Yalta

Yalta lies on the southern coast of Crimea. Mountains close it on three sides, and from the sea the town shows as an amphitheatre above the bay.

From the 19th century people came here from Saint Petersburg and Moscow to rest. Counts and merchants built palaces and town houses, and many of them still stand. The Livadia Palace was built in 1911 for Nicholas II. In February 1945 the Yalta Conference met here. In the 20th century Yalta became a mass resort.

The embankment

The embankment runs along the harbour: palms, quays, cafes. On summer evenings street musicians play here. Boats leave the quay for the Swallow's Nest, a neo-Gothic house of 1912 on the Aurora cliff.

Beaches

The town beaches are pebble: a shorter one by the harbour and longer ones at the ends of the embankment. In summer they are crowded. Under the cliffs near Livadia there is a smaller beach. The bathing season lasts into October.

Parks and paths

The Seaside Park runs along the water. A few kilometres to the east, in Nikita, the Nikitsky Botanical Garden has worked since 1812. West of Livadia lies the Sunny Path, also called the Tsar's Path, with views over the cliffs. A cable car opened in 1987 runs from Miskhor up to Ai-Petri.

Yalta has the white dacha of Anton Chekhov. He lived here in 1898-1904, and the town is the setting of "The Lady with the Dog". The house is now a museum.

Crimea is temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation. For now it is not a place for tourism.