Zheleznovodsk Forest Park is the only naturally occurring park in the Caucasian Mineral Waters region, featuring designated terrenkur routes.
The terrenkurs of Zheleznovodsk Park wind around Mount Zheleznaya and descend to a picturesque lake. Their total length is just 8 km. Some routes lead further into the forest towards Mount Razvalka, which resembles a sleeping lion. The mountain has two main attractions: first, the enormous, crack-ridden rocks, or stone chaos, which gave it its name; second, the cold breath of the earth. If you turn over the moss, you can see thin ice plates glimmering like silver underneath. This remarkable corner in Zheleznovodsk is called "summer permafrost." The flora here mainly consists of species from northern latitudes. Deep within the mountain lies the Selitryana Cave. Artifacts from prehistoric humans, stone tools, and arrowhead blanks found here during excavations date back to the 4th-3rd centuries BC.
Around the terrenkur of Mount Zheleznaya are the main attractions of Zheleznovodsk, created in the early 20th century. The cascading staircase reminiscent of Peterhof, the Pushkin Gallery – an architectural monument of early modernism, the dacha of the Emir of Bukhara – an example of eclecticism inspired by Uzbek architecture, and the Lermontov and Slavyanov springs with their neoclassical tradition are all notable features, along with the Smirnov spring with its elegantly connected pavilions, a reminder of the romance of Russian constructivists.
