To the south of the famous Cape Kazantip on the Belokamensky Upland is the beautiful resort town of Shchelkino. Coming here, guests discover completely new sides of holiday in Crimea — calm and peaceful, but, at the same time, exciting and energizing.
Now it may surprise those who have been to Shchelkino or are going to go there, but this wonderful town owes its appearance to nuclear power, and even its name is associated with this industry. The city of Shelkino was founded in 1978 as a settlement for workers who participated in the construction of the Crimean nuclear power plant. And it was named in honor of the famous Soviet Union nuclear physicist Kirill Shchelkin. However, the Crimean nuclear power plant was never completed — now it is one of the main attractions of the city, attracting fans of industrial landscapes. As fate would have it, the construction of the NPP was not destined to be completed, while the newborn city continued to live and develop, despite the fact that the number of its inhabitants after the termination of construction decreased from 21 to 6 thousand people.
Today Shchelkino is a small provincial resort town with a population of only about 11 thousand people. Nevertheless, many people have heard this name — the close proximity to such a famous landmark in the post-Soviet space as Cape Kazantip (Kazantip Nature Reserve) is the reason for this, but not only — let’s not diminish its own merits of this beautiful town.
Calm, health-improving, non-settling rest in Shelkino attracts every year more and more tourists who want to spend time interesting, but not facing the negative aspects of rest in the promoted resorts of Crimea. By the way, it is the eastern part of the peninsula is considered to be the most environmentally friendly — clean beaches and uncluttered waters of the sea for many tourists will be great arguments in favor of resting here in Shchelkino. Another advantage, which will be enjoyed by all guests of the city — to get to more popular resorts, the same Feodosia, from here you need to travel only about an hour by bus — and you are in the epicenter of resort life. If you want to admire the ancient architectural treasures, you can go to Kerch, which is only 1.5 hours away by bus. Thus, staying here, you can easily visit a lot of Crimean sights — both the famous cities themselves, and their invaluable heritage in the form of historical monuments and interesting places. However, there are such treasures directly in Shchelkino itself.
One of the most famous attractions of the city is the Kazantip Nature Reserve, which is a real treat for the eyes of lovers of beautiful natural landscapes and being surrounded by all this beauty. Here you can also visit the excavations of the ancient settlement «Heraclius», which existed on Cape Kazantip from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. Another interesting place is the Wind Power Station, where the beauty of natural pictures is combined with the «industrial romance» of our time: within a radius of a few hundred meters here and there among the steppe terrain, mixed with salt lakes, soar into the sky wind turbines of various configurations. And this is not all that can interest tourists in Shchelkino. A beautiful picture is represented by the purest sandy beaches, stretching for 30 km along the coast of the Azov Sea — General’s beaches. If you come here in July-August, you can see a very interesting phenomenon — the glow of the sea, when microscopic inhabitants of warm waters glow blue light at night.
Offers of excursions to Crimean cities, numerous cafes, attractions, souvenir shops are located in Shchelkino on the main street — Alley to the Sea. All lovers of outdoor activities can rent a bike or order horseback riding in the picturesque surroundings of the city, ride jet skis, water skis, catamaran, boat, quad bike or moped, diving, wind or kitesurfing and even jump with a parachute. And, of course, vacation in Shchelkino is a great opportunity to recover and gain strength, breathing in the purest and healthiest sea air and enjoying your stay in this amazing corner of the planet.