Yalta
The main resort of the southern coast, with palaces and Chekhov.
The 12th-century Arab geographer Idrisi mentioned a town called Jalita here; from 1475 the settlement belonged to the Ottomans. According to “Istoriia mist i sil URSR”, Yalta became a town in 1838 and developed as a resort from the 1860s. Anton Chekhov lived at the White Dacha in 1899–1904 and wrote “Three Sisters” and “The Cherry Orchard” here. The Livadia Palace, the residence of Nicholas II, was built in 1909–1911 to a design by Nikolai Krasnov; in February 1945 the Yalta Conference took place here. In Massandra Prince Golitsyn founded an underground tunnel-type winery; the main block of tunnels was built in 1897. Yalta, together with Crimea, was occupied by russian troops; the official start date of the occupation is 20 February 2014. On 14 December 2020 “Massandra” was sold to an entity of a russian bank; in 2019–2020 the occupiers “reconstructed” the Swallow's Nest in neighbouring Gaspra, and in October 2025 a russian developer began clearing Polikurivskyi Hill for a hotel.
Temporarily occupied since 2014.
Chronicle
- 20 February 2014 — The official start date of the temporary occupation of Crimea under Ukrainian law; Yalta, together with the peninsula, was occupied by russian troops.
- From 2014 — The palaces of the Southern Coast — Livadia, Vorontsov, the “Swallow's Nest” — are at the disposal of the occupation administration.