Gudauta

a city (since 1926), the center of Gudauta Raion, Abkhazian ASSR, on the Black Sea. Railway station 37 km northwest of Sukhumi and 43 km from Gagra. Population, 13,000 (1970).

Gudauta is a marine health resort. It has a humid subtropical climate (somewhat cooler and damper than in Sukhumi) with very mild winters (mean January temperature, 6° C) and very warm summers (mean July temperature, 24° C); annual precipitation is 1,460 mm. The resort offers air and sun baths and sea bathing. Treatment is available for patients with non-tubercular respiratory ailments and nervous, cardiovascular, and metabolic disorders. Facilities include sanatoriums, a resort polyclinic, worker resort homes, hotels, and tourist hostels. The bay on which Gudauta is situated has a gravel beach that turns sandy in its eastern section. The bathing season lasts from mid-May through October.

The city has a tobacco-fermentation plant, a winery, citrus-packing facilities, a machine shop, an automotive repair shop, and a tea factory, and a building-materials plant. G. K. Ordzhonikidze lived in Gudauta in 1905 and carried on his revolutionary work there. A medieval architectural complex is located 4 km from the city in the village of Lykhny: it contains the ruins of a palace, a bell tower, and a cupolaed church (tenth and 11th centuries) with 14th-century frescoes.