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 the capes 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 coast with ledges, narrow streets go down to the sea.

Gurzuf is a historical place. Medieval sights have been preserved here. In this picturesque corner of Crimea lived the writer A. P. Chekhov, the artist K. A Korovin, the singer F. I. Shalyapin, and in 1820 A. S. Pushkin stayed. 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 willingly go here to spend their vacations.

As a result, it becomes very crowded in the village, on the promenade and on the beaches. Therefore, a visit to Gurzuf at the height of the holiday season does not seem appropriate. Crowdedness and cramped conditions do not allow you to see all the beauty of this unique place and swim in the sea to your heart's content. And the prices are unlikely to please our generally poor tourist. 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 the equipped paid beaches. There are pebbles everywhere, and in some places even rubble. Beach shoes are recommended. But rocky beaches are good because they are not washed away by the sea, the main thing is that the water around them remains clean and transparent.

Along all the beaches of Gurzuf stretches about a two-kilometer, well-equipped, marble-faced embankment with many kiosks, benches, lawns. Slopes to the sea are equipped from it. The beaches and their sections are separated from each other by concrete breakwaters, on top of which summer cafes have been built recently. This greatly spoils and obscures the main Gurzuf view - of Mount 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 sanatoriums "Ai-Danil", "Pushkino", "Gurzufsky". Their territories are fenced off. It is difficult to get there without a pass or resort book, but it is possible in several different ways. These beaches are clean and spacious even in season. And the resting "savages" look at the lucky ones from the embankment. These beaches have drinking water, toilets, showers, sun loungers and sun shades.

Another group of beaches of the "highest category" are paid with services. These include "Sputnik", "Charm", "Jaco-2007", "White Parus"... 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, "buy out" the beach place he likes until the end of the holiday. There are cafes on these beaches, it is possible to order food directly "to the sunbed".

The sunbeds are installed spaciously, there is enough space between them. The beach walkways are paved with wooden paths. Some of these beaches are non-smoking. It is recommended to pay attention to the announcements and warnings to avoid conflicts.

For unassuming vacationers, there are city public beaches. The entrance to them is free, but the visitor is very actively forced to rent a place, a sunbed, an umbrella from the sun. It takes willpower and sound stubbornness to refuse. At the height of the season, there is pandemonium here, sometimes there is nowhere not only to lie down, but also to get up, and often you have to take a place in the early morning. In this sense, nothing has changed since Soviet times.

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

The so-called "Chekhovka" can be considered the most original beach of Gurzuf. 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 examined the exposition, you can go down the rock steps to the beach and swim. The place is exotic, natural, wild. Some stones and the purest water. This is how it attracts visitors. During rough seas, you don't even have to go into the water.

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

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

To the greatest regret, you will not be able to visit the famous beach "Gurovsky stones". This pebbly beach has an interesting history. It owes its 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, reorganizations began in Artek, the beach found itself between two separate camps and lost its "owner". Enterprising people took advantage of this and created the first private beach in Crimea, which for a long time was called "cooperative". The beach was good because it opened up 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 Pushkin grotto and the Chaliapin rock. All this is located on the territory of the Lazurny children's camp, where a strict security regime operates. Is that going on a sea excursion, which is not cheap and not always of high quality. When swimming on the beaches of Gurzuf, you should remember that the open sea is very close, and in case of stormy weather, strong waves can rise. The sea is safe in calm weather.

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 the greatest solar activity - from about 11 am to 4 pm. It is better to devote this time to walks in the Gurzuf parks.

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

• Various types of extreme water skiing: jet ski, skiing, banana, tablet, parasail (water parachute), yachting, windsurfing.
• Entertainment for children: inflatable slides, trampolines, water attractions.
• Scuba diving groups depart from the beaches.
• Sightseeing boat excursions. To Ayu-Dag, to Pushkin's grotto, to the Shalyapin rock, to other picturesque sea places in the vicinity. On the way, it is sometimes offered to swim in the open sea directly from the boat.
• For those who are tired of the sea, sun and other beach delights and want to warm up, there are pavilions and playgrounds on the paid and sanatorium beaches where you can play billiards, bowling, volleyball.

Objectively, the main thoughts of most reviews about the Gurzuf beaches boil down to two main theses:

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

Many vacationers admire the beautiful nature, note the good climate, clean sea. But they are often dissatisfied with some of the disadvantages of relaxing on the beaches of Gurzuf. They often note ruined beaches, poor catering service, tedious climbs, interesting sights are inaccessible to the general public. During the season, the beaches are packed with vacationers. There are inadequate prices for everything. It is difficult to get to the beach with children and by car.

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

Reviews are definitely a must read. But for general information only. A person makes up his opinion about this or that place from his direct impressions. And so let's say this: you need to go to Crimea. This is a whole unusual world where everyone will find something important and interesting for themselves. Gurzuf is one of the most important places in Crimea, and you should definitely visit there. And the shortcomings should not be given too much importance. These are little things.

The greed of local residents and their characteristic “seasonal” interest in vacationers is understandable. This is a feature of any resort place not only in Russia. It is unlikely that this will ever be completely eliminated. It is unlikely that very soon enough good hotels will appear in Crimea, old beaches will be put in full order and new ones will be opened. But progress, albeit slowly, is progressing, Crimea is slowly becoming civilized and even with all its ugliness will be of interest to a Russian tourist of average income, if only because foreign resorts are steadily becoming more expensive.

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