What to See in Sochi, Russia: Free Audio Guide

Sochi is a Russian resort city on the Black Sea, known for its subtropical landscapes, historic churches, museums, coastal architecture and connection with the Caucasus region. The best things to do in Sochi range from exploring its central landmarks to discovering medieval ruins, mountain roads and the districts around Adler and Lazarevskoye. Neywo offers a free Sochi audio guide with 52 narrated places.

What to See in Sochi

Sochi Arboretum

The Sochi Arboretum is a monument of landscape architecture in the Khosta district. Its 12.14 hectares contain a notable collection of subtropical trees and plants, including 76 species of pine, 80 species of oak and 24 species of palm. It is one of the clearest places to experience the greenery that gives Sochi its distinctive southern character.

Sochi Art Museum

The Sochi Art Museum, officially named for the artist Dmitry Zhilinsky, occupies a building completed in 1936 by architect Ivan Zholtovsky. The structure was originally used by state authorities and later housed the city committee of the Communist Party before exhibitions began in 1972 and it became an art museum in 1976.

Its Stalinist Empire design features a symmetrical plan, columns and large interior spaces. The exterior includes The Bricklayer by Nikolai Ventzel and The Carpenter by Lidia Efimova, also known as Shulik. The collection contains around 6,000 objects, covering painting, graphic art, sculpture, decorative and applied art, and traditional crafts.

Saint Michael’s Cathedral

Saint Michael’s Cathedral is described as Sochi’s oldest church and the oldest Orthodox church on the Black Sea coast. Commissioned by Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich to commemorate the conclusion of the Caucasian War in 1864, it was built between the beginning of construction in 1874 and the later development of the church during the nineteenth century.

The cathedral has a traditional Orthodox plan in the shape of a cross, with a central dome and light-coloured walls. Inside, the iconostasis includes icons of Christ, the Virgin Mary and Archangel Michael. The church was closed and repurposed during the Soviet period, but services returned in the late twentieth century, followed by restoration. A domed baptistery and Sunday school were added beside it in the 1990s.

Festivalny Concert Hall

Festivalny Concert Hall stands beside the Black Sea in central Sochi. This open-air venue opened on July 14, 1979, as a summer concert hall designed by V. Shulrikhter and I. Ryabyshev.

Its amphitheatre-style seating looks towards a stage framed by the sea and the horizon. Open sides allow air to circulate through the structure, while cafés, bars and refreshment counters occupy the foyer and terraces. Festivalny hosts concerts, touring shows, festivals, public celebrations, film-related events and music competitions.

Nikolai Ostrovsky house-museum

The Literary and Memorial Museum of Nikolai Ostrovsky opened on May 1, 1937, and is dedicated to the Soviet writer. Its memorial house was built in 1935 as a gift from the Soviet government. Designed by Yakov Kravchuk, it is an example of Sochi dacha architecture from the 1930s.

The house preserves authentic furnishings from the Ostrovsky family and includes the writer’s library, documents and photographs. Across its collections, the museum holds more than 37,000 objects, including rare books, household items, documents, images, Soviet-era coins, paintings and graphic works.

Russian International Olympic University

The Russian International Olympic University focuses on the professional side of sport. It prepares specialists for sports management and for the Olympic and Paralympic movements. The university is described as the world’s first educational institution of this kind, providing additional professional education for Russia’s sports industry and the wider international sports community.

Adler Microdistrict and Sochi International Airport

Adler is a resort district on the Black Sea, located where the Mzymta River reaches the sea. Founded as a settlement in 1869, it is now a residential microdistrict and the administrative centre of the Adlersky District.

The district is also an important arrival point. It contains Sochi International Airport, a railway station and a port. The airport is commonly called Adler Airport and uses the codes AER and URSS. It became especially prominent during the 2014 Winter Olympics, when it served as the main gateway for visitors.

Adler is also home to Sochi Olympic Park, built for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

Loo Byzantine Church

The ruins of the Loo Byzantine Church stand on a hill in the Loo microdistrict. Archaeological research carried out from 1987 to 1997 dates the first church to between the tenth and twelfth centuries. It was restored in the fourteenth century, although it served as a religious building for only a short time. In the fifteenth or sixteenth century, it was converted into a fortress.

Godlik Fortress

Godlik Fortress is a medieval fortification in the Lazarevsky District, at the mouth of the Godlik River on the Black Sea. Its coastal position gives the archaeological site a direct connection with the landscapes and routes that shaped this part of Sochi.

Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos

The Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos is an Orthodox landmark in Lazarevskoye. It adds a religious and local dimension to exploring one of Sochi’s coastal districts beyond the city centre.

Zubova Shchel Viaduct

The Zubova Shchel Viaduct carries the federal A147 highway across a gorge in Sochi’s Lazarevsky District. The bridge rises 80 metres above the ground and extends for 576 metres.

Before its construction, the road followed a four-kilometre mountain serpentine down to the Chemитоквадже River and back up again. The viaduct replaced that route with a direct section of 700 metres. Construction began in 1989, and the bridge opened in December 1999. Its steel and reinforced-concrete structure includes four central spans measuring 84 metres each.

Circassia

Sochi’s wider historical landscape is connected with Circassia, also known as Zichia, the historic homeland of the Circassian people. It stretched along the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. In the medieval era, an elected Grand Prince nominally led the region, while individual principalities and tribes remained largely autonomous.

Circassia was gradually conquered by the Russian Empire during the Russo-Circassian War, which lasted from 1763 to 1864. After the conquest, large numbers of Circassians were killed or exiled, creating a large diaspora. Today, most Circassians live outside their ancestral homeland, especially in Turkey and other parts of the Middle East.

Sochi Self-Guided Walking Tour with Neywo

A Sochi self-guided walking tour is an easy way to connect the city’s museums, churches, theatres and seafront landmarks. Neywo has three walking tours and one bus route in Sochi:

• Sochi Seafront: Stalinist Spires, Archangels and a Japanese Garden — 3.08 km, 87 minutes and 10 stops.
• Columns, Dachas and the Soviet Stage — 2.2 km, 63 minutes and 7 stops.
• Station, River and Memorial: Sochi’s North Side — 2.05 km, 45 minutes and 4 stops.
• Bus 5 down Kurortny Prospekt: Memorial, Archangel and Japanese Garden — 5.7 km, 24 minutes and 5 stops.

The routes include places such as the Marine Station, Festivalny, Saint Michael’s Cathedral, Sochi Art Museum, Nikolai Ostrovsky house-museum, Sochi Arboretum, Sochi train station and the Zavokzalny War Memorial. Each story plays as you reach the place, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages.

Download Neywo and explore Sochi with an audio guide that tells the story of each place as you arrive. It is a practical way to discover the Black Sea seafront, central Sochi and the city’s historic districts independently. For more destinations in the country, continue with the Russia guide.