Skypark Sochi, Akhshtyr Gorge and Psakho River Canyon

Halfway along the road and rail corridor linking coastal Adler with Krasnaya Polyana and Rosa Khutor, the Mzymta River slices through the Cretaceous limestone barrier of the Akhtsu and Akhshtyr ridges. Here in the Adlersky District hinterland, sheer white canyon walls rise above the turquoise river channel and boxwood-shaded tributary streams, creating three of Greater Sochi's most dramatic geological and archaeological sites: Skypark Sochi, Akhshtyrskaya Cave, and the Psakho River Canyons.

Skypark Sochi and the Skybridge over Akhshtyr Gorge

Opened in 2014 above the village of Kazachy Brod in Akhshtyr Gorge (Akhshtyrskoye Ushchelye), Skypark was developed in partnership with New Zealand bungee pioneer AJ Hackett to span the Mzymta Valley from rim to rim. Its centrepiece is the Skybridge, a 439-metre-long pedestrian suspension bridge stretched 207 metres above the Mzymta River floor between two steel pylons anchored into the limestone cliffs. The grated steel walkway features panoramic viewing balconies looking northeast toward the snow peaks of the Caucasus and southwest toward the Black Sea coast and trout farm reservoirs along the lower Mzymta.

Even for visitors who have no desire to try the bridge's bungee platforms (69 metres and 207 metres) or giant canyon swing, walking the full length of the Skybridge and returning through the cliff-top relic forest of Colchic boxwood, hornbeam, and rhododendron offers one of the finest vantage points in Sochi National Park.

Akhshtyrskaya Cave (Bolshaya Kazachebrodskaya)

Directly below the western approach to Skypark on a rocky terrace 120 metres above the right bank of the Mzymta River lies Akhshtyrskaya Cave, a protected federal archaeological monument discovered on 28 September 1903 by French speleologist Édouard-Alfred Martel and his guide Gavriil Revsky, and first excavated in 1936 by Soviet archaeologist Sergei Zamyatnin. Extending for 160 metres into the limestone cliff with ceiling heights reaching 10 metres, the cave preserves a five-metre-deep cultural deposit showing intermittent human occupation over tens of thousands of years, from Acheulean and Mousterian Neanderthal hunters (whose stone tools and cave bear bones formed the bulk of the finds) to Upper Paleolithic Cro-Magnons and medieval inhabitants. Illuminated wooden walkways lead through the double eastern portals into the main halls.

Wet and Dry Canyons of the Psakho River

A short drive west of the Mzymta Valley near the village of Galitsyno, the Psakho River (a right tributary of the Kudepsta River) has carved two contrasting tectonic gorges through Upper Cretaceous limestone:

• Wet Psakho Canyon (Mokry Kanyon Psakho): A two-kilometre slot canyon where crystal-clear water flows over smooth white limestone ledges and natural plunge pools shaded by moss-draped Colchic boxwood (Buxus colchica) and ferns.
• Dry Psakho Canyon (Sukhoy Kanyon Psakho): An ancient parallel riverbed uplifted by an earthquake millions of years ago, leaving a dry corridor between vertical limestone walls up to 20 metres high. Pair these canyons with the nearby Vorontsovo Caves in the upper Kudepsta basin.