Everything you wanted to know about organizing independent trip to Crimea: how to get there, where to live, what to see, prices, food and transport. All conclusions are based on practice. Honestly and to the point, as always. We read and go to travel to the beautiful Crimea!

To Crimea, of course, you need to go exclusively on one's own- it's not even discussed. It doesn’t fit in my head how you can go to the Black Sea peninsula on a ticket - it definitely won’t end with anything good. Crimea needs to be felt, lived, smoothly flowing from one of its locations to another, adhering to its own personal rhythm. That's when you get a travel melody, and not a cacophony of a beach holiday with a limited interspersing of vulgar excursions.

Crimea is downright created in order to travel around it on your own: it is easy to get there, there are no language barriers, and finding accommodation is easy. The travel route should also be formed only by yourself, based on your preferences - everyone will find here hundreds of thousands of millions of places and activities to their taste.

So pack your bags (or better backpacks) and!

I wrote this material based on Crimea in August-September 2014, that is, after the peninsula became part of Russia. So all the information is fresh and up-to-date, and if there are no further political changes, then everything written should be relevant for 2015, 2016, and subsequent years.

How to get to Crimea

You can get to the peninsula in a variety of ways, but, alas, now, after the closure of the Ukrainian border, there are one less of them - you can no longer get to Crimea by train through the territory of Ukraine. Too bad, because it was the best way. Now there are three options left: the plane, and. Read more about this point of organizing an independent trip to the Crimea in the special material "", also all the nuances of ways to get to the peninsula are discussed in the article.

Flight tickets can be searched on search engines and Skyscanner. At Skyscanner, on a special page, you can see how much the cheapest tickets to Simferopol cost from all cities of Russia at once.

Did you know that sometimes a ticket is cheaper than a flight, and it can be purchased instead of a ticket for a regular flight? At the same time, the price of the tour includes flights, accommodation, transfers, insurance and meals of your choice. Hot tours you can search for the best prices on the services and - they compare the offers of 120 tour operators and therefore are able to find the best option. You can buy a ticket online, which is very convenient.

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Accommodation: where to stay in Crimea

In Crimea, it is very easy to find housing at an extremely low price, and there are just a lot of options for where to stay: boarding houses, the private sector, hotels, rented apartments, cottages, campsites, hostels, and so on. Prices can start from zero (if you live as a savage in a tent) and end ... I don’t know where, but probably somewhere high. We lived in different cities and chose different types of housing. They paid for housing in the range from 200 rubles per room per day (our price record for travel accommodation is set in) to 800 rubles (in Sevastopol). The average price is 400-500 rubles for a good double room in boarding houses with air conditioning, refrigerator, own toilet and shower.

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You can look for housing in the Crimea on an independent trip on the spot - a local resident, seeing people with backpacks, will certainly offer to help him find housing.

But you can also use the Hotellook accommodation booking service - there you can find private guest houses, apartments and apartments. There are more and more Crimean offers - you can find a suitable option in almost any city and resort. During our trip to Crimea with R in August-September 2014, we lived mainly in the private sector. I especially recommend finding a mini-boarding house with Aleksey in Sudak: the price for an excellent double room with air conditioning, toilet, shower and refrigerator is 400-500 rubles, and the owners Aleksey and Alla are good, hospitable people (we stayed with them twice). In addition, inexpensive housing options can be found in our article about in the Crimea - for example, apartments in Evpatoria cost from 1000 rubles per day for two.

How to book a hotel in Crimea? You can find a convenient accommodation option for yourself on the popular search engine Hotellook - it compares the prices of various booking systems and finds the best one.

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Prices in Crimea

Prices in Crimea are still good! But I'm sure it won't last long - sooner or later joining Russia will backfire with a sharp rise in prices. But this year, 2014, the cost of housing, food, and travel remained at the same level as before - that is, it was low. By the way, you can calculate the approximate budget of your own.

I have already mentioned housing prices above, but about transport prices it is written below.

As for food prices in Crimea, the situation is as follows:

• Products in stores generally cost the same as in other regions of Russia. Vegetables and some fruits (figs, apples) are much cheaper in season, but the cost of the same watermelons and lemons is much higher.
• Prices in public catering in the Crimea are very pleasant. In the resort towns of the peninsula, it is easy to find inexpensive canteens, eateries and fast food establishments (samsa, pasties, pancakes, pizza, etc.). A complex lunch in the dining room will cost 100-150 rubles per person. Pastries with meat (samsa and the like) cost 30-60 rubles apiece, depending on the size and institution - as a rule, these things are very tasty and satisfying.
• Fish and other seafood are expensive. It has always been and remains a mystery to me why prices for seafood are so high in Russian coastal cities. It's kind of crazy.
• Drinks: kvass and beer - 50-70 rubles per liter, local wine - from 100 rubles per liter, milkshakes - 40-50 rubles per large glass (0.5 liters), hot chocolate (real) - 100 rubles per glass 150 ml.
• A few more examples of food prices in the Crimea: hot corn - 15-50 rubles. per piece, cakes - 25 rubles. a piece, a box of Turkish delight - 100 rubles, figs - 50-80 rubles each. per kilogram per season, tomatoes and cucumbers - 15-30 rubles each. per kilogram, homemade fig jam from grannies - 150 rubles. for a can of 0.5 liters.

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Crimea is one continuous interesting place. If you go on an independent trip to the Crimea with a pre-built route, then with a high degree of probability in practice it will change a lot. Every corner of Crimea has a rich history, full of sights and covered with hundreds of legends and myths. Arriving at some place, you will learn about historical monuments, natural beauties and dozens of locations that you have not heard of before - and you will want to see and visit them all. Going to travel around the Crimea, get ready for the fact that over and over again you will have to make a difficult choice: where there is time and the opportunity to go, but where, alas, not.

We tried to compile our own list of Crimean places with a diagnosis, and also developed. We also have a good review

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Local transport in Crimea

Travel around Crimea, using regular buses is very simple, since they are ubiquitous and all-pervading. Buses between the cities of Crimea run very often, they travel quite quickly, and the fare is inexpensive (cheaper than in other regions of Russia).

The main transport hubs of Crimea, from which you can go to almost anywhere in the peninsula: Simferopol (number 1!), Sevastopol, Kerch, Evpatoria.

The most convenient and interesting way to travel around Crimea is by rented car. You can pick up a car on the Skyscanner Car Hire website - there is a wide selection of cars, rent from 1700 rubles per day.

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Urban transport

Travel by city public transport is very cheap - usually about 10 rubles. In Sevastopol, we felt that we had returned to the distant 90s, when we were told the price of a trolleybus fare - 5 rubles. We couldn't even imagine that this could happen. And in Sevastopol there is a unique type of public transport - boats of intracity communication. They run between opposite shores of the bay, and also go to Inkerman. The ticket price is also low - for example, the fare from Nakhimov Square to the North Pier costs 12 rubles (5 minutes on the way).

The only problematic city in terms of intracity bus service (of those in which we were) is. It seems to be an extremely popular resort, but there is a problem with buses plying around the city. It is difficult to leave Sudak and go to Cape Meganom: for this you need a bus going to Solnechnaya Valley, but it runs very rarely, at intervals of 2-4 hours, and stops moving early. We lived at this resort for a long time and wrote an article dedicated to urban, suburban and intercity. In it you will find timetables, useful links, as well as information on how to get by bus to attractions around Sudak.

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Food: what to eat in Crimea

A lot of appetizing, satisfying and healthy things can be eaten in the Crimea. If you are going to the Crimea on an empty stomach, then I recommend filling it with the following nutritious and tasty elements:

• Dishes of Tatar cuisine: lagman, pilaf, samsa and so on - tasty, satisfying, good!
• Hot corn. Apparently, this is a traditional resort delicacy - it is especially popular near the sea. I often enjoyed hot corn during the time (there, by the way, it costs only 12 rubles) and was glad to meet it in abundance in the Crimea.
• Wine and kvass. Delicious, and the choice is very rich.
• Oriental sweets: Turkish delight, sherbet, halva and more. Something tasty, something not very - as lucky. But in any case, many of these delicacies can hardly be found in other Russian cities, so it makes sense to try as many new treats as possible.
• Figs, grapes, apples and other local fruits, berries, vegetables. Everything grown in the Crimea (except for watermelons) is very cheap, and the quality and taste are usually excellent.

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Where is Crimea located?

And finally, the answer to the most intriguing question: where is Crimea? Crimea can be found on the world map! Or touch. Choose the option that you like.

Crimea on the world map (the most interesting places in Crimea are circled):

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