Impressive rocks of bizarre shape, warm emerald sea and amazing beaches — so begins the acquaintance with Simeiz for many tourists, every day discovering all the pleasures, which are famous for the rest in the Crimea on its famous South Coast. Here you can see the architectural, archaeological and natural sights Simeiz, enjoy a great vacation surrounded by beautiful mountain and sea landscapes, gain the most positive impressions that will remain in memory for a long time and will beckon here again and again.
Simeiz — one of the famous resort villages of the South Coast of Crimea (South Coast), among which it is considered one of the best. The village stretches in the most picturesque area on a narrow strip of land between the Crimean mountains and the sea coast only 5km wide and is famous for its wonderful climate — in summer there is no debilitating heat, and in winter the temperature does not fall below zero, thanks to which the resort has become a year-round.
Located just 18km from Yalta, Simeiz is a completely different picture. Here the Crimean mountains appear in all their possible beauty, enchanting and stirring the imagination with their location and bizarre shapes, everywhere there is a fragrance of healing plant — juniper, mingling with the sea air, which creates a health-improving effect from just staying in this fabulous place. Vacationing in Simeiz, you can enjoy the proximity to the Crimean nature, but at the same time, the guests of the village get all the benefits of rest in a place with a developed resort infrastructure. Sights of this ancient village also attract tourists here.
The first inhabitants of the territory, where today rise luxury villas, resorts and resort houses, were the Taurians, who left behind material monuments — dolmens on Mount Koshka (funerary structures), Limensky burial ground, Simeizsky necropolis. These monuments date back to the periods of VI-II centuries BC and VI-IX centuries, representing a significant value for archaeologists and scientists and of great interest to tourists seeking to touch the distant past. The ruins of the Limen Isar fortress and the monastery on the Panea rock, built by the Byzantines and Genoese, are reminders of the Medieval period of history — a walk among these ruins also leaves few indifferent.
The Genoese are officially considered the founders of the village, and the name is a gift from the Greeks, who named it so because the unique cliffs served as an identification sign for seafarers (from Greek it means «sign, omen»).
Archeological monuments complement the natural attractions of Simeiz. First of all, it is its famous mountain Koshka and rocks Diva and Panea — evidence of inimitable fantasy of nature. They inspired many filmmakers (you can see these places in the movies «Ten Negrites», «The New Adventures of the Elusive», etc.). Man-made natural treasures of the village are Cypress Alley (also called Apollo Alley) and Simeiz Park with the largest juniper grove, cypresses, palms and pines.
Well, the natural beauties are echoed by architectural ones: from the late XIX — early XX centuries. here are preserved the most beautiful villas, summer houses, boarding houses — a lot of buildings, inspiring architecture, including villas Xenia and Dream, Miro-Mare and others.
The modern history of the village as one of the best resorts of the South Coast began in the XX century, when thanks to the initiative of N.S. and I.S. Maltsovs, who owned the land here before this period, the construction of boarding houses and dachas began. Wishing to create New Simeiz here, the brothers-industrialists sell their land and on the picturesque territory a bourgeois-aristocratic resort is gradually created. Because of this, many famous names are associated with Simeiz, up to the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, who came here in 1912. There are also S. Rachmaninov, M. Kotsyubinsky, K. Paustovsky, L. Tolstoy and many others.
Today everyone can come on vacation in Simeiz, and many who have been here once come back again and again. In an effort to recover, gain strength and energy from rest surrounded by incredible beauty, to see the famous natural sights of Crimea, tourists come here both in summer and winter.