Climate

In winter (February and March) occasional snow quickly melts. Evergreen trees astonish the guests of the city, who arrive from far-away frosty places of Russia. Since snow falls very seldom, many families celebrate winter holidays in Krasnaya Polyana. Just when it is sunny and warm in Sochi, - 50 km away it is the time to ski in the mountains, where snow stays from end November through April.

Springs are rainy, but sunny days are more often than cloudy ones. Many oriental plants bloom yet in early March.

Summer lasts from late May to late October. Holiday makers enjoy swimming in the sea, make outings to the mountains, go in for boating, walk in the shade of parks.

Autumn is a fantastic time for Sochi holidays. The days are bright, subtropical showers are short, the sky is intensive blue in contrast with rich yellow, purple, orange leaves in the parks.
The bathing season in Sochi lasts from April to November.

Most Sochi parks and gardens are nearly a century old. The climate is most favourable for walnut, chestnut, fig tree, pomegranate, persimmon and grapes. There are palms, rhododendrons, pines, relict trees of the tertiary period; there are evergreens like tea plant, laurel, cork-oak, tangerine and many other subtropical plants.

Weather in See weather in Russia at:www.gismeteo.ru

The Sea and the Mountains

Mountains in Sochi area belong to the Greater Caucasian Range, which in its Western part (near Novorosskiisk) has heights of 500m above sea level, in its Central part reaches 4000 m, and in its South-Eastern part is about 1000m high. From the top of Akhun mountain (663m) tourists observe the panorama of Sochi. The Southern slopes of Caucasian mountains are covered with forests, rich in over 2000 species of plants, 54 species of animals, 200 species of birds. In Sochi area forests cover 215 th ha.

Heritage

The area's appeal for travelers was described by the Greeks in their world-known myths about Argonauts, Prometheus, Medea, that were very similar to the legends of the local ethnic groups.
Today 150 archeological monuments in Sochi have the status of federal importance. They include the ancient stays of human beings, caves, where the findings testify to theories that this area was populated already 400-350 thousand years ago; also the dolmens of the XIV-XIII centuries B.C. - the evidence of early civilization.

For centuries the routes connecting Northern and Eastern Europe with Asia Minor and the Greek colonies passed across the Black Sea and through its northern fruitful coasts. The heritage of the Russian Black Sea Riviera reflects a peculiar blend of the world history: the Greek trade centers and colonies in the 7th-6th centuries B.C., the Roman fortresses in the 1st century A.D., Christianity adopted by the Georgian state in 337, the Byzantine settlements in the 4th century, the influence of Kiev Rus - the ancient union of Slavonic cultures through the 4th -9th centuries, the Tamerlane's invasion and the vast Tatar Khanate in the Middle Ages, also the contention between Venice and Genoa about their Black Sea colonies, the Ottoman Turkish Empire domination since the 15th century, the Russian state claims of its rights to the possession of the northern coastline through the 16th-18th centuries, a system of Russian fortification and Cossacks settlements that appeared in the 18th century, Russia-Georgian diplomatic and military ties that lead to joining three southern regions of Georgia to Russia in the beginning of the 19th century, the 19th century marked in Sochi area by the construction of roads, industrial development, cultivation of new agricultural crops and the establishment of the first commercially run resorts and travel agencies.

Since the turn of the last century, when Russian nobles and entrepreneurs discovered in this remote, underpopulated region the unique resources for developing Sochi into the Russian Riviera Sochi has only been important for tourism. Construction of a highway along the coast and investigations of the curative properties of the local springs in 1880-es determined key aspects of Sochi's development. Sochi's tourism vocation dates officially from 1909, when its first spa opened - with its 4 hotels, theatre, a restaurant, a casino and an electric power supply. By that time Sochi has grown into a city. The city obtained the specific style, which is typical only of the Black Sea resorts.

Most of the public and private houses of the turn of the centuries were designed in the then fashionable Modern style - with elements of Medieval fortresses and castles. The landscape architecture and exotic gardens of the city were the fruits of local rivalry with other Black Sea resorts.There were 9 Russian Orthodox churches and one monastery, of which only one - the Michaelo-Archangel Cathedral - survived the revolution and war events.
During the 1990-es a number of new churches have been built in Sochi by the national communities of the local population, who have always belonged to different religions: Russian Orthodox, Armenian Gregorian, Catholic, Islamic. Though mixed marriages are also quite common, those communities have preserved their traditions and cultural links with their original nationalities - Greece, Armenia, Georgia, Estonia, Ukraine, etc.

There are a number of national cultural centers in Sochi:
Armenian cultural center "Sevan";
Geogian cultural center "Iveria";
Adyge-Hase (community parliament of shapsug culture)Jewish cultural center;
Greek community "Enssa";
Russian community "Sobor";
Ukrainian cultural center;
Abkhaz cultural center "Apsny";
National concord league "Sochi";
Slavonic Union;
Kuban kosaks center;
Belarus community "Belaya Rus";
In Sochi demographic statistics there are 101 nations mentioned.

After the Communist Revolution, it was in Sochi, that the Russian Civil war between the Reds and the Whites ended, a formal document was signed at one of Sochi dachas in 1920.

In the 1930-es there was a conscious government effort to create a "Russian Riviera", and some of the best examples of Soviet architecture are represented in Sochi. Sochi became known as the only Stalin's traditional vacation spot. In the 30-es the first General Plan for reconstructing Sochi as the best Soviet resort was financed by the state - as lavishly as the major industrial constructions in the USSR. The carpeted halls, solid wooden furniture, silverwear in the dining rooms, tall ceilings, marble collumns, fascinating views to the sea, birds singing in the park - this was the atmosphere inside the Roman style structures of spas. Principles of healthy leisure, fitness exercises and recreation by curative water (baths and other methods of treatment thoroughly developed by the Sochi Research Institute of Balneology and Physiotherapy) were the know-how of Sochi spas, and other Soviet resorts learnt from them.

During the Second World War Sochi was turned into a big rehabilitation area for the wounded. The spas operated as hospitals, called "plants of health". Local population donated blood, adopted children, volunteered to serve as nurses. For their hard work and enthusiasm the city was awarded the order of Great Patriotic War, the II-nd grade.

The after-war mass tourism development in the 50-es justified intensive construction of the airport, of the passenger sea port, of tunnels and wider roads. To meet the growing demand in sun travel, accommodation facilities were constructed further and further along the coast in the 60-es. Thousands of beds at Sochi hotels and spas were booked out practically all the year round, so it was quite typical on a holiday in Sochi to rent rooms from the local residents. In the 70-es -80-es Sochi rated the third after Moscow and St. Petersburg in arrivals and in inbound tourism routes from all over the USSR.

Shifting to a market economy in tourism in the 90-es involved a deep conceptual shift, a sharp change in legislation regarding land ownership, new divisions between public and private responsibilities, enormous investment in infrastructure, and a rigorous planning process to manage the destination. Reinventing Sochi will require wise decisions on what should be preserved from the past and on a clear vision of what Sochi is to become. Sochi meetings and conferences have always been very successful, CVB Sochi is opening Sochi to the bigger world of conferences. Bring your colleagues to Sochi, and we will make your meeting a very special event.