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Vacation in Sochi and Lazarevskoye: why we removed these materials
Editorial Position
Updated:9 min1,714 words

Vacation in Sochi and Lazarevskoye: why we removed these materials

The two articles that used to live at this address are gone. They were the most-read pieces in our Russia section: a summer vacation guide to Sochi and a guide to Lazarevskoye. More internal links pointed to them than to any other page on the site.

In short, our answer to the question "should you plan a summer on this coast" is a single one, and it is not about the weather. The region in question has been living under a closed and irregularly operating airspace for five years, and since January 1, 2026, a publisher based in the European Union can neither provide nor advertise services related to tourism activities in Russia. So we did not rewrite these articles; we took them down.

💡 At a glance:

  • which two summer vacation guides were removed and why they could not simply be updated
  • what has been happening with airports in southern Russia since February 2022
  • how the money argument works and why it is not about oil and gas
  • which seaside destinations remain in our live sections
  • Last updated: 09/2026

Why we deleted these guides

A beach article lives on a promise. It promises that the sea is warm, the route is straightforward, and the decision to travel is simple. That is exactly why this genre is the hardest to reconcile with a reality in which the resort sits in a region affected by the war Russia launched against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

We could have added a warning paragraph to the old articles. But a piece that consists entirely of vacation descriptions cannot be fixed with a warning: the reader still receives an invitation, and the editorial team still acts as its author. So both articles were removed in full, and all old URLs in every language version now permanently redirect here.

There is a second reason, purely financial, and it is worth stating more precisely than it usually is. The share of oil and gas revenue in Russia's federal budget fell to roughly 22 percent in 2025 and 2026, down from 42 percent in 2022, so the common claim that "vacation money goes to oil rent" is incorrect (OSW Centre for Eastern Studies, 12/09/2025). What is true is different: the share of non-oil-and-gas revenue, which includes taxes from the hotel and restaurant sector, has grown to roughly 78 percent. The resort season is exactly the line item that fills this part of the budget.

A resort summer under a closed sky

A resort is sold together with the journey to it, and this picture has not changed for years. Since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, 11 airports in southern and central Russia have suspended operations, including Krasnodar, Anapa, Rostov-on-Don, Gelendzhik, and the airports of Crimea; at first this was presented as a temporary measure, then the deadline was repeatedly extended (The Moscow Times, 04/26/2024).

Partial reopenings began only two years later: Elista in May 2024, Gelendzhik in summer 2025, Krasnodar on September 11, 2025, and with a limited schedule (The Moscow Times, 09/11/2025). The picture has not become stable: in May 2026, 13 airports in southern Russia were closed at the same time (NV, 05/2026).

As for Sochi specifically, we deliberately make no claims beyond this. We have no verifiable source on the current schedule of that particular airport, and inserting an assumption into an article people read before a vacation is unacceptable. What is confirmed is enough: the coast that the old articles described as an ordinary summer destination has been inside a perimeter of restrictions imposed because of the war for all these years.

Add to this the broader aviation context: there have been no direct flights between the European Union and Russia since February 28, 2022, when the EU Council closed its airspace to Russian carriers through Regulation 2022/334 (EUR-Lex).

What happened to the market itself

Discussions about summer vacations are often conducted as if the industry stayed the same and only politics changed. That is not the case. Organized tourism to Russia fell by roughly 90 percent already in 2022, with the cited reasons including the reputational fallout of the war, the suspension of Visa and Mastercard operations, and Russia's own restrictive visa policy (industry statistics overview, Fox News, 2022).

In other words, by 2026 the articles we removed were describing not so much an existing market as a memory of one. The domestic resort season continues, but it is an internal market to which a reader from the European Union has neither legal nor practical access.

We should also mention something our previous articles never addressed at all. Neither of them noted that the German Foreign Office warns against travel to the Russian Federation and cautions about the risk of arbitrary detention for German citizens and dual nationals (Auswärtiges Amt). The beach genre is structured in such a way that this kind of warning does not fit into it: it promises ease, not caution. That is another reason we chose deletion over revision.

What this means for you as a reader in the EU and the US

Item

Status 09/2026

Source

Services related to tourism in Russia

Prohibited by Article 5n(2) of Regulation 833/2014 as amended by Regulation 2025/2033 of 23.10.2025

EUR-Lex

Transition period

Ended 01.01.2026, no exceptions after that date

Skadden, 11.2025

What the ban covers

Travel agency and tour operator services, guide services, and advertising of these services

Skadden, 11.2025

Flights between the EU and Russia

No direct service since 28.02.2022

EUR-Lex, Regulation 2022/334

Airports in southern Russia

Closed repeatedly since 2022, details above

The Moscow Times, NV

German Foreign Office advisory

"Vor Reisen in die Russische Föderation wird gewarnt"

Auswärtiges Amt

Payment cards

Visa and Mastercard cards issued outside Russia have not worked there since 10.03.2022

The Moscow Times, 06.03.2022

The stated purpose of the ban is explicit: to reduce the revenue Russia earns from such services and to curb the promotion of non-essential travel and leisure in the country (Skadden, 11.2025). A summer seaside vacation is the very definition of a non-essential trip, which is why the ban directly affects our previous content.

Where to go instead

The need readers brought to the deleted texts was for a warm sea, a straightforward route, and a predictable budget. The live sections of the site answer that: Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, as well as Croatia and Italy for those who want to get there from Germany without connections. For a similar mix of mountains and sea in one vacation, Montenegro and Greece work well; for a long beach season, Cyprus and Turkey.

The editorial team's overall explanation for the entire section is collected in the section hub. Thematic neighbors of this text: our position on Sochi and Adler attractions and our position on transportation.

Where we stand

We believe that describing a resort summer in a country waging war against a neighboring state means selling a normality that does not exist. In our assessment, the legal side is not the only thing that matters: even if no ban existed, a text about beach season in a region with closing airports would mislead the reader about the most ordinary thing, the way home. We decided to remove these materials and explain the reason at the same address.

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

⁉️🤔 Frequently asked questions

Is it still possible to vacation on this coast right now?

We do not answer this question with practical advice and do not describe any way to get there. Verifiable facts about flights, airports, and the position of the German Federal Foreign Office are collected above.

Why couldn't you just update the old articles?

Because their subject is a vacation, not a reference. An updated article would still be an invitation, and as of January 1, 2026, that kind of invitation falls under the ban on advertising services related to tourism activities in Russia.

Is this your political stance or a legal requirement?

It is both, and the legal part does not depend on our opinion. Article 5n(2) of Regulation 833/2014 as amended by Regulation 2025/2033 applies to all persons from the EU, and our editorial position explains why we did not look for ways to remain within what is formally permitted.

What happened to the old links to these articles?

All URLs in all language versions redirect to this page. That way readers get an answer and a list of destinations instead of an error page.

In short

The two most-read articles about summer vacations in Sochi and Lazarevskoye have been removed entirely. Airports in southern Russia have been closed since 2022, and there are no direct flights from the EU. As of January 1, 2026, advertising services related to tourism in Russia is prohibited for persons from the EU. The seaside destinations we continue to cover 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: 03.09.2026.

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