Yalta and more than 30 settlements adjacent to it (Gurzuf, Nikita, Massandra, Livadia, Gaspra, Koreiz, Miskhor, Alupka, Simeiz, Foros and others) form a single resort area called Big Yalta. Wooded mountains stand like an amphitheater in the background of Big Yalta. The mountain range protects the city from cold northern winds, which contributes to the formation of a Mediterranean subtropical climate here.
According to Bestitude, Yalta is the most popular resort in Ukraine, known all over the world. It successfully combines climatic and landscape conditions. In Yalta there are also cultural attractions – this is the former palace of the Emir of Bukhara, the Armenian Church, the house-museum of A.P. Chekhov, the Roman Catholic Church, the bell tower, the film studio named after. A.M. Gorky, Historical and Literary Museum, exhibition of holography, theater. A.P. Chekhov, Philharmonic. From Yalta there is a cable car to Mount Ai-Petri.
Gurzuf, surrounded by mountains and vineyards, attracts tourists with magnificent landscapes. It was visited by many creative people: K. Korovin, F. Chaliapin, I. Repin, V. Surikov, M. Gorky, A. Kuprin, L. Andreev, A. Chekhov, A. Mitskevich, M. Mussorgsky. It became the first place in the Crimea where tourism began to develop. In the vicinity of the city are the ruins of a Byzantine fortress, an ancient park and the state reserve Ayu-Dag. Grapes grow in the vineyards of Gurzuf, from which the best dessert drink in the world is produced – white Muscat of the Red Stone.
In the town of Nikita is the world-famous Nikitsky Botanical Garden, founded in 1812. Its collections include about 30 thousand species, varieties and hybrids of plants.
Massandra is the historical center of the wine industry in the Crimea. In the underground galleries of the winery there is a unique museum – a vinotheque that stores more than a million bottles of collectible wines of different brands and ages. Massandra is famous for its palace – the residence of Tsar Alexander III, striking in its lightness and grace. The construction of the palace began in 1881, Prince S.M. Vorontsov is the heir to the Governor-General of Novorossia M.S. Vorontsov.
Livadia is known for the summer residence of Tsar Nicholas II – the Livadia Palace. The history of the palace began in 1834, when the settlement was acquired by the Polish magnate Lev Potocki. According to the project of the architect K. I. Ashliman, he built a palace, and laid out a park around 40 hectares. In 1860 the estate became the property of the Empress, the wife of Alexander II. The new owners are putting in order the vineyards laid down under Potocki, and are beginning to rebuild the palace. At the beginning of the 20th century, the palace complex fell into disrepair, and a new one was built in its place in 1911. In February 1945, the Yalta Conference of the heads of government of the coalition – the USSR, the USA and Great Britain – took place here .
The village of Gaspra is not located near the sea, but a little on a hill. This Crimean resort is famous for being visited by Leo Tolstoy. The world-famous “Swallow’s Nest” is located here. The microclimate of Gaspra is simply unique for the treatment of diseases of the respiratory organs and respiratory tract with an asthmatic component, allergies, the nervous system, helps to cleanse the body and restore strength.
In Koreiz and its environs are the palaces of the Golitsyns, Naryshkins, and Meshcherskys. The palaces were built according to the designs of invited foreign architects and resemble medieval castles.
There is a park in Miskhor, which is a monument of gardening art. About 100 species and garden forms of exotic trees and shrubs are concentrated on an area of 21.3 hectares. There is a color-music fountain here. The main attraction of Miskhor is the Dulber Palace, which belonged to one of the Grand Dukes. In the same area there is a “visiting card” of the Crimea – a small castle “Swallow’s Nest”, standing on a sheer cliff hanging over the sea.
Alupka is a small resort town located 17 kilometers from Yalta. The air here is especially clean and pleasant thanks to the pine trees, so local sanatoriums specialize in the treatment of respiratory diseases. The main attraction of the city is the Vorontsov Palace with the adjacent Alupka park.
Simeiz is surrounded by mountains. It is dominated by the At-Bash (Horse’s Head) peak, on the western outskirts Mount Koshka rises, where a settlement of ancient Taurus was discovered, and the Swan Wing cliff is located near the sea. To the east of Simeiz rises the cliff of Panea, and below – the rock of Diva. This resort differs from the rest in the profile of its health resorts – tuberculosis patients are treated here. The conditions for this are created by nature itself: during the holiday season, dry, sunny days prevail.
The village of Foros is one of the most ecologically clean places on the Black Sea coast. It is assumed that in the V century. BC. here was a place for collecting taxes and taxes to the common treasury of the Delian Union, led by Athens, and in the Middle Ages, Foros was a border point where taxes were collected from all over the South Coast, which was under the rule of the Genoese. The main attraction of the village is the park, laid out in the 80s of the nineteenth century.
Bakhchisaray is located 80 km from Yalta on the slope of the Inner Ridge of the Crimean Mountains. The main thing that attracts to Bakhchisaray is historical and cultural monuments. The main attraction of the city is the Khan’s Palace. It was built as a family residence of the Gerai dynasty – the rulers of the Crimean Khanate. For two and a half centuries (from the 1530s to 1783) the palace served as the center of the political, spiritual and cultural life of the Crimean Tatar state. The Khan’s Palace is a monument of history and culture of global significance, which has been recognized in the recently launched procedure for including the palace on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In the palace there is the “Fountain of Tears” sung by Pushkin. Not far from the Khan’s Palace, the ascent to the “cave city” of Chufut-Kale begins. It is one of the best preserved medieval “cave towns”. Not far from Chufut-Kale is the male Assumption Monastery. The monastery itself is located in caves, where the cells of novices and monks are also located. Inside the monastery are whitewashed walls, very low ceilings. There are paintings between the columns, and from the window openings there is a view of the gorge. This monastery was visited by Christian Greeks, Tatars and Bakhchisarai khans. A holy spring flows near the monastery.
