The Central Beach of Sochi stretches for 3 kilometers from the Marine Terminal to the Sochi Arboretum. Despite such a significant length, alas, it is quite difficult to talk about comfortable swimming on the beaches of the Central district of Sochi. The main reason is the huge number of concrete breakwaters that spoil the appearance of beaches.
It is believed that the breakwaters were built to prevent the erosion of the pebble or sandy beaches. In the 19th century, the coastline of Sochi was mostly rocky, as evidenced by photographs of those years. There is also information that strong currents are present in these places, and this can destroy the coastline. Anyway, in the 1930s, concrete breakwaters were built along most of the Black Sea coast.
The second reason for the installation of breakwaters was the construction of a railway, which in many places is laid a few meters from the Black Sea coast. During severe storms, there is a possibility of soil erosion and subsidence of the roadway. To prevent this, protection was required. However, they decided to build breakwaters not only along the railway, but also on the beaches of the Central District.
On the Riviera Beach, which is located a few hundred meters from the Central Beach, behind the Sochi riverbed, there are no breakwaters, and the beach cover is not destroyed. There are also no breakwaters on the Imereti beach in Adler.
For 3 kilometers, the Central beach of Sochi consists of a large number of beaches: Lighthouse, Maurice Thorez, Primorsky, Hyatt Regency, Delmar, Sunny, Primorsky-1, Rapan, Pearl, Primorsky-2, Circus, Eden, Avangard. Some of these beaches even have Blue Flags. However, you need to understand that all of them are narrow 10-20 meters strips of pebbles, sandwiched between breakwaters. In some places, the pebbles are quite large, and concrete structures dangerous for swimming have been preserved in the water.
If you initially do not expect the appearance of a Thai beach with white sand from the Sochi Central Beach, and you can abstract from the unpleasant appearance of concrete breakwaters, then in general, the infrastructure of Sochi beaches is at a high level. Above them, the Sochi Embankment is laid, which is filled with cafes, restaurants and other shops necessary for a comfortable stay.
