Adler, Russia

Adler

Adler occupies the southern part of the Sochi coast. This is the most resort part of the city, where beach holidays are absolute, and the sights are few and ordinary, with the exception of the Southern Cultures Park, one of the best botanical gardens on the Black Sea coast. Along with Krasnaya Polyana, Adler became the venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics, which brought huge new buildings to the city, which, however, have yet to be used in everyday resort life.

Adler is located in the southern part of Greater Sochi. In the past, only a village located at the confluence of the Mzymta River with the Black Sea was called Adler, but now that Adler has grown due to the resort and Olympic construction, this name is used (at least in everyday life) for the entire Black Sea coast - from Kudepsta of the Khostinsky district to the Abkhaz borders. Modern Adler consists of several microdistricts: immediately after Kudepsta begins the Resort Town - a narrow strip of land, packed to capacity with cafes, hotels, sanatoriums and other attributes of a beach holiday. Next is the Blue Dali microdistrict, where the station is located. Behind him, after the narrow river Herota, the center of Adler itself or the old Adler, stretching to Mzymta. Behind Mzymta begins the Imeretinskaya lowland with the objects of the 2014 Olympics.

It is believed that the name Adler comes from the Turkish Artlar, but no one knows for sure where the Turkish toponym came from. The Russian history of Adler begins in 1837 with the construction of the Fort of the Holy Spirit at the mouth of the Mzymta, one of the Black Sea fortifications designed to protect these lands from Turkey and pacify the recalcitrant Circassians. Unlike similar forts in Sochi and Lazarevsky, the Adler fort was completely destroyed in 1854, nothing was left of it at all. Ten years later, peace comes on the Black Sea coast, migrants from different parts of Russia begin to go to the Mzymta valley, but they prefer to settle further from the coast - for example, the village of Moldovka stands 5 km from the coast (where the runway of the Sochi airport now ends) - or at all in the mountains, in Krasnaya Polyana. At the end of the 19th century, the entire Sochi coast suffered from malaria, but Adler was the most disastrous place in this sense: the disease was finally eradicated here only in 1956. It is significant that the road from Novorossiysk to Sukhumi, laid in 1898, bypassed Adler, so until the mid-1930s there was not even a bridge across the river.

Adler in the middle of the 20th century should not be considered a completely outback place, but it never received the status of a city: at first it was a village, and in 1961 it became part of Greater Sochi. There is very little pre-revolutionary architecture here (something was destroyed, but there was not much from the very beginning), and Stalinist architecture bypassed the city - its weak echo is the old station building, which, however, is even ridiculous to compare with the Sochi station of the same period. However, since the 1950s Adler is rapidly increasing its resort popularity, becoming a cheap alternative to Sochi. This status is only strengthened after the collapse of the USSR, when private hotels and related infrastructure begin to grow here like mushrooms.

Preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics have greatly changed the face of Adler. On the one hand, there has been a huge development of infrastructure: almost any Russian city will envy the new roads and stations. On the other hand, the nature of the Imeretinskaya lowland has been lost, the huge wild beach has disappeared, and in general the situation has become more urban. In 2020, the territory between the Mzymta and Psou rivers, together with the Olympic Park, was transferred to the village of Sirius, the first federal territory in Russia. Nevertheless, crowds of vacationers continue to go to Adler, which is located, as it were, at a crossroads: the airport is nearby, the mountain resorts of Krasnaya Polyana are in one direction, the more pretentious Sochi is in the other, and the extremely unpretentious Abkhazia is in the third. And at the same time, it is still quite cheap here, but, thanks to the Olympics, there are also options for expensive comfortable living. For travelers who are not prone to beach holidays, Adler is a pure transit point where it is convenient to stay, but there is practically nothing to see, unless, of course, you are looking for special ethnographic impressions in the crowds of vacationers huddling on a tiny dirty beach and eating barbecue to unbearably loud pop music. However, in winter there is none of this, and you can see completely different things - for example, take a closer look at the local population. There are a lot of Armenians in Adler, and in general they say that the city is completely non-Russian.

 

Tourism and attractions

Center

Old Adler is bounded from the north by the Herota River, and from the south by the Mzymta. This is the historical part of the city, in which, of course, you will find mostly remodels, although, walking through the back streets, you can find a lot of pre-war and post-war buildings of the 1930s and 50s. - mostly light beige two-story houses without any decor. This was Adler before becoming a big resort.
1  Adler lighthouse, st. Enlightenment, 21 (embankment). Built in 1898, that is, only a few years later than Sochi. From the outside it looks somehow modern and boring, they are not allowed inside. Tower height 11 m, visibility range 13 miles.
2 St. Sarkis Cathedral, st. Bestuzheva, 22. A modern Armenian temple (1993-98), which, frankly, looks like an Armenian no more than a Russian one or something else. Even in Armenia, modern temple architecture looks different, retaining at least some continuity. However, the shape of the building is quite interesting. It consists of separate, stepped tiers, forming a mountain - either Golgotha, or Ararat. Next to the temple there is a miniature belfry and several beautiful carved crosses - khachkars. A monument to the passengers of the Yerevan plane that crashed in Adler in 2006 was also made in an unexpected form of a twisted khachkar.
3 Church of the Holy Spirit, st. Kirova, 22a. The architecture of this new church is reminiscent of an old Russian palace with a tower roof. Inside there is not only a church, but also a Sunday school, so it turns out a kind of tower with a dome. The old Church of the Holy Spirit existed in Adler in 1898, destroyed in 1947. From it, a cross remained on the territory - a mass grave of soldiers who died during the Caucasian War of 1877.
4 Holy Trinity Church, st. Kirova, 22a. Adjacent to the previous one. Another new church (1993-98), built as a replacement for the same church of the Holy Spirit destroyed in 1947. The architecture of the temple is unlikely to arouse your interest, but the fact of its location on the site of the old Fort of the Holy Spirit is curious, even if nothing remains of the fort.
5 Bestuzhevsky park and monument to Bestuzhev, st. Bestuzhev. A small square adjoining the beach on one side and the Armenian Cathedral on the other. This is also the location of the Fort of the Holy Spirit, but the obelisk installed in the park does not remind of him, but of the death of the most famous founder of Adler, the writer and Decembrist A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, who was demoted by the tsar to the soldiers and died either during the landing in Adler or shortly thereafter. The body was not found, the place of the monument is conditional. The monument was erected in 1957, although the first bust was erected back in tsarist times, in 1913. An old cannon is installed nearby - another reminder of the Fort of the Holy Spirit.
6  The building of the port point Adler, st. Enlightenment, 1-3 (embankment). One of the few pre-revolutionary buildings in the area, now turned into a restaurant. The style is very typical for old Sochi: gray stone, different-sized windows and mostly geometric shapes that form into a cute, almost fairy-tale house.
7  The building of the children's music school, st. Kirova, 26. Another pre-revolutionary building, and perhaps the only one that can be unmistakably classified as historical. A typical two-story mansion, complemented by semicircular door niches in the spirit of Art Nouveau architecture. Attached to the side is the Oktyabr cinema (according to various sources, 1928 or 1936) - a one-story and rather atypical building for such institutions.
8  Olympic rings (junction between Lenina and Aviatsionnaya streets). Huge rings, where each continent is represented by its own color. At night it is beautifully lit.

 

Station area (Blue distances)

The Blue Dali microdistrict is separated from the center of Adler by the Herota River. The name of the microdistrict is usually associated with a good view of the sea from the local hills. There is also a version about the rich (once) thickets of mimosa, the leaves of which have a blue tint. The microdistrict is characterized by boring late Soviet and post-Soviet buildings. Tourists come here either for entertainment (in the Kurortny Gorodok) or for panoramic views that cannot be found in other parts of Adler. You may also be interested in the name of the local river. The most cultural version says that it came from the tenth company stationed here (X company), although evil tongues offer other options and consider this name the best characteristic of Adler as a whole.

9  Observation deck, st. Blue Dali (stop "Emerald"). The best views are from the rooftops. If you didn’t happen to get to the roof, just go up one of the streets: Golubye Dali street, for example, intersecting with Lenin street 700 m west of the railway station, is great.

 

Imereti lowland

The Imeretinskaya lowland, which is between the Mzymta and Psou rivers in the southeastern part of Adler, has always been a marshy swampy area where migratory birds nested. At one time, the issue of creating a reserve here was discussed. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Old Believers who returned from Turkey settled on the southern outskirts of Adler, who began to engage in agriculture. This initiative was successfully developed in the Soviet years, when the entire coast to the Abkhazian border was occupied by state farms and numerous drainage channels appeared to regulate the flow of water. In the early 2000s, the Imereti Lowland was chosen for the construction of the Olympic Village and the Coastal Cluster of the 2014 Winter Olympics, which led to radical changes: only the Southern Cultures park survived, state farms were destroyed, canals were filled in, the ground level was artificially raised, and at the mouth Mzymty even built a cargo port to service the construction. Now it is a separate village of Sirius - the first federal territory in Russia. It has already lost, unfortunately, its unique nature and former charm. In the bright future, something between a university campus and a high-tech center will appear here, but it is still difficult to predict what it will look like and how interesting it will be for the traveler.

10  Park "Southern Cultures", st. Krasnaya Gorka / st. Tulips. ☎ +7 (8622) 40-01-73, +7 (8622) 40-02-57. 9:00–17:00. 250 rub. The park was founded in 1910-11. on the estate of General D. V. Drachevsky, who, like many Sochi summer residents, wanted his house to be surrounded by subtropical plants. The well-known park designer of that time A. E. Regel was engaged in the design, but he did not even come to Adler, entrusting the creation of the park to the local gardener R. F. Skrivanik. The owner of the estate also, apparently, did not follow the process very much, as a result of which the dacha building (now destroyed) ended up on the edge of the park, and ponds, alleys and stairs formed an independent ensemble, not at all similar to a noble estate. This is one of the differences between "Southern Cultures" and the Sochi arboretum, where the owner's dacha is located in the very center. Another difference is the location on a flat terrain, thanks to which you can generally arrange a pond here and do not have to climb uphill all the time, as is usually the case in the botanical gardens of the Black Sea coast.
After the revolution, the park was nationalized and turned into a state farm; in the late 1930s, Far Eastern plants received from China and Japan as payment for the Chinese Eastern Railway were planted here, including sakura, which now delight Sochi residents with their spring flowering. After the collapse of the USSR, the park was in a deplorable state, but it seems that it began to revive on the eve of the Olympics. About 1,400 species of various trees and shrubs grow here, almost the entire flora of the subtropics is represented. Rosary, a large collection of conifers (sequoias, cryptomerias, cypresses, Lebanese and Himalayan cedars), rhododendrons, liquidambra, tulip tree, Japanese cherry, magnolias, laurels. Going down the stairs and walking along the shady alleys, you can see a large bamboo grove, a tea house, two ponds with rare aquatic plants (water lilies, lilies, lotuses). Also on the territory of the park you will find a water tower built in 1910 that looks like an old transformer box - a rare monument for Adler from the beginning of the 20th century.
The entrance to the park is at the end of the street. Red hill. You can get here by buses heading towards the Olympic Park, or you can come on foot by crossing the Mzymta River along the pedestrian bridge at the end of the Adler embankment.

The Olympic Park begins with the Olympic Village, which is closely adjacent to the Southern Cultures Park. These are several blocks of modern houses that are pretty, but architecturally trivial. Next comes the Olympic Center itself - a circle with a diameter of 1.2 km, inside which arenas for competitions are located: a direct road leads here from the railway station "Olympic Park". Even further east are hotels, the village of Nekrasovka built for the Olympics - rows of neat new houses where residents of the Imeretinskaya lowland were resettled, and the Rossiya state farm - in the past one of the state farms, then a resort village, and now it’s not clear what, because from the once stretched there is little left for kilometers of wild beach. The Imeretinskaya lowland ends with the state border and the village of Vesyoloye, where the border crossing to Abkhazia is located.

All facilities of the Olympic Park are made in high-tech style and generously covered with glass or white plastic or both at the same time. If you like this kind of architecture, take a look at the Fisht central stadium, which was planned to be made open, but then they closed up a hole in the roof, so that from above it now resembles a computer mouse, although, according to the creators, it was supposed to symbolize the snowy peaks of the Caucasus. Equally mixed feelings are caused by an ice palace resembling a CD player with an extremely original name “Bolshoi” (according to the original plan, a frozen drop). A more unambiguous perception of the Adler-Arena skating stadium is a uniform aircraft carrier, and the iceberg winter sports palace completes the composition - a solid high-tech in the shape of a square with depressed sides. For fun, you can also visit the Ice Cube, the only curling stadium in the world, and try to find at least something related to the cube in its shape.

In the center of all this splendor there is a large area intended for the Olympic flame and official ceremonies, and a little aside from it there is a patch of greenery, an Old Believer cemetery preserved in the park. If the future of the Olympic venues is uncertain, then the cemetery that survived the Olympics will probably remain here forever.

Nizhneimetinskaya Bay (formerly the Rossiya state farm) is a modest resort village on the shores of the bay of the same name. Imeretians are called one of the nationalities living in Georgia, and this word itself, translated from Georgian, means “that side”. There are buses and minibuses from Adler to the village. If you are driving to the village of Vesyoloye, then, before reaching the border crossing on the Psou River, turn right at the Cossack Market to Tavricheskaya Street and after a couple of kilometers you will find yourself in Nizhneimeretinskaya Bay. A wide pebble beach provides all the possibilities of a seaside holiday. The undoubted advantages of this place are less crowded beaches, cleaner sea water and lower cost of living compared to Adler.

 

What to do

Embankment

1 Museum of the History of the Adler District, st. Tavricheskaya, 9 (settlement Vesyoloye). ☎ +7 (8622) 40-54-28. Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00. Museum of local lore: larger than in Khost, but smaller than in Sochi. The most interesting in it is the ethnographic part, which tells about what different peoples went to Adler at the end of the 19th century.
2  Park of culture and rest, st. Chamomile, 1 (center). ☎ +7 (8622) 40-41-65. June-August 10:00–23:00, September-May 10:00–18:00. 10 attractions and a dance floor. The rides are closed during the off-season.
3   Ferris wheel "Five Stars", Primorsky Park, on the embankment. one ride: 250 rubles, 1 hour of skiing: 350 rubles, VIP cabin with champagne: 1500 rubles for two. A new Ferris wheel with glassed-in cockpits. According to the owners, the third tallest in Russia, making a full turn in 15 minutes. It can actually be seen from anywhere in Adler. There are about a dozen attractions nearby, but they are already aimed at the smallest visitors.
4 Children's entertainment complex "Madagascar", st. Kuibyshev, 35 (center). ☎ +7 (8622) 40-80-08. Mon 12:00–22:00, Tue–Sun 10:00–22:00. All kinds of children's attractions, swings, carousels. Children's cafeteria.

 

Olympic Park

Entrance to the park is free, opening hours: 8:00–22:30, but almost all the buildings can only be viewed from the outside. Only pre-scheduled events are allowed inside: for example, the Bolshoi Ice Palace hosts home matches of the Sochi hockey club. The Iceberg Winter Sports Palace and the Shayba Ice Arena host rare musical and theatrical performances. On the territory of the park you can ride golf carts and sightseeing steam locomotives, there is a rental of velomobiles, electric bicycles, electric tricycles, bicycles, children's electric cars, segways, roller skates.

Circuit "Formula 1" , Triumphalnyi proezd, 1 (Olympic Park). ☎ +7 (86​2) 241-90-50​. The track runs through the entire Olympic Park and is used for Formula 1 Grand Prix competitions. The rest of the time, excursions are organized at the autodrome: Sat and Sun, 500 rubles (Wed-Fri - for groups of more than 20 people). You can also drive around the track with a professional racer (from 3,000 rubles per lap) or try yourself as a pilot: a master class costs from 6,000 rubles to infinity, depending on which car you want to drive and how many laps to drive.
5 Sochi Park Theme Park, 21 Olimpiyskiy Prospekt (Imeretinskaya Lowland, next to the Olympic Park). ✉ ☎ 8 (800) 100-33-39. 11:00–19:00. Adult / child ticket: 1500/1200 rubles, 5% discount when buying online; family ticket: 4000 rubles. Amusement park with rides: carousels, rollercoasters. Such a Russian version of Disneyland, though on a smaller scale. Show programs according to the schedule depending on the season. There is also a dolphinarium and the Experimentanium museum with interactive exhibits that offer to explore, pull, and solve puzzles in every possible way. The park is famous for its three rides: Fire Bird, Quantum Leap, which challenges gravity, and the Serpent Gorynych roller coaster.

 

Resort town

6 Adler Sochi Discovery World Aquarium Wikidata Element, st. Lenina, 219a/4 (Resort town). ✉ ☎ +7 (8622) 46-33-56, +7 (8622) 46-35-85. Wed-Sun 10:00–18:00. Adult ticket: 1100 rubles, children's ticket (4-11 years old): 600 rubles, children under 4 years old free of charge, preferential: 500 rubles. The largest oceanarium in Russia. On the territory of 6000 square meters there are 30 aquariums with a total volume of 5 million liters of water. They are home to about 4 thousand fish, more than 200 marine and freshwater species. Several interesting solutions that you will not find in every aquarium, even a large and foreign one - an acrylic tunnel that creates the effect of presence, a tropical forest with about the same effect, as well as feeding carp and fur seals, which does not create any effect, but invariably delights children.
7 Dolphinarium "Water area", st. Lenina, 219/2 (Resort town). ☎ +7 (8622) 46-33-03. From 800 rub. 50-minute dolphin shows take place all year round. The pool is 20 meters wide and 6 meters deep. Bottlenose dolphins, beluga whales and sea lions participate. Several performances a day, not every day in winter: check the schedule.
8  Waterpark "Amphibius", st. Lenina, 219a (Resort town, building "Spring"). ☎ +7 (8622) 46-33-55. July-August 10:00–22:30, June and September 10:00–18:00. Adult ticket: 800-1200 rubles. The water park is located next to the dolphinarium. There are 15 attractions, a restaurant, a bar, a pizzeria, a children's cafe.
9 Terrarium, st. Enlightenment, 219 D (Resort town). ☎ +7 (862) 264-76-67. 9:00–23:00, animal feeding at 19:00. 200 rub. Birds, lizards, snakes, turtles and toads. Nothing out of the ordinary, not worth a special trip.

 

Shopping

1  Shopping center "New Age", st. Democratic, 52 (center). 10:00–22:00. Medium sized mall.
2 "Plaza City" shopping center, st. Kirov, 58 (center). ☎ +7 (8622) 96-88-17. 10:00–22:00. New mall with food court and multiplex cinema.
3  Market, st. Democratic (south of the Novy Vek shopping center and the bus station). Very chaotic and colorful.
4  SEC "Mandarin", st. Bestuzheva, 1 (near the mouth of the Mzymta River). ☎ +7 (8622) 35-55-66. A large shopping and entertainment center with a variety of shops, restaurants and cafes, its own concert venue and even a swimming pool.

 

Eat

The basis of Adler public catering is not even souvlak, but ordinary canteens with distribution and a typical set of dishes. The prices are low.

Cheap
1  Dining room "Valentina", st. Kuibysheva, 51. 7:00–21:00. Inexpensive dining room with a huge menu: only 10 kinds of soups. Good quality.
2 Cafe-dining room "Bagration", st. Karl Marx, 2a. Good feedback.
3   Cafe Zvezdnoe, st. Enlightenment, 27 (center). 9:00–23:00. One of the many eateries on the city beach. Inexpensive food, grill.
4  Suvlachnaya AINOƩ (Enos), st. Kuibyshev, 27 (center). ☎ +7 (918) 402-61-54. Shawarma, souvlaki and a simple assortment of Greek dishes. Visitors praise.
5  Dining room "Smile", st. Kirova, 35. Hot dishes: 150-200 rubles. Canteen with delicious food near the center of Adler.
6  Tasty and point, st. Bestuzheva, 1 (embankment, shopping center "Mandarin"). around the clock. Sea view is not the most common attribute. WiFi.
7  Dining room "Patisson", Democratic street, 27A. ☎ +7 988 233-93-37. 6:30-22:00. Dining room with a large work schedule. A very large selection of first and second courses, as well as sweets

Average cost
8 Cafe "Meeting", st. Kirova, 35. 10:00–1:00. Modern European cuisine. Good feedback.
9 "Mayak" cafe, st. Enlightenment, 35A (next to the lighthouse). ☎ +7 (8622) 44-41-86. 10:00–24:00. Cozy cafe with service on the city embankment. Reviews about food are somewhat contradictory, but all visitors unanimously praise the fried red mullet. Live music in the evenings.
10  Suvlachnaya "Santorini", st. Lenina, 19a. ☎ +7 (918) 306-33-77. 10:00–1:00. This souvlachka proudly calls itself a Greek and Italian restaurant. In fact, there is no Greek cuisine here (except for the ubiquitous souvlaki, of course), but there is a basic set of Italian in the form of pizza, salads and pastas. Good feedback.
11 Pizzeria Capri (Capri), st. Lenina, 219 (between the boarding houses "Spring" and "Coral"). ☎ +7 (918) 610-77-77. Cafe in the resort town with excellent pizza and Italian cuisine.

Expensive
12  Beer restaurant Frau Marta, st. Enlightenment, 7. 11:00–23:00. Restaurant with German cuisine, excellent business lunches. Recently, pathetic and rude service has been noted.
13 Teremok "Once upon a time", st. Democratic, 50/7 (center). ☎ +7 (918) 901-49-69. Cafe: 9:00-23:00, Restaurant: 11:00-2:00. Hot dishes: from 400 rubles. Restaurant in Russian folk style, offering dishes of Caucasian cuisine. Russian cuisine is not disdained here either, although both the atmosphere and the price level are more reminiscent of some town in Central Russia favored by tourists.
14 Restaurant La Luna, st. Tavricheskaya, 1 (Imeretinskaya lowland, state farm "Russia"). ✉ ☎ +7 (928) 459-22-29. Dinner 1500 rubles (without alcohol). Caucasian, European and Russian cuisine, many meat dishes and seafood (please note that the price for them is indicated on the menu for 100 grams).

 

Night life

1  Rock bar "Triangle", st. Kirov, 56 (next to the market). around the clock. Democratic rock and roll club with its own concert venue. Every weekend there are concerts of local and sometimes not so local bands. According to visitors, the cuisine is so-so, although the prices for food are quite humane.
2 Irish pub O'Sullivan's, st. 65 years of Victory, 69 (Imeretinskaya lowland, opposite the Radisson Blu Paradise hotel). ☎ +7 (928) 667-73-77. 12:00–23:00. 420 rubles for a pint of Guinness or Kilkenny, hot: from 500 rubles. One of the few such establishments in the Imeretinskaya lowland, and throughout Adler. Beer. WiFi. Parking. Live music on Fridays.

 

Hotels

Hotel prices in Adler have the same seasonal character as on the entire coast. In winter and summer, they differ almost twice, but the summer markup is uneven, so that hotels can easily move from one price category to another for no apparent reason. Here are the prices in the off-season. In summer, ordinary hotels will cost more, but you can stay in the private sector: Adler is literally hung with advertisements for renting housing and lined with people who want to rent this housing.

There are hotels in all parts of the city: the center, the Imeretinskaya lowland, as well as in the Kurortny Gorodok - the Adler area between Herota and Kudepsta, where there are sanatoriums, boarding houses, a dolphinarium and a water park, as well as other typical resort entertainment. In addition to these obvious advantages, there are also disadvantages in Kurortny Gorodok: the beach strip is narrower than in the center of Adler, and the cost of living is higher. The hotels of the Imereti lowland were built for the Olympics. Many of them are high-end business hotels, but there are also relatively inexpensive options.

When choosing accommodation in the central part of Adler, remember that it is located directly under the glide slope of the airport. Airplanes land and take off around the clock, and in the most inconvenient case, they will also shine their headlights out the window. If you want to sleep in silence, you will have to close the windows.

Cheap
1  Hotel "Olga", st. Chkalova, 33 (Resort Town). ☎ +7 (918) 900-93-92, +7 (918) 303-04-46. Double room: from 1000 rubles. Mini Hotel. Three-story house near the coast. Good feedback.
2 Guest house "On Ulyanova", st. Ulyanova, 10 (center). ☎ +7 (918) 309-05-70, +7 (8622) 40-23-30. Double room: from 1000 rubles. In the center of Adler, consists of three buildings. Numbers of different categories.

Average cost
3  Hotel "Comfort", st. Enlightenment, 113A (Resort town). ☎ +7 (988) 238-92-86, +7 (988) 237-68-25. Double room: from 1500 rubles. Year-round private hotel. Rooms of the categories "standard", "luxury" and "studio" are offered for accommodation. All rooms with private facilities. On the territory there is a large heated pool that works even in winter, as well as a dining room.
4  Hotel Almira 3*, st. Bestuzheva, 8 (center). ☎ +7 (8622) 69-35-15. Double room: from 2250 rubles. A good hotel in a great location. Own equipped beach 200 m from the hotel. 7-storey building, some rooms have a view of the Armenian Church. Restaurant, bar, swimming pool, billiard room, sauna and bath. Not far from the hotel is the Mandarin shopping and entertainment center and the Mzymta embankment.
5 Hotel Beryozka, st. Stanislavsky, 38 (Imeretinskaya lowland). ✉ ☎ +7 (988) 134-98-65. Double junior suite: 2200 rubles. A new hotel on the left bank of the Mzymta in close proximity to the Olympic venues. Cafe-dining room, parking, transfer, Wi-Fi. Junior suites and suites.
6  Hotel Azimut 3*, Kontinentalny Ave. 6 (Imeretinskaya Lowland). ☎ +7 (8622) 43-38-17, +7 (8622) 43-38-32. Double room: from 2100 rubles (upon reservation). A dozen eight-story buildings in a huge fenced area, where there are five small pools, playgrounds, a pond with ducks, low decorative palm trees. To the sea from the hotel on foot 20 minutes; to the railway station "Olympic Park" 10 minutes. You can pay for breakfasts, lunches and dinners at a local canteen (the food is normal), you can eat at cafes and restaurants located on the territory - however, they do not always work. There is no entertainment. The standard rooms are cramped, the audibility between the rooms is excellent. Wi-Fi is declared throughout the territory, but is practically not caught anywhere; there is a computer for common use in the lobby.
7 Apart-hotels "Velvet seasons", Olimpiyskiy pr. 1 (Imeretinskaya lowland). ✉ ☎ +7 (8622) 45-49-55, 8 (800) 55-040-55. Standard without food: from 2100 rubles; from 4100 rubles for "all inclusive". A whole city-hotel of typical low-rise buildings is located between the Olympic Park and Abkhazia. It consists of the quarters "Ekaterininsky Quarter", "Chistye Prudy", "Alexander Garden". There is a common infrastructure: a fitness center, playgrounds, sports grounds; rental of bicycles, segways. Parking. WiFi. You can rent an apartment with a kitchen or eat in a restaurant. You can rent daily, you can arrange a long-term rental (for example, for the whole summer).
8  Villa Bossa, st. Kyiv, 35 (Resort Town). Double room: from 2000 rubles, without breakfast. Mini-hotel, 10 rooms, ten minutes to the sea (you cannot go directly). The reviews are mostly good, but they also note that the rooms are rarely cleaned or not cleaned at all.

Expensive
9  Tulip Inn Omega Sochi, Olimpiyskiy pr. 3 (Imeretinskaya lowland). ✉ ☎ +7 (8622) 62-72-72, +7 (8622) 43-38-91. Standard: from 4200 rubles. 4* chain hotel near the Olympic Park. Wi-Fi, gym, restaurant, lobby bar, secure parking. 15 minutes walk to the sea, no swimming pool. The hotel is more for business travellers.
10 Weiler Hotel, st. Lenina 282/1 (Kurortny Gorodok). From 3800 rubles for a double room. 29 rooms, good reviews, although sometimes they complain about problems with Wi-Fi.
11 Radisson Blu Paradise Resort & Spa Sochi Hotel 5*, st. 65 years of Victory, 50 (Imeretinskaya lowland). Double room: from 6000 rubles. One of two Radisson's in the area. First line by the sea.
12 Radisson Blu Resort & Congress Center Hotel 5*, st. Blue, 1a (Imeretinskaya lowland). ☎ +7 (8622) 96-81-00. From 6000 rub. Another Radisson in the area. The first line is by the sea, but there is no beach nearby.
13 Bogatyr Hotel 4*, Olympiyskiy prospect, 21 (Imeretinskaya lowland). From 4500 rubles for a double room. The hotel is built in the form of a fairy-tale castle and decorated accordingly. The second line from the sea, but right in the entertainment "Sochi-Park".
14 Bridge Resort Hotel 4*, st. Figurnaya, 45 (Imeretinskaya lowland). ☎ +7 (938) 440-01-00, +7 (8622) 95-80-00, +7 (928) 450-04-06. Double room: from 5000 rubles. 5 minutes to the sea, equipped beach.

Sanatoriums and boarding houses
15 Boarding house "Burgas", st. Lenina, 233 (on the border with the Khostinsky district, near the Kudepstinsky viaduct). ✉ ☎ +7 (8622) 90-28-00, +7 (8622) 90-27-00, +7 (8622) 90-21-51. From 2000 rubles / person with meals (2014). 385 rooms: one-room single and double rooms of the 1st category, studios, suites and VIP suites of the highest category. Free WiFi.
16 Boarding house "Fregat", st. Lenina, 219. ☎ +7 (8622) 46-34-55, +7 (8622) 46-34-57. 15-storey complex on the seafront, located in the resort town.
17 Sanatorium "USSR" (formerly Aeroflot), st. Lenin, 217-a. ☎ +7 (8622) 46-05-17, +7 (8622) 46-29-81. From 2000 rub/person
18 Sanatorium "Southern Vzmorye" (sanatorium of nuclear scientists), st. Kalinina, 1. ☎ +7 (8622) 69-15-40, fax: +7 (8622) 40-09-73, +7 (8622) 40-02-68. From 3100 rub/person Sanatorium "Yuzhnoye Vzmorye" was opened in 1964, it was used, in particular, for post-flight rehabilitation of cosmonauts. Since 2000, it has the status of an Endocrinological Center and an Endocrinological Rehabilitation Center. Own park, almost like in an arboretum, spacious beach, tennis court and so on.

 

Getting here

By plane
Sochi Airport (IATA:AER). A couple of kilometers east of the city. Airplanes land and take off right above the houses. The airport consists of a single terminal built for the Olympics. The inside is very nice, spacious and modern. Free WiFi.
The train runs from the airport 8 times a day with an hourly interval in the middle of the day and practically does not run either in the morning or in the evening. All trains go to the Adler station (9 minutes), after which they continue moving towards Sochi or Krasnaya Polyana. Travel to Adler: 70 rubles.

Buses: buses / minibuses 105 will deliver you to the Adler railway station, which then go to Sochi, and all buses that have the Novy Vek / Rynok bus station as the final bus station (135, 173, etc.) go directly to the center of Adler. e.) If you wish, you can walk to the center of kilometer 4. In the direction from Adler, buses 105 and 135 follow to Krasnaya Polyana. Movement interval: 15-30 min. Tickets are twice cheaper than on the train.

A taxi to Adler will cost less than to any other area of Sochi, but it is still recommended to book a car in advance so as not to bargain with taxi drivers who call exorbitant prices.

By train
The Adler station is the terminus for all long-distance trains arriving in Sochi, with the exception of the Moscow-Sukhumi train.

Commuter trains reach Sochi (with stops in Khosta and Matsesta, about half an hour), Krasnaya Polyana (that is, the Rosa-Khutor complex, with an intermediate stop at the Esto-Sadok station - in Krasnaya Polyana itself, 50 minutes) and the Olympic Park station, which is three kilometers from the Abkhazian border. Some electric trains go further west, to Dagomys, Lazarevskoye or even Tuapse. On the Adler-Sochi section, the average traffic interval is 1-2 hours, in other directions - several trains a day.

Railway station (Station Adler) , st. Lenina, 113. ☎ +7 (8622) 45-06-06. It is located a little away from the center, to which one and a half kilometers: you can drive three stops on any bus except those that go to the airport.
The new station building was built for the 2014 Olympics and can be considered one of the most successful examples of modern Sochi architecture. Inside, the four-story station looks like a shopping center: in the center there is an atrium with escalators, along the perimeter there are fashionable shops. One of the exits goes down to the sea, and from the height of the third floor there is an excellent view of the entire nearest coast. On the fourth floor there is a food court: several fast food establishments (including Subway) and a cheap home-cooked cafe with a meager assortment. The old building of the station - an ordinary stalin - was restored and preserved for history: there is a waiting room for superior comfort (200 rubles per hour, 2016) and the Stariy Vokzal canteen (tasty, but prices are higher than in the average Adler canteen).
Olimpic village. An intermediate stop in the northern part of the Olympic village, not far from residential buildings built for the participants in the Olympics. All trains going to the Olympic Park stop.
Imereti resort (formerly the Olympic Park). Wikidata item Terminus of electric trains from Sochi. Not just a station, but a huge station, built in approximately the same style as the Adler one. Solar panels are installed on the roof of the building.

By bus
Intercity buses end their route at the Sochi bus station: with rare exceptions, they do not go to Adler. There are passing buses in Sukhumi, but where they stop in Adler and whether they stop at all is not known for certain (most likely they stop only at the airport). All other communications are suburban or, given the status of Greater Sochi, intracity: these are routes with three-digit numbers. From Sochi it is most convenient to go by bus / minibus 124, coming to the center of Adler. Another popular route, 105, will only take you to the train station. If you are traveling from Abkhazia, just cross the border at Psou and take any minibus: it will definitely take you to Adler.

Bus station "New Age" (Adler market, Trud), st. Democratic. This stop is sometimes called the Adler bus station, but there is no bus station here: it's just a stop at the Novy Vek shopping center. Moreover, throughout the entire territory of Greater Sochi, the word "bus station" means only and exclusively the Sochi bus station, located in the Central District. Bus 135 departs from the Adler bus station to Krasnaya Polyana and a number of other routes with the final in Adler.
Station station complex. There are bus stops on both sides of the railway station. From the sea side, you may need minibus No. 100, going to the Olympic Park and further to the Abkhazian border, and No. 135 to the airport and Krasnaya Polyana. From the side of the city, most routes to the city center stop, as well as No. 105 to Krasnaya Polyana; from here you can also go to the mountains in a private minibus.

 

History

The most complete information on the history of Adler can be obtained in the Museum of the History of the Adler region. The Russian fortification of the Holy Spirit was founded on June 18, 1837 on a vast plain at the mouth of the Mzymta River. The fortification as part of the Black Sea coastline lasted until 1854.

In the vicinity of the fortification, there was the Abkhazian settlement of Liesh, known in the Middle Ages as the Genoese trading post Layso. Before joining the Russian Empire, these lands were under the control of the Abkhazian Sadzian princely clan Arydba. The princes at the mouth of the river had a pier through which they traded with Turkey. In Turkish this area was called Artlar ("Arts"). This name was assigned to the settlement in a Germanized form (German der Adler - eagle). According to another, folk-etymological version, the name of the settlement was given in honor of the brig "Adler".

In 1910, the Drachevsky Park (now the Southern Cultures Park) was laid out in Adler. In 1927, the suburban settlement Adler was formed, which seven years later was transformed into a working settlement.

On June 20, 1934, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided: “In connection with the allocation of mountains. To transfer Sochi to an independent administrative and economic unit, the center of the Sochi region, to the village of Adler, keeping the former name of the region. "

In 1961, the coastal settlements of the Lazarevsky and Adler rural areas of the Krasnodar Territory were liquidated and, together with Lazarevsky, was included in the urban boundaries of the city of Sochi.

 

Geography

Climate

Adler is located in the humid subtropical zone (Cfa according to the Köppen climate classification). The climate of Adler is significantly influenced by the sea (in summer it is cooler, in winter it warms) and mountains (shielded from cold northern winds). The climate is very humid, especially along the coast, and, similar to the Sochi one, is observed in neighboring Abkhazia, as well as in the southeastern United States (Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia). The maximum precipitation occurs during the winter period of the year, mainly in the form of rain, less often - snow. Winters are warm, summers are hot and humid. Due to the proximity of the sea, high summer temperatures are somewhat adjusted downward and are favorable for nature and humans. This type of climate is suitable for growing all kinds of subtropical and temperate crops. Since Adler is located on the northern border of the subtropics, frosts and snowfalls are occasionally possible here in winter, but on the coast they are extremely rare and last for one to five days, in some years they are absent altogether. Adler has long summers (mid-April-October), mild autumn (November-January), short winters (February-mid-March) and short spring (mid-March-mid-April). In Adler, the daily temperature drops are higher than in the Sochi Center, when during periods of cold air masses breaking through the Caucasus, the temperature in Adler remains 2-3 ° C higher.

 

Ecology

On January 16, 2012, it became known about the complete closure of the Adler solid waste landfill (MSW), which, over the 50 years of its existence, has become obsolete, spoiled the appearance of the resort and worsened the environmental situation.

On the eve of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, 6.7 thousand trees and shrubs were planted on the territory of the Imeretinskaya lowland, and an ornithological park was opened, which has several clusters throughout the entire lowland.

In the summer of 2012, the complex of Adler treatment facilities was put into operation.

 

Tourism and attractions

The Adler inner-city district of Sochi, 17 km long along the Black Sea coast, has many different attractions. Adler sanatoriums offer treatment with Adler silt mud and Matsesta water enriched with hydrogen sulfide. The resort has a large number of accommodation facilities, ranging from hostels to large chain hotels.

 

Resort town

The largest number of sanatoriums and boarding houses are located here - Izumrud, Izvestia, the health resorts of the Adler Resort, USSR, Green Hill, Orbit, Vesna, Yuzhny and Znanie. This part of the resort has the largest number of private hotels, bars and cafes, as well as food and souvenir shops; the beach is within walking distance.

The main attractions of the resort town are: the largest oceanarium in the south of Russia “Sochi Discovery World Aquarium”, the famous Adler Dolphinarium, the Amphibius water park, as well as the Adler pump room with medicinal mineral water.

 

Adler Center

In this part of the area there are many private hotels, inns and large health centers, such as the South Vzmorye sanatorium, the Adler military sanatorium, and large shopping and entertainment complexes are also concentrated here. The main attraction is the city embankment.

 

Religion

The Orthodox churches of the Holy Trinity and the Holy Spirit are located in Adler. The Armenian Cathedral of St. Sarkis is active. In 2014, the Orthodox Church of the Image of Christ the Savior Not Made by Hands was consecrated, and since 2020 it has been located on the territory of the town of Sirius.

 

Role in culture

Adler is the birthplace of Michael, a character in the TV series “Univer”.