Yalta Holiday Resort

Seafront, palm trees, beaches, shops, restaurants, nightlife - Yalta is a town that knows it's got style. Since the Tsars began abandoning Moscow to holiday here in the 19th century, Yalta has been a magnet for people with taste and, it has to be said, in many cases with money. The counts and princes who built the nearby palaces were followed by rich merchants who built town houses, many of which remain. But during the 20th century a different kind of holiday-maker began to arrive at Yalta. In post-revolutionary soviet society, ordinary people began to be able to afford seaside holidays, and it is these people, as much as their aristocratic forebears, who have made Yalta the town it is today. Now the soviet union is gone and free enterprise is creating new wealth for some and new aspirations for many.

The Seafront
Walk along the seafront, and you'll pass restaurants, cafes, and clubs competing for space with shops selling fashionable clothes, jewellery and electronic goods. There are well-stocked food shops and no shortage of banks where you can change your money. The less formal economy is thriving too, and the bustle and colour of Yalta's markets are not to be missed.
In the evening during the high season the seafront is alive with street musicians (some very good), knife-jugglers, fire-eaters, caricaturists and artists. You can have yourself photographed in 18th century costume or on the back of a Harley Davidson, or with a live snake coiled round your shoulders. Walking along the promenade in the evening in the early 21st century is as much a matter of seeing and being seen as it was in the 19th, when the promenaders quizzed eachother discreetly through lorgnettes. Only now they're wearing Gucci shades, comparing tans and trying to work out if that designer label's genuine or not...

The Beaches
During the day in summer people throng to the beaches or go sightseeing. Yalta has three clean pebble beaches, a small one in the harbour and two long ones, one at each end of the seafront. The public sections tend to be crowded in July and August, but for about £3 you can get a day pass onto one of the private sections where there's more space.

The Parks and the Coast
In spite of the summer heat, Yalta is a green town with lots of trees and a beautiful seafront park . If you want somewhere a bit cooler, for a quiet chat or perhaps an hour with a book, you'll find it in the park, and there are a couple of little cafes among the trees where you can get a welcome drink. Or a short ride away are the world famous botanical gardens at Nikita

You can walk for miles along the south coast from Yalta. The Sunlit Path (Solnechnaya Tropa) runs west from the Livadia Palace with spectacular views from the cliffs. And why not stop off at Miskhor and get the cable-car up to the top of Mount Ai-Petri, with fantastic views of the Black Sea and the mountains.

And then of course, there's Anton Chekhov's house... And Yalta's nightlife... And the cable car to the top of Darsan Hill runs till 11pm - a cable-car for two, gently swaying up the hill in the darkness with Yalta beneath you and the lights of the ships out on the Black Sea - magic...

Yalta Sightseeing

Yalta Hotels