New Athos cave in Abkhazia, which can be reached by rail

The western spurs of the Caucasus are famous for their unique karst caves. But among all this splendor available for visiting, the New Athos cave stands out. It is of interest not only in terms of the presence of magnificent halls, grottoes and lakes. Inside this cave you can get on a real railway, which is what more than half a million annual visitors enjoy doing.

New Athos cave, located near the Black Sea, in the city of New Athos, was discovered by cavers in 1961. Today in the cave there are 4 entrances, but only one of them is a natural hole on the slope of the Iverskaya Mountain, through which the discoverers got into the cave. It is located in the ceiling of the Anacopia Hall. Since this method of penetrating the cave is not very convenient for unprepared tourists, 3 more holes were made in the walls of the New Athos cave, and 2 of them open to the railway stations.

The narrow gauge railway inside the mountain was built back in the 70s of the last century. There are several magnificent halls and grottoes in the cave, and tourists will enjoy a fascinating journey along a road 1.3 km long. The city of New Athos, known since the 3rd century AD, is famous for its religious monuments and rich cultural heritage. Hundreds of thousands of tourists come here every year to see the New Athos Monastery, the unique pond system, power station and railway, which were built by monks more than 100 years ago.

New Athos is very fond of travelers, and the cave, which can be reached by tourist train, is also popular. There is 100% humidity, and the air temperature is kept at + 10-13ºС all year round. There were so many visitors that they even had to introduce a restriction (no more than 2000 people per day). Inside the cave, you can get on a tourist train that stops at about 2 entrances to the cave. In addition, there is a walking trail through most of the halls of the cave, and in one of them called Aphyarts you can even listen to live music.