arboretum botanical garden (dendrarium)

We visited the arboretum in January when wet snow was falling. Initially we planned using cable car to climb the hill but due to weather conditions it wasn’t operating. However we were quite lucky that right at the entrance we were advised to join a guided tour. It cost insignificant amount of money but made the excursion more exciting and extremely informative. The gentleman who led us seemed to know his job incredibly well. He showed all most remarkable plants, told about history of the arboretum, its buildings and former inhabitants. Describing a certain tree he could magically pull out of his bag examples of that tree’s branches, leaves, cones or seeds. Funny, but the tour let me recall certain things what I studied on biology classes at school.It was curious to know which movies were filmed there. His storytelling was so inspiring that the same evening we watched the famous soviet movie based on Stevenson’s stories “The Rajah's Diamond”. Yes, we found all sites recently seen in the arboretum.Well, it makes sense to visit this garden again in April or May. I’m seriously considering this.

The park is really beautiful during the whole year. It has plants and trees from all over the world. But the restrooms are bad there, specially in late autumn and winter.

I had a chance to visit this place in November - probably in summer it attracts more visitors, but the autumn beauty of teh place is also well worth seeing.I used the cable road to get on top of the park, because it is quite long and high stretching, which seemed to me a challenge considering absence of preparation :-)From the top, I was walking down the park, looking into every corner, sometimes had to open the umbrella (which did not do a good job, because of the high humidity, however))). The collection of rare plants arranged into beautiful compositions lined by scultptures and buildings make the park look really like a fairy tale. If I have a chance to come back to Sochi, I will definitely use it to visit this place again, at another season.

Back home to get any plant-things such as -vetochka pine (great height),gjeemolostj - bush (with beautiful aromatic),get very fine relax and joy ).

This is a great park! Take a funicular up and make sure to take the steps to the observation rooftop - you can see far away and around, very beautiful! And then just walk down slowly, taking your time, feeding squirrels, taking pictures and just breathing fresh air. There is a nice little cafe up on the hill, where you can taste honey cider and russian dishes, it seems like you are in a middle of a forest in a wooden cabin. There is a small exotic birds sanctuary worth passing by, the mansion of the founder (very beautiful) and another side across the street, make sure not to miss it!

Liked the cable car to the top and the fabulous views afforded over Sochi and the beach.Poor signage within the garden itself so missed the emus.The parrots are in very restricted cages so these need to be modernised. Loved seeing the black swans.Everywhere in need of s good pruning and some TLC.

It is a very nice park also known as botanical garden , entrance fees is 450 ruble with funicular better to use it because it is long way up , nice trees and animal and birds

We took a cable car to the top of the park and the view was very good. Walked down throw the park and saw the doctor's summer house, statuary, gardens and fountains.

Very beautiful! It's like you practically need to stop by every tree, bush, flower to take a picture. That's how beautiful it is. This is a must see for anyone! Well kept, right in the center.

I loved the views from the beginning lift that takes you to the gardens. There is such charm to this place.

I visited the Dendrarium Park on my off day during the winter Olympics where I wasn't at an event. My host recommended it and I decided to give it a try. It was surprisingly cheap as it only cost me about $6.5USD, or 250 Russian Rubles. There was a cable car that costs extra but it didn't look like it was operating. The park itself is separated into two parts, one on each side of the main road. You are handed a brochure at the ticket counter, but it is only in Russian. However there is a map and you can make your way around without any issues.The biggest surprise that I found during my visit was the overall state of the park. There was a lot of maintenance of both the grounds and buildings. You had the feel that this was a new park and had just opened, which was not the case. I would've thought that they would have done the beautification prior to the Olympics began, but this was indicative of Sochi and the facilities overall. It was unfortunate, as the park even during the winter, had a lot of promise.The main part of the park has several different areas that focused on different flora. There were also several different fountains and statues throughout. I found the Snow White and the seven Dwarfs the most amusing statues. There were also a few vendors selling their wares at different locations. One of the main attractions seems to be the ostriches that are located towards the upper end of the park. There is also a building that houses different types of parrots and other birds. Plan on doing a lot of walking up hill and back down. There are benches located throughout, however they looked to be in disrepair and wouldn't feel safe using them.The smaller section of the park is located across the street and can be accessed through an underpass. Make sure to save your ticket as it will be checked at the entrance. This part of the park is better maintained and was in a very good condition. The highlight of this part is the lake. It is the first time that I've seen chickens, duck, geese and a river rat/muskrat (couldn't tell exactly) together in the same location vying for bread being thrown. I would recommend the park if you are in Sochi. However I would go in the spring or summer when the plants are in bloom. It is affordable and offers some nice views of the Black Sea and surrounding area. There is not much to do in Sochi, so this is one of the few areas to get out and explore. Just do not expect the same level of an arboretum that you would find elsewhere in Western Europe or North America.

If you like nature and fresh air, its good place on two-free hours minimum for walking. Many big tropical plants.

A great dendrological park of the early 20 century. Although in quite neglected and not very well maintained state, still very pleasant and beautiful. Great pond with white and black swans, geese and colorful ducks, a lot of southern trees and pines from all around the world. Great place to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon or jogging at any time of the year. Entrance fee 120 roubles, guidebook (in Russian) with map 30 roubles.

A nice activity for a weekend. Recommend to take one full day to explore. I am not a person interested in botanical gardens but it was a good activity. The whole place is located on a mountain so be prepared for some good physical exercise.

Walk in the park is amazing. Park does not change and remains the same beautiful. However, a funicular ride is unnecessarily expensive.