💖 Sochi🇷🇺 4-Day Winter Olympics City Travel Plog

🏖️ Resort destination—the pace of life here slows down. Everything takes time, from picking up luggage and catching a taxi to ordering food. Always allow double the time you’d expect ❗️ Flights are often delayed too. Day 1️⃣｜Arrival 🛬 + Sunset Boat Tour 🚢 Set off in the morning. Note that check-in at most hotels 🏨 is after 2-3 pm. After landing, we took a taxi to the city to drop our luggage 🧳—a trip that should take 30 minutes ended up over an hour due to traffic. We stayed in a spacious seaside apartment in the city with convenient transportation and easy access to the sea. There’s a 24-hour supermarket nearby—super handy 💰 Mid-range budget friendly! Quick makeup and sunscreen touch-up, then a 14-minute walk 🚶‍♀️ to the pier ⛵️. We booked a sunset boat tour in advance with a local Russian guide. Sailing on a yacht 🥂 with champagne in hand, we enjoyed the sea views 🌊 across three different phases of the sunset. Day 2️⃣｜Rosa Khutor (Rose Valley) 🌹 We didn’t take the earliest bus 🚌 or train 🚄 but left around noon. The journey took about an hour. Buses drop you off near the ticket office, while the train requires an additional bus ride to reach the resort. Walking or climbing 🧗 the mountain would be exhausting and time-consuming, so we highly recommend buying the three-section cable car 🚡 pass + two suspended scenic chairlifts 🚡. Keep your tickets—you’ll need to scan them at each section. The cable car starts at 560m above sea level: First stop: 1100m Second stop: 1600m Third stop: summit ⛰️ 2310m 💡 Each stop has photo spots: Olympic Rings, cliff swings, summit marker. Don’t be shy to ask for your first free photo ❗️ Additional photos cost extra—just say no boldly! Bring a jacket for the summit—it’s cold up there due to the altitude ‼️ The scenic chairlift includes a professional photo on the return trip—a totally worth-it souvenir 🏞️! Day 3️⃣｜Dendrarium Botanical Garden 🌳 + Black Sea Sunset Walk 🏝️ Originally planned to visit Olympic Park and Sochi Adventure Park, but I’m not a thrill-seeker 🎢, so it didn’t feel worth the long train ride from downtown. Olympic Park is vast but pretty empty now, so we opted for more seaside views 🌊 instead. The botanical garden 🌳 requires mosquito repellent! Climb up to two viewpoints overlooking lush plants and the sea—surprisingly harmonious. It features sections with plants from different countries, perfect for photos 📸. The garden is split into two parts by a road—one ticket covers both. A great place to exercise and take photos without too much sun exposure 🤳. In the evening, we strolled 🚶 along the Black Sea coast at sunset. The heat had faded by then. Beachside restaurants are overpriced, and sunbed rentals get expensive—better to just grab a drink 🥤 or ice cream 🍦 and walk along the shore. Day 4️⃣｜Sending Postcards 💌 + Departure 🛫 We went to the post office 🏤 to mail postcards with Sochi postmarks. A month later, receiving them felt like delayed memories from the Black Sea 💌✨ #Sochi #SochiTravelGuide #SochiTourism #SochiAccommodation #Travel