Great Alushta

Alushta (36 kilometres south of Simferopol) combines the comfort and refinement of the Southern Coast (in the west) with the freedom of the untouched would-be-resort lands (in the east). This area is popular for car drives, as well as for bicycle tours, horseback riding and hiking. Exceptionally pure air and the general sensation of well being have enhanced the effect of the local resort facilities. Here are treated diseases of the respiratory organs, plus problems with the cardiovascular and nervous systems.

Alushta is the main Olympic base of the Ukraine. Sports complex "Spartak" has many year round facilities. Dozens of health resorts also have tennis courts and other sports facilities catering for Olympic teams as well as for pupils from Russian sport schools and those of other countries.

The area is well suited for motocross, as well as for extreme high-speed descents for mountain bikes. For this the area is considered to be the best in the CIS.

In recent years investment has resulted in the construction of 4 and 5 star complexes. Among these are “ Krimskie Zori ” (Crimean Dawns), "More"(Sea), “ Crimean Riviera ” and “ Mindalnaya Roshcha ” (Almond Grove) with its own aqua park .

In Alushta there are about 80 health resorts, many dozens of rest houses, camps for students and children, and also hundreds of private mini-hotels, many of which have pools with warm sea water.

Alushta's mountain amphitheatre is the most beautiful and extensive in the Crimea. Walks in the mountains around Alushta are both romantic and interesting. Tourists can climb to the summits of Chatyrdag, ( “ Mount Camp ” , in Crimean Tatar), the Eklizi-Burun Peak, and “ Church Cape (1525m high). By standing on the top of these mountains, you can see almost the whole Crimean Peninsula. West of the valley, the beech and pine woods of the Crimean Reserve stretch out into the distance. The Monastery of Kosma and Damian, with a curative spring, attracts Orthodox Christian believers.

By following a route eight kilometres from Solnechnogorskoye along the valley of the Ulu-uze, and then up river to a village called Generalskoye, and then two kilometres more, you will be able to get into the Khapkhal Gorge with its famous water feature - the Jur-Jur Waterfall. Another, more interesting path to this, runs from the village of Luchistoye and then through Ghosts valley on the slopes of Mt Southern Demerji. Along the route formations of shingle and sand, have, as part of a process of many years, turned into bizarre sculptures, the most well known of which is called “ The Head of Catherine ll ” .