Crimean Trolleybus to Yalta

The Simferopol–Alushta–Yalta trolleybus is a Crimean institution and one of the great oddities of European public transport: a four-hour ride on electric buses through pine forests, over a 752-metre mountain pass, and down to the Black Sea coast.

The journey starts at the trolleybus station beside the railway, runs east out of the city, climbs the Angarsky pass with the towering Demerdzhi massif on the left, and descends through Alushta to Yalta along the coast. It is slow, sometimes crowded, and cheap. Bring water and something to read; the views are the point.

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Opened in 1959, the Simferopol–Yalta route is the longest single trolleybus line in the world: 96 kilometres of overhead wire over the Angarsky pass and down to the south coast. The original Soviet-built Skoda 9Tr trolleybuses ran for half a century — some are now preserved as museum pieces along the route.