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Russian Caucasus
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against all travel to Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, as well as all but essential travel to North Ossetia, Karachai-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria. Please check with your relevant national government.
For most Russians, the word Caucasus (Кавказ) summons up images of fiery mountain folk, the high-tempo lezginka dance and volatile regions such as Chechnya. But there's more to this ethnically diverse part of Russia than the stereotypes and the horror stories. Visitors to this area come to experience relaxing spa towns, breathtaking scenery and world-class ski resorts.
On top of that, there's superb trekking and horse riding amid soaring peaks, white-water rafting and paragliding, as well as the chance to climb Mt Elbrus, Europe’s highest mountain. Black Sea resort towns offer sun and sea, and festive nightlife, while the Caucasus also boasts its own regional cuisines.
For anyone looking to get off the tourist trail, the Caucasus offers wide-open spaces, bustling markets and rugged mountain roads with stunning views around every corner.
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Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Russian Caucasus.
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Kurortny Park
Founded in 1823 and covering 1340 hectares, this hillside park is among the largest in Europe. It's riddled with walking trails past rivers, ponds, forests and formal gardens. The park ascends southeast from a plaza behind the semicircular Colonnade to the peak of Mt Maloe Sedlo (Little Saddle; 1306m). There are several other entrances including the grand Cascade Stairs. It’s a two- to three-hour hike from the base of the park to the so-called Olympic Complex (1200m), where you'll find the upper cable car terminal. On the way you’ll pass various cafes, statues and other points of interest, including the luscious Valley of Roses. At 1065m you reach Red Sun Hill, where, on a clear day, there are great panoramas of the yawning valleys and green plateaus of the surrounding countryside, including Mt Maloe Sedlo to the west and, on clear mornings, Mt Elbrus to the south. It’s another 45-minute walk from the Olympic Complex to the summit of Mt Maloe Sedlo. Trails also lead to Mt Maly Dzhinal (1484m) and Mt Bolshoe Sedlo (1409m); Kislovodsk maps show all the walks, most of which are numbered and signed. For a speedier ascent, you can ride the cable car. The lower station, close by the viewpoint over the Valley of Roses, is within 10 minutes' walk of the Cascade stairs.
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Stalin's Dacha
Stalin's dacha, Zelenaya Roscha, is a fascinating place, built specifically to accommodate a small, private and paranoid man. Tours are in Russian but some of the patriotic guides speak a little English. From Sochi take any Adler-bound bus and get off at the Zelenaya Roscha stop. Enter through the gates of the sanitorium and walk about 1km uphill to the dacha. The tour includes Stalin’s private rooms (with some original furniture), the movie theatre where he checked every film before public release, and his billiards room. Stalin was a lousy player – he played only those he could beat or who were wily enough to lose. The Stalin portraits on the walls were added after his death. The other paintings are all reproductions, as Stalin believed that artwork belonged to the people and therefore should hang in a museum. The depth of the water in the swimming pool (just 1.5m), the height of the stair treads, and most of the furniture were specially built to accommodate Stalin's small stature (165cm). Security was extremely tight: a guard every 15m around the dacha, a secret lift and tunnel down to the sea, and buildings painted green to camouflage them within the forest. Don't miss the photo op of the day: a waxwork figure of Stalin smoking his favourite pipe. Visitors have been known to swear they can smell pipe tobacco while in its presence.
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Lenin Mosaic
How about this sparkling, red, 8m-high head shot of Ilyich as a backdrop for your holiday photos? This beauty was unveiled in 1980 to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of the father of the Bolshevik Revolution.
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Mt Mashuk
There's a fantastic view of Pyatigorsk, and all the way to Mt Elbrus on good weather days, from the 993m summit of Mt Mashuk. You can reach here either by hiking up a tree-shaded road or – easier – riding the cable car. The best views of Elbrus are early in the morning but it's also a lovely spot to come to for sunset. If you’re hoofing it, Mt Mashuk is about a 45-minute climb from the cable-car station. You can also rent bicycles next to the lower cable-car station.
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Lermontov Museum
Many Pyatigorsk attractions revolve around larger-than-life writer, poet, painter, cavalry soldier, society beau and duellist Mikhail Lermontov. Chief among them is this museum, a walled garden compound containing four cottages, including the pretty thatched one in which Lermontov lived during his final months. You can see original furniture, copies of Lermontov’s poems, sketches and 19th-century trinkets.
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Narzan Gallery
This graceful, well-preserved 1850s building recalls the spa town of Bath in England. Inside, the rich, carbonic Narzan Spring bubbles up inside a glass dome and spits out mineral-rich water – both hot and cold – into more than a dozen fountains. It doesn't taste that bad, and if you come here, you’re obliged to have a cup, so drink up! Narzan means ‘Drink of Brave Warriors’ in Turkish.
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Park Tsvetnik
This lovely wooded park with many architectural and monumental features forms a 1km-long arc around the eastern end of pr Kirova on the lower slopes of Mt Mashuk. Walk through the ornate entrance gate and around the right side of the Lermontov Gallery and ascend to the park via Diana's Grotto, a favourite picnic spot in Lermontov. At the top of the hill, a network of paths leads to a much-photographed bronze eagle sculpture. Continue northeast and you'll reach the Academic Gallery, perched above the eastern terminus of pr Kirova. This attractive classical building was built in 1851 to house one of Pyatigorsk’s best-known springs, No 16 (currently closed). It was here that Pechorin first set eyes on Princess Mary in Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time. Inside a wing of gallery is the Insect Museum housing a small collection of critters (spiders, snakes, frogs) as well as a lovely butterfly collection from around the globe.
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Central Park
The large Central Park of Culture and Recreation (to give it its full name) offers forest lushness, small green lakes with paddle boats, an amusement park and the scenic Nalchik River, where locals take a dip to cool off on hot days. To get there, walk or jump on marshrutka 1 or 17 heading west along pr Shogentsukova. Inside the park is a chairlift, which ascends over a small lake to the hilltop Restaurant Sosruko, an intriguing building designed as the head of local hero Sosruko with an outstretched arm and hand holding a flame. There are excellent views out to the nearby mountains from here.
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Mt Bolshoy Akhun Lookout Tower
Popular with day trippers, this 30m-high lookout tower offers great views of the Caucasus Mountains. From the entrance of Sochi National Park, follow the main trail along the Agura River. After one hour the trail forks. The right (southeast) fork leads up to Mt Bolshoy Akhun (662m), topped by a lookout tower from where you can gain commanding views of Sochi, Adler and Mt Fisht. Locals say you can see the Turkish coastline from here on a clear day. Mt Bolshoy Akhun is also serviced by an 11km road, which makes it a popular organised tour from Sochi. A 5½-hour excursion costs around R1500 and includes a stop at the Agura waterfalls.