Gurzuf beaches in Crimea: features and location

Gurzuf is an urban-type settlement on the southern coast of Crimea, 18 kilometers north-east of Yalta. On the map it can be found between Cape Ai-Danil (in the west) and Ayu-Dag (in the east). The village from the sea resembles a small Italian town: it is located on the banks of the ledges, narrow streets go down to the sea.

Gurzuf is a historical place. There are preserved medieval attractions. The writer A.P. Chekhov, the artist K. A Korovin, the singer F.I. Chaliapin lived in this picturesque corner of the Crimea, and A.S. Pushkin stopped in 1820. The indigenous population in Gurzuf is just over 9 thousand people. The rest are vacationers. Gurzuf is well known in Russia as a picturesque Black Sea resort. Hundreds of thousands of people are eager to go on vacation here.

As a result, it becomes very crowded in the village, on the promenade and beaches. Therefore, a visit to Gurzuf at the height of the holiday season does not seem appropriate. Crowding and crowding do not allow to consider all the beauty of this unique place and plenty to swim in the sea. And the prices are unlikely to please our poor tourist for the most part. It is much wiser to come here in late May - early June or in the second half of September.

There are no sandy beaches in Gurzuf. Only pebble. There is no sand even on equipped paid beaches. Pebbles are everywhere, and in some places even gravel. Walking in beach shoes is recommended. But the rocky beaches are good because they are not washed away by the sea, the main thing is that the water around them is kept clean and transparent.

Along all the Gurzuf beaches stretches approximately two-kilometer, well-equipped, marble-lined promenade with many stalls, benches, lawns. From her equipped descents to the sea. The beaches and their sections are separated from each other by concrete breakwaters, on top of which recently built summer cafes. This greatly spoils and obscures the main Gurzuf view - the mountain Ayu-Dag and Adalary.

The best beaches of Gurzuf belong to sanatoriums and boarding houses, and access to them is limited. These are the beaches of sanatoriums "Ai-Danil", "Pushkino", "Gurzufsky". Their territories are fenced. It is difficult to get there without a pass or resort book, but it succeeds in some different ways. These beaches are clean and spacious even during the season. And vacationers, "savages" look at the lucky ones from the embankment. These beaches have drinking water, toilets, showers, sun loungers and sun awnings.

Another group of beaches of the “highest category” is paid with services. These include Sputnik, Charm, Jaco-2007, White Sail. Here those who believe that peace, comfort and cleanliness cost money. The client, for an additional fee, has the right to choose a place, visit the VIP-zone, “buy out” a favorite beach place before the end of the vacation. There are cafes on these beaches, it is possible to order food directly "to the sunbed".

Sun loungers are installed spaciously, there is enough space between them. Beach walkways are covered with wooden walkways. Some of these beaches are non-smoking. It is recommended that you pay attention to announcements and warnings to avoid conflict situations.

For unassuming vacationers, there are urban public beaches. Entrance to them is free, but the visitor is very actively forced to rent a place, a sunbed, an umbrella from the sun. Willpower and sound stubbornness are needed to refuse. At the height of the season there is a rush of people, sometimes there’s nowhere to lie, but to get up, and often you have to take a seat in the early morning. In this sense, nothing has changed since Soviet times.

In addition, it was these beaches in recent Ukrainian years that were covered with gravel. This, of course, was an original move, but as a result, it is very inconvenient to move around this beach. Need shoes, beach slippers like flip flops. In some places flooring is equipped, but there are few of them.

The most original beach of Gurzuf can be considered the so-called "Chekhovka". This is a small rocky beach under the cliff of Dzhenevez-Kaya, on which stands Chekhov's cottage. There is a museum. Having bought a ticket and having examined the exposition, you can go down the rocky steps to the beach and take a swim. The place is exotic, natural, wild. Some stones and clear water. This is what attracts visitors. During unrest at sea, you can not even enter the water.

The waves hit the shore with such force that a person standing a few meters from the water is surrounded by a continuous foamy stream. Upstairs in the garden at Chekhov’s dacha you can listen to how the sea roars and rumbles in stormy weather.

In addition to all this, on the Gurzuf coast there are so-called wild beaches. These are undeveloped sections of the coast, chosen by locals and vacationers for swimming. There are many of them at the western part of the Ayu-Dag mountain. The beaches are large-pebble and rocky. Vacationers are attracted here by silence, few people, the possibility of solitude and, of course, exotic. Some of these beaches are accessible only from the sea, you cannot go down from the shore to them. In this case, knowledgeable people hire a boat or boat.

Unfortunately, visit the famous beach "Gurovsky stones" will not succeed. This pebble beach has its own interesting history. He owes his name to Vasily Vasilievich Gurov, who owned these lands before the October Revolution. In Soviet times, the beach belonged to the international pioneer camp Artek.

In perestroika times, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, reorganization began in Artek, the beach was between two separate camps and lost its “owner”. Entrepreneurial people took advantage of this and created here the first private beach in the Crimea, which has long been called "cooperative". The beach was good because it had picturesque views of Mount Ayu-Dag, Adalary, the rocks of Pushkin and Chaliapin. Even paid, it was very popular.

It is difficult to get into the grotto of Pushkin and the rock of Chaliapin. All this is located on the territory of the camp "Lazurny", where there is a strict security regime. Unless to go on a sea excursion, which is cheap and not always high quality. When swimming on the beaches of Gurzuf, it should be remembered that the open sea is very close by, and in case of stormy weather, strong excitement can arise. In calm weather, the sea is safe.

You need to be afraid of the sun, which is very hot in July-August, and you can either get sunburn or overheat. It is recommended not to go to the beach during the hours of greatest solar activity - from about 11 to 16 hours. It is better to devote this time to walks in the Gurzuf parks.

All beaches - both paid and public - offer, in fact, the same set of entertainment services with some differences in price and quality.

• Various types of extreme water skiing: jet ski, ski, "banana", "tablet", parasail (parachute), yachting, windsurfing.
• Entertainment for children: inflatable slides, trampolines, water rides.
• Diving groups (scuba diving) go directly to the beaches.
• Sightseeing boat excursions. To Ayu-Dag, to the Pushkin Grotto, to the Chaliapin rock, to other picturesque sea places in the vicinity. On the way, sometimes swimming in the open sea directly from the boat is offered.
• For those who are tired of the sea, the sun and other beach charms and want to stretch their feet, pavilions and playgrounds where you can play billiards, bowling, and volleyball work on paid and sanatorium beaches.

Objectively, the main thoughts of most reviews of Gurzuf beaches come down to two main points:

• great nature, amazing landscapes, a paradise;
• unsatisfactory (and often simply absent) service, rudeness of staff, inadequately high prices.

Many vacationers admire the beautiful nature, note a good climate, clear sea. But often they are dissatisfied with some of the shortcomings of rest on the beaches of Gurzuf. Often spoiled beaches, poor service of food service, tiresome climbs, interesting sights are not accessible to the general public. In season, beaches are packed with vacationers. There are inadequate prices for everything. It is problematic to get to the beach with children and by car.

The authors of the reviews criticize the Gurzuf beaches for disorder, narrowness, payment, access control. Someone is not satisfied with the intrusive service on paid beaches. Someone, having visited Turkey and Egypt, considers even such a service insufficient. Good reviews only about wild beaches, where any service is not available by definition. But here you can read the complaints that the stones are too large, and very deep near the shore.

Reviews, of course, need to read. But only for general information. A person makes his opinion about a particular place from his immediate impressions. And so let's say this: you need to go to the Crimea. This is a whole unusual world where each person will find something important, interesting for himself. Gurzuf is one of the most important places in Crimea, and it is necessary to visit there. And the disadvantages should not be given too much importance. These are trifles.

The greed of the locals and their characteristic "seasonal" interest in holidaymakers are understandable. This is a feature of any resort place not only in Russia. It is unlikely that it will ever be completely obsolete. It is unlikely that very good hotels will appear in Crimea very soon, old beaches will be put in order and new ones will be opened. But progress, albeit so far slowly, but it is progressing, Crimea will slowly civilize and even with all the ugliness will be of interest to a middle-income Russian tourist, if only because foreign resorts are steadily becoming more expensive.

About what rules you need to know on the beach of Gurzuf in the Crimea, see the next video.