The beaches of Gurzuf in Crimea: features and location

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

Gurzuf - a historical place. Medieval sights are preserved here. 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 stayed in 1820. The indigenous population in Gurzuf is a little 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 willingly go on holiday here.

As a result, in the village, on the waterfront and the beaches becomes very crowded. Therefore, a visit to Gurzuf at the height of the holiday season does not seem appropriate. Overcrowding and closeness 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 in the mass of its tourist. It is much more reasonable to come here in late May - early June or in the second half of September.

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

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

The best beaches of Gurzuf belong to sanatoriums and boarding houses, and the entrance to them is limited. These are the beaches of the resorts “Ai-Danil”, “Pushkino”, “Gurzufsky”. Their territory is fenced. It is difficult to penetrate there without having a pass or a resort book, but it is possible in some different ways. On these beaches clean and spacious, even in the most season. And having a rest, “savages” look at the lucky ones from the embankment. These beaches have drinking water, toilets, showers, sun beds and sun shades.

Another group of beaches of the "highest category" is paid with services. These include Sputnik, Charm, Jaco-2007, White Sail. Here rest those who believe that peace, comfort and cleanliness cost money. For an additional fee, the client has the right to choose a place, visit the VIP-zone, “redeem” the beach place he likes before the end of the holiday. There are cafes on these beaches, it is possible to order food straight to the lounger.

Sun beds are set spacious, between them enough space. The beach walkways are covered with wooden walkways. Some of these beaches are non-smoking. It is recommended to pay attention to announcements and warnings in order to avoid conflict situations.

For unpretentious vacationers, there are urban public beaches. The entrance to them is free, but the visitor is very actively imposed on renting a place, a sunbed, an umbrella from the sun. It takes willpower and sound stubbornness to give up. At the height of the season there is a crowd, sometimes there is nowhere else to lie, but to get up, and often have to take a seat from early morning.In this sense, nothing has changed since Soviet times.

In addition, these beaches in the last Ukrainian years were covered with gravel. This, of course, was an original move, but as a result, it is very inconvenient to move along this beach. Need shoes, beach slippers like flip flops. In some places, equipped with decking, but they are few.

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

The waves hit the shore with such force that a man standing a few meters from the water is doused with a continuous stream of foam. 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 parts of the coast, chosen by locals and vacationers for swimming. There are many of them at the western part of the foot of the Ayu-Dag mountain. The beaches are pebbled and stony. Vacationers are attracted here by silence, lack of humanity, the possibility of solitude and, of course, exotic. Some of these beaches are accessible only from the sea, they cannot be descended from the shore. In this case, knowledgeable people hire a boat or a boat.

Unfortunately, to visit the famous beach "Gurovsky Stones" will not succeed. This pebble beach has its own interesting history. He owes his name to Vasily Vasilyevich 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 at 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 for a long time was called “cooperative”. The beach was good because it opened picturesque views of the mountain Ayu-Dag, Adalary, the rocks of Pushkin and Shalyapin. Even paid, he enjoyed great popularity.

It is difficult to get into the grotto of Pushkin, and on the rock Chaliapin. All this is located on the territory of the “Azure” children's camp, where a strict security regime operates. Unless to go on a sea excursion, which is not cheap and not always of high quality. While swimming on the beaches of Gurzuf, it should be remembered that the open sea is very close, and in case of stormy weather, strong excitement can rise. 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 burnt 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 Gurzuf parks.

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

• Various types of extreme water skiing: jet ski, skis, "banana", "tablet", parasail (water parachute), yachting, windsurfing.
• Entertainment for children: inflatable slides, trampolines, water rides.
• Diving groups (scuba diving) go straight from the beaches.
• Survey sea excursions on boats. To Ayu-Dag, to the grotto of Pushkin, to the rock of Chaliapin, to other picturesque sea places in the vicinity. On the way, swimming in the open sea from the boat is sometimes suggested.
• For those who are tired of the sea, sun and other beach delights and wants to warm up, on the paid and sanatorium beaches there are pavilions and playgrounds where you can play billiards, bowling, volleyball.

Objectively, the main thoughts of most reviews about Gurzuf beaches are reduced to two main points:

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

Many vacationers admire the beautiful nature, celebrate a good climate, clean sea. But often unhappy with some of the shortcomings of rest on the beaches of Gurzuf. There are often spoiled beaches, poor catering service, tedious climbs, interesting sights are inaccessible to the general public. In season, the beaches are packed with holidaymakers. There are inadequate prices for everything. With children and by car, the problem is getting to the beach.

Authors of reviews criticize Gurzuf beaches for disorder, narrowness, payment, access control. Someone does not like an obsessive service on paid beaches. Someone, having been in Turkey and Egypt, considers even such a service to be insufficient. Good reviews are only about wild beaches, where any service is missing by definition. But even here you can read the complaints that the stones are too large, and very deep along the coast.

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: you need to go to the Crimea. This is a whole unusual world where every person will find something important, interesting for himself. Gurzuf is one of the most important places in the Crimea, and you should definitely go there. And disadvantages should not be given too much importance. These are little things.

The greed of the locals and their characteristic "seasonal" interest in holidaymakers is quite 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 the Crimea very soon, old beaches will be brought to good order and new ones will be opened. But progress, albeit slowly, but it is going on, Crimea is slowly civilizing, and even with all the ugliness it will be of interest to Russian tourists of moderate means, if only because foreign resorts are steadily becoming more expensive.

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