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Sochi hotels for families with children: why we removed these lists
Editorial Position
Updated:8 min1,543 words

Sochi hotels for families with children: why we removed these lists

The four Sochi hotel roundups that used to live at this address are gone. They were lists of family-friendly hotels, options with kids' activities, family rooms, and hotels for the New Year holidays.

This was the last category of our previous Russia coverage where ordinary travel logic still applied, and it is exactly the one falling apart faster than the rest. A family trip assumes predictability: a clear route, a working payment card, the ability to ask for help. None of those conditions exist today, and the German Federal Foreign Office explicitly warns about the risk of arbitrary detention.

💡 At a glance:

  • which four roundups were removed and why we are discussing the family format separately
  • what exactly the German Federal Foreign Office warns about, and in what wording
  • what it says about dual citizens and mobilization
  • which vacation destinations with kids remain in our live sections
  • Last updated: 09/2026

Why we deleted these guides

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022; UN resolutions are counted from that date as well, including ES-11/1 of March 2, 2022, demanding an immediate end to the invasion and unconditional withdrawal of troops (UN press release GA/12407). The family and New Year roundups remained on the site after that date. They said nothing about the Federal Foreign Office's official travel advice, which matters to a family before deciding on a vacation. We consider this the most serious flaw in our previous work in this section.

There is no irony here about family travel, and there cannot be. The criticism is aimed at our own format, which knows how to describe kids' activities and does not know how to describe risk.

It is worth explaining why we treat the family format separately from the other hotel articles in this section. An adult reading a hotel roundup makes a decision for themselves and assesses the risk on their own. A family roundup is addressed to someone deciding for several people, including children, which is exactly why silence in it carries more weight.

The legal framework is the same as for the rest of the section: as of January 1, 2026, a person from the European Union may not provide or advertise services directly related to tourism activities in Russia (EUR-Lex, Regulation 2025/2033 of 23.10.2025). The stated purpose of the rule is explicit: to reduce Russia's revenue from such services and to curb the promotion of non-essential travel and leisure (Skadden, 11.2025). The ban also covers online platforms that enable booking and ticket sales when connected to tourism (Fieldfisher). The financial context is also shared: the share of non-oil-and-gas budget revenue has grown to roughly 78 percent, and the hotel sector is part of it (OSW Centre for Eastern Studies, 09.12.2025).

What the german federal foreign office warns about

The Auswärtiges Amt's travel advice for the Russian Federation is worded briefly and without softening. The first line: "Vor Reisen in die Russische Föderation wird gewarnt", meaning travel to the Russian Federation is advised against (Auswärtiges Amt).

Further on it states verbatim: "Für deutsche Staatsangehörige und deutsch-russische Doppelstaater besteht die Gefahr willkürlicher Festnahmen", meaning German nationals and people with dual German-Russian citizenship face the danger of arbitrary detention (Auswärtiges Amt).

We quote these formulations verbatim and do not amplify them. The point is that a family hotel roundup, by its very form, cannot sit next to such a warning: it is written for a reader choosing between room types, not assessing risks.

Dual citizenship and mobilization

For some of our readers this is not an abstraction but a question about their own family's makeup. The German Federal Foreign Office notes that Russian authorities treat German-Russian dual citizens exclusively as Russian citizens, and this applies to military conscription as well (Auswärtiges Amt). It also notes that the partial mobilization announced in September 2022 has officially still not been concluded (Auswärtiges Amt).

Another detail in the same document concerns the most ordinary everyday mishaps. German missions in the Russian Federation generally cannot issue replacement passport documents outside working hours (Auswärtiges Amt). When traveling with children, a lost document is not a minor issue, it is exactly the kind of situation consular assistance exists for.

Added to this is the practical side, common to all texts in this section: Visa and Mastercard announced the suspension of operations in Russia on March 5-6, 2022, and it took effect on March 10. Cards issued outside the country do not work there (The Moscow Times, 06.03.2022). A family stranded without a working card in a country where consular support is limited is not a vacation scenario.

What this means for you

Item

Status 09/2026

Source

German Foreign Office advisory

"Vor Reisen in die Russische Föderation wird gewarnt"

Auswärtiges Amt

Risk of arbitrary detention

Explicitly stated for German citizens and dual nationals

Auswärtiges Amt

Dual citizenship

Russian authorities treat such individuals exclusively as Russian citizens, including for conscription

Auswärtiges Amt

Partial mobilization

Announced in September 2022, officially not concluded

Auswärtiges Amt

Replacement of a lost passport

German missions do not issue replacement documents outside working hours

Auswärtiges Amt

US State Department advisory

Level 4: Do Not Travel, reissued 12/29/2025

travel.state.gov

Payment cards

EU-issued cards have not worked in Russia since 03/10/2022

The Moscow Times

Tourism-related services

Prohibited by Article 5n(2) of Regulation 833/2014 as amended by Regulation 2025/2033 from 01/01/2026

EUR-Lex

Where to go instead

The query was about a relaxed vacation with children: a shallow sea, family rooms, activities for younger kids, and a straightforward route. The live sections of the site answer this: Turkey, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, and Italy, and for winter holidays Austria and Italy. The New Year celebrations, for which readers opened one of the deleted roundups, are covered in the Germany, Austria, and Czech Republic sections.

The editorial team's overall explanation for the entire section is collected in the section hub. Related topics: our position on hotels with pools and our position on hotels and sanatoriums in Adler.

Where we stand

We believe that the editorial team has no right to recommend a family trip to a place that our own country's foreign ministry officially warns against. In our assessment, this is not even about the sanctions rule, although it is in effect and does not depend on our opinion: a selection of family hotels, by its very design, cannot honestly convey the content of official warnings, which means it misleads the reader.

We write about a state and its policies, not about people based on their passport. There are people in Russia who spoke out against the war and received prison sentences for it. Our decision not to publish travel guides to Russia concerns money, sanctions, and reader safety, not nationality.

Publication date: September 3, 2026. Last updated: September 3, 2026.

⁉️🤔 Frequently asked questions

We have Russian citizenship in our family, does this apply to us?

We do not provide individual consultations and do not review private cases. We quoted the German Foreign Office's wording on dual citizenship and conscription above. For clarification on a specific situation, you should contact consular authorities.

Doesn't the warning just mean "be careful"?

The German Foreign Office's wording is stronger: it advises against travel, and separately names the risk of arbitrary detention. We are not strengthening or softening it; we are quoting it as is.

Why was the New Year's roundup also deleted?

Because the format of the trip does not change either the legal framework or the content of the official warnings. Winter holidays are no different from summer vacations in this respect.

Where do the old addresses of these roundups lead?

To this page in all language versions: the reader gets an explanation and a list of destinations instead of an error page.

Do you condemn those who traveled there with children before?

No. We are responsible for our own publications, not for other people's decisions, and we do not express any judgments about our readers. The point is that we ourselves will no longer offer such trips.

In short

Four roundups of family and New Year's hotels in Sochi have been deleted. The German Foreign Office advises against travel to the Russian Federation, and tourism-related services are prohibited for people from the EU starting January 1, 2026. Destinations for vacations with children are listed above.

How you can help

We do not collect money and receive nothing from the links below. These are official websites of organizations working with the consequences of the war:

Sources

Link check date: 09.03.2026.

tourism.com.de Editorial Team
tourism.com.de Editorial TeamTravel editorial team: research, fact-checking, updates→ All publications

A small editorial team writing guides for independent travel. We travel ourselves, but we haven’t been everywhere, so we check prices, opening hours and how to get there against official sources.