In summer / good weather, take a stroll on the main street lenin prospekt, have a drink on one of the terraces near Vostok cinema. Then proceed to visit the parks in the sanatorium area. If you feel like it, rest by one of the lakes and enjoy a shashlik grilled brochette of meat in any of the newly built or recently refurbished cafes. At the last lake, there is a small luna park very soviet style. From there you can take a chairlift that will bring you to a restaurant on top of the hill opposite the lake. It cost 100 RuR 4 USD for a round-trip. On a sunny day, it is a good investment as the view is fully worth your pennies. You don't have to consume anything in the restaurant if you don't wish to.
In case of bad Weather, Nalchik offers you even less options: shop not much choice, play bowling new, clean bowling allee, food and drinks available, go to the swimming pool clean, indoor, very strange schedules, visit the marketplace quite lively all year round, watch a movie in Russian in one of the two cinemas elbrus and vostok cinemas.
In winter you can ski in either CHEGET or ELBRUS . Lifts are quite old and run down, except one brand new expensive gondola in Elbrus. Good news though, there are plans to upgrade all the lifts and build more. Cheget is a more challenging ski resort than Elbrus. But then, Elbrus is Elbrus.... The snow tends to be better on Elbrus side higher altitude and the trails are prepared which is not the case in Cheget. Both ski resorts have only 2-3 lifts. Choose by yourself what suits you best, the two places are less than 10 km apart.
In both places you will find rental equipment in sports shop and hotels but you will have more choice in Cheget as far as equipment goes. In 2006-7, a daily pass in Cheget was going for some 550 RUR 20 USD, a single trip for 80 RuR 3 USD per lift. Another option is to simply give 50 RUR to the employee at the lift not a the cashier.
If you intend to spend a night in the area, sleep at Cheget. It is friendlier, hotels and restaurants are better, it has more of a resort-feel than Elbrus. Cheget has a few restaurants, a disco bar under the big ugly hotel Cheget, a small market with traditionnal products and an ice-ring. Hotel Esen which is usually clean and affordable but there are many other options as well all similar. In the winter 2006-7, a double room was going double occupancy for between 1000-1500 RuR 40-60 USD per night depending on the season. Some private pensions exist as well.
The kabarda and balkar are famous horse-riders. They have successfully bred their own type of horse "kabardin", which has achieved a certain fame. It is considered a very resistent, sturdy, hard working, small-sized horse. Locally these horses are used for livestock rearing in the mountains. You will easily find someone ready to rent you a few horses.
If you are a proficient rider, go to the hippodrome in Nalchik and directly rent a horse there pure-breed competition horses. If you are less proficient or prefer to take a ride in the nature on a somewhat quieter animal, horses can be found in the winter months in the plain immediately around Nalchik in many farms ask locals for advice. In the summer, the horses are typically brought in the mountains. A good bet is to try in the area past the Chegem waterfalls Chegem valley. Many of the farms will be willing to rent you a horse for half a day or so. count about 400-500 RuR per horse.
