The Diana Grotto is an artificial cave hewn from the Mashuk hillside in 1829, originally as a rest spot for aristocratic visitors taking the waters. It sits in the parkland zone between the city centre and the lower cable car station, on the main walking route through Pyatigorsk's green spaces.
The grotto itself is small — barely more than a deep alcove in the rock — but its setting is beautiful, surrounded by the old-growth trees of the parkland. A colonnade and iron gate mark the entrance. The site draws visitors partly for the Lermontov connection (it appears in A Hero of Our Time) and partly because it is on the natural route toward Mashuk. It is open and free to enter.