Due to its geographical location, climatic conditions, glorious historical heritage, revolutionary, military and labor traditions, the Krasnodar Territory has become the largest and generally recognized recreational region of the country.
According to smber, the Krasnodar Territory is located in the northwestern part of the Caucasus. Every year the flow of tourists who want to see the pearl of Russia with their own eyes is increasing. If you decide to spend your vacation here, I present to your attentionaffordable hostels in Krasnodar.
The Krasnodar Territory is popularly called the Kuban – by the name of the river that divides it into two parts: the northern one, where vast expanses of steppes spread, and the southern one – a zone of foothills and mountains. Kuban carries its waters from the slopes of Elbrus and has a length of more than 870 km. The relief of the region is determined by the Kuban-Azov lowland, stretching from the Taganrog Bay, the Kuban Plain, stretching south of the Kuban to the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, and the western spurs of the Greater Caucasus. In the vast delta of the Kuban there are many estuaries, deltaic lakes, channels.
The height of the mountains exceeds 3000 m above sea level. The highest of them is Mount Tsakhvoa (locally called Akaragvarta) 3346 m. There are zones of glaciers and eternal snows. Here, on Mount Fisht (2867 m), the westernmost glacier in the Greater Caucasus is located. The southern slopes of the mountains are steep, sometimes sheer, while the northern slopes are gentle.
Protected from the north from the cold winds by the Caucasus Mountains, the Black Sea coast of the region stretches in a narrow strip from the Kerch Strait to Adler. It has a subtropical climate. In the northwestern part of the region (up to the city of Tuapse) the climate is of the Mediterranean type, with hot summers and rainy, relatively cold winters. In the southeastern part – humid subtropics, precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, there is practically no snow in winter.
The Black Sea coast is rich in small, clean and fast mountain rivers. Many of them have established trout farms. Rivers form picturesque waterfalls, in places they make their way through majestic gorges with sheer cliffs. The vegetation here is lush and varied. In the northwestern part of the coast, Crimean and Pitsunda pines, barberries, honeysuckle, and low-growing shrubs predominate. To the south, at an altitude of up to 500-600 m above sea level, the so-called mountain-colchis forest is widespread: chestnut, walnut, beech, oak, fir, yew, boxwood, ash, maple, rhododendron, laurel cherry, wild fruit trees. Palm trees, bananas, eucalyptus, magnolias, cypresses, citrus grow on the coast itself.
The animal world is exceptionally rich. Brown bear, lynx, wild boar, wolf, jackal, marten, fox, forest cat, roe deer, Caucasian deer live in the forests. In the highlands – chamois, West Caucasian tur, bison. There are a lot of waterfowl in the floodplains, there are otter, mink. In order to protect, study and increase the number of game animals and birds and restore mountain forest bison in 1924, one of the largest mountain forest reserves (262.5 thousand hectares) was established in the mountainous part of the Krasnodar Territory – the Caucasian State Reserve.
The Sea of Azov is fresh and very shallow, its average depth is 8 m. Commercial fishing for sturgeon, roach, pike perch, tyulka, fish is carried out here. There are many crayfish in the coastal estuaries. The climate on the coast of the Sea of Azov is temperate continental. Relatively low air humidity, low winds and breezes make it easy to endure heat. The duration of sunshine is more than 2320 hours per year. A large number of cloudless days, clean air favor the adoption of sun and air baths. The Azov coast is treeless, less picturesque than the Black Sea. But there are many comfortable places for an exciting vacation. Vast steppes, overgrown with reeds and sedge, floodplains and estuaries approach the sea.
In the north of the region, in its steppe part, the climate is temperate continental. The best time to relax on the coast of both seas is from May to October. For travel through the Caucasus Mountains – from June to September, when the mountain passes are free of snow.
Widely known outside the Kuban are its chemically richest mineral springs: the Hot Klyuchevsky, Yeisk, Semigorsk, Khadyzhensk, Gelendzhik and therapeutic muds of the Khanskoye and Chemburskoye lakes. Archaeologists have established that a person inhabited the Kuban land in the era of the primitive communal system. The ancient Greeks testify that the Scythians, who lived 2500 years ago on the Black Sea coast, more than once disturbed their neighbors in Transcaucasia and Western Asia with raids, and the Meots, who settled on the coast of the Sea of Azov, have long been engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing, successfully traded with Greek colonies in the Northern Black Sea region.
The Kuban land remembers the devastating raids of the Huns and the bloody invasion of the Tatar-Mongol hordes, Turkish Janissaries, who mercilessly drove tens of thousands of people into slavery. When a strong Moscow state was formed in the north, the Adygs and other peoples who inhabited the Kuban region established strong friendly ties with it, the development of which led in the middle of the 16th century. to the voluntary annexation of Adygea to Russia.
The development of transport routes also contributed to the increase in the flow of tourists to the Krasnodar Territory. Air liners deliver tourists to the airports of Krasnodar, Sochi, Anapa, Gelendzhik, Maikop. The region has a well-developed network of land roads connecting all the largest settlements, intensive rail and bus traffic. The waterway along the Volga through the Volga-Don Canal and along the Don leads to the Sea of Azov, and from there to Yeysk, Temryuk, Anapa, Novorossiysk, Tuapse, Sochi.
All tourists arriving in the Krasnodar Territory and not having a previously developed route should contact one of the tourist organizations (the list is given in the appendix), where they will receive the necessary advice and assistance.
Tourism is traditionally a seasonal form of recreation. Such an attitude towards him, apparently, determined the desire of most people to relax in the summer. And the linear hiking trips described below through the pass of the Main Caucasian Range are possible only from June to October (except for weekend routes). In addition, in the summer period, only planned tourists on tours of all-Union and local routes are accepted for vacation in the tourist institutions of the Krasnodar Territory. But in the period from October to May, staying at tourist bases, lovers of outdoor activities can make dozens of various short-term trips, having received no less pleasure and a charge of vivacity, than making multi-day trips in the summer. We will not break copies, proving that it is better to relax in February than in July or August, which is prestigious for holidays. But let’s make a significant reservation: the advantage of the summer months is the possibility of sea swimming and snowless passes. The benefits, I must say, are serious. But does the off-season have its advantages?
It turns out there is. This is confirmed by doctors and sociologists. The first – from the point of view of the physiology of the human body. The second – in terms of comfort – prove that the possibilities of recuperation in the off-season are in no way inferior to the possibilities of summer recreation. Similar studies have been started recently, but in the future, apparently, their results will help to scientifically substantiate the need to expand tourist work in autumn and winter.
Long gone are the days when the off-season, which replaced the “velvet” season, was called the “dead season” even for the Black Sea coast.
In addition to one-, two- and three-day trips to the mountains, which can be made in a row at short intervals, a large program of a wide variety of excursions is provided for amateur tourists who have stopped to rest in the tourist centers of the Kuban: to the hosta yew-boxwood grove, to the caves of New Athos, Cape Pitsunda, to Mount Akhun, to the Sochi house-museum of N. Ostrovsky, to the hero city of Novorossiysk.
Of course, the Vorontsovsky high-altitude shelter of the Yuzhnaya tourist center in Hosta will be desirable for tourists. Here they are waiting for a walk to the Vorontsov caves, shooting from sports bows, short horse trips, and in the evening – sincere tourist songs by the burning fireplace. Branches of the Krasnodar tourist hotel “Krymskaya Polyana”, “Partizansky” and “Alpinistsky” located near the unique rocky cliffs are open all year round.
Fans of fishing are waiting for the “Golden” branch of the Primorsko-Akhtar tourist center “Lotos”. A variety of concerts and quizzes, thoughtful work of libraries, reading rooms, cult pavilions and tourist clubs, helicopter trips, etc. will make the rest at the camp sites in the off-season for amateur tourists rich, varied and productive.
