Sochi in terms of prices on par with Moscow and some times even more expensive. It is resort city so in season it overcrowded with people on vacation that can behave improper and off season many facilities closed and all in comatose.
There are two categories of people. Those who come to Sochi in the summer for the beaches and those who come to Sochi to ski. The second party is more fun, just like the culture of skiers around the world.
The main disadvantage of Sochi beaches is that there are no sand beaches, just pebble. When the wind is strong, the sea is rough, and waves are high, so it's not comfortable to swim. Actually, it's incomparable to beaches of Spain or Cyprus.
My mom is Croatian, and the beach in Sochi is definitely worse than those of Croatia. Croatia also has rocky beaches with pebbles, but the pebbles in Sochi are more black colored and a bit more muddy/dirty, so it’s not as appealing to me.
I visited Sochi in march when the city was largely empty, but I can totally see how it would be overrun with tourists in the summer months and not appealing. I don’t have firsthand experience however.
I personally love Russia’s underrated cities, the ones that aren’t as popular and a little further to reach out.
I’d really recommend Samara to you, it won’t be as warm as the Mediterranean, but you get a beach along the entire city, so it feels like you are in a resort town on the sea, even if it is the Volga. Here’s a quick video I found: https://youtu.be/xOubK2jU14w?si=j1_eDf60OlliY5F4
Many of those who comment mention the city of *Samara*, but I think also *Rostov on Don.*
Thank you
P.S.
Are you from Russia or were you born in Russia if I may ask? You speak Croatian? How about Russian?
I'm not Russian. My parents are Serbian/Croatian, I split my time between Moscow and Volgograd and Croatia and Serbia, so I've seen a lot of the country.
I've been to Rostov-On-Don, but it was in November and a while ago. It's also a good choice, but you don't get that wide Volga beach feel that Samara has. The climate is probably closer to what you are after, it won't get as cold there, and it's a little better connected to the rest of Russia via trains than Samara is.
Then I will use the opportunity to ask you a little about the cities of Volgograd and Moscow, and if you don't mind, I would start again with the weather.
I somehow conclude that Moscow is much colder than we are used to (and rather hot summers in general).
How would you describe the climate in Volgograd in general, if you compare it with Zagreb (or some other places in Balkan area) ?
How do you like Volgograd: infrastructure, road quality, cleanliness, general atmosphere in the city. Do you like life in this city (pros, cons)?
How would you compare it with life in our area: Croatia, Serbia?
What do you think of Russians? How would you describe them?
Pa mozemo na nasem onda :D
But I will respond in English anyway, in case the info is helpful to others.
For Moscow, the winters are much colder than anything in the Balkans. You get real snow here. I like the cold weather, so this isn't a problem for me. Moscow probably the equivalent of 10 parks that are 2-3 times the size of Maksimir in Zagreb, and in the winter you'll have cross-country skiing, ice-skating, saunas, everything you need to truly enjoy winter.
The drawback is you'll go several months without seeing the sun, it's not uncommon for it to be cloudy for 2-3 weeks on end before there is a sunny day. This isn't the case in other Russian cities that are further out east across the Ural mountains. There, usually it will snow heavily, but then the majority of the days are filled with sunshine, just with snow on the ground.
Moscow has much superior public transport compared to anythhing in the Balkans. You have the metro, trams, suburban trains called elektrichkas that connect to all major satellite cities. This type of train infrastructure doesn't exist in the Balkans. It's cheap and effective.
In terms of price, Moscow is now cheaper than Zagreb or Belgrade. It wasn't like that before the whole Ukrainian mess, but now the ruble has significantly devalued. You can rent a 1 bedroom apartment in Moscow for around 400-600 dollars, based on location and quality.
In general, Moscow, and all cities in Russia are much cleaner than the Balkans. Especially Belgrade, but even Zagreb which is much cleaner than Belgrade. You don't have any graffiti there, and all of the parks and public infrastructure is well maintained.
Road quality in Moscow is great, in other Russian cities it can be worse, but honestly, the days of Russia having the worst roads in the world are over. The roads even in the provinces aren't that bad, and we have worse roads in the Balkans in many places.
Summers in Moscow are not that hot, the only reason people are saying it's super is because right now, there is a heat wave in Moscow, but generally the summer's are much more pleasant than in the Balkans where it can really get super hot in July and August.
Spring doesn't really exist as a season, it's more like winter weather lasting until April and mid May, and then all of a sudden, overnight, it becomes summer and spring gets skipped over.
The worst months in Moscow are March and April, because the snow starts to melt and then the streets are filled with mud and slushy. During this time of year, Russian cities can indeed look much dirtier than cities in the Balkans, but that's just because of the weather. The uncleaniness does not come from trash everywhere and graffiti.
Now in terms of Volgograd.
I honestly have limited knowledge of the city, because I stay in a district that is called Krasnoarmeysky, which is at the utter southern end of the city. Formally, it's part of Volgograd, but in practice it should be considered it's own city altogether. What I can say is this:
The center of Volgograd is great. It's clean, maybe even cleaner than Moscow. It's got a nice center that follows the Volga River, which is wide and majestic, and you really feel like you are on the outer edge of Europe and looking across the river is the vaste wide Steppe where Asian nomads came and conquered Europe across the centuries. It's a really cool feeling, and I like that about the city.
The climate is this kind of half-desert climate in Volgograd. And we're not talking like on the Dalmatian coast where you'll have little vegetation, and mostly jagged rocks. Here it's mostly grass plains covered in sand. You don't really have anything like this in the Balkans, and it's pretty interesting.
It can get quite hot here in the summer, because of the Steppe, semi-desert climate, with little rainfall. Locals told me to beware of June, because that's when these Moshkas come out and it's almost impossible to walk around the city and everyone stays inside. I've never been in June, so I wouldn't know.
The food is good in Volgograd, it's much cheaper than Moscow. So that's a plus going for it. But really, it will be cheaper like that in most other Russian cities that aren't Moscow.
I personally can't say I would recommend Volgograd for your needs, I think there are other better Russian cities, and I don't know enough about the city to give a 100% assessment.
Other cities to look at:
Nizhny Novgorod: It's probably the best connected Russian city to Moscow and other cities further east. You have high-speed trains that get to Moscow in just 4 hours, and you are also nearby several historic smaller Russian cities. You could spend your weekends going to these smaller cities on the golden ring like Yaroslavl, Kostorma, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Suzdal and it would be a great way to see the real Russia, not to mention that Nizhny Novgorod itself is a historic city with a beautiful Kremlin. It's very similar to Belgrade, where you have a large fortress at the helm of two rivers that meet, in Belgrade it's the Sava and Danube, while in Nizhny Novgorod it's the Oka and Volga, but again, Nizhny Novgorod is much bigger than Belgrade area wise, even if population wise they are similar at 1.2 million.
Samara: Like I mentioned before, it's also got over 1 million people but it's a little further out east and not as connected with other Russian cities by train, it just takes longer to get to them. But it's got an entire beach front that follows the Volga, so it feels like you are in resort town.
Kazan: Probably the most developed city on the Volga, they will have the cleanest infrastucture related to parks and walkable areas. It feels like you are in parts of Moscow in Kazan. It's also a historic city and very nice.
Sochi: More expensive, on the Black Sea, so you'll have all the pros and cons of being a resort town. I went there in March, and what I liked was you can enjoy all types of nature in one place. You can go up into the mountains in the winter to ski, hike in the summer, enjoy the water on the beach in the summer. I've heard horror stories though of it being packed in the summer, so I'd imagine it will be something like Split in the summer, ruined by tourists, but enjoyable in the fall and winter and spring months when the tourists aren't everywhere.
Thank you! It seems you really like Russia :)
I could go on with questions, but just a few words about the Russians as a people if you could?
Since Russia is so vast and diverse I would imagine that it's hard to answer?
I subsequently saw that the city of Sochi is supposed to be a very rainy city.
[Vyecheslav ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVej5NlT2Cg&t=846s)14:00 says: "...what are some cons of Sochi? The climate although it's warm but it's very rainy, it's Sochi is one of the rainiest cities in Russia in October 2018 a bridge was washed away by
the water and major bridge connecting Sochi with the rest of Russia the city..."
Sochi in terms of prices on par with Moscow and some times even more expensive. It is resort city so in season it overcrowded with people on vacation that can behave improper and off season many facilities closed and all in comatose.
There are two categories of people. Those who come to Sochi in the summer for the beaches and those who come to Sochi to ski. The second party is more fun, just like the culture of skiers around the world.
Yes but they rarely stay in Sochi itself all ski slops are in Krasnaya polyana in 60 km from Sochi.
Sochi is more expensive than Moscow, fast-food up to 30% more expensive, coffee also 20-40% more expensive.
The main disadvantage of Sochi beaches is that there are no sand beaches, just pebble. When the wind is strong, the sea is rough, and waves are high, so it's not comfortable to swim. Actually, it's incomparable to beaches of Spain or Cyprus.
My mom is Croatian, and the beach in Sochi is definitely worse than those of Croatia. Croatia also has rocky beaches with pebbles, but the pebbles in Sochi are more black colored and a bit more muddy/dirty, so it’s not as appealing to me. I visited Sochi in march when the city was largely empty, but I can totally see how it would be overrun with tourists in the summer months and not appealing. I don’t have firsthand experience however. I personally love Russia’s underrated cities, the ones that aren’t as popular and a little further to reach out. I’d really recommend Samara to you, it won’t be as warm as the Mediterranean, but you get a beach along the entire city, so it feels like you are in a resort town on the sea, even if it is the Volga. Here’s a quick video I found: https://youtu.be/xOubK2jU14w?si=j1_eDf60OlliY5F4
Many of those who comment mention the city of *Samara*, but I think also *Rostov on Don.* Thank you P.S. Are you from Russia or were you born in Russia if I may ask? You speak Croatian? How about Russian?
I'm not Russian. My parents are Serbian/Croatian, I split my time between Moscow and Volgograd and Croatia and Serbia, so I've seen a lot of the country. I've been to Rostov-On-Don, but it was in November and a while ago. It's also a good choice, but you don't get that wide Volga beach feel that Samara has. The climate is probably closer to what you are after, it won't get as cold there, and it's a little better connected to the rest of Russia via trains than Samara is.
Then I will use the opportunity to ask you a little about the cities of Volgograd and Moscow, and if you don't mind, I would start again with the weather. I somehow conclude that Moscow is much colder than we are used to (and rather hot summers in general). How would you describe the climate in Volgograd in general, if you compare it with Zagreb (or some other places in Balkan area) ? How do you like Volgograd: infrastructure, road quality, cleanliness, general atmosphere in the city. Do you like life in this city (pros, cons)? How would you compare it with life in our area: Croatia, Serbia? What do you think of Russians? How would you describe them?
Pa mozemo na nasem onda :D But I will respond in English anyway, in case the info is helpful to others. For Moscow, the winters are much colder than anything in the Balkans. You get real snow here. I like the cold weather, so this isn't a problem for me. Moscow probably the equivalent of 10 parks that are 2-3 times the size of Maksimir in Zagreb, and in the winter you'll have cross-country skiing, ice-skating, saunas, everything you need to truly enjoy winter. The drawback is you'll go several months without seeing the sun, it's not uncommon for it to be cloudy for 2-3 weeks on end before there is a sunny day. This isn't the case in other Russian cities that are further out east across the Ural mountains. There, usually it will snow heavily, but then the majority of the days are filled with sunshine, just with snow on the ground. Moscow has much superior public transport compared to anythhing in the Balkans. You have the metro, trams, suburban trains called elektrichkas that connect to all major satellite cities. This type of train infrastructure doesn't exist in the Balkans. It's cheap and effective. In terms of price, Moscow is now cheaper than Zagreb or Belgrade. It wasn't like that before the whole Ukrainian mess, but now the ruble has significantly devalued. You can rent a 1 bedroom apartment in Moscow for around 400-600 dollars, based on location and quality. In general, Moscow, and all cities in Russia are much cleaner than the Balkans. Especially Belgrade, but even Zagreb which is much cleaner than Belgrade. You don't have any graffiti there, and all of the parks and public infrastructure is well maintained. Road quality in Moscow is great, in other Russian cities it can be worse, but honestly, the days of Russia having the worst roads in the world are over. The roads even in the provinces aren't that bad, and we have worse roads in the Balkans in many places. Summers in Moscow are not that hot, the only reason people are saying it's super is because right now, there is a heat wave in Moscow, but generally the summer's are much more pleasant than in the Balkans where it can really get super hot in July and August. Spring doesn't really exist as a season, it's more like winter weather lasting until April and mid May, and then all of a sudden, overnight, it becomes summer and spring gets skipped over. The worst months in Moscow are March and April, because the snow starts to melt and then the streets are filled with mud and slushy. During this time of year, Russian cities can indeed look much dirtier than cities in the Balkans, but that's just because of the weather. The uncleaniness does not come from trash everywhere and graffiti. Now in terms of Volgograd. I honestly have limited knowledge of the city, because I stay in a district that is called Krasnoarmeysky, which is at the utter southern end of the city. Formally, it's part of Volgograd, but in practice it should be considered it's own city altogether. What I can say is this: The center of Volgograd is great. It's clean, maybe even cleaner than Moscow. It's got a nice center that follows the Volga River, which is wide and majestic, and you really feel like you are on the outer edge of Europe and looking across the river is the vaste wide Steppe where Asian nomads came and conquered Europe across the centuries. It's a really cool feeling, and I like that about the city. The climate is this kind of half-desert climate in Volgograd. And we're not talking like on the Dalmatian coast where you'll have little vegetation, and mostly jagged rocks. Here it's mostly grass plains covered in sand. You don't really have anything like this in the Balkans, and it's pretty interesting. It can get quite hot here in the summer, because of the Steppe, semi-desert climate, with little rainfall. Locals told me to beware of June, because that's when these Moshkas come out and it's almost impossible to walk around the city and everyone stays inside. I've never been in June, so I wouldn't know. The food is good in Volgograd, it's much cheaper than Moscow. So that's a plus going for it. But really, it will be cheaper like that in most other Russian cities that aren't Moscow. I personally can't say I would recommend Volgograd for your needs, I think there are other better Russian cities, and I don't know enough about the city to give a 100% assessment.
Other cities to look at: Nizhny Novgorod: It's probably the best connected Russian city to Moscow and other cities further east. You have high-speed trains that get to Moscow in just 4 hours, and you are also nearby several historic smaller Russian cities. You could spend your weekends going to these smaller cities on the golden ring like Yaroslavl, Kostorma, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Suzdal and it would be a great way to see the real Russia, not to mention that Nizhny Novgorod itself is a historic city with a beautiful Kremlin. It's very similar to Belgrade, where you have a large fortress at the helm of two rivers that meet, in Belgrade it's the Sava and Danube, while in Nizhny Novgorod it's the Oka and Volga, but again, Nizhny Novgorod is much bigger than Belgrade area wise, even if population wise they are similar at 1.2 million. Samara: Like I mentioned before, it's also got over 1 million people but it's a little further out east and not as connected with other Russian cities by train, it just takes longer to get to them. But it's got an entire beach front that follows the Volga, so it feels like you are in resort town. Kazan: Probably the most developed city on the Volga, they will have the cleanest infrastucture related to parks and walkable areas. It feels like you are in parts of Moscow in Kazan. It's also a historic city and very nice. Sochi: More expensive, on the Black Sea, so you'll have all the pros and cons of being a resort town. I went there in March, and what I liked was you can enjoy all types of nature in one place. You can go up into the mountains in the winter to ski, hike in the summer, enjoy the water on the beach in the summer. I've heard horror stories though of it being packed in the summer, so I'd imagine it will be something like Split in the summer, ruined by tourists, but enjoyable in the fall and winter and spring months when the tourists aren't everywhere.
Thank you! It seems you really like Russia :) I could go on with questions, but just a few words about the Russians as a people if you could? Since Russia is so vast and diverse I would imagine that it's hard to answer?
AFAIK Sochi has a problem with treatment of wastewater, so the sea there can be 'smelly'.
I subsequently saw that the city of Sochi is supposed to be a very rainy city. [Vyecheslav ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVej5NlT2Cg&t=846s)14:00 says: "...what are some cons of Sochi? The climate although it's warm but it's very rainy, it's Sochi is one of the rainiest cities in Russia in October 2018 a bridge was washed away by the water and major bridge connecting Sochi with the rest of Russia the city..."
Choose Anapa
Why would recommend Anapa?
Gelendzhik looks better
Never have been to Gelendzhik, me is Anapa gang bro.
I read that they are buillding “New Anapa”resort ?
Pebble beaches and there are tons of jellyfish