Sitting proudly overlooking the sea and within earshot of the bells of Novy Afon Cathedral, this dacha (country cottage) regularly hosted Joseph Stalin during his summer holidays, during which time the entire surrounding area would have been thick with snipers. You can visit the various rooms of the dacha, including the long balcony with wonderful views, although few furnishings are original.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
11.32 MILES
The former Council of Ministers was gutted during fighting when the Abkhaz took the city in September 1993. Its fire-scorched shell has been an open wound…
0.28 MILES
The multi-gold-domed Novy Afon Monastery, founded by Russian monks in the 1870s, stands out on the hillside, about a 15-minute walk up from the main road…
11.76 MILES
Strung with pretty parks, part-derelict jetties, cafes and kitschy souvenir stalls, and fronted by stretches of stony beach, flowers and tall trees,…
0.77 MILES
This now-abandoned but elaborately decorated neoclassical train station on the main coastal road through town has some absolutely wonderful Stalinist bas…
1.04 MILES
From Novy Afon Caves it’s 2.5km uphill to Anacopia, capital of Abkhazia in the 8th century AD. Taxis can take you halfway up for R100. Inside the hilltop…
11.51 MILES
This impressively renovated, air-conditioned museum has well-lit displays including very good archaeological sections. It also has a fairly typical Soviet…
0.87 MILES
This enormously popular and deep series of karst caves is traversed on a small train line that takes visitors on a 1.4km, 1¼-hour underground journey…
0.7 MILES
From Psyrtskha train station you can walk 20 minutes up a pretty river valley to Simon the Zealot’s Cave, where the saint reputedly lived.
Nearby Georgia attractions
0.28 MILES
The multi-gold-domed Novy Afon Monastery, founded by Russian monks in the 1870s, stands out on the hillside, about a 15-minute walk up from the main road…
0.55 MILES
The 10th-century stone Church of Simon the Zealot stands on the spot where the eponymous apostle was reputedly killed by Roman soldiers.
0.7 MILES
From Psyrtskha train station you can walk 20 minutes up a pretty river valley to Simon the Zealot’s Cave, where the saint reputedly lived.
0.77 MILES
This now-abandoned but elaborately decorated neoclassical train station on the main coastal road through town has some absolutely wonderful Stalinist bas…
0.87 MILES
This enormously popular and deep series of karst caves is traversed on a small train line that takes visitors on a 1.4km, 1¼-hour underground journey…
1.04 MILES
From Novy Afon Caves it’s 2.5km uphill to Anacopia, capital of Abkhazia in the 8th century AD. Taxis can take you halfway up for R100. Inside the hilltop…
7. Council of Ministers Building
11.32 MILES
The former Council of Ministers was gutted during fighting when the Abkhaz took the city in September 1993. Its fire-scorched shell has been an open wound…
11.47 MILES
With 50,000 sq metres of plants from around the world, the well-maintained botanical gardens, founded in 1840, are well worth a wander.