Fodor's Expert Review Dendrary Botanical Garden

Also known as the Dendrarium, a Greek word meaning collection of trees, Sochi's Botanical Garden, a once-private collection of exotic plants, is now a renowned collection of more than 1,800 species of trees and bushes, which are divided into sections representing virtually every continent of the world. Locals like to say that it's a museum of nature that offers you a trip around the world in one hour. The park is divided into two parts. The upper Dendrarium is on a hill and has a layout of a classical Italianate park with decorative fountains, rotundas, and sculptures that dot the landscape. The lower Dendrarium has a pond with swans and pelicans. If you choose, a cable-car ($) will take you to the top of the hill, where you can soak up the picture-perfect panorama of the park and the deep-blue Black Sea below. A visit to the park does require climbing stairs.