Sneak into the submarine base

The Balaklava underground museum complex is not a remake or just a building built specifically to store war trophies… It’s a real secret base for hiding and repairing submarines, carved right into the rock.

It seems that this is only possible in a James Bond movie, but no! You can come to Sevastopol and see for yourself.

How to get into the submarine base?

1️⃣ Choose the right outfit: a long coat and dark glasses are quite a suitable look for a visit to a secret facility! 😎

2️⃣ After leaving the hotel, make sure that you are not being followed 🧐

3️⃣ Several buses go to the Balaklava underground museum complex from the center of Sevastopol. You can leave from Gogol Street on route 94. Or, if you want to get rid of the tail, change after 6 stops to bus 33, which also stops at the Obolon stop that you need 🚌

4️⃣ Once at Tavricheskaya Embankment 11, behave like an ordinary tourist: buy a ticket at the box office for 700 rubles for an adult or for 300 rubles for a child. The ‘Pushkin’ card works here, too! 🎟

5️⃣ The length of the Museum is about a kilometer. The guide will help you not to get lost in the long corridors: ask as many questions as possible and he will tell you all the secrets of the military facility 🗣

6️⃣ Don't forget to discreetly take a couple of photos at the end of the tunnel through which submarines were sent on missions in the Black Sea 📷

7️⃣ Mission accomplished!

Entrance is categorically… granted!

🙄 In 1957, only those who had a special permit could enter Balaklava. What was hidden here? A government dacha? A scientific institute? Something cooler! The first secret complex of underground structures in the USSR for the shelter and repair of submarines.

🧐 Underground? There's a sea and mountains all around! Where to build it? Right in the Tavros rock!

⛏ To conduct this most difficult work, the most experienced subway builders and mining engineers were brought here. They managed to complete the project in just six years! In addition to a 1.5-km-long channel through which submarines entered and, having replenished supplies, went out to sea, the creators of the base provided other necessary facilities: a dry dock, fuel storage, a nuclear arsenal and even a residential sector with canteens, showers and restrooms.

💣 In the event of a nuclear war, the ‘825 GTS’ facility could shelter 1,000 people and seven medium-sized submarines. The degree of strength allowed it to withstand a direct hit by up to 100 kilotons, which is 5-7 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.

🗝 When older submarines stopped being built, it became too expensive and unreasonable to use the system any more. It was declassified in 1991.

🏛 Now it’s a next generation museum complete with interactive platforms and multimedia zones.