The Great Sevastopol Trail is the longest hiking route that passes through the picturesque places of the mountainous Crimea. It starts in Balaklava and stretches for 117 kilometers along the seashore to Foros. After that, you need to climb the mountain range to the Baydar Valley and from there, through the central regions of the Crimea, the trail returns to the northern regions of Sevastopol.
The Balaklava segment of the Great Sevastopol Trail can be called one of the most picturesque. The trail begins near the Genoese Fortress of Chembalo on the eastern shore of Balaklava Bay. Before the first hill, the trail splits into an upper and a lower one.
Only trained tourists with special equipment can complete all 117 kilometers of the route, but a short walk along the lower Sevastopol trail from Balaklava to Fig Beach will give pleasure to anyone. After that, you can swim among the rocks on Fig Beach and return by boat to Balaklava.
The length of the route along the Great Sevastopol Trail from Balaklava to Fig Beach is only 6 kilometers. The upper trail goes along the edge of the mountain range. Here you can see the ruins of a military fort called the Barrel of Death. The height differences along this path are quite significant, so it is better to choose the lower path for a walk.
The lower segment of the Great Sevastopol Trail stretches above the sea shore with almost no height differences. The trail passes through juniper and pine groves, oaks and other trees also grow here. Some of them are listed in the Red Book. Along this segment of the trail there are descents to the beaches. The closest to Balaklava is the Silver Beach (3 km), behind it is the Golden Beach (4.5 km), and the farthest is Fig Beach (6 km). If you are tired, then you can go down to any beach and return to Balaklava by boat from there.
A few years ago, these beaches at Cape Aya were a favorite place for lovers of camping. There were especially many of them near Fig Beach, as there are large spaces among juniper and pine forests where they could set up tents. They stood literally at every step along the Great Sevastopol Trail. With the tightening of the protected regime at Cape Aya, living in tents is strictly prohibited.
