which hosted 2018 FIFA World Cup matches. From 2014 to 2021 the Sochi Autodrom staged the Formula One Russian Grand Prix. The city has a football club and an ice hockey club, both called Sochi.

Food & drink

Tea grows near Sochi, in Dagomys and Matsesta, on Russia's northernmost tea plantations. It is worth tasting right where it is grown.

Practical information

The main gateway is Sochi International Airport in Adler. Trains arrive on the North Caucasus Railway, and there is also a seaport. The climate is humid subtropical, with winter days around +11 °C and summer days around +24 °C, and about 1,700 mm of rain a year. The beach season runs from May to October, while winter is the time for the mountains of Krasnaya Polyana.

What to see

• Arboretum — tropical plants and an avenue of palms
• Krasnaya Polyana and Rosa Khutor — the mountains of the 2014 Olympics
• Fisht Stadium — an Olympic legacy and a 2018 World Cup venue
• Agura waterfalls and Mount Akhun — natural sights of Greater Sochi
• Stalin's dacha — his preserved study, open to visitors
• Sochi National Park — protected nature around the resort