Lake Ritsa

1947 Soviet stamp depicting resort buildings at Lake Ritsa

Lake Ritsa (Georgian: რიწა, romanized: rits'a; Abkhaz: Риҵа) is a lake in the north-western part of Abkhazia, in the Caucasus Mountains. It is surrounded by mixed mountain forests and subalpine meadows. The road from the Black Sea coast was built in 1936. The resort of Avadhara lies to the north of the lake. The lake was an important tourist attraction during the Soviet period. While the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Russia-Georgian war destroyed much of the tourism industry in the country, the lake is still frequently visited by Russian tourists.