TABLE OF CONTENTSCoverHow to Use This GuideTrans Siberian Railway MapPLAN YOUR TRIPON THE ROADUNDERSTAND YOUR JOURNEYSURVIVAL GUIDEBehind the ScenesMap LegendOur Writers
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Plan Your TripWelcome to the Trans-Siberian RailwayTop ExperiencesNeed to KnowWhat’s NewIf You Like…Month by MonthItinerariesBooking TicketsArranging Your VisasLife on the RailsChoosing Your RouteRegions at a Glance
the Century’ and may one day form part of a rail link across the Bering Strait. If you likerailways, you’ll love the BAM: tunnels, mountains, limitless taiga, and the beauty of train travelitself, made simply for the sake of a journey.
need to know Top of section CURRENCY » »Yuán (Y; China), tögrög (T; Mongolia), rouble (R; Russia) LANGUAGE » »Mandarin, Cantonese (China); Mongolian, Kazakh (Mongolia); Russian (Russia) MONEY » »ATMs plentiful in Russia and in big cities and towns in China, widely available in Ulaanbaatar and regional capitals of Mongolia. VISAS » »Except for US citizens (30 days) in Mongolia, visas required in all countries for most nationalities. Begin organising three months in advance. See Click here for details. COUNTRY CODES » »China 86 » »Mongolia 976 » »Russia 7 MOBILE PHONES » »Pre-paid SIM cards readily available in all three countries for unlocked phones. Mongolia has four carriers (two GSM and two CDMA).Your Daily BudgetBUDGET LESS THAN US$50» »Dorm beds and meals in simple restaurants or cafe and street stallsMIDRANGE US$50–210» »Eating in decent restaurants and staying in hotels with private facilities; in Mongolia expect amaximum midrange of US$120, in China US$160 and in Russia US$210TOP END OVER US$210» »Russia is the most expensive (US$210); in Mongolia you’ll find high-end places (starting atUS$120) in only a few areas; in China dining and higher comforts begin at US$160When to Go
HIGH SEASON (MAY–SEP)» »China: accom-modation prices peak first week May holiday period» »Mongolia: peak June to August; rain late July to August; book everything early aroundNaadam» »Russia: peak June to early SeptemberSHOULDER (MAY & OCT)» »China: shoulder February to April and September to October» »Mongolia: May and September some ger (yurt) camps closed, fewer tourists, weatherchangeable
» »Russia: beautiful but can get chillyLOW SEASON (OCT–APR)» »China: bitterly cold in the north; domestic tourism ebbs (except around Chinese New Year)» »Mongolia: some ger camps and smaller guesthouses closed» »Russia: plan indoor pursuits or winter sports; take saunasWebsites» » Lonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com)» » Ctrip (www.english.ctrip.com) Hotel-booking and air ticketing website for China.» » Danwei (www.danwei.org) Perspectives into real China; handy links.» » Mongolia Expat (www.mongoliaexpat.com)» » Mongolia National Tourism Centre (www.mongoliatourism.gov.mn)» » Moscow Expat Site (www.expat.ru)» » Russia Beyond the Headlines (http://rbth.ru)» » Way to Russia (www.waytorussia.net)Time ZonesRussia has nine time zones. Times are always given in Moscow time at Russian stations and onRussian trains. Ulaanbaatar and Běijīng are in the same time zone, four hours ahead ofMoscow and eight hours ahead of GMT/UTC. When it’s noon in Moscow it’s 8am GMT/UTCand 4pm in Běijīng and Ulaanbaatar. See Click here and Click here for tables.Exchange Rates CHINAMONGOLIARUSSIAAustralia A$1 Y6.55 T1370 R32Canada C$1 Y6.31 T1320 R31Europe €1 Y8.55 T1790 R42Japan ¥100 Y8.19 T1720 R40New ZealandNZ$1 Y4.98 T1040 R24UK UK£1Y9.95 T2090 R49US US$1Y6.36 T1340 R31For current exchange rates see www.xe.com.Important NumbersRussia international access code 8, wait, then 10China police 110Mongolia police 102Russia police 02
Arriving» » Sheremetyevo Airport, MoscowTrains – business R550; half-hourly 5.30am to 12.30am; 35 minutes to Belorussky vokzal.Taxis – R1000 to R1500. At least an hour; varies wildly with traffic.» » Domodedovo Airport, MoscowTrains – business R550; every half-hour 6am to midnight; 45 minutes to Paveletsky vokzal.Taxis – R1000 to R1500. At least an hour, often three.» » Běijīng Capital AirportAirport Line light rail – Y25, every 15 minutes.Taxi – Y85; 30 to 60 minutes to town.» » Chinggis Khaan Airport, UlaanbaatarBuses inconvenient; private taxis often overcharge (fare should be US$12 to US$20).Organise pick-up through hotels.
whats new Top of sectionFor this new edition of the Trans-Siberian Railway, our authors have hunted downthe fresh, the transformed, the hot and the happening. These are some of ourfavourites. For up-to-the-minute recommendations, see lonelyplanet.com/russiaCONTEMPORARY ART BOOM Moscow’s former Red October chocolate factory has been reincarnated as the city’s1 hottest art and entertainment centre, with the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture andDesign as its focal point (Click here). St Petersburg’s Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art(Click here) and Perm’s Museum of Contemporary Art ‘PERMM’ (Click here), in the city’sformer river station, both serve up the shock of the new.IVAN THE GREAT BELL TOWER The bell tower is almost as old as the Kremlin itself, but now you can enter and climb to the2 top for incredible views of the city (Click here).FOOD & CULTURE IN NIZHNY NOVGOROD3 A new National Centre of Contemporary Art‘Food and Culture’several otherbringing together restored mansions are complemented by a (Click here) and movement, museums ingood grub and alternative culture (Click here).YEKATERINBURG The home of Boris Yeltsin has created a monument to its famous son (Click here), the4 boozy Alibi bar opened (Click here), and the notorious Gordon’s pub… well, it burned to theground. Shame about that, but ul 8 Marta has now got a Thank God It’s Friday restaurant(Click here).TOMSK After a bad write-up from the famous playwright Anton Chekhov, Tomsk gets its own back5 with a disrespectful statue (Click here). Meanwhile, the city has added a hip and tastefulhotel right in the centre – the Toyan (Click here).LAKE BAIKAL Listvyanka now boasts Russia’s first purpose-built eco-hostel (Click here), while the6 northeast coast gets a 100km extension to the Great Baikal Trail (Click here).MONGOLIAN RECREATION
See a 16m-tall standing image of Sakyamuni at Ulaanbaatar’s Buddha Park (Click here),7 visit the city’s National Amusement Park (Click here), or ride a lift up the horse’s tail on a40m-tall equestrian statue of Chinggis (Ghengis) Khaan (Click here) that’s just out of town.VLADIVOSTOK It’s more like what isn’t new in Vladivostok (Click here): new airport, new trains, new hotels,8 newly developed island, two giant new suspension bridges downtown, all built for APEC2012.BĚIJĪNG MUSEUMS9 The China National Museum (Click here) reopened as the world’s largest museum, while China’s ancient steam locomotives, once on display in Dàtóng, have been moved to theChina Train Museum (Click here).
if you like... Top of sectionMajestic LandscapesThe Trans-Siberian, Trans-Mongolian, Trans-Manchurian and Baikal-Amur Mainline (Baikalo-Amurskaya Magistral; BAM) railways weave and wind through magnificent landscapes –grassland or forested steppe, coniferous taiga, soaring peaks and the Gobi Desert.Tunka Valley Snowcapped peaks send icy streams murmuring into this broad vale where hotsprings gush in mineral-hued pools and Buddhist prayer wheels whir in the breeze (Click here)Barguzin Valley Isolated, virtually uninhabited and hemmed by high peaks, this is one of themost stunning Siberian landscapes in which to go astray (Click here)Gobi Desert Where camels slurp water from wells and lone horsemen gallop alongside thetrain (Click here)Northern Mongolia Gers (yurts) dotting the landscape and rushing streams meandering intothe distance (Click here)The Volga River Imbued with history and legend, the Volga’s waters loll beneath the main lineat Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod (Click here)Views from the TrainVery often, such as when your train passes Lake Baikal, the views are little short ofspectacular, yet you may also travel for hours – or even days on some routes – looking into awall of taiga.Bratsk Dam The BAM is one long vista feast, but one of the most spectacular moments on the4200km route comes when the train trundles right across the top of the towering Bratsk Dam(Click here)Lake Baikal No stretch of the Trans-Siberian Railway is more photogenic than the sectionbetween Slyudyanka and Posolskaya running tight to the shoreline of Lake Baikal (Click here)Approaching Běijīng Less than one hour outside the Chinese capital the train rolls through aseries of 60-odd tunnels, each time emerging with stunning views of mountains, rivers and
steep-sided cliffs (Click here)Ulaanbaatar Whichever direction you arrive from, the sprawl, congestion and chaos ofUlaanbaatar make for an engrossing sight (Click here)Iconic ArchitectureMoscow and St Petersburg brim with imperial and church architecture. At the other end of thelines in Asia you find architecture of a very different kind.Peterhof Gape at the Grand Cascade fronting Peter the Great’s Gulf of Finland crash pad(Click here)St Basil’s Cathedral The most internationally recognised and architecturally exquisite buildingin the whole of Russia (Click here)Forbidden City China’s standout imperial residence, home to two dynasties of emperors andtheir concubines (Click here)Gandan Monastery Ulaanbaatar’s most famous Buddhist monastery is notable for the three-storey-tall Migjid Janraisig Süm. Inside is a towering 26m-high gilt statue of Janraisig, Buddhaof Compassion (Click here)Tobolsk A magnificent kremlin looks down upon the city’s picturesque old town (Click here)Severobaikalsk train station The architecturally bold station at Severobaikalsk is symbolic ofthe brave new world in concrete the BAM was meant to represent (Click here) The kremlin is the focal point of multicultural Kazan Click hereStrange Places & ExperiencesMany would say that spending the better part of a week (or longer!) on a train is a strangeexperience, and certainly some very strange things have been known to happen. Once you’vegot over those, check out these places.
Choir This Soviet-era city was once home to thousands of Red Army troops; crumbling statuesand mosaic propaganda slogans litter the present (Click here)Wangfujing Snack Street When in Běijīng… Test your mettle by sampling all manner ofcreepy-crawlies, including scorpions and silk worms (Click here)All-Russia Exhibition Centre A vast 2 sq km in Moscow filled with grandiose pavilions andfabulous fountains glorifying socialism’s economic achievements (Click here)Kunstkamera Peter the Great’s cabinet of horrors in St Petersburg contains lots of mutantbabies in jars, two-headed animals and the like – strange and grotesque (Click here)Traffic-light monument If you overlooked the bombastic opera building, make sure you catchthis homage to Novosibirsk’s first traffic light (Click here)Multicultural EncountersSpanning one of the world’s most varied regions, the Trans-Siberian routes cross almost asmany cultural contours as there are trees in the taiga.Tartar Kazan For total Tartar immersion, travel the route to Siberia via Kazan, the capital ofTatarstan, where you’ll find a thriving Muslim culture (Click here)Nomad hospitality On the vast plains of Mongolia hospitality is a time-honoured tradition.Expect to receive endless bowls of tea, snacks and shots of vodka. (Click here)Carriage liaisons Often the Chinese can be quite reserved, but on the train they loosen up andare usually thrilled to chat with foreigners. Any topic is fair game. On the Russian trains the artof conversation reaches its highest forms.Ivolginsky Datsan The epicentre of the Russian Buddhist world is contained within an ever-expanding compound of temples, prayer wheels and monks’ quarters (Click here)Good Food & DrinkThe opportunities along the route are plenty.Mutton The meat of choice in Mongolia will fill your plate at nearly every meal. Learn to love itif you don’t already.Altai beef and Kalmyk lamb Although the origins of these (the Altai Republic and Kalmykia)aren’t on the Trans-Siberian route, never turn down a chance to enjoy them. Perm’sMontenegro (Click here) serves the latter.Omul This fish is sold smoked to passengers at Slyudyanka station, and elsewhere aroundLake Baikal (Click here)Pozy (Buryat dumplings) Filled with a blend of pork and beef; best enjoyed in the authenticsetting of a ger (Click here)
Airag (fermented mare’s milk) Another Mongolian speciality; ready your intestines for theafter-affectsChinese delights Dumplings are famed in northern China, or try the scorpions on WángfǔjǐngSnack Street (Click here)Haute-Russe cuisine Splurge on a Russian feast amid 18th-century opulence at Café Pushkin(Click here)Hikes & WalksSiberian cities can be vast, sprawling beasts, so good walking shoes are useful even on thepavements of the metropolises. Out in the woods they will be especially useful for thespectacular trails.Great Baikal Trail (GBT) The aim of the organisation behind the GBT is to ring the world’slargest freshwater lake with a network of volunteer-built paths and trails (Click here)Frolikha Adventure Coastline Trail A sometimes challenging 100km GBT section on LakeBaikal’s northeast coast – worth every mosquito bite and blister (Click here)Great Wall Walk over the mighty ramparts of the Great Wall and get a sense of its long historyand significance (Click here)Bogdkhan Mountain Hike from Mandshir Khiid to Ulaanbaatar, taking you through somepeaceful forests just south of the Mongolian capital (Click here)Ger-to-ger trek Travel as the Mongols do, horseriding and walking between gers, meetingnomad families on the way (Click here)ShoppingSiberia doesn’t tend to be associated with great shopping and there’s a very good reason forthat – there isn’t any, except for the food shopping on the station platforms. That said, a visit tothe Grinvich (Click here) shopping centre in Yekaterinburg will satisfy any desire for Westernfashion labels or last-minute clothing purchases.Mary & Martha Mongolia Locate this hidden shop on UB’s Peace Ave and you’ll discover atrove of unique handmade items; good for Kazakh products (Click here)Sanlitun Yashou Clothing Market Bargain like crazy for shirts, pants, hats and other items inthis massive clothing emporium (Click here)Udelnaya Fair St Petersburg’s vast, sprawling weekend flea market is one of the best in thecountry (Click here)Izmailovo Market You can buy all kinds of handicrafts, and you can also watch them beingmade or try your hand at making your own (Click here)
River Trips & RaftingWhere would Russia be without its rivers? They were the earliest ‘roads’ into Siberia, andtravelling from west to east you cross some great ones, beginning with the Volga at Yaroslavl,Nizhny Novgorod or Kazan, depending on your route. Almost every town on a large river offersexcursions during the navigation season, or go the whole hog on a longer Volga cruise.Tuul River Paddle a canoe down the Tuul River, just outside Ulaanbaatar, for fun day orovernight trips (Click here)St Petersburg trips Take the Meteor hydrofoil from the Hermitage to Peterhof, one of themany river and canal cruises in St Petersburg (Click here)Moscow river cruise Avoid traffic jams and feel the breeze on your face while you get a newperspective on Moscow’s most famous sights (Click here)Komsomolsk-na-Amure Choose between mellow multiday floats and one-day white-waterwhirlwinds in the wilds surrounding this key BAM hub (Click here) If you like… combining good food with alternative culture, stop over in Nizhny Novgorod, where there’s a flourishing Eda i Kultura (Food and Culture) movement, with readings, forums, and music (Click here)
month by month Top of section Top Events Easter (Russia) Mar or Apr Lunar New Year (China, Mongolia) Jan, Feb or early Mar White Nights (Russia) Jun-Jul Naadam (China, Mongolia) Jul Sylvester & New Year (Russia, Mongolia) 31 Dec and 1 JanJanuaryMuch of Russia, northern China and Mongolia are in deep freeze during this andsubsequent months. It’s cold outside, but the train will be warm (or stifling hot). RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS (ROZHDESTVO)On Christmas Eve (6 January) the religious fast from morning to nightfall, after which they tuckinto a feast that includes roast duck and the porridge kutya. Special masses are held atmidnight. SPRING FESTIVAL/ LUNAR NEW YEARThe Chinese New Year is family-focused, with dining and gift-giving of hóngbāo (red envelopesstuffed with money) and a week-long holiday. In Mongolia it’s a good time to be invited to afamily celebration. HĀ’ĚRBĪN ICE & SNOW FESTIVALIn China, Hēilóngjiāng’s good-looking capital Hā’ěrbīn is all aglow with rainbow lights refractedthrough fancifully carved ice statues (Click here).
MarchStrong winds, sub-zero temperatures, snow and dust storms hit Mongolia.Temperatures are still low in northern China and Russia, but days are significantlylonger. PANCAKE WEEK (MASLENITSA)Folk shows and games are staged to celebrate the end of winter, with lots of pancake eatingbefore Lent in Russia.AprilSlush in Moscow, and Siberian temperatures are less savage. Northern China remainscold, and in the Mongolia–China border regions April is like March. Gradually theweather improves. EASTER (PASKHA)Easter Sunday in Russia begins with midnight services. Afterwards, people eat kulichy (dome-shaped cakes) and paskha (cheesecake), and exchange painted wooden Easter eggs.MayEverywhere the weather is warming up and the tourist season is getting under way. InMongolia some ger (yurt) camps open. Snowfall may still occur, especially in the north.All of China is on holiday for the first four days – avoid. WHITE NIGHTSAs days lengthen Russia’s cultural capital, St Petersburg, hosts a huge party. Events run untillate July. (Click here) GREAT WALL MARATHONExperience the true meaning of pain while getting your Great Wall sightseeing done. Seewww.great-wall-marathon.com for more details.JuneMuch of China is hot and getting hotter; southern Siberian cities can get sticky; and inMongolia temperatures are climbing to the pleasant mid- to high 20s (Celsius). MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Russia’s premier film festival runs for a couple of weeks at the end of the month. Seewww.moscowfilmfestival.ru. DRAGON BOAT FESTIVALFind yourself the nearest large river and catch all the waterborne drama of dragon-boat racersin this celebration of one of China’s most famous poets. ROARING HOOVES FESTIVALOften held at a remote location in the Gobi Desert, this international music festival can bestaged anywhere in the country. See www.roaringhooves.com.JulyThe grasslands of Inner Mongolia turn green; in southern Siberia and elsewhere inRussia temperatures can soar. This is the warmest month in Běijīng. Mongolia gets heatwaves, hitting 40°C in the Gobi. NAADAM FESTIVALMongolia’s premier summer sports festival erupts in July. The date is fixed in Ulaanbaatar (11to 12 July) but will change from year to year in other cities and towns. In China, the sameoccurs in Inner Mongolia. KAMWA FESTIVALThe ‘ethno-futuristic’ Kamwa Festival (www.kamwa.ru) takes place in late July to early August in Perm andKhokhlova. PERM WHITE NIGHTSInaugurated in 2011, Perm’s White Nights (www.permfest.com) cultural festival runs throughmost of June.AugustTrain prices in Russia can spike during this month as many people take holidays – bookahead if you want to travel on particular services along the Trans-Siberian route. Rainstorms in Běijīng; less dusty in Mongolia. MONGOLIA BIKE CHALLENGEMongolia draws serious mountain bikers for this rally. The route of the challenge(www.mongoliabikechallenge.com) varies each year, in an event that covers about 1500kmthrough some of the finest Mongolian landscapes.
GOLDEN NAADAMThis late-summer sports festival (usually held 21 August) takes place at Terelj, Mongolia.SeptemberCome to Běijīng and stay – September is part of the fleetingly lovely tiāngāo qìshuǎng(‘the sky is high and the air is fresh’) autumnal season – it’s an event in itself. MID-AUTUMN FESTIVALCelebrated in China on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month and also called the MoonFestival. Locals devour cakes stuffed with bean paste, egg yolk, walnuts and more. GOBI MARATHONGo for a 42km run in one of the world’s most inhospitable deserts. See www.gobimarathon.orgfor information. Try not to die.DecemberShort days and long nights keep most people inside for most of this month. If you’reprepared it’s the best time to see freshly snow-covered landscapes. DECEMBER NIGHTS FESTIVALMoscow’s prestigious month-long music event (www.museum.ru/gmii) is hosted at the PushkinMuseum of Fine Arts (Click here). SYLVESTER & NEW YEARRussians and Mongolians celebrate New Year’s Eve enthusiastically, usually with lots of beer,vodka and fireworks (not necessarily in that order).
itineraries Top of sectionWhether you’ve got six days or 60, these itineraries provide a starting point for thetrip of a lifetime. Want more inspiration? Head online tolonelyplanet.com/thorntree to chat with other travellers.Two WeeksThe Trans-Mongolian RouteThis highly popular journey between Moscow and Běijīng goes via the Mongolian capital ofUlaanbaatar, allowing you to compare and contrast the landscapes of three countries. Anonstop itinerary is best suited to travellers who want to see Moscow and Běijīng, enjoy the
changes of landscape, and experience life on the train as it rolls across Asia. It can be coveredin either direction, but if you wish to spend time in Moscow at the start of the journey, a transitvisa will not suffice. The train journey in itself takes almost six days, which allows several days in Moscow andseveral in Běijīng to explore two of the world’s most dynamic capitals. In Moscow, spend threedays visiting Red Square and the Kremlin, and taking in at least one large gallery. At the otherend of the line, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace and Tiananmen Squarewill each take a day. Between these two very different geographic points, taiga, steppe anddesert unfold in a mesmerising landscape panorama, with views of iconic Lake Baikal, the GobiDesert and the Great Wall of China.One to Four WeeksThe Trans-Siberian RouteAlthough this route can be done in either direction, we suggest going against the general flowby starting in Vladivostok, at the far eastern end of Russia, so you can finish up with a grandparty in either Moscow or, better still, St Petersburg. The route takes six days withoutstopovers on the Rossiya, the premium train 1/2, which means the absolute minimum requiredfor this itinerary is one week. It is best done, however, with stopovers over three to four weeks,and can easily be tailored to your own schedule. Vladivostok, situated on a stunning natural harbour, merits several days to enjoy Russia’s
Pacific seaboard and rest from jetlag if you have flown in from other time zones. It’s also worthtaking a break of a couple of days or more at Khabarovsk, a lively city on the banks of theAmur River that’s an overnight hop from Vladivostok. Save another couple of days for Ulan-Ude, a fascinating city where Russian and Buryat cultures mingle, and from where you canventure into the steppes to visit Russia’s principal Buddhist monastery, Ivolginsky Datsan. Justwest of Ulan-Ude the railway hugs the southern shores of magnificent Lake Baikal. Allow atleast five days to see the lake, visit the equally lovely Olkhon Island and spend time in Irkutsk,one of the Trans-Siberian’s most important rail junctions. Krasnoyarsk, on the Yenisey River, affords the opportunity for scenic cruises along one ofSiberia’s most pleasant waterways and can easily be visited on a two-day stopover to see thecity itself. If you want to visit the Stolby Nature Reserve or take an excursion on the YeniseyRiver, however, plan on four days to do this comfortably. Crossing the Ural Mountains intoEuropean Russia, schedule a stop in Yekaterinburg, a bustling historic city stocked withinteresting museums and sites connected to the murder of the last tsar and his family. Finally,you have the choice of pausing in cities such as Nizhny Novgorod, which has some goodmuseums and restaurants, or stopovers in the tranquil Golden Ring towns of Vladimir and/orSuzdal, both packed with onion-domed churches, and a million miles away from the pace of themegacities to come.Four WeeksThe Běijīng Loop
You will want to schedule plenty of time in historic, dynamic Běijīng either at the start or end ofthe trip. A day each is needed to see the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the GreatWall and the Summer Palace. An excellent overnight service connects the capital with Hā’ěrbīn, famous for the icesculptures of its midwinter Ice & Snow Festival. Russians came here at the end of the 19thcentury to build the railway, and handsome architectural evidence of their stay lies at the city’sheart close to the Songhua River. Take a couple of days to enjoy Hā’ěrbīn’s cosmopolitanatmosphere and visit the nearby Siberian Tiger Park. The Chinese–Russian border lies an overnight train ride away at Mănzhōulǐ. If you’re not onone of the weekly Trans-Manchurian services that continue across the border and through toMoscow, it’s a process of hopping on a bus across to Zabaikalsk on the Russian side, whereyou can reconnect with trains through to Chita. This pleasant city is a great base for exploringa relatively unvisited area of Siberia where you’ll discover a couple of beautiful Buddhistmonasteries at Aginskoe. From Ulan-Ude you can immediately branch down towardsMongolia, but since you’ve come this far it would be a great shame not to first venture furtherwest to see Lake Baikal. Apart from Ulan-Ude, possible bases for exploring the lake includeSlyudyanka, Irkutsk, Listvyanka and Olkhon Island. This part of the journey is where wheretravellers spend the most time, and it’s well worth crossing from Listvyanka to Port Baikal tobriefly walk along the lakeshore on the Circumbaikal Railway line. While in Listvyanka, also tryto fit in a short walk on a section of the Great Baikal Trail, or from Irkutsk spend a couple ofdays in the Tunka Valley. After that, board one of the trains to Ulaanbaatar, which is certainly worth at least a coupleof days. Its highlight is the lively and colourful Gandan Khiid monastery. From Ulaanbaatar, it’sa two-night journey back to Běijīng through the Gobi Desert.
Three WeeksVolga & Lake BaikalFrom Moscow enjoy an overnight trip to Kazan, perhaps taking the premium train with showersand double beds. Spend two to three days exploring the capital of Tatarstan with its splendidkremlin and museums; allow at least a full day for the city and another day for an excursion onthe Volga. From Kazan continue to Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains and spend five daysvisiting the Romanov sites and Urals attractions. Siberia begins after that, with a night inTyumen and side trip north to Tobolsk, which can be completed comfortably in three to fourdays. The journey continues with two days in Novosibirsk, the unofficial capital of Siberia andRussia’s third-largest city, situated on the Ob River. Krasnoyarsk is closing the gap onNovosibirsk for the title of capital, and is well worth a couple of days in order to explore the cityand perhaps visit the Stolby Nature Reserve or take a boat trip on the Yenisey River. FromKrasnoyarsk the route continues to Irkutsk, where at least five days can be scheduled in forthe sights of Lake Baikal.15 DaysBAM
The 3400km Baikal-Amur Mainline (Baikalo-Amurskaya Magistral, or BAM) travels throughsome of the most rugged and unforgiving Siberian landscapes. The line officially starts in thedrab town of Tayshet, but the closest big city, Krasnoyarsk, has an airport if you wish to skipall points further west. At Bratsk the train crosses a 1km-long dam. The town also has an excellent open-airethnographic museum where you can see many of the traditional Siberian buildings that wererescued when the dam was built. Severobaikalsk, on the northern tip of Lake Baikal, is thebest base for exploring this relatively unvisited end of the lake and it also has a small BAMmuseum. En route to Tynda the line climbs over and burrows through mountains, the longest tunnelbeing 15.3km at Severomuysk. Home of the BAM construction company’s headquarters,Tynda is a must-stop for its comprehensive BAM museum and good banya (bathhouse).Continue working your way east to the St Petersburg–styled Komsomolsk-na-Amure, thelargest city on the line and a great place to ponder the sacrifices and achievements made byhardy Soviet pioneers.
Booking Tickets Top of section WHERE TO BUY TICKETS Classic Trains Tickets are cheapest when you buy locally at the Train 1/2 (westward/eastward) railhead, but this often isn’t practical. The alternatives runs between Moscow and are to use local online booking systems (the best Vladivostok. Chinese train K3/4 offerings here are for Russian domestic routes) or to (Trans-Mongolian) runs between go through local or international travel agents and Moscow and Běijīng via booking offices. Commissions charged by these are Ulaanbaatar. Train 19/20 runs higher. Although travel agents are the most expensive, between Moscow and Běijīng via you pay for their networks; they, rather than you, Manchuria. spend time organising often complicated bookings, and they specialise in stitching together a complete Russian Firmeny Trains itinerary. Russian firmeny (private or Note that unless otherwise stated, the prices given premium) trains have a higher throughout this book are for 2nd-class, four-berth standard of service but usually compartments (kupe) and don’t include meals. cost more. They provide a fast, useful connection, mostly between Buying Your Own Tickets Online regional centres and Moscow. Online booking options for Russian trains are very Advance Bookings good as you can use the Russian Railways website or Tickets can’t be booked more the websites of agents to buy an e-ticket. Currently, there are no coordinated online booking systems for than 45 days ahead in Russia. In China, bookings for C, D, G and Z the international trains, but many all-purpose websites book these for a fee. express trains begin 10 to 20 days before departure, for others English-Language Booking Websites it’s five to 10 days. From Ulaanbaatar tickets to Moscow or Express to Russia www.expresstorussia.com Běijīng are available from a day Hostels.ru www.hostels.ru before departure. Agencies can facilitate earlier bookings in all Real Russia www.realrussia.co.uk countries. Svezhy Veter www.sv-agency.udm.ru/sv/trains.htmTrains Russia www.trainsrussia.comVisit Russia www.visitrussia.comRussian-Language Booking Websites
Russian RailwaysThe Russian Railways website http://rzd.ru allows you to book and pay for Russian domestictrain services using a credit card, 45 days or less prior to departure. Currently the site can bedifficult for foreigners to use for two reasons. One is that the booking section only works in theRussian-language version. The other is that not every bank credit card works on the site.Theoretically it accepts Visa, Visa Electron and MasterCard, but in practice some foreign creditcards are rejected by the website’s security technology. For English instructions on registering and booking tickets on the website, seewww.valigiapronta.altervista.org.Other Russian-Language WebsitesThe following accept Visa and MasterCard and issue e-tickets. Again, foreign credit cards don’talways work.eticket Bilet (http://eticket.bilet.ru)Poezda.net Mostly useful for English-language timetable search function.Tutu.ru (www.tutu.ru)UFS (www.ufs-online.ru) A major service used by the Yandex (http://rasp.yandex.ru) timetablesearch engine.Converting E-tickets to Hard-Copy TicketsWhen you book online you usually receive an e-ticket. All e-tickets (a booking receipt with abarcode) must be converted to a physical hard-copy ticket before you board. Some stationshave machines for this; most don’t. More frequently you’ll find staffed booths inside the stationsor ticket-seller windows with the ‘@’ sign. Failing that, go to any ticket window. Depending onqueues and the options available, getting a physical ticket takes anything from one minute toabout 30 minutes or longer. An e-registration (available on the most-popular routes) allows youto board without a physical ticket. BOOKINGS » »Bring your passport for all international and distance rail bookings; make a few copies too. » »In order to book in advance on a westward route on the Trans-Mongolian (train K3) and the Trans-Manchurian (train 19), you will need to use China International Travel Service (CITS; Click here) or local or international tour and travel agents, and you usually need to board in Běijīng. Agencies in Hā’ěrbīn (Click here) and Mănzhōulǐ (Click here) can also arrange tickets on the Trans-Manchurian into Russia. » »From Ulaanbaatar, you can’t be certain of an advance reservation on the Trans-Mongolian train 3 or train 4 as they won’t know how many places are available. » »Travelling east (from Russia), booking is available through Russian Railways or numerous local and international agents. » »In Russia, avoid using the international trains for domestic routes: they are usually more expensive than nonpremium trains and tickets are difficult to come by outside Moscow. » »Often you can negotiate a berth with the attendants on the platform when a train arrives.Tour & Ticket AgenciesBuying tickets from agents is often the most convenient option. A brief selection of operators
follows. For further descriptions and contact details for these companies outside Russia, Chinaand Mongolia, Click here. Many local operators are also equipped to take bookings fromabroad; Click here.USA & CanadaMir Corporation www.mircorp.comSTA www.statravel.comTrek Escapes www.trekescapes.com HOW TO BUY & READ YOUR TICKET When buying a ticket in Russia, it’s a good idea to arrive at the station or travel agency prepared. If you don’t speak Russian, have someone who does write down the following information for you in Cyrillic: » »How many tickets you require » »Your destination » »What class of ticket » »The preferred date of travel and time of day for departure, using ordinary (Arabic) numerals for the day and Roman numerals for the month. Also bring your passport; you’ll be asked for it so that its number and your name can be printed on your ticket. The ticket and passport will be matched up by the provodnitsa (carriage attendant) before you’re allowed on the train – make sure the ticket- seller gets these details correct. Tickets are printed by computer and come with a duplicate. Shortly after you’ve boarded the train the provodnitsa will come around and collect the tickets. Sometimes they will take both copies and give you one back just before your final destination; often they will leave you with the copy. It will have been ripped slightly to show it’s been used. Hang on to this ticket, especially if you’re hopping on and off trains. It provides evidence of how long you’ve been in a particular place, if you’re stopped by police.
Sometimes tickets are also sold with separate chits for insurance in the event of a fatal accident, or for bed linen and meals, but usually these prices appear on the ticket itself. The following is a guide for deciphering your Russian train ticket.United KingdomGW Travel Ltd www.gwtravel.co.ukIntourist UK www.intouristuk.comReal Russia www.realrussia.co.ukRegent Holidays www.regent-holidays.co.ukSundowners www.sundownersoverland.com, www.vodkatrain.comThe Russia Experience www.trans-siberian.co.ukAustralasiaSTA www.statravel.com.auSTA www.statravel.co.nzTravel Centre www.travelcentre.com.auGermany & NetherlandsGleisnost www.gleisnost.deLernidee Reisen www.lernidee-reisen.dePulexpress www.pulexpress.deTrans-Sputnik Nederland www.trans-sputnik.nlChina International Travel ServiceCITS (www.cits.net) is usually the cheapest agency for booking a service from Běijīng. Unlessyou use one of the recommended agencies, it’s pretty much the only way. The following areCITS overseas representatives:International www.cits.net (go to ‘Contact Us’ at the bottom and send a request for prices) orwww.chinatraveldesigner.com/trans-siberian-trains.Australia www.travman.com.auDenmark www.cits.dkFrance www.citsfrance.netGermany www.goldenerdrachen.deUSA www.citsusa.com
INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP? The choice used to be ‘individual or package’, but these days tour agencies also create packages for individuals. These range from semi-individual arrangements where you are ‘bundled’ with several other travellers and a local guide might meet you briefly at a stop, and perhaps even drive you around town for an hour, to fully fledged group tours with a guide to take care of your needs. At the top end of the scale, packages on higher-comfort or luxury trains like the Tsar’s Gold (higher comfort) and the Golden Eagle (luxury) have their own itineraries and stops. These often include extras you can’t otherwise get, such as tailor-made stopovers with a program for the whole group or a stretch of the spectacular Circumbaikal route. The price is accordingly higher. See Click here for a little more on these trains.Comparative Prices – Asia TrainsMoscow–Běijīng – 2nd ClassIn the following tables, the Russian Railways price is a base price without commissions; theCITS price is for tickets bought locally in Běijīng (Click here); and the ‘Local (Moscow)’ price isthe walk-in fare at Intourist’s Novy Arbat office.HOW & WHERE?WESTBOUND (TRAIN 3)EASTBOUND (TRAIN 4)CITS (Běijīng) US$600 n/aOnline or agency €550-700 €525-650Local (Moscow) n/a €485Russian Railways n/a €440HOW & WHERE?WESTBOUND (TRAIN 19)EASTBOUND (TRAIN 20)CITS (Běijīng) US$650 n/aOnline or agency €550-750 €550-700Local (Moscow) n/a €515Russian Railways n/a €480Buying Tickets LocallyThe international trains, especially the Trans-Mongolian, are popular, so it’s often risky to waitand book locally. Generally, it’s easier getting tickets if you’re going west rather than east, andsummer is busier than winter.Russia TRAIN 1/2 (ROSSIYA) MOSCOW–VLADIVOSTOK (SIX DAYS) Departs odd days from Moscow, even days from Vladivostok. All times Moscow time (24-hour clock). The 1/2 does the entire route but is more expensive than short-hop trains.
Tickets can be bought at Russian Railways booking offices and many of the private railwaysbooking offices in Russia (ж/д касса). For a list of Russian Railways booking offices, see theEnglish-language homepage http://eng.rzd.ru and look under ‘Passengers’ then ‘Ticket Offices’.The following local booking agencies are also useful but charge commissions. Bring yourpassport.
Intourist ( 495-234 9508; www.intouristmp.ru; Novy Arbat 2, Moscow) This very helpfulwalk-in branch has a railway booking office with low commissions.Real Russia ( 495-616 8086; www.realrussia.co.uk; ul Bolshaya Mariinskaya 9, office 313,Moscow) Rail tickets, packages, visa services and visa registration.Ost-West ( 812-327 3416; www.ostwest.com; Nevsky pr 100, St Petersburg) Offers railbookings and full invitation, visa and package-tour services. Also has a Moscow branch.ChinaIn addition to the following, also see www.chinatripadvisor.com.China International Travel Service (CITS; 6512 0507; 1st fl, Běijīng International Hotel, 9Jianguomenwai Dajie, Běijīng; 8.30am-noon & 1.30-5pm; Beijing Train Station) The bestplace to buy tickets locally. See also Click here.Monkey Business ( 6591 6519; www.monkeyshrine.com; Room 305, Youyi Poachers Inn,43 Beisanlitun Nan, Běijīng; Dongshishitiao) Arranges all kinds of stopovers and homestayprograms, and has a lot of experience in booking international trains for independent travellers.In Hong Kong, it goes under the name Moonsky Star Ltd ( 852-2723 1376;www.monkeyshrine.com).Mongolia PRICES, DISCOUNTS & SERVICES Price Comparison by Class ROUTE SV KUPE PLATSKART Moscow–Vladivostok (train 1/2)R41,500 (€1000)R21,500 (€525)R8500 (€200) Route 1st class (2- 1st class (4- 2nd class (4- berth) berth) berth) Běijīng–Ulaanbaatar (UB)–Moscow (trainUS$1112 (US$394 to UB) US$1016 (US$364 to UB) US$690 (US$253 to UB) K3) Běijīng–Moscow (train 19) US$1185 n/a US$762 Běijīng–Ulaanbaatar (train K23) US$394 US$364 US$270 The westward prices are those charged by CITS in the US in summer 2011. Top-Bunk Discounts In recent years, discounts have been offered on top bunks. It’s only on selected routes, on some days and not year-round, but keep an eye out for this locally in Russia. Services When you book, you will often see a range of prices. The higher ones are with services, usually meaning meals, often a newspaper and cleaner toilets. These are common symbols you will see online. CLASS SERVICES platskart 3 P (3 П) not air-conditioned platskart 3 E (3 Э) air-conditioned
kupe 2 K (2 К) not air-conditioned, no services kupe 2 L (2 Л) air-conditioned, no services kupe 2 U (2 У) not air-conditioned, with services kupe 2 E (2 Э) air-conditioned, with services spalny vagon (1st class) 1 L (1 Л) air-conditioned, no services spalny vagon (1st class) 1 B (1 Б)business class, air-conditioned, with services additional letters МЖ male-only carriageIn Ulaanbaatar, you cannot buy tickets in advance for the Běijīng–Moscow or the Moscow–Běijīng trains, because staff in Ulaanbaatar won’t know how many people are already on thetrain. You can only buy a ticket for these trains the day before depar ture (although you couldtry asking two days in advance). If you have trouble booking a berth, ask your guesthousemanager or hotel reception desk for assistance. See Click here for local booking details.CLASSESFor detailed descriptions of trains and classes, Click here. Unless otherwise stated, in this bookthe price given in each town’s Getting There & Away section is for a 2nd-class kupe (four-berthcompartment) seat, without meals. The major trains 1/2 (Rossiya; Moscow–Vladivostok) and19/20 (Vostok; Trans-Manchurian) use Russian rolling stock and staff. Train K3/4 (Trans-Mongolian) is a Chinese train. The restaurant car is always a local one, even on the Chinesetrain K3/4.Trans-Mongolian K3/4» » 1st class two-berth Showers shared by two compartments.» » 1st class four-berth Soft sleeper, slightly larger than 2nd class.» » 2nd class four-berth Similar to the Russian kupe.Trans-Siberian & Trans-ManchurianWhen booking, you often have the choice of a mixed-sex or women-only kupe, although this isnot always guaranteed.» » SV (1st class or soft class) Two-berth compartments in Russian carriages, built in EastGermany (and often refurbished in the Ukraine).» » Kupe (2nd class) Four-berth. Berths 33 to 36 are alongside the toilet and can be noisy.The lower the number, the closer you are to the attendant.» » Platskart (3rd class or hard class) Carriages sleep 54 passengers in compartments withpartitions. Bunks also line the corridors. Not available on the Trans-Manchurian.Higher-Comfort & Luxury TrainsThe Golden Eagle (luxury, all-inclusive services) and the Tsar’s Gold (higher comfort) are thetwo best-known options. They are used for packages, and the Golden Eagle is the last word inluxury Russian rail travel, with prices to match (around US$25,000 for a Gold Class single).Travellers are international and tend to be older than the average train traveller.
For more information on routes and route alternatives, Click here.TRAIN K3/4 TRANS-MONGOLIAN ROUTE (5½ DAYS)Departs Běijīng each Wednesday and departs Moscow each Tuesday. Not all stops are shown. All times are Moscow timewithin Russia, local time within Mongolia and China (24-hour clock). Departure time from Běijīng in some years variesslightly.TRAIN 5/6 (ALSO 63) IRKUTSK–ULAANBAATAR (25 HOURS)Starts and terminates in Moscow. Departs Irkutsk Sunday and Monday; departs Ulaanbaatar Friday and Tuesday. Not all stopsare shown. All times are Moscow time within Russia, local time within Mongolia (24-hour clock). For other trains anddeparture tables, see Getting There & Away in the Moscow, St Petersburg, Ulaanbaatar and Běijīng chapters.
TRAIN 19/20 TRANS-MANCHURIAN ROUTE (SIX DAYS)Departs Moscow and Běijīng each Saturday. Not all stops shown. All times are Moscow time within Russia, local timewithin Mongolia and China (24-hour clock).
Arranging Your Visas Top of section Planning China Depending on your nationality and the Trans-Siberian A tourist visa is required for all route you choose, you will need a visa for one to three except travellers from Japan, countries – Russia, Mongolia and China. Singapore and Brunei. Visas are » »For a Russian visa it is imperative that you apply most easily obtained from the from your country of residence. traveller’s country of residence. » »Except for Chinese visas issued in Hong Kong, more paperwork is involved in getting a visa for China Mongolia in any place other than your country of residence. A 30-day tourist visa is required » »Mongolian visas can be obtained anywhere but an by most travellers. US citizens invitation is sometimes required if you apply outside need no visa for up to 90 days. your country of residence. Transit visas are valid for 72 » »Visas are not issued on land borders. hours, only sufficient for a short » »Visas are valid for entry within three months of stop in Ulaanbaatar. issue. Time your applications so they’re not too early or too late. Russia The required invitation for a 30- Costs day tourist visa is best organised The following fees don’t take into account processing through a visa agency or travel costs by agencies when used. service. With few exceptions, you can only apply in your country of China UK citizens can expect to pay from £30 for a residence. A nonstop transit visa 30-day tourist visa, US citizens US$140, and other for a Trans-Siberian Railway nationalities US$30. journey is valid for 10 days, giving Mongolia Each embassy sets its own price. Sample westbound passengers a few prices for a single entry/exit visa are £40 in London, days in Moscow; heading east, Y270 in Běijīng, AU$100 in Sydney, and C$90 in however, travellers must Ottawa. immediately continue on. Business visas are a more flexible option. Russia The minimum charge (excluding processing fees) for a single-entry tourist visa for citizens of Australia is AU$50, most EU countries €35, the UK£50 and the USA US$140. However, count on anything from €150 to around €300 for a fullbusiness visa with invitation and processing fees. Note that at present some Russian consulatesdemand to see proof of funds or regular employment before issuing visas, and manynationalities also need accredited health insurance.
AgenciesThe following agencies can arrange visas for all three countries and are especially useful forRussian visas.Action-visas.com www.action-visas.comCIBT http://uk.cibt.comComet Consular Services www.cometconsular.comIVDS www.visum-dienst.deReal Russia www.realrussia.co.ukVisaHQ.com http://russia.visahq.comVisalink.com.au http://visalink.com.auZierer Visa Services http://zvs.comRussian invitations can also be arranged with the following:Express to Russia www.expresstorussia.comVisa Able www.visaable.comWay to Russia www.waytorussia.netEmbassy WebsitesChina www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/and click on Missions Overseas, or www.chinese-embassy.infoMongolia www.mongolianembassy.usRussia www.russianembassy.netVisas for ChinaApart from citizens of Japan, Singapore and Brunei, all visitors to China require a visa, whichcovers the whole of China, although there are restricted areas that require an additional permit.Hong Kong is a special administrative region and is visa-free for most nationalities (seewww.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkvisas_4.htm). A standard 30-day single-entry tourist (L) visa can be issued from most Chinese embassiesin three to five working days. Express visas cost twice the usual fee, and in some countries (egthe UK and the US), the visa service has been outsourced from the Chinese embassy to aChinese Visa Application Service Centre, which levies an extra administration fee. This candouble the cost. A standard 30-day visa is activated on the date you enter China, and must be used withinthree months of the date of issue. Arranging double-entry visas is fairly straightforward, but 60-and 90-day visas can be harder to obtain. Having a visa mailed to you will take up to three weeks. In the US and Canada, mailed visaapplications have to go via a visa agent, at extra cost. In the US, many people use the ChinaVisa Service Center ( in the USA 800 799 6560; www.mychinavisa.com), taking around 10to 14 days. China International Travel Service in the US, France and Denmark also handlesvisas (Click here).
From Hong KongOptions:China Travel Service (www.ctshk.com) See the website (under Branch Info) for Hong Kongand international offices.Visa Office of the People’s Republic of China ( 3413 2300; 7th fl, Lower Block, ChinaResources Centre, 26 Harbour Rd, Wan Chai; 9am-noon & 2-5pm Mon-Fri) Single-entrytourist visas processed in one/two/three days cost HK$400/300/150 (American and UKpassport holders pay more). Arrive early and queue.From Mongolia & RussiaIt’s possible to get a visa for China in Ulaanbaatar, but this takes a week and involves queuingand more paperwork. The website http://mn.china-embassy.org/eng/lsfw lists all fees, openinghours and requirements. When you apply for the visa you must provide one passport photo,proof of departure from China (eg an air or train reservation), proof of a booked hotel stay ofthree nights and a bank statement. In practice, travellers often obtain all this from any travelagency in Ulaanbaatar and simply cancel afterwards. In Russia, China has consulates in St Petersburg, Moscow and Khabarovsk. At the very leastan invitation letter and/or hotel booking and an onward flight are usually required. In StPetersburg, travellers have successfully organised the invitation and visa through Milor-Tur (812-982 7489; www.milor-tour.spb.ru, in Russian; ul Bol Konyushennaya 27, office 304).Seven-day processing costs R3000, three-day processing an extra R1000. You will need to beregistered in St Petersburg.Registration & ExtensionsThere’s no individual registration requirement when you enter China. Remember that if you goto Hong Kong or Macau (which are visa-free for many nationalities) you’ll need a new visa or adouble-entry visa to return to the mainland. The Foreign Affairs Branch of the local Public Security Bureau (PSB) deals with visaextensions. See Click here for PSB details in Běijīng.Visas for MongoliaCurrently, a 30-day tourist visa is easily obtained at any Mongolian embassy, consulate,consulate-general or honorary consul (special exit-permit conditions apply for visas fromhonorary consuls). To stay beyond 30 days, tourist visas can be extended in Ulaanbaatar. US citizens can stay in Mongolia for up to 90 days without a visa. Israeli and Malaysiancitizens can stay visa-free for up to 30 days and Hong Kong and Singaporean citizens can stayvisa-free for up to 14 days. To get a visa for longer than 30 days, you must be invited or sponsored by a Mongoliancitizen, foreign resident (expat) or Mongolian company, or be part of an organised tour. It istherefore possible to get a 90-day visa for most nationalities; you just need to pay the invitingagency a fee of around US$30. Most guesthouses can do this. The Khongor Guesthouse(www.khongor-expedition.com) in Ulaanbaatar is very reliable. If you cannot get to a Mongolian consulate, you can pick up a 30-day tourist visa on arrival atthe airport in Ulaanbaatar. There is no guarantee, however. You’ll need US$93 and twopassport photos and you must have an invitation from an organisation or company in Mongolia.
A single-entry transit visa costs between US$25 and US$60, depending on where you applyfor it, but cannot be extended. You will need to show your train or plane ticket and a visa forthe next country (Russia or China). Transit visas are valid for 72 hours from the date of entry,which will only allow you to get off the Trans-Mongolian train in Ulaanbaatar for a very shorttime before catching another train to Russia or China.Consulate WebsitesInternational www.immigration.gov.mnAustralia www.mongolianconsulate.com.auUK www.embassyofmongolia.co.ukUSA www.mongolianembassy.usFrom China & RussiaFor a list of Mongolian embassies in China and Russia, Click here. Always try to call ahead ashours change frequently. Expect to pay approximately US$40 for normal four-day processing orabout US$75 for a same-day rush visa. Invitations are not usually required, but this can bearbitrary and change quickly; it’s worth being prepared if you’re short of time. See Click herefor more.Registration & ExtensionsIf you stay less than 30 days, you don’t need to register. All visitors who plan to stay more than30 days must be registered within seven days of their arrival. This applies to everyone,including US citizens. You can extend a 30-day tourist visa by another 30 days. For extensions, registration andexit visas, go to the Office of Immigration, Naturalization & Foreign Citizens (INFC; 011-1882; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm Mon-Fri), 1.8km east of the airport, an inconvenient 15km trekfrom central Ulaanbaatar. The office is usually busy, so you should expect to spend an hour ortwo here. If you’ve already registered, you should apply for an extension (US$2 per day;minimum extension seven days) about a week before your visa expires. You’ll need a passport-size photo and must pay a T5000 processing fee. The extension will be issued on the sameday. Bring cash. Several guesthouses in Ulaanbaatar will take care of visa extensions (and registration) for asmall fee. If you don’t have a letter of support you can write your own (handwritten is OK); theletter should state the date of your arrival, the date of extension and the reason for travel. Getting a visa extension outside the capital is difficult, as your passport would need to besent back to Ulaanbaatar.Visas for RussiaEveryone entering Russia needs a visa and should apply before leaving home. From HongKong, requirements have recently been tightened, but you might try through Monkey Shrine(www.monkeyshrine.com). The Russian consulate in Běijīng has been known to issue transitvisas (www.russia.org.cn/eng) and Legend Tour (www.legendtour.ru/eng) in Ulaanbaatar isoften successful.Tourist Visa
For most travellers a tourist visa (single or double entry and valid for a maximum of 30 days,nonextendable, from the date of entry) will be sufficient. Travel agents, Russian hotels andspecialised visa agencies can provide the invitation; Click here.Business VisaIf you plan to stay longer than a month, it’s advisable to apply for a business visa. These can beissued for three, six or 12 months, and are available as single-entry, double-entry or multiple-entry visas. They are valid for up to 90 days of travel within any 180-day period. You don’tneed to be on business to get one of these visas (they’re great for independent tourists withlonger travel itineraries and flexible schedules), but to get one you must have a letter ofinvitation from a registered Russian company or organisation (arranged via specialist visaagencies).Transit VisaFor transit by air, this visa is usually good for a maximum of three days. For a nonstop Trans-Siberian Railway journey, it’s valid for 10 days, giving westbound passengers a few days inMoscow; those heading east, however, are not allowed to linger in Moscow.Private VisaThis visa is valid for up to three months and can be issued for single or double entry. To getone you’ll need an official invitation certificate from relatives or friends you’ll be staying with (thisis a big hassle for them to get; applying for a regular tourist or business visa is far simpler).ApplicationIf the agency is not handling the application as well, you need to lodge it yourself at theconsulate. Costs vary from US$50 to US$450 depending on the type of visa applied for andhow quickly you need it. Check well in advance what these rules might be; for example,applications in the US and UK must now be made using the online form of the ConsularDepartment of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (available athttp://evisa.kdmid.ru).Immigration FormImmigration forms are given out on your flight, available in the arrivals hall or producedelectronically by passport control (this happens at Moscow airports). Take good care of yourhalf of the completed form as you’ll need it for registration and could face problems whiletravelling in Russia – and certainly will on leaving – if you can’t produce it.RegistrationIt’s crucial that you are registered at least once. Every visitor to Russia must have their visaregistered within seven working days of arrival, ie excluding weekends and public holidays.Every time you change cities, you must register again within seven working days. Once registered, you should receive a slip of paper confirming the dates you’ll be staying atthat particular hotel. Keep this safe – any police who stop you will need to see it. (Registrationused to be required within three days of arrival, and some police are unaware of the change. Inany case, it’s a good idea to keep your train and bus tickets so you can prove that you didn’tneed to register.) Things becomes easier after the first registration as most travellers move on within seven
working days, ie before a new registration is required. Travelling the Trans-Siberian routes, youmight only be registered once. If you’re staying at a hotel, the receptionist will register you for free (or occasionally for a feeof around €10). Most hotels can do this immediately, which is useful if you’re travelling on thenext day, but some require a full working day to process it with the Upravleniye FederalnoyMigratsionnoy Slyzhby (UFMS). If you’re on a tight schedule, ask how long registration takes.(Note also that the UFMS doesn’t process registrations on Wednesday.) Some inviting agencies (such as Real Russia) can organise registration for the whole periodof your stay. This is often worth having if you’re travelling to remote regions. If you’re not staying in a hotel, you can register yourself at a post office (seewww.waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/Registration.html for the steps), which is difficult at best andnearly impossible in remote places.ExtensionsExtensions are time-consuming and difficult; tourist visas can’t be extended at all. Avoid theneed for an extension by initially arranging a longer visa than you might need.
Life on theRails Top of section ARRIVING & BOARDINGInternet Resources » »Allow enough time at the station for formalities andCircumbaikal Railway last-minute supplies. Check the name of the station(http://kbzd.transsib.ru/eng) closely on your ticket and arrive 40 minutes to oneCNVOL.com hour before scheduled departure.(www.cnvol.com/boarding-china- » »Wait for the platform (платформ) and track (путь)train.htm) Tips about trains in to be displayed on the departure board.China. » »Keep your ticket and passport safe but accessibleA Journey on the Trans- so you can show them for boarding.Siberian Railway (www.trans-siberian-railway.co.uk) Clive INSIDE THE CARRIAGESampsan’s passion for travel, with Facilities in the carriage will depend on the class ofinspiring photos. travel. Generally, a 2nd-class kupe carriage is asMan in Seat 61 follows. On the left as you enter is one bathroom and(www.seat61.com) Mark Smith’s alongside that is the attendant’s compartment.definitive website. Opposite this compartment is the all-importantMeeting of Frontiers samovar with hot water for beverages, and directly(http://international.loc.gov/intldl/mtfhtml/mfhome.html) opposite this, inset on the wall near the attendant’sOnline collection about Russians compartment, is (in theory) potable water. Under noexploring America and vice versa. circumstances drink the water in the bathrooms; theUnder ‘Digital Collections’ you’ll best and safest water on the train comes from thefind an original Trans-Siberian samovar.guidebook dating from 1900 andrare books and photos, many Each 2nd-class carriage has closed compartments,relating to Siberian and Far East but during the day the doors are often left open. Attravel and exploration. the other end of the carriage is a second toilet, and beyond that a smokers’ vestibule with an ashtray. TheVirtual Tours rubbish bin is inside a wooden box opposite theGoogle Maps (www.google.ru/ second toilet.intl/ru/landing/transsib/en.html) Avirtual journey on the Rossiya Clothesfrom Moscow to Vladivostok, Loose fitting, comfortable and layered is the motto.from Google and Russian Russian train attire often consists of ultra-loudRailways. Choose the rumble of synthetic tracksuit pants, a T-shirt and pullover (orwheels, Russian radio or between sweatshirt) and thongs or sandals. In contrast to Russian big-city streetwear, this is not high fashion,
War and Peace and several other but it’s highly functional. Variations on this theme – Russian classics (in Russian). such as loose-fitting jeans and using the tracksuit Russian Railways (http:// pants as pyjamas – are a good compromise between eng.rzd.ru/vtour/index.html) A style and comfort. In winter, a warm jacket or virtual tour inside the Rossiya. overcoat and a warm hat and gloves, as well as face and lip cream against cold, should be kept close byfor station stops. Be aware of polite signals or requests by others that you should briefly leave thecompartment so that the person can get changed – mostly, this happens just before or afterdeparture.ToiletsThe toilets on all major trains are Western type. Unless the train has a closed-system biologicaltoilet (some modern or refitted carriages have these), toilets will be locked before and afterarrival at a station. In larger cities, this might be one hour before arrival and one hour afterleaving the station, although 10 to 20 minutes on each side of town is more usual. The scheduleis attached to the toilet door. There are no showers in passenger carriages except in 1st classon a few top-quality trains, so a flannel is useful for washing at the basin. Most firmeny(premium) trains, however, have a staff carriage with shower and ironing facilities. Theprovodnitsa can organise a visit to the rain room for a couple of dollars. Apart from soap andthe usual toiletries, pack or buy sufficient toilet paper, although a good attendant will keep thetoilets supplied and shipshape. Use the bathroom bin to dispose of sanitary objects. A clotheshook situated in the bathroom is useful for hanging up your day pack or toiletries bag while yougo about your ablutions. SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED On any long-distance Russian train journey you’ll soon learn who’s in charge: the provodnitsa. Though sometimes male (a provodnik), carriage attendants are usually women. Some of them sport the most distinctive hairdos you’ll come across this side of a drag-queen convention. Apart from checking your ticket before boarding the train, doling out linen, and shaking you awake in the middle of the night when your train arrives, the provodnitsa ’s job is to keep her carriage spick and span (most are very diligent about this) and to make sure the samovar is always fired up with hot water. They will have cups, plates and cutlery to borrow, if you need them, and can provide drinks and snacks for a small price. On long journeys the provodnitsa works in a team of two; one will be working while the other is resting. Be polite and respectful to your provodnitsa and your journey will be all the more pleasant.ElectricityIn the age of manifold hand-held devices and digital cameras, power outlets can be a problemin some carriages, especially on the Russian trains. These have a couple of 110-volt outlets forrazors, but often a 2nd-class carriage will have only one 220-volt socket, located halfway alongthe corridor. Ask politely, however, and you can often use a power outlet inside the attendant’scarriage. Modern 1st-class and many newer 2nd-class carriages also have power outlets in thecompartments.Getting to Know
Politely greeting fellow travellers when you first enter the compartment, or greeting newarrivals, is a good icebreaker. Let things develop at a natural pace, though. Offering food, evenas a token gesture, used to be de rigueur and remains the best way to cultivate a goodtravelling relationship. Russians are masters of the art of conversation, so if you’re travelling alone it will be easy tomeet people. Chinese travellers are also curious and like talking to foreigners. Sometimes thetrolley lady selling drinks and snacks will combine business with pleasure by sitting down for arest and conversation. If you chat for a long time, it’s usual to buy a drink or snack in return.Keep small change for this – snack sellers can disappear into the taiga for several hundredkilometres in order to break the high notes. The more skilled deliver the best vodka andconversation on the train. If you have difficulties with a fellow passenger (a loud DVD player is a possible one), sort itout locally, but if that fails, the provodnitsa can swing into action. I TRAVEL, THEREFORE I AM One of the most celebrated Trans-Siberian travellers is North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il, who in summer 2001 cruised by train across Siberia on a nine-day jaunt to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin, and then on to Putin’s home town of St Petersburg. Unlike lesser mortals, he had the pleasure of a 21-carriage armoured train, which more than did the trick of keeping the media at arm’s length. As London’s Independent put it at the time, ‘Mr Kim’s trip across Russia has been extraordinarily successful in terms of making Russians and the rest of the world aware that the 59-year-old North Korean leader exists.’ This is a good enough reason to take the Trans-Siberian if ever there was one. A decade later, Kim was back in his train on a trip to Ulan-Ude, where he met Dmitry Medvedev and reportedly told him ‘we are having a very fun journey’. Indeed.Time ZonesFor more on time differences, Click here. Jetlag is much like the smell of smoked fish in acompartment – it has a habit of lingering. The Trans-Siberian route between Moscow andVladivostok crosses seven of Russia’s nine time zones. Since March 2011 Moscow has kept itsclocks permanently on summer time, which is GMT/UTC plus four hours.WHERE TIME GMT/UTCMoscow noon (12:00)+4hrBěijīng 4pm (16:00) +8hrUlaanbaatar 4pm (16:00) +8hrYekaterinburg & Tyumen2pm (14:00) +6hrOmsk & Novosibirsk 3pm (15:00) +7hrKrasnoyarsk 4pm (16:00) +8hrIrkutsk & Ulan-Ude 5pm (17:00) +9hrVladivostok 7pm (19:00) +11hrClocks and timetables on trains and at stations show Moscow time (Moskovskoe vremya).Local time is known as mestnoe vremya. The best way to cope with the time zones is to drink plenty of bottled water, avoid overdoing
the alcohol and shift your meals and bedtime back or forward according to local time.Travellers who take strong medication will need to exercise caution and seek advice from theirdoctor before setting out (Click here).Safety & SafekeepingRussian and Asian trains are safe, but be security conscious, especially if you’re travellingalone.» »Keep your valuables and documents with you at all times in a zipped or buttoned-up pocket.Don’t flash large amounts of cash or your credit cards around.» »Money belts and ankle stashes are useful, but storing documents and valuables inside yourpillowcase while you sleep is the safest stash.» »Ask someone you trust to keep an eye on any bag containing valuable equipment while youare away.» »If you’re alone in a compartment, ask the provodnitsa to lock it while you go to therestaurant car or get out at long station stops (never leave luggage completely unattended in anunlocked compartment).» »Lock your compartment door from the inside at night and use the additional metal securitylatch on the door.Generally, the more alcohol in play, the more safety is an issue. In the rare case that you aremolested by a fellow passenger, inform the attendant. If you feel unsafe, a move or swap canbe organised.LuggageHow much to bring will be a compromise between weight and comfort. The baggage allowanceper adult on Chinese international trains is 35kg (20kg on domestic trains). On all Russian trainsit’s 36kg (50kg in 1st class). Before boarding, stow things needed for the journey in your day pack; the rest can be lockedin your baggage and stored either inside the base of one bottom bunk (you can lift up the bunk),beneath the bunk opposite this (less safe), or in the luggage space above the door. TALKING TO THE MAN IN SEAT 61 Mark Smith went from managing London railway stations to running his award-winning website www.seat61.com – the train traveller’s definitive compendium. A plane is a ‘glorified teleport’, he says, that ‘detracts from the experience of travel. I think we’ve almost created a mode of travel that narrows the mind. On a train you can see every blade of grass passing the window; you get a feeling for the distance’. What got you hooked on train travel in the first place? Anyone who loves travel ought to like journeys as well as destinations. The two go together, like climbing the mountain and being at the summit. And if you like journeys, let’s choose a mode of transport where you can see where you’re going, where you can meet people, you’re not strapped down, you’re treated like a human being and can eat in a restaurant, sleep in a bed, and move around freely. You’ve travelled a couple of different Trans-Siberian routes. What are the main differences? People talk about the Trans-Siberian as if it’s just one experience, but I’ve had completely different experiences on different routes. When I took the Moscow to Beijing Trans-Mongolian train, almost everyone was going the whole route and it was a party all the way. The scenery changes from four days of Siberia to a day in Mongolia with the total contrast of the Gobi Desert, then it changes again on the final day to the mountains of China and, of course, the Great Wall. On the other hand, travelling from Moscow to Vladivostok was seven solid days of Siberia. Russians tend to use the train for various sections of the route, rather than end to end, and there were no other Westerners except for a couple that got on in Irkutsk. Even I was going a bit stir crazy by the time we reached Vladivostok, and the nicest part of that trip was the ferry from Vladivostok to Japan.
What’s the worst experience you’ve ever had on a train? I don’t think I’ve ever had a really bad experience. If you mean bad experience as an uncomfortable, dirty or late train, paradoxically, some of the experiences on dirty, run-down trains have been the most memorable. There are people who are so scared of having a bad experience that they’d rather have none at all. I think that any experience is worthwhile and better than none. I’ve travelled on some really run-down trains – for example, in Burma – but it’s an experience I will always remember. It’s a question of your attitude to travel rather than the train. What’s the most useful item to have with you on a train journey? Well, obviously I never travel without a good book and a corkscrew. If you could choose one travelling companion for a round-the-world journey by train and boat, who would you choose and why? Good gracious, that’s a tough one. I think it could be Michael Palin. I’m a great Monty Python fan, he’s a great traveller, and he’s gone everywhere I’ve gone, two years before me, and he hasn’t had to pay for his ticket.Essential Items» »Pocketknife with corkscrew and openers, plastic or metal mug, plastic or metal cutlery (ametal camping set that fits together is useful)» »Lightweight torch» »Money belt, neck pouch or ankle stash» »Toilet paper, a small medical kit (the attendant also has one) and whatever hygiene articlesyou need. Buy some from the attendant, or top up at platform kiosks.» »Earplugs or a sleeping mask if white noise or bright light bothers you» »Bottled water» »An electrical plug adaptor if required (Click here)» »Comfortable clothing suitable for the season, and slip-on footwearComfort ItemsThings that are useful or make life more comfortable are a sense of humour, reading material(audio books and e-books are easiest), a camera, a battery charger and a music-capabledevice loaded with your favourite tunes. Also bring a notepad and pen to plot random thoughts,and don’t forget your mobile-phone plug. A large USB stick, a USB cable for transferring todiscs in internet cafes, or even a portable hard drive and replacement memory cards for videosand photos can be useful. Note that if you’re doing a lot of travelling in Mongolia, it’s useful to bring along sealableziplock plastic bags to protect your electronics from dust, and a thin silk or cotton sleeping-bagliner to make threadbare bedding more comfortable.SmokingCompartments, carriages and frequently the restaurant car are smoke-free zones, but there’s astanding-room vestibule for smokers at the opposite end of the carriage from the attendant’scompartment. Hang out there for a long time, however, and you’re going to arrive with thecomplexion of a smoked eel. Also, they’re unheated, so in winter you may arrive looking likefrost-dusted smoked eel.Station StopsMany of the stops along the Trans-Siberian and Asian routes are for two minutes. Halts of 10to 20 minutes are common at larger towns or junctions, and sometimes extend up to six orseven hours at borders. From some platforms you have enough time to dash into the station,but let the provodnitsa know in advance and plan your dash well before you do it. Trains won’twait for you.
» »A timetable of station stops (in Cyrillic) hangs in the carriage, but these times are not set instone. Check the schedule (or take a photo of it), but also double-check with the provodnitsawhen you get off.» »All train clocks show Moscow time. It’s useful to be bi-temporal, eg keeping your watch onMoscow time and a mobile device on local time.» »Take your ticket and passport with you. You might be asked to show them to police on theplatform (rare) or to get back on (if you have unremarkable features).» »If you miss your train, inform station staff immediately. They will try to organise alternativesso you can catch up with your luggage. But don’t count on it.FoodPlatform FoodShopping for supplies on station platforms is part of the fun of the Trans-Siberian Railway(note, however, that in Mongolia and China you will find very little food available on platforms).It’s a good idea to have plenty of small change on hand, but you’ll rarely have to worry aboutbeing overcharged. The choice of items can be excellent, with bread, fresh dairy products, ice cream, grilledchicken, boiled potatoes, home cooking such as pelmeni (dumplings) or pirozhki (savourypies), buckets of forest berries and smoked fish all on offer. Through Siberia you’ll always findsellers of fresh pine or cedar nuts. Always check the use-by dates on packaged platform food.Compartment PicnicsInstant noodles have made great inroads into Russia’s rail system, but serious eating still tendsto involve sliced chunks of cucumber and tomato in summer, more often than not curedsausage, perhaps fish, perhaps a cold dish someone prepared at home, all washed down withbeer, tea or, not rarely, vodka. A cloth or newspaper is often spread carefully across thecompartment table, then the food is unpacked lovingly and eaten with relish. After that – if it’slunch – everyone usually dozes off. If you buy plentifully on the platforms and have the righttravel companions, compartment picnics will be a true highlight of your trip. Strictly speaking, alcohol cannot be carried onto the train; it can only be bought from therestaurant car or the snack seller. In practice, Russians invariably bring their own. You cancurrently get beer on platforms, but regulations in Russia about the sale of alcohol at trainstations are tightening; no one knows how this will pan out for the platform trade.Restaurant Cars & BuffetsThe restaurant cars are changed at each country’s border, so en route to Běijīng you will getRussian, Chinese and possibly Mongolian menus (although it’s unlikely there’ll be a car attachedbetween the Russian border and Ulaanbaatar). In restaurant cars, a full meal with accompanying drink typically costs US$20 to US$30, paidin local currency. The cars are open from approximately 9am to 9pm local time, although theirhours in Russia are highly unpredictable. With time-zone differences, knowing when to turn up isalmost impossible to guess. Generally, Chinese restaurant cars have the best food. On Russianmenus, the dishes with prices written alongside them are the ones available that day. Some trains, especially on the Baikal-Amur Mainline (Baikalo-Amurskaya Magistral; BAM),only have a buffet car with high tables, but these afford good panoramas of the landscape. Inthe restaurant car there’s often a table of pot noodles, chocolate, alcohol, juice and the like.
As well as vendors who go through the carriages with snacks, provodniki offer their owndrinks and nibbles. Prices are not as cheap as at the kiosks or station halts. A restaurant or buffet car can be a good place to meet people, or get away from them,depending on the time of day or night and standard of food and service. On some low-gradeRussian trains you’ll find few signs of edible food or human life, however, except for a fewbored staff and the telltale smell of something having been cooked there some time in thedistant past. On other trains, the standard isn’t too bad.CLASSES & COMFORTSIn theory, all but the cheapest carriages are air-conditioned in summer and heated in winter –that’s why the windows are locked shut (though sometimes you’ll be able to open them). Inpractice, air conditioning can break down or a compartment can be stiflingly overheated. Some Russian 2nd-class compartments are entirely single-sex these days, although this isnot available on all trains. See Click here for specifics about Chinese and Mongolian classes.Deluxe 1st ClassDeluxe 1st class is available on train K3/4 (Trans-Mongolian). This entails roomy, two-berthcompartments with showers shared between two compartments. Train K23/24 between Běijīngand Ulaanbaatar has a similar deluxe 1st class with showers.1st Class/SVThis class goes by various names: SV (short for spalny vagon, or sleeping wagon), myagky(soft class) or lyux. They are the same size as 2nd-class compartments but have only twoberths, so there’s more room and more privacy for double the cost. Some 1st-classcompartments also have screens for watching DVDs. The provodnitsa has DVDs for a smallfee (there’s nothing to stop you from bringing your own, although they’ll need to work on aRussian DVD player, compatible with region 5). Some premium trains, such as those between Moscow and St Petersburg (train 53/54;http://grandexpress.ru/en), and between Moscow and Kazan, offer luxury SV compartmentswith double beds and their own shower and toilet.Chinese 1st Class – Four BerthA four-berth compartment is available on the Chinese train K3/4. It’s a little more spacious than2nd class, with wider beds, and the carriages have a newer feel.2nd Class/KupeThe compartments in a kupeyny carriage (2nd class, also called ‘compartmentalised’ and oftenshortened to kupe) are standard on long-distance trains. These carriages are divided into ninecompartments, each with four reasonably comfortable berths, a fold-down table and enoughroom between bunks to stand and undress. In every carriage there’s one half-sized compartment with just two berths. This is usuallyoccupied by the provodnitsa, or reserved for railway employees, but there is a slim chance thatyou may end up in it, particularly if you do a deal directly with a provodnitsa for a train ticket.
3rd Class/PlatskartYou either love them or hate them, and it’s worth experiencing this at least once to decide foryourself. A reserved-place platskartny carriage, sometimes also called zhyostky (‘hard class’,or 3rd class) and usually abbreviated to platskart, is essentially a dorm carriage sleeping 54.The bunks are non-compartmentalised and arranged in blocks of four running down one side ofthe corridor and in two on the other, with the lower bunk on this side converting to a table andchairs during the day. They’re ideal for one-night journeys. In summer the lack of compartmentwalls means they’re not usually as stuffy as a kupe can be. Many travellers (women inparticular) find platskart a better option than being cooped up with three (possibly drunken)Russian men. It’s also a great way to meet ordinary Russians. However, on multiday journeys some platskart carriages can begin to resemble a refugeecamp, with clothing strung between bunks, a great swapping of bread, fish and jars of tea, andbabies sitting on potties while their snot-nosed siblings tear up and down the corridor. Only thehardy would want to do Moscow to Vladivostok or similar nonstop journeys this way. If you do travel platskart, it’s worth requesting specific numbered seats when booking yourticket. The ones to avoid are 1 to 4 (next to the attendant and samovar, which means a lot ofactivity) and 33 to 36 (next to the toilet). Corridor bunks are numbered from 37 (the lower bunknear the toilet and smoking vestibule) to 54 (the upper bunk near the provodnitsa). Oddnumbers are always lower bunks, even numbers upper. The bottom side berth bunks (ie theodd numbers) are shorter than the rest. Anyone over 180cm (6ft) tall will find the ‘pedialoverhang’ untenable, if not downright uncomfortable. TRAVEL READING ON THE TRAIN Pack something light, such as a thriller; ploughing through Tolstoy’s War and Peace is a noble intention, but you will probably be too tired to take it in. If you go for something classic, audio books are a good idea. For other suggestions, Click here. Some recommended travel books: » » Railway Travel The Great Railway Bazaar, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star or Riding the Iron Rooster (Paul Theroux), The Big Red Train Ride (Eric Newby), The Trans-Siberian Railway: a Traveller’s Anthology (Deborah Manly). » » Russia In Siberia (Colin Thubron), Travels in Siberia (Ian Frazier; Click here), Russia: a Journey to the Heart of a Land and its People (Jonathan Dimbleby), A History of the Peoples of Siberia (James Forsyth), The Shaman’s Coat: A Native History of Siberia (Anna Reid), Siberia: a Cultural History (LP author Anthony Haywood). » » Mongolia Lost Country: Mongolia Revealed (Jasper Becker), Wild East (Jill Lawless), Dateline Mongolia: an American Journalist in Nomad’s Land (LP author Michael Kohn; see also his 2010 book Lama of the Gobi, tracing the life of Mongolian mystic Danzan Ravjaa). » » China China Road (Rob Gifford), River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (Peter Hessler).4th Class/ObshchiyAlso called 4th class, obshchiy (general) is unreserved. On long-distance trains the obshchiycarriage looks the same as a platskart, but when it’s full, eight people are squeezed into eachunenclosed compartment so there’s no room to lie down. Suburban trains normally have onlyobshchiy class, which in this case means bench-type seating. On a few daytime-only intercitytrains there are higher-grade obshchiy carriages with more comfortable, reserved chairs.Crossing the Borders
The Trans-Mongolian Railway crosses the Russia–Mongolia border at Naushki-Sükhbaatar,which can take anything from six to 11 hours. Crossing the China–Mongolia border takes aboutfive hours, and the bogies of the carriages are changed to the local gauge here. See Click hereand Click here respectively for details about the Russia–Mongolia and Mongolia–Chinaprocedures. The Trans-Manchurian Railway crosses the Russia–China border between Mănzhōulǐ (China)and Zabaikalsk (Russia), which takes about half a day. Again, the bogies must be changed.Remember: toilets are always locked at stops and during bogie changes. For more information,Click here.
ChoosingYour Route Top of section TRANS-SIBERIAN: FROMTrans-Siberian Railway MOSCOW TO VLADIVOSTOKMoscow–Vladivostok The It’s often called the classic Trans-Siberian route andclassic route between Russia’s was hailed as the ‘fairest jewel in the crown of thecapital and the Pacific Ocean, Tsars’. This route runs between Moscow andcrossing the Urals, Siberia and Vladivostok, mostly following the historic path ofthe Far East. Russia’s first railway across the subcontinent. TrainsTrans-Mongolian Railway roll for 9289km across steppe and through taiga on a journey that takes at least 143 hours (around six fullMoscow–Běijīng via Mongolia days) from Moscow to the Pacific. The experience isVeers south at Ulan-Ude (just one of travelling through a vast Russian heartland, andbeyond Lake Baikal) to travellers seeking to widen the cultural or ethnic focusUlaanbaatar and continues to can stop over in Ulan-Ude (Buryatiya) or make sideBěijīng. trips to Mongolia.Trans-Manchurian Railway Because the Rossiya (train 1/2) is one of the mostMoscow–Běijīng via Hā’ěrbīn expensive on the route, travellers who wish to break(Harbin) From Chita the route the journey along the way are better off using othercrosses the grasslands of Inner trains.Mongolia to Hā’ěrbīn in Manchuriabefore passing the Great Wall to TrainsBěijīng. Train 1/2 The Rossiya travels via Vladimir and is theBaikal-Amur Mainline prime-choice firmeny (higher quality or premium) train(BAM) on the route, departing Moscow on odd days and, with exceptions, departing Vladivostok on even daysTayshet–Sovetskaya Gavan (five days, 23½ hours). It’s best used for nonstopCurls around the top of Lake travel and is among the most expensive (with aBaikal, crosses dense taiga, children’s carriage, kitsch restaurant car and staffwinds around mountains and carriage with shower).burrows through tunnels to thePacific Ocean. Train 239/240 Via Yaroslavl, every second day June to September (six days, 16½ hours).Alternative RoutesEuropean Russia Travel via Post train 903/904 A slow, daily train for theNizhny Novgorod, Kazan or masochistic, adventurous or sadly mistaken (10 days).Yaroslavl. Buses and local trains
are cheap options to cross Sample Prices – Rossiya Train 1/2 borders. The following prices are for the Moscow–Vladivostok journey booked in summer through Russian Railways.Prices vary with season and extra comforts.TYPE OF TICKET APPROXIMATE PRICEPlatskart (open compartment with bunks)R8500 (€210)Kupe (4-berth compartment) R21,000 (€510)Spalny vagon (SV; 2-berth sleeper) R41,000 (€1000)See Click here for more detailed train and price information.Flagship Trains for Shorter Hops25/26 Moscow–Novosibirsk (Sibiryak) Carriage for passengers with disabilities; showercarriage; ironing facilities.55/56 Moscow–Krasnoyarsk (Yenisey) Carriage with shower and ironing facilities.9/10 St Petersburg–Irkutsk (Baikal) Does not travel via Moscow. Carriages for children andpassengers with disabilities, carriage with shower and ironing facilities.15/16 Moscow–Yekaterinburg (Ural) Via Kazan; few notable extras. The 001 Г /002 Й(Moscow– Kazan) has a luxury carriage. TOP STOPOVERS MOSCOW – VLADIVOSTOK European Russia & Urals » » Nizhny Novgorod Situated on the Volga River, ‘Nizhny’ has some good museums and a lively food and culture scene. High-speed Sapsan trains from St Petersburg (kupe R9948, 8½ hours) and Moscow (seat R1490, four hours) complement conventional services. The nightly premium train 23/24 (kupe R2320, 7¼ hours) has super-luxury twin berths with shower and toilet. » » Yekaterinburg The unofficial capital of the Urals. Allow three days to explore sights in and around it, or at least a week to explore a chunk of the region. The flagship Ural train 15/16 (kupe R4520, 27 hours, daily) travels via Kazan. Siberia – West of Lake Baikal The most popular Siberian stopovers west of Lake Baikal are Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk. Tyumen, the first of the large Siberian cities after you leave Yekaterinburg, has the advantage of being the springboard for an easy side trip off the main line to historic Tobolsk, with its magnificent kremlin overlooking the Irtysh River (allow a minimum of three days so you have at least one full day in Tobolsk). Omsk is a very Siberian, oft-underrated city. Novosibirsk is Russia’s ‘third city’ and the unofficial capital of Siberia. Two to three days will give you a taste of the city. Anyone with a week or more up their sleeve for an extended side trip should consider bussing to the Altay Republic, as its Mongol-Turkic heritage offers an interesting cultural contrast on this route. Upstart Krasnoyarsk (Siberia’s ‘secret capital’) is situated on the Yenisey River and provides opportunities for extended side trips into Tuva – again, offering an ethnic contrast – or north to Yeniseysk. Lake Baikal to the Pacific » » Irkutsk and Lake Baikal Irkutsk is easily the most popular of the stopovers, and for one reason: Lake Baikal. If you arrive in Irkutsk during the day and immediately step into a marshrutka (collective taxi), you can be sipping a drink on the lapped shores of the world’s largest freshwater lake in just over an hour. A three- to four-day stopover is the absolute minimum if you want to at least dip a toe into the Baikal region. Irkutsk is also the base for longer side trips to Olkhon Island or the Tunka Valley. The most popular pastime during a short Baikal stopover, though, is simply lotus eating (more accurately, smoked-fish eating) in Listvyanka or other accessible small towns on Lake Baikal. » » Ulan-Ude Travellers have been known to stop here just to see with their own eyes the monumentally oversized bonce of Lenin’s memorial. Buryat and Buddhist (with doses of shamanism) culture are also drawcards. » » Khabarovsk Stop here for the flavour of a historic and lively Amur town. » » Blagoveshchensk A Russia–China border town offering an alternative route into China (Click here).
» » Vladivostok This is Russia’s bustling Far East port and one end of the line.TRANS-MONGOLIAN: FROM MOSCOW TO BĚIJĪNG VIAULAANBAATARThe Trans-Mongolian route is the most popular one because it takes travellers on a coherentjourney across three distinct cultures, landscapes and languages – even if not every traveller onthe train is coherent after the 7858km between Moscow and Běijīng. You will need up to threevisas (Click here). The major train servicing this route is the weekly Chinese train K3/4 (also appearing onRussian timetables as 33/43), which takes 5½ days between Běijīng and Moscow, travelling viaDàtóng and Èrlián in China, Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, and Ulan-Ude in Russia. A highlight of thejourney is that it traverses part of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. Many companies offer stopoverpackages with a night or two in a Mongolian ger (the traditional collapsible yurt dwelling). Between Ulan-Ude and Moscow the train follows the same route as the Trans-Siberian fromVladivostok, crossing European Russia via Nizhny Novgorod. It’s the most comfortable of theregular trains and uses Chinese locomotives, carriages and staff. BUYING SEPARATE TICKETS The only practical way to break a journey is to buy separate tickets. In order to break a Moscow–Běijīng journey in, say, Irkutsk, it’s best to take a Russian domestic train and then pick up the twice-weekly train 5/6 at Irkutsk for Ulaanbaatar, and then the once- to twice-weekly K23/24 between Ulaanbaatar and Běijīng. The Rossiya (train 1/2) is among the most expensive Russian trains, so if you want to break a journey on the Moscow–Vladivostok route, it’s much cheaper to use other trains. Rock-bottom prices on this route with train K3/4 are US$690 through China InternationalTravel Service (CITS) from abroad, or from about US$600 from CITS in Běijīng travellingwestwards, and R19,400 (about €485) booking locally in Russia from Intourist on Moscow’sNovy Arbat. See Click here for more on prices.TRANS-MANCHURIAN: FROM MOSCOW TO BĚIJĪNG VIAMANCHURIATwo important things to remember about this route are that it uses Russian rolling stock andstaff and it does not pass through Mongolia. (You will only need visas for Russia and China.)The weekly Trans-Manchurian train 19/20 goes via Chita to Zabaikalsk, the border town on theRussian side where the bogies are changed before the train crosses to Mănzhōulǐ in China. Theentire journey is 8988km and takes six days and two hours from Moscow to Běijīng, via NizhnyNovgorod in European Russia. It is a sublime route that can be combined with a stopover in Hā’ěrbīn, a Russian enclave inManchuria that established itself during construction of the line in the late 19th century. Most ofyour fellow passengers will be Russians or Chinese doing shorter hops. See Click here for
other train and bus options. Eastbound on train 20, Russian Railways prices start from aroundR31,500/20,500 (€790/515) for a two-/four-berth compartment. Westbound, CITS chargesUS$1185/762 from abroad, or US$1000/650 from CITS in Běijīng. See Click here for more onbuying tickets.BAIKAL-AMUR MAINLINE (BAM)Obscure, eclectic and a Soviet-era brainchild, the BAM is entirely within Russia, beginning inTayshet, a rail junction east of Krasnoyarsk (and almost 4800km east of Moscow). It skirts thenorthern tip of Lake Baikal at Severobaikalsk and terminates 4287km east of Tayshet atSovetskaya Gavan. Many travellers exit shortly before this, however, at Vanino as there’s aferry here to Sakhalin Island. Getting to and from the eastern railhead of the BAM can beinconvenient, and your best rail hub is Komsomolsk-na-Amure, 13½ hours before the terminus. Unlike the other routes, the BAM largely passes towns lacking historic character, as mostwere founded in order to build the line. This is grubby-window and taiga country. The BAMweaves through dramatic mountain landscapes rising to over 3000m, cuts a swath throughseemingly endless taiga that fringes the track, and plunges suddenly into the darkness oftunnels up to 15.3km long. Severobaikalsk is the major stop for relaxing on Lake Baikal, and stops at Bratsk, Tynda andespecially Komsomolsk-na-Amure are popular for short breaks from the poetic rattle of rail life. Invariably, travelling on the BAM involves taking short hops, such as from Tayshet toKomsomolsk-na-Amure, and from Komsomolsk-na-Amure to Sovetskaya Gavan (Click here).ALTERNATIVE ROUTES & TRANSPORTWith notable exceptions, such as train 15/16 (Ural, which goes via Kazan), the major trainscross European Russia via Nizhny Novgorod. A third route north via Yaroslavl is less commonlyused. Unless you decide to make a detour via Petropavlovsk in Kazakhstan (Kazakh visarequired), the route from the Ural Mountains into Central Siberia is simple: along the main linefrom Yekaterinburg through cities such as Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk. Afterthat, lines begin to fan out again.Budget & Border AlternativesThere are many ways to cut costs, but border hopping is a good one. Don’t forget, however,that you will also need to stay overnight in some places, in which case add up to €50 per nightfor a midrange hotel.Russia–Mongolia BorderThe Russia–Mongolia border on the Trans-Mongolian route is at Naushki on the Russian sideand Sükhbaatar on the Mongolian side. There’s also a road border at Kyakhta-Altanbulag whichis convenient for the Ulan-Ude–Ulaanbaatar bus. We’ve covered alternatives, with prices, indetail on Click here.Lake Baikal–UlaanbaatarGood options are daily trains (263/264; or 362 on Russian timetables) between Irkutsk andUlaanbaatar (R4500, 27 hours), and the once- to twice-weekly 5/6 (also on timetables as train63) between Moscow and Ulaanbaatar (from Moscow R15,200, four days five hours), which
stops in Irkutsk. From Ulan-Ude (Russia) you have bus and train options, as well as plane. See Click here fordetails.Mongolia–China BorderThe border between Mongolia and China crosses at Zamyn-Üüd (Mongolia) and Èrlián (China).This is often a sleepless leg, as most trains cross at night. See Click here for details.Russia–China BorderThe border between Russia and China on the Trans-Manchurian is at Zabaikalsk (Russia) andMǎnzhōulǐ (China). There are numerous train and bus options here; Click here. The websitewww.chinatrainguide.com is useful for planning train connections within China. Other border crossings are in the Amur and Primorye regions of Russia; Click here.Trans-Manchurian Budget RouteHow? Moscow to Irkutsk (platskart €120, three days 14 hours). Stopover in Irkutsk. Irkutsk toZabaikalsk (platskart €63, 31 hours). Zabaikalsk to Mănzhōulǐ (bus €10). Stopover in Mănzhōulǐ.Mănzhōulǐ to Běijīng (hard sleeper €50, 32 hours).Total cost: Approximately €250.Trans-Mongolian Budget RouteHow? Moscow to Ulan-Ude (platskart €125, three days 16½ hours). Stopover in Ulan-Ude.Ulan-Ude to Ulaanbaatar (bus €25, 12 hours). Stopover in Ulaanbaatar. Ulaanbaatar to Èrlián(hard sleeper €44, 12½ hours). Èrlián to Běijīng (sleeper bus €20, 10 hours).Total cost: Approximately €225.Alternatives – Amur & Primorye RegionsMuch of the northeastern border between China and Siberia is an often forgotten region alongthe Amur River. Here it’s possible to roam Siberian forests and visit dwindling settlements ofnorthern minorities, such as the Daur, Evenki, Hezhen and Oroqen. One border-crossing optionis on ferries plying the river between Khabarovsk (Russia) and Fŭyuăn (Fuyuan, China; one wayR350, 90 minutes).Blagoveshchensk (Russia)–Hā’ěrbīn (China)Blagoveshchensk is off the Trans-Siberian main line. This approach involves crossing the AmurRiver by frequent boat to/from Hēihé (Click here) and taking a train to/from Hā’ěrbīn (softsleeper Y220, 10½ hours), which has good rail links with Běijīng (Y429, eight to 18 hours).Hā’ěrbīn (China)–Vladivostok (Russia)Trains between Vladivostok and Hā’ěrbīn go via Ussuriysk and take over 40 hours. The easiestway is by daily bus from Vladivostok’s train station; Click here. You can also short-hop to theborder on trains from Ussuriysk to Grodekogo (not daily) or by bus. On the China side, thereare good connections between Suífēnhé and Hā’ěrbīn (Click here).Vladivostok–Sovetskaya GavanA through carriage on the daily train 351 links the Trans-Siberian Railway with the BAM,
travelling via Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-na-Amure between Vladivostok and SovetskayaGavan (kupe R4400, 41 hours).Amur-Yakutsk Mainline (AYaM)At the time of research, this new line into Yakutia had been completed between Tynda on theBAM to just beyond Tommot. Currently most travellers continue to Yakutsk from Neryungri trainstation by minivan or jeep (Click here). RESEARCHING ALTERNATIVES ONLINE If you’re searching for alternative trains, check out the website www.rzdmsk.ru/home.htm (in Russian) and scroll down to the timetables for stations (Расписание поездов). The information is not always current, but it gives you a starting point of the routes available so you can begin looking for trains on particular days on sites like www.tutu.ru, http://rasp.yandex.ru or the Russian Railways website http://rzd.ru (all in Russian). The German National Railways site, www.bahn.de, is your best English-language option. On the Chinese side of the border, do an inland search on www.chinatrainguide.com. Also see www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains/erlian-train-schedule.htm. The most informative and current site for train travel in Russia, Mongolia and China (and other countries) is www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm. It also has suggestions on getting to the railheads and on ferry services. The LP Thorn Tree forum on www.lonelyplanet.com, and one of its dedicated contributors, Everbrite (Ruth), www.myazcomputerguy.com/everbrite/Page2.html, are also very useful.EXTENDING FROM THE RAILHEADSIf you have the time and money, consider taking a train rather than a plane to the railheads. Atthe Moscow end, the choices lead to many cities of Western and Central Europe, whereasfrom Běijīng some interesting choices are Vietnam and Hong Kong. Vladivostok has the bestchoices for taking ferries.St PetersburgSt Petersburg is gradually starting to be seen as the start of a Trans-Siberian journey.St Petersburg–Moscow–Yekaterinburg– Chelyabinsk Trains 145 and 40 run on odd andmost even days respectively via Moscow and Yekaterinburg to Chelyabinsk (kupe R6220, twodays). Train 146 does the reverse direction on odd days.St Petersburg–Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod The high-speed Sapsan (www.poezdsapsan.ru, inRussian) connects St Petersburg with Moscow (seat from R2612, four hours, five daily) andNizhny Novgorod (seat R5620, eight hours, daily).St Petersburg–Irkutsk Train 9/10 (Baikal). Does not go via Moscow. Usually on odd days inboth directions (kupe R9850, three days 19 hours).InternationalSee Click here for more international connections.European Russia
Helsinki–St Petersburg Five daily trains, including four high-speed Allegro trains (2nd class€102, 3½ hours). Ferries and buses also do the route.Helsinki–Moscow via St Petersburg Daily train 31/32 (Lev Tolstoi; kupe €133, 13½ hours)Moscow–Tallinn (kupe €155, 16 hours, daily)St Petersburg–Vilnius–Warsaw (kupe €160, 25½ hours) Bypasses Belarus (and Belarus visaformalities), with changes of train in Vilnius and Šeštokai (both in Lithuania).Amsterdam–Moscow Direct daily train service via Cologne, Berlin, Warsaw and Minsk toMoscow (two-berth compartments €320, 36½ hours).London–Moscow via Brussels & Cologne Take the Eurostar train to Brussels, then a high-speed train to Cologne and change to the train from Amsterdam to Moscow. Expect to payfrom €500 for the complete one-way trip in a two-berth sleeper.BěijīngBěijīng–Hanoi Four-berth rail sleepers, twice-weekly trains, departing Běijīng Thursday andSunday, departing Hanoi (Vietnam) Tuesday and Friday (US$175, 40 hours). London to Saigonby rail takes about two weeks (see www.seat61.com/vietnam.htm).Běijīng–Pyongyang (North Korea; US$175, 26 hours, four per week)Běijīng–Hong Kong (Y526, 24 hours, every two days)Vladivostok (By Sea)Vladivostok–Sakaiminato Via Donghae (Korea; from US$185 one way, 20 hours), continuingto Sakaiminato (Japan; from US$250 one way, 42 hours). See Click here.
regions at a glance Top of sectionThe Trans-Siberian Railway is – contrary to popular belief – neither a single routenor one single experience of taking the train across inner Asia. Routes andexperiences are as many as the trains, cities and landscapes along the way. InEuropean Russia you can choose from several routes, the main one going viaNizhny Novgorod to Yekaterinburg. From west to east, beyond Yekaterinburg youenter the often remote and unusual landscapes of Siberia, with choices tocontinue to Vladivostok, take the Baikal-Amur Mainline (Baikalo-AmurskayaMagistral; BAM), or explore more of inner and east Asia along the Trans-Mongolian or Trans-Manchurian routes. Each route has its own attractions, but allare brought together by the rhythms of distance and motion.MoscowHistoryCultureNightlifeHISTORYSee Russia’s earliest roots in the splendour of the Kremlin and the glory of St Basil’s Cathedral,while the more recent past is on display at Red Square.CULTUREClassical performing arts and world-class art museums are just part of the cultural scene inMoscow, where artists, musicians and directors are experimenting with new forms.
NIGHTLIFENight owls enjoy a dynamic scene – not only exclusive clubs, but also bohemian art cafes,underground blues bars, get-down discos and drink-up dives. All are invited to gather in thewee hours to watch the sunrise over Moscow’s golden domes and silver skyscrapers.Click hereSt PetersburgPalacesHistoryCulturePALACESWhether it be the Winter Palace, Marble Palace, Menshikov Palace or Yusupov Palace – eachwith a tale to tell, from revolution to murder – grandiose architecture on this scale can be foundnowhere else in Russia.HISTORYThe city’s fascinating, bloody past – from its brutal founding by Peter the Great to the BolshevikRevolution – can be found on every street corner and is a history buff’s dream.CULTUREThe Hermitage collection is unrivalled anywhere in the country, if not the entire world, while theRussian Museum groans under the weight of its own collection of Russian paintings from iconsto the avant-garde.Click here
Moscow to YekaterinburgSceneryCultureActivitiesSCENIC VIEWSPicturesque rather than spectacular, the Ural Mountains form a physical and metaphysicaldivide between Europe and Asia. The Volga River is a highlight and the scenery is mostbeautiful just east of Kungur.CULTURENizhny Novgorod offers an insight into Volga life and has a thriving food-meets-culture scene.Perm is reinventing itself as an ‘art capital’, while the lesser-travelled Kazan and Yaroslavlroutes offer insight into Islamic (Kazan) and Orthodox (Yaroslavl) cultures.ACTIVITIESPerm offers a base in the Urals for hiking, rafting or horseriding, and beyond this Kungur haseasy access to canoeing, cycling and winter cross-country skiing.Click hereYekaterinburg to KrasnoyarskSceneryCultureArchitectureSCENIC VIEWSA picture of unchanging taiga and farmland unfurls gradually outside your window as you traveldeeper into the heart of Siberia. On a winter journey, a blanket of snow makes the unchanginglook utterly dramatic and beautiful.CULTUREFor high and low culture head to Tomsk and Novosibirsk. The former, a friendly student townthat requires a slight detour off the Trans-Siberian, is home to a lively arts scene.ARCHITECTURE
Tomsk is famous throughout Russia for its attractive wooden buildings with intricately carvedfacades. Other towns with wooden buildings include Tyumen, Omsk and Tobolsk.Click hereLake Baikal: Krasnoyarsk to Ulan-UdeSceneryActivitiesHistorySCENIC VIEWSLake Baikal is the highlight, even viewed through the carriage window. Summer waters lap inshades of blue; winter whiteouts melt the frozen lake into its alpine backdrop.OUTDOOR LIFEWinter dog sledding and ice fishing on Baikal, ice-trekking or summer hiking along the GreatBaikal Trail. Don’t forget to take the chilly plunge into Baikal’s life-giving waters!PEOPLE & HISTORYThe peoples of the Baikal region have lent it a colourful and varied history, especially since the17th-century Russian Cossacks collided with Mongol Buryats. Later came Tibetan Buddhists,aristocratic Decembrists and revolutionaries. Museums explain all.Click hereUlan-Ude to VladivostokScenery
River LifeAdventureSCENIC VIEWSThe dominant theme is swampy taiga, often denuded by permafrost. The train traces severalrivers, and reaches the highest point in the foothills of the Yablonovy Mountains.RIVER LIFEThe fortunes of Siberian cities are shaped by rivers, especially the Amur. Lively promenadesalong the banks are part of the appeal in Blagoveshchensk and Khabarovsk, while Birobidzhan’slifeblood is the Bira River.ADVENTUREThis section in itself is adventurous, as relatively few travel this far. You’ll experience fullimmersion in Russian culture, especially on short-hop trains. Off the rails, the possibilities areas vast as Siberia itself.Click hereThe Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM)SceneryActivitiesSoviet RelicsSCENIC VIEWSStare into limitless taiga, strain to view the top of a mountain, then plunge into a long, darktunnel. The BAM bucks and weaves, skirts 3000m-high peaks, rattles over mountain brooksand burrows into earthquake-prone mountainscape.OUTDOOR LIFESeverobaikalsk makes a superb base from which to explore the surrounding wilds on foot, bybike and on the water. Two sections of the Great Baikal Trail can be accessed from the town,and winter sports flourish around Baikal.SOVIET RELICSGet off the BAM anywhere and it’s a step back in Soviet time and space. If you’re looking for abit of nostalgia, you just struck gold.
Click hereThe Trans-Mongolian RouteSceneryHistoryActivitiesSCENIC VIEWSThe Siberian forests give way to Mongolia’s rolling hills, which ease into grassy steppes.Further south the train travels through the Gobi Desert, and once in China it’s back tograsslands. The approach to Běijīng has spectacular mountain scenery.HISTORIC SITESSome stunning Buddhist monasteries can be visited in Mongolia, including Amarbayasgalant andGandan. In China, the Yungang caves, crammed with carved Buddhas, are not to be missed.ACTIVITIESTerelj National Park is an excellent destination for horseriding, mountain biking or hiking. Forwildlife viewing, try Khustain National Park, where wild horses roam free.Click hereThe Trans-Manchurian RouteSceneryHistory
Quirky SitesSCENIC VIEWSThe northern section is verdant grassland, but as you head deeper into China there’s moreevidence of settled life, with vast farmland covering the horizon.HISTORIC SITESMake a stop in Shānhǎiguān, where the Great Wall meets the sea, or Chángchūn, home to theImperial Palace of the Manchu State. Hā’ěrbīn has its own unique history, filled with Russian-built architectural treasures.QUIRKY SITESMănzhōulǐ is a slightly oddball destination, with its hip-hop statues on the streets and giganticmatryoshka doll park. In Hā’ěrbīn you can kick back in Stalin Park, one of the last parks toretain the dictator’s name.Click hereBěijīngShoppingHistoryFoodSHOPPINGFor a brand new wardrobe on the cheap, bargain at the Sanlitun Yashou Clothing Market. Formore traditional items, browse the ancient shops and stalls of Dashilar silk street or PanjiayuanMarket.HISTORIC SITESThe Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven Park and the Summer Palace – to namejust a few. But don’t overlook the best of old Běijīng and relaxing bike rides through its windingcourtyards and tranquil parks.FOODGastronomes will delight at the amazing selection of cuisines in the Chinese capital. Pekingduck is the city’s signature dish, but head to Wangfujing to try out China’s most exotic streetsnacks.
On the RoadMOSCOWST PETERSBURGMOSCOW TO YEKATERINBURGVladimirBogolyubovoSuzdalNizhny NovgorodPermAround PermKungurYEKATERINBURG TO KRASNOYARSKYekaterinburgAround YekaterinburgTyumenTobolskOmskNovosibirskTomskLAKE BAIKAL: KRASNOYARSK TO ULAN-UDEKrasnoyarskAround KrasnoyarskIrkutsk
Around IrkutskWestern Lake BaikalListvyankaPort BaikalBolshie KotyOlkhon IslandSouth Baikal & the Tunka ValleyUlan-UdeAround Ulan-UdeEastern BaikalULAN-UDE TO VLADIVOSTOKChitaAround ChitaNerchinskBlagoveshchenskBirobidzhanKhabarovskVladivostokAround VladivostokTHE BAIKAL-AMUR MAINLINE (BAM)BratskSeverobaikalskAround SeverobaikalskTyndaKomsomolsk-na-AmureAround Komsomolsk-na-AmureTHE TRANS-MONGOLIAN ROUTEKyakhta, RussiaUlaanbaatar, MongoliaAround UlaanbaatarÈrlián (Erenhot), ChinaDàtóng, ChinaTHE TRANS-MANCHURIAN ROUTEMănzhōulǐHā’ěrbīnChángchūnShānhǎiguān
BĚIJĪNGAROUND BĚIJĪNGGreat Wall of China
Top of sectionMoscow Includes » History Sights Activities Tours Festivals & Events Sleeping Eating Drinking Entertainment Shopping Information Getting There & Away Getting AroundWhy Go?Moscow (Москва) is the start or the end point for your train journey across Mother Russia. Ifyou are travelling east to west, you will be relieved – after days (or weeks) on the train – toreach the cultured, cosmopolitan capital, brimming with opportunities to immerse yourself inhistory; to indulge in world-class music and art; to feast on fabulous food; and to sample thenightlife in a city that never sleeps. If you are travelling west to east, you may be relieved todepart – to escape the overwhelming urbanity, the bumper-to-bumper traffic, the nonstop noise,the panic-inducing prices. Either way, Moscow is an exhilarating and confounding contrast tothe rest of Russia. Soak it up. Examine the art and move to the music; splurge on a ritzy restaurant; stay out tillsunrise; get lost in the crowds. Once you get on that train, you may not get to do it again.
When to GoMay & Jun Long daylight hours and mild temperatures entice locals to sit at summer terraces.Sep The capital celebrates City Day, as the foliage turns the city splendid oranges, reds andyellows.Dec The sparkling snow-covered city hosts its premier cultural event, the December NightsFestival.Best Places to Eat» »Delicatessen (Click here)» »Café Pushkin (Click here)» »Stolle (Click here)» »Dacha on Pokrovka (Click here)» »Barashka (Click here)Best Places to Stay» »Home from Home (Click here)» »Golden Apple (Click here)» »Artel (Click here)» »Basilica Hotel (Click here)Arriving by AirIf you arrive by air, you will fly into one of the city’s three airports. The majority of internationalflights go in and out of Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo International Airports; the third airportis Vnukovo. All three airports are accessible by the convenient Aeroexpress train ( 8-800-700 3377; www.aeroexpress.ru; business/standard R550/320) from the city centre. If you wish to take a taxi from the airport (Click here), it is highly recommended you book inadvance to take advantage of the fixed rates offered by most companies (R1000 to R1500).Note that driving times vary wildly depending on traffic. ARRIVING BY RAIL Rail riders will arrive at one of the central train stations. All trains from St Petersburg arrive at Leningradsky vokzal, while
Trans-Siberian trains from the east arrive at Yaroslavsky or Kazansky vokzal. These three railway stations are clustered around Komsomolskaya pl, a bustling square just northeast of the centre. From here, you can hop on the metro ( Komsomolskaya) for a quick, easy ride to your destination. Alternatively, most taxi companies offer a fixed rate of R300 to R500 for a train-station transfer, although you will probably get this price only if you book in advance.Get the Big PictureMoscow can be overwhelming for the first-time visitor. An introductory tour can provide anoverview of the city, as well as useful advice and information for the rest of your trip.» » Moscow Free Tour (www.moscowfreetour.com) Offers a free walking tour, led by knowledgeable and extremely enthusiasticguides. Did we mention it’s free?» » Moscow Mania (Click here) Young history scholars offer the informative ‘Meet Moscow’ tour as an introduction to the city’shistory and architecture.» » Capital Tours (Click here) Technically it’s a hop-on-hop-off bus service, but it’s more useful as a one-off overview of the city.» » Radisson River Cruises (Click here) and Capital Shipping Co (Click here) Boats follow the route from Kievsky vokzal orHotel Ukraina in Dorogomilovo to Novospassky Monastery in Taganka. Again, you can get off and on the boat, but the full 90-minute trip is a pleasant way to get the big picture. NEED TO KNOW Most Moscow museums are closed on Monday, but the Kremlin and the Armoury are closed on Thursday instead.Fast Facts» »Telephone code: 495 or 499» »Population: 11,514,300» »Time zone: GMT/USC + four hoursNew in Moscow» »Red October (Click here) Formerly a chocolate factory, now an art and entertainment hotspot.» »Ivan the Great (Click here) The bell tower is now open for business.» »Moscow Planetarium (Click here) Reopening after 17 years – it was worth the wait.Resources» »Expat.ru (www.expat.ru) By and for English-speaking expats.» »Moscow Business Telephone Guide (www.mbtg.ru) Bilingual phonebook.» »Art Guide (www.artguide.ru) Galleries and events.
Highlights Being awestruck by the assemblage of tall towers and onion domes on Red Square (Click here) Splurging on a Russian feast amidst 18th-century opulence at the Café Pushkin (Click here) Seeing the dancers slide across Swan Lake at the Bolshoi Theatre (Click here) Exploring the former Red October (Click here) chocolate factory, now filled with art galleries, nightclubs and fashion boutiques Ogling the icons, perusing the Peredvizhniki and contemplating the avant-garde at the State Tretyakov Gallery (Click here) Steaming your cares away at the luxurious Sanduny Baths (Click here) Riding the Moscow metro (Click here) for a cheap history lesson and art exhibit all in one Avoiding traffic jams, feeling the breeze on your face and getting a new perspective on the most famous sights on board a river cruise (Click here)HistoryMoscow’s recorded history dates to the mid-12th century, when Yury Dolgoruky constructedthe first Kremlin on a strategic spot atop the Borovitsky Hill. Moscow soon blossomed into aneconomic centre. In the 13th century, the Mongols burned the city to the ground. The Golden Horde wasinterested in tribute, and Moscow was conveniently situated to monitor the river trade and roadtraffic. Moscow’s Prince Ivan acted as tax collector, earning himself the moniker ‘Kalita’(Moneybags), and Moscow developed into a regional capital. Towards the end of the 15th century, the once diminutive duchy emerged as an expandingstate under the reign of Grand Prince Ivan III (the Great). To celebrate his successes, heimported a team of Italian artisans for a complete renovation of the Kremlin. The city developedin concentric rings outward from this centre. Under Ivan IV (the Terrible), the then capital cityearned the nickname of ‘Gold-Domed Moscow’ because of its multitude of monasteryfortresses and magnificent churches. In 1712 Peter the Great startled the country by announcing the relocation of the capital to StPetersburg. In the early 1800s, Moscow suffered further at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte.But after the Napoleonic Wars, Moscow was feverishly rebuilt and industry prospered. When the Bolsheviks gained control of Russia in 1917, the capital returned to Moscow. Stalindevised an urban plan for the city: historic cathedrals and monuments were demolished; in theirplace appeared the marble-bedecked metro and neo-Gothic skyscrapers. In the followingdecades, Moscow expanded at an exponential rate. Moscow was the scene of the most dramatic events of the political transition of the early1990s. Boris Yeltsin led crowds protesting the attempted coup in 1991, and two years later heordered the army to blast the parliament into submission. Within the Moscow city government,the election of Mayor Yury Luzhkov in 1992 set the stage for the creation of a big-city boss: his
interests range from the media to manufacturing and from five-star hotels to shopping malls.While the rest of Russia struggled to survive the collapse of communism, Moscow emerged asan enclave of affluence. Early in the new millennium, Moscow was a target for terrorist attacks linked to the ongoingcrisis in Chechnya. Over the next decade, suicide bombers in Moscow made strikes in metrostations, at rock concerts, on trains and aeroplanes, and in the international airport, leavinghundreds of people dead and injured and reminding Muscovites that there is no end in sight tothe Chechen crisis. In 2010, long-time mayor Luzhkov lost his job. The new boss is Sergei Sobyanin, hand-pickedby the president. His early initiatives included a crackdown on corruption and a slow down ofconstruction, both of which were welcomed by many Moscow residents. Meanwhile, the city continues to attract fortune-seekers from around the world. And Moscow– political capital, economic powerhouse and cultural innovator – continues to lead the way asthe most fast-dealing, freewheeling city in Russia. SightsRED SQUARE & KITAY GORODMoscow started in the 12th century as a triangular plot of land – a smallish fort – perched atopBorovitsky Hill. Surrounded by a wall for protection, the fort contained the earliest settlement,while ceremonies and celebrations were held on the plaza outside. The fort, of course, is theKremlin, while the ceremonial plaza is Red Square – still at the heart of Moscow historically,geographically and spiritually.
Sights 1 Annunciation Cathedral B4 2 Archangel Cathedral B4 3 Armoury A4 4 Arsenal B2 5 Assumption Cathedral B4 6 Church of the Deposition of the Robe B4 Church of the Twelve Apostles (see 10) Diamond Fund Exhibition (see 3) 7 Ivan the Great Bell Tower B4 8 Kazan Cathedral C2 9 Kutafya Tower A3 10 Patriarchs Palace B3 11 Poteshny Palace A3 12 Senate C3 13 State History Museum B2 State Kremlin Palace (see 20) 14 Supreme Soviet C3 15 Tomb of the Unknown Soldier B2 16 Trinity Gate Tower B3 Activities, Courses & Tours 17 Capital Tours D2 Sleeping 18 Four Seasons Hotel Moskva B1 19 Hotel National A1 Eating Stolovaya 57 (see 21) Entertainment 20 Kremlin Ballet Theatre B3 Shopping 21 GUM C2Kremlin HISTORIC SITE(Кремль; Click here; www.kreml.ru; adult/student R350/100, audio guide R200; 9.30am-5pm Fri-Wed; Aleksandrovsky Sad) The apex of Russian political power and once thecentre of the Orthodox Church, the Kremlin is not only the kernel of Moscow but of the wholecountry. It’s from here that autocratic tsars, communist dictators and democratic presidentshave done their best – and worst – for Russia. Before entering the Kremlin, deposit bags at the left luggage office (Камера хранения; perbag R60; 9am-6.30pm Fri-Wed; Aleksandrovsky Sad), under the Kutafya Tower near themain ticket office. The ticket to the ‘Architectural Ensemble of Cathedral Square’ covers entryto all four churches, as well as Patriarch’s Palace. It does not include Ivan the Great bell tower,
the Armoury or the Diamond Fund Exhibition. In any case, you can and should buy tickets forIvan the Great and for the Armoury here. Photography is not permitted inside the Armoury or any of the buildings on Sobornaya pl(Cathedral Sq).Government BuildingsThe Kutafya Tower (Кутафья башня), which forms the main visitors’ entrance today, standsaway from the Kremlin’s west wall, at the end of a ramp over the Alexander Garden leading upto the Trinity Gate Tower (Троицкая башня). On the way to central Sobornaya pl you’ll passa series of buildings that are closed to visitors. On the right is the 17th-century PoteshnyPalace (Потешный дворец), where Stalin lived, and the bombastic marble, glass and concreteState Kremlin Palace (Государственный кремлёвский дворец), built from 1960 to 1961 forCommunist Party congresses and now used by the Kremlin Ballet Theatre (Click here). On theleft is the Arsenal (Арсенал), home to the Kremlin guard and ringed by 800 capturedNapoleonic cannons; and the yellow, triangular former Senate (Сенат) building, now theultimate seat of power in the modern Kremlin, the offices of the president of Russia. Next to theSenate is the 1930s Supreme Soviet (Верховный Совет) building.Patriarch’s Palace(Патриарший дворец; Click here) The palace contains an exhibit of 17th-century householditems, including jewellery, hunting equipment and furniture. From here you can access the five-domed Church of the Twelve Apostles (Церковь двенадцати апостолов), which has agilded, wooden iconostasis and a collection of icons by leading 17th-century icon painters.Assumption Cathedral(Успенский собор; Click here) On the northern side of Sobornaya pl, with five golden helmetdomes and four semicircular gables facing the square, is this cathedral, built between 1475 and1479. As the focal church of prerevolutionary Russia, it’s the burial place of most heads of theRussian Orthodox Church from the 1320s to 1700. The iconostasis dates from 1652 but itslowest level contains some older icons, including the Virgin of Vladimir (VladimirskayaBogomater), an early-15th-century Rublyov-school copy of Russia’s most revered image, theVladimir Icon of the Mother of God (Ikona Vladimirskoy Bogomateri). The delicate little single-domed church beside the west door of the Assumption Cathedral isthe Church of the Deposition of the Robe (Церковь Ризположения; Click here), builtbetween 1484 and 1486 by masons from Pskov.Ivan the Great Bell Tower(Колокольня Ивана Великого; Click here; www.belltower.lagutin.ru; admission R500;10am, 11:15am, 1:30pm, 2:45pm) With its two golden domes rising above the eastern side ofSobornaya pl, the 16th-century bell tower is the Kremlin’s tallest structure, visible from 30kmaway. Ivan the Great is the site of the Kremlin’s newest exhibit, a multimedia presentation of thearchitectural history of the complex. The 45-minute tour ends with a 137-step climb to the top ofthe tall tower, yielding an amazing (and unique!) view.
The price of a ticket to Ivan the Great includes admission to the other churches (not theArmoury) so you don’t have to buy an additional ticket to the Kremlin grounds. Beside the bell tower (not inside it) stands the Tsar Bell (Царь-колокол), which is theworld’s biggest bell. Sadly, this 202-tonne monster never rang. North of the bell tower is theTsar Cannon (Царь-пушка), cast in 1586 for Fyodor I, whose portrait is on the barrel. Shothas never sullied its 89cm bore – and certainly not the cannonballs beside it, which are too bigeven for this elephantine firearm.Archangel Cathedral(Архангельский собор; Click here) Back on Sobornaya pl, this 1508 cathedral at the square’ssoutheastern corner was for centuries the coronation, wedding and burial church of tsars. Thetombs of all of Moscow’s rulers from the 1320s to the 1690s (except Boris Godunov, who isburied at Sergiev Posad – Click here) are here. Tsarevich Dmitry (Ivan the Terrible’s son, whodied mysteriously in 1591) lies beneath a painted stone canopy.Annunciation Cathedral(Благовещенский собор; Click here) Built by Pskov masters in 1489, this cathedral was theroyal family’s private chapel. Ivan the Terrible’s first marriage disqualified him under Orthodoxlaw from entering the church proper, so he had the southern arm of the gallery converted intothe Archangel Gabriel Chapel, from which he could view services through a grille. The cathedral contains the celebrated icons of master painter Theophanes the Greek (at theright-hand end of the diesis row, the biggest of the six tiers of the iconostasis). ArchangelMichael (the third icon from the left on the largest of the six tiers of the iconostasis) is ascribedto Andrei Rublyov.Armoury(Оружейная палата; Click here; adult/student R700/250; 10am, noon, 2.30pm, 4.30pm)The 700-room Great Kremlin Palace is used for official visits and receptions, but isn’t open tothe public. In the Kremlin’s southwestern corner is the Armoury, a numbingly opulent collectionof treasures accumulated over time by the Russian State and Church. Tickets specify entrytimes. Look for royal regalia such as the joint coronation throne of boy tsars Peter (the Great)and his half-brother Ivan V (with a secret compartment from which Regent Sofia would promptthem); the 800-diamond throne of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich; and the coronation dresses of18th-century empresses.Diamond Fund Exhibition(Алмазный фонд России; Click here; www.almazi.net; admission R500; 10am-1pm, 2-5pmFri-Wed) If the Armoury doesn’t sate your diamond lust, there are more in this separate exhibit.The lavish collection shows off the precious stones and jewellery garnered by tsars andempresses over the centuries, including the largest sapphire in the world.Alexander Garden(Александровский сад; Click here) A good place to relax is the pleasant garden along theKremlin’s western wall. At the garden’s northern end is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
(Могила неизвестного солдата), containing the remains of a soldier who died in December1941 at Km 41 of Leningradskoe sh – the nearest the Nazis came to Moscow. The changing ofthe guard happens every hour from 10am to 7pm in summer, and to 3pm during winter. STAND ON CEREMONY Every Saturday at noon on Sobornaya pl (Cathedral Sq), the Presidential Regiment shows up in all its finery for a ceremonial procession, featuring some very official-looking prancing and dancing, both on foot and on horseback. The price of admission to the Kremlin allows access to the demonstration. Otherwise, on the last Saturday of the month, the demonstration is repeated at 2pm for the masses on Red Square.St Basil’s Cathedral CHURCH(Собор Василия Блаженного; Click here; www.saintbasil.ru; adult/student R250/50; 11am-5pm; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) No picture can prepare you for the crazy confusion of coloursand shapes that is St Basil’s Cathedral, technically the Intercession Cathedral. This ultimatesymbol of Russia was created between 1555 and 1561 (replacing an existing church on thesite) to celebrate the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. The misnomer ‘St Basil’s’ actually refers only to the northeastern chapel, which was addedlater. It was built over the grave of the barefoot holy fool Vasily (Basil) the Blessed, whopredicted Ivan’s damnation. Lenin’s Mausoleum HISTORIC SITE (Мавзолей Ленина; Click here; www.lenin.ru; 10am-1pm Tue-Thu, Sat & Sun;Ploshchad Revolyutsii) Visit this granite tomb while you can, since Vladimir Ilych may eventuallyend up beside his mum in St Petersburg. For now, the embalmed leader remains as he hasbeen since 1924 (apart from a retreat to Siberia during WWII). Before joining the queue at the northwestern corner of Red Square, drop your camera at theleft-luggage office in the State History Museum, as you will not be allowed to take it with you.After trooping past the embalmed, oddly waxy figure, emerge from his red and black stonetomb and inspect where Josef Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev and many of communism’s other heavyhitters are buried along the Kremlin wall. LENIN UNDER GLASS Red Square is home to the world’s most famous mummy, that of Vladimir Lenin. When he died of a massive stroke (on 22 January 1924, aged 53), a long line of mourners patiently gathered in winter’s harshness for weeks to glimpse the body as it lay in state. Inspired by the spectacle, Stalin proposed that the father of Soviet communism should continue to serve the cause as a holy relic. So the decision was made to preserve Lenin’s corpse for perpetuity, against the vehement protests of his widow, as well as his own expressed desire to be buried next to his mother in St Petersburg. Boris Zbarsky, a biochemist, and Vladimir Vorobyov, an anatomist, were issued a political order to put a stop to the natural decomposition of the body. The pair worked frantically in a secret laboratory in search of a long-term chemical solution. In the meantime, the body’s dark spots were bleached, and the lips and eyes sewn tight. The brain was removed and taken to another secret laboratory, to be sliced and diced by scientists for the next 40 years in the hope of uncovering its hidden genius.
In July 1924 the scientists hit upon a formula to successfully arrest the decaying process, but their method was kept secret. This necrotic craft was passed on to Zbarsky’s son, who ran the Kremlin’s covert embalming lab for decades. After the fall of communism, Zbarsky came clean: the body is wiped down every few days, and then, every 18 months, thoroughly examined and submerged in a tub of chemicals, including paraffin wax. The institute has now gone commercial, offering its services and secrets to wannabe immortals for a mere million dollars. Every so often, politicians express intentions to heed Lenin’s request and bury him in St Petersburg, but it usually sets off a furore from the political left as well as more muted objections from Moscow tour operators. It seems that the mausoleum, the most sacred shrine of Soviet communism, and the mummy, the literal embodiment of the Russian revolution, will remain in place for at least several more years.State History Museum MUSEUM(Государственный исторический музей; Click here; www.shm.ru; Krasnaya pl 1; adult/studentR250/80, audio guide R130; 10am-6pm Wed-Sat & Mon, 11am-8pm Sun; PloshchadRevolyutsii) At the northern end of the square, the State History Museum has an enormouscollection covering the whole Russian empire from the Stone Age on. The building, dating fromthe late 19th century, is itself an attraction – each room is in the style of a different period orregion. Opposite the museum entrance, tiny Kazan Cathedral (Казанский собор; Nikolskaya ul 3;admission free; 8am-7pm; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) is a replica of the original, which wasfounded in 1636 and demolished 300 years later on Stalin’s orders, allegedly because itimpeded the flow of parades through Red Square.Kitay Gorod NEIGHBOURHOOD( Ploshchad Revolyutsii or Kitay-Gorod) The narrow old streets east of Red Square areknown as Kitay Gorod. It translates as ‘Chinatown’, but the name derives from kita, meaning‘wattle’, and refers to the palisades that reinforced the earthen ramp erected around this earlyKremlin suburb. Kitay Gorod is one of the oldest parts of Moscow, settled in the 13th centuryas a trade and financial centre. The busiest street of Kitay Gorod is Nikolskaya ul, once the main road to Vladimir, while thegreatest concentration of interesting buildings is along ul Varvarka. SeeClick here for a walkingtour of Kitay Gorod. ALL-RUSSIA EXHIBITION CENTRE No other place sums up the rise and fall of the Soviet dream like the All-Russia Exhibition Centre (Всероссийский Выставочный Центр (ВВЦ); Click here; www.vvcentre.ru; pavilions 10am-7pm, grounds 8am-10pm; VDNKh), north of the centre. The old initials tell the story – VDNKh stands for the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy. VDNKh was originally created in the 1930s to impress upon one and all the success of the Soviet economic system. Two kilometres long and 1km wide, it is composed of wide pedestrian avenues and grandiose pavilions, glorifying every aspect of socialist construction from education and health to agriculture, technology and science. Here you will find the kitschiest socialist realism, the most inspiring of socialist optimism and, now, the tackiest of capitalist consumerism. The soaring 100m titanium obelisk is a monument to Soviet space flight. In its base is the Memorial Museum of Cosmonauts (Мемориальный музей космонавтики; www.space-museum.ru; admission R200; 10am-7pm Tue-Sun), featuring cool space paraphernalia and an inspiring collection of space-themed propaganda posters. Aside from the historical
exhibits, there are some excellent displays about the science of space exploration.TVERSKOY DISTRICTThe streets around Tverskaya ul comprise the vibrant Tverskoy District, characterised by oldarchitecture and new commerce. Small lanes such as Kamergersky pereulok andStoleshnikov pereulok are among Moscow’s trendiest places to sip a coffee or a beer andwatch the big-city bustle.Moscow Museum of Modern Art MUSEUM(MMOMA; Московский музей современного искусства; Click here; www.mmoma.ru; ulPetrovka 25; adult/student R150/100; noon-8pm; Chekhovskaya) Housed in a classical18th-century merchant’s home, the MMOMA contains 20th-century paintings, sculptures andgraphics, including some works by Marc Chagall, Natalia Goncharova, Vasily Kandinsky andKasimir Malevich. Don’t bypass the whimsical sculpture garden in the courtyard.Gulag History Museum MUSEUM(Государственный музей истории ГУЛАГа; Click here; www.museum-gulag.narod.ru; ulPetrovka 16; adult/student R100/20, tour R800; 11am-7pm Tue-Sat; Chekhovskaya) Inthe midst of all the swanky shops on ul Petrovka, an archway leads to a courtyard strung withbarbed wire and hanging with portraits of political prisoners. This is the entrance to the GulagHistory Museum. Guides dressed like camp guards describe the vast network of labour campsthat existed in the former Soviet Union and recount the horrors of camp life. GARAGE CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY CULTURE Pet project of Dasha Zhukova (superm odel and girlfriend of billionaire Roman Abramovich), the Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture (GCCC; Click here; www.garageccc.com; ul Obratsova 19a; admission R200-300; 11am-9pm Mon-Thu, 11am-10pm Fri-Sun; Novoslobodskaya) is an old bus depot that has been converted into Moscow’s largest exhibition hall. It’s an incredible space, originally designed in 1926 by constructivist architect Konstantin Melnikov. The GCCC stretches the definition of the word ‘exhibit’, showcasing interior design, performance art, films and fashion. Two blocks north and two blocks east from Novoslobodskaya or Mendeleevskaya metro station.PRESNYA & ARBATPresnya is Moscow’s largest administrative district, encompassing some of the capital’s oldestneighbourhoods as well as its newest development at Moscow-City.Patriarch’s Ponds HISTORIC PARK(Патриаршие пруды; Click here; Bolshoy Patriarshy per; Mayakovskaya) The peacefulPatriarch’s Ponds was immortalised by writer Mikhail Bulgakov, who had the devil appear herein The Master and Margarita, one of the most loved 20th-century Russian novels. The building
on the Garden Ring where Bulgakov wrote the novel and lived up until his death now containsthe Bulgakov House (Дом Булгакова; www.dombulgakova.ru, in Russian; BolshayaSadovaya ul 10; admission free; 1-11pm Sun-Thu, 1pm-1am Fri & Sat). MOSCOW IN… Two Days Spend a day seeing what makes Moscow famous: St Basil’s Cathedral (Click here), Lenin’s Mausoleum (Click here) and the Kremlin (Click here). Allow a few hours in the afternoon to gawk at the gold and gems in the Armoury (Click here). In the evening, attend an opera at the Bolshoi Theatre (Click here) or dine like a tsar at Café Pushkin (Click here). On your second day, admire the art and architecture at Novodevichy Convent (Click here), then head next door to the eponymous cemetery, where many famous political and cultural figures are laid to rest. In the afternoon, make your way across the river to Kievsky vokzal, where you can hop on board a river cruise (Click here) along the Moscow River. Four Days Art lovers should spend their third day at the State Tretyakov Gallery (Click here), housing a world-class collection of Russian art. In the late afternoon, head to whimsical Art Muzeon Sculpture Park (Click here) and fun-filled Gorky Park (Click here), stopping for a drink at Chaikhona No 1 (Click here). In the evening, wander around the former Red October factory (Click here) for dinner, drinks or other entertainment. Reserve the next morning for shopping at the Vernisage Market at Izmailovo (Click here), crammed with souvenir stalls. On your way back into the centre, take a tour around the Moscow metro (Click here), admiring the architectural achievement and the socialist realist artwork in this marvel of urban design. End up on ul Arbat, where you can take a seat at a pavement cafe and be entertained by portrait painters, street musicians and other passers-by.White House NOTABLE BUILDING(Белый дом; Click here; Krasnopresnenskaya nab 2; Krasnopresnenskaya) Scene of twocrucial episodes in recent Russian history. It was here that Boris Yeltsin rallied the opposition toconfound the 1991 hard-line coup, then two years later sent in tanks and troops to blast outconservative rivals.Arbat HISTORIC STREET( Arbatskaya or Smolenskaya) Moscow’s most famous street is something of an art market,complete with instant-portrait painters, soapbox poets, jugglers and buskers (and somepickpockets). It makes an interesting walk, dotted with old pastel-coloured merchant housesand tourist-oriented shops and cafes. The statue at the corner of Plotnikov per is of BulatOkudzhava, the 1960s cult poet, singer and songwriter who lived at number 43.KHAMOVNIKIThe Moscow River surrounds this district on three sides, as it dips down south and loops backup to the north. Heading southwest from Kropotkinskaya metro, ul Prechistenka is virtually amuseum of classical mansions, many of which contain excellent genre-specific art galleries.Novodevichy Convent & Cemetery CONVENT(Новодевичий монастырь и кладбище; off Click here; convent & church R250, exhibits R200; grounds 8am-8pm daily, museums 10am-5pm Wed-Mon; Sportivnaya) A cluster of
sparkling domes behind turreted walls on the Moscow River, Novodevichy Convent wasfounded in 1524 to celebrate the taking of Smolensk from Lithuania. The convent is notorious asthe place where Peter the Great imprisoned his half-sister Sofia for her part in the Streltsyrebellion. The oldest and most dominant building in the grounds is the white SmolenskCathedral, its sumptuous interior covered in 16th-century frescoes. Adjacent to the convent, the cemetery ( 9am-5pm) is among Moscow’s most prestigiousresting places – a veritable ‘who’s who’ of Russian politics and culture. You will find the tombsof Chekhov, Gogol, Mayakovsky, Stanislavsky, Prokofiev, Eisenstein and many other Russianand Soviet notables. The most recent notable addition was former president Boris Yeltsin, whodied in 2007.Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts MUSEUM(Музей изобразительный исскуств Пушкина; Click here; www.artsmuseum.ru; ul Volkhonka12; adult/student R300/150; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun, 10am-9pm Thu; Kropotkinskaya)Moscow’s premier foreign-art museum, the Pushkin shows off a broad selection of Europeanworks, mostly appropriated from private collections after the revolution. The highlight is perhapsthe Dutch and Flemish masterpieces from the 17th century, including several Rembrandtportraits, and the Ancient Civilisation exhibits, which include the impressive Treasures of Troy. The Pushkin houses its amazing collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintingsnext door at the Gallery of European & American Art of the 19th & 20th Centuries(Галерея искусства стран Европы и Америки XIX-XX веков; Click here; www.newpaintart.ru;ul Volkhonka 14; adult/student R300/150; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun, 10am-9pm Thu;Kropotkinskaya). The gallery contains a famed assemblage of French Impressionist works,including Degas, Manet, Renoir and Pissarro, with an entire room dedicated to Monet. Post-Impressionist masterpieces include those by Matisse, Picasso, Rousseau and Van Gogh, aswell as an incredible collection of Gauguins.Cathedral of Christ the Saviour CHURCH(Храм Христа Спасителя; Click here; www.xxc.ru, in Russian; 10am-5pm;Kropotkinskaya) Dominating the skyline along the Moscow River, the gargantuan Cathedral ofChrist the Saviour sits on the site of an earlier and similar church of the same name, built from1839 to 1883 to commemorate Russia’s victory over Napoleon. The original was destroyedduring Stalin’s orgy of explosive secularism. Stalin planned to replace the church with a 315m-high ‘Palace of Soviets’ (including a 100m statue of Lenin) but the project never got off theground – literally. Instead, for 50 years the site served an important purpose as the world’slargest swimming pool. PARK POBEDY AT POKLONNAYA HILL West of the centre, this huge memorial complex (Click here; Park Pobedy) celebrates Russia’s victory in the Great Patriotic War. The park includes endless fountains and monuments, as well as the memorial Church of St George. The dominant monument is a 142m obelisk (each 10cm represents a day of the war). The centrepiece Museum of the Great Patriotic War (Центральный музей Великой Отечественной войны;
www.poklonnayagora.ru, in Russian; ul Bratiev Fonchenko 10; adult/child R100/40; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun Nov-Mar, to 7pm Apr-Oct) contains two impressive memorial rooms, as well as an exhibit of dioramas of every major WWII battle involving Soviet troops. Exhibits highlight the many heroes of the Soviet Union, as well as show weapons, photographs, documentary films, letters and much other authentic wartime memorabilia.ZAMOSKVORECHIEZamoskvorechie (meaning ‘Beyond the Moscow River’) stretches south from opposite theKremlin, inside a big river loop.State Tretyakov Gallery MUSEUM(Третьяковская галерея; Click here; www.tretyakovgallery.ru, in Russian; Lavrushinsky per10; adult/student R360/220; 10am-7.30pm Tue-Sun; ; Tretyakovskaya) Nothing shortof spectacular, the State Tretyakov Gallery holds the world’s best collection of Russian iconsand an outstanding collection of other prerevolutionary Russian art, particularly the 19th-centuryPeredvizhniki. Red October ART CENTRE (завод Красный Октябрь; Click here; Bersenevskaya nab; Kropotkinskaya) Aftermore than a century of producing chocolates and other sweets, the famed Krasny Oktyabrfactory, opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, was finally forced to close. The closurehappened as part of an effort to remove industry from the historic centre of the capital. In arare and enlightened move, the historic industrial building has been preserved and convertedinto Moscow’s hottest spot for art and entertainment. The red-brick buildings of this formerchocolate factory now host a slew of restaurants, bars, shops and galleries, as well as thecentrepiece Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture & Design (www.strelkainstitute.ru).New Tretyakov MUSEUM(Третьяковская галерея на Крымском валу; Click here; ul Krymsky val; adult/studentR360/220; 10am-7.30pm Tue-Sun; Park Kultury) The premier venue for 20th-centuryRussian art is the new building of the State Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky val, better known asthe New Tretyakov. Besides the plethora of socialist realism, the exhibits showcase avant-garde artists such as Kasimir Malevich, Vasily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Natalia Goncharovaand Lyubov Popova.Art Muzeon Sculpture Park SCULPTURE PARK(Парк искусств Арт-Музеон; Click here; www.muzeon.ru, in Russian; ul Krymsky val 10;admission R100; 10am-9pm; Park Kultury, Oktyabrskaya) Formerly called the Park ofthe Fallen Heroes, this open-air sculpture park started as a collection of Soviet statues (Stalin,Dzerzhinsky, a selection of Lenins and Brezhnevs) put out to pasture when they were rippedfrom their pedestals in the post-1991 wave of anti-Soviet feeling. These discredited icons havenow been joined by fascinating and diverse contemporary works. Tsereteli’s Peter the Great(Памятник Петру Первому) surveys the scene from his post on the embankment of theMoscow River. The park can also be entered from Krymskaya nab.
Gorky Park HISTORIC PARK(Парк Культуры Горького; Click here; www.propark.ru, in Russian; ul Krymsky val; 10am-10pm; Park Kultury) Amusement park no longer, Gorky Park is still a perfect way to escapethe hubbub of the city. This place has undergone a major overhaul: the rides, games and beertents have been cleared out, leaving a pleasant and peaceful green space to rent bikes or havea picnic. In winter the ponds are frozen for ice skating and tracks are made for cross-countryskiing. Skis and skates are also available for rental. Activities Sanduny Baths BANYA (Сандуновские бани; Click here; 495-628 4633; www.sanduny.ru; Neglinnaya ul 14;private cabins per 2hr R3000-6000, general admission per 2hr R1000-1800; 8am-midnight; Chekhovskaya) Sanduny is the oldest and most luxurious banya (bathhouse) in the city.Bookings are essential for the private cabins. Capital Shipping Co RIVER CRUISE (Столичная Судоходная Компания; 495-225 6070; www.cck-ship.ru, in Russian;adult/child R400/150; Kievskaya) Ferries ply the Moscow River from May to Septemberbetween Kievsky vokzal and Novospassky Monastery.Krasnopresnenskie Bani BANYA(Краснопресненские бани; Click here; www.baninapresne.ru; Stolyarny per 7; generaladmission per 2hr R850-1000; 8am-10pm; Ulitsa 1905 Goda) This modern, clean,efficient place provides a first-rate banya experience.Radisson River Cruises RIVER CRUISE(www.radisson-cruise.ru; adult/children R800/600; Kievskaya) The Radisson operates bigriver boats that cart 140 people up and down the Moscow River from the dock near the formerHotel Ukraina. MOSCOW FOR CHILDREN Sights & Activities They may not appreciate an age-old icon or a Soviet hero, but Moscow still has plenty to offer the little ones. Among the parks listed in this chapter, Patriarch’s Ponds (Click here) has a playground and plenty of room to run around; Gorky Park (Click here) is good for older kids who can ride bikes. Most of Moscow’s art museums have special programs and activities geared toward kids over the age of five (in Russian). Other kid-friendly sights: Moscow Planetarium (Планетарий Москвы; Click here; www.planetarium-moscow.ru, in Russian; Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya ul 5; exhibits R350-500; museum 10am-9pm, theatre 10am-midnight Wed-Mon; Barrikadnaya) The new planetarium incorporates all kinds of high-tech gadgetry and interactive exhibits and educational programs. Moscow Zoo (Московский зоопарк; Click here; www.moscowzoo.ru, in Russian; cnr Barrikadnaya & Bolshaya Gruzinskaya uls; adult/child R200/free; 10am-7pm Tue-Sun May-Sep, 10am-5pm Tue-Sun Oct-Apr; Barrikadnaya) Highlights
include big cats and polar bears, as well as special exhibits featuring animals from each continent. Museum of Central Armed Forces (Центральный музей Вооруженных Сил; Click here; www.cmaf.ru; ul Sovetskoy Armii 2; admission R75; 10am-4.30pm Wed-Sun; Novoslobodskaya) Kids love climbing on the tanks and bombers at the outdoor exhibit. Take trolleybus 69 (or walk) 1.25km east from the Novoslobodskaya metro. Eating Many restaurants host ‘children’s parties’ on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, offering toys, games, entertainment and supervision for kids while their parents eat. Entertainment Cultural instruction starts at a young age in Moscow, with many companies and performances geared specifically towards young kids. Performances are usually in the afternoons. Obraztsov Puppet Theatre & Museum (Театр кукол Образцова; Click here; www.puppet.ru; Sadovaya-Samotechnaya ul 3; adult R300-1000, child R200-600; box office 11am-2.30pm & 3.30-7pm; Tsvetnoy Bulvar) The country’s largest puppet theatre performs colourful Russian folk tales and adapted classical plays. Kuklachev Cat Theatre (Театр кошек Куклачёва; off Click here; www.kuklachev.ru; Kutuzovsky pr 25; tickets R200-800; noon, 2pm or 4pm Thu-Sun; Kutuzovskaya) At this unusual theatre, acrobatic cats do all kinds of stunts for the audience’s delight. Moscow Children’s Musical Theatre (Театр Сац; www.teatr-sats.ru, in Russian; pr Vernadskogo 5; tickets R50-500; times vary Wed, Fri & Sun Sep-Jun; Universitet) Performances are entertaining and educational, as actors appear in costume before the show and talk with the children. Transport The metro might be fun for kids, but be careful during rush hour, when trains and platforms are packed. Detskoe Taxi (Click here) is a taxi company that will look out for your kids, offering smoke-free cars and child seats upon request. ToursCapital Tours TOURS( 495-232 2442; www.capitaltours.ru; Gostiny Dvor, ul Ilinka 4; Kitay-Gorod) This spin-offof Patriarshy Dom offers a Kremlin tour (adult/child R1550/775; 2pm Fri-Wed), amongstother walking tours. The company also operates a hop-on-hop-off bus (adult/childR1000/500; 10.30am, 1.30pm & 3.30pm) that departs from the Bolshoi, with 13 stopsaround the city.
START HOTEL METROPOL( TEATRALNAYA)FINISH STARAYA PL ( KITAY-GOROD)DISTANCE 1.5KMDURATION TWO HOURSWalking TourKremlin & Kitay GorodSettled in the 13th century, Kitay Gorod is one of the oldest parts of Moscow. Start at the Hotel Metropol and walk eastdown Teatralny proezd to the gated walkway. This historical complex is Starye Polya, and includes excavations of thefoundations of the 1493 Trinity Church. Walk down Tretyakovsky proezd to busy Nikolskaya ul and turn right. At No 15, the Synod Printing House is where IvanFyodorov reputedly produced Russia’s first printed book in 1563. The Zaikonospassky Monastery at No 7 refers to thebusy icon trade that also took place here.
Turn left on Bogoyavlensky per and head south, looking for the 13th-century Monastery of the Epiphany on the right- hand side. Turn right on ul Ilynka and then walk down Khrustalny per. The Old Merchants’ Court – Gostiny Dvor – has some excellent stops for souvenir hunters. Take another left on ul Varvarka, crowded with tiny churches. The pink-and-white St Barbara’s Church dates from 1795 to 1804. The reconstructed 16th-century Old English Court, white with peaked wooden roofs, was the residence of England’s first emissaries to Russia. The 1698 Church of St Maxim the Blessed at No 4 is now a folk-art exhibition hall. Next along is the pointed bell tower of the 17th-century Monastery of the Sign, incorporating a golden-domed cathedral. The Romanov Chambers in Zaryadie Museum is devoted to the lives of these high-ranking nobles. The colourful St George’s Church at No 12 dates from 1658. Cross ul Varvarka and walk up Ipatyevsky per. The enchanting 1630s Church of the Trinity in Nikitniki is an exquisite example of Russian baroque. Head east on Ipatyevsky per out to Slavyanskaya pl. Some remains of the old city wall can be seen in the underground passage at the corner of ul Varvarka and Staraya pl.Moscow Mania WALKING TOURS( 903-234 9540; www.mosmania.com) Young and enthusiastic history scholars haveorganised more than 50 walking routes around Moscow, covering the top sights and manylesser-known destinations.Patriarshy Dom Tours TOURS( 495-795 0927; http://russiatravel-pdtours.netfirms.com; Vspolny per 6, Moscow school No1239; Barrikadnaya) Provides unique English-language tours on just about any specialisedsubject. SERGIEV POSAD Sergiev Posad (Сергиев Посад) was founded in 1340 by the country’s most revered saint. St Sergius of Radonezh was credited with providing mystic support to prince Dmitry Donskoy in his improbable victory over the Tatars in the battle of Kulikovo Pole in 1380. Soon after his death at the age of 78, Sergius was named Russia’s patron saint. Since the 14th century, pilgrims have been journeying to this place to pay homage to him. Sights The Trinity Monastery of St Sergius (Троице-Сергиева Лавра; www.stsl.ru; admission free; 10am-6pm) is an active religious centre with a visible population of monks in residence. Visitors should refrain from photographing the monks, female visitors should wear headscarves, and men are required to remove hats before entering the churches. Built in the 1420s, the squat, dark Trinity Cathedral (Троицкий собор) is the heart of the Trinity Monastery. The tomb of St Sergius stands in the southeastern corner, where a memorial service for the saint goes on all day, every day. The icon- festooned interior, lit by oil lamps, is largely the work of the great medieval painter Andrei Rublyov and his students. The star-spangled Cathedral of the Assumption (Успенский собор) was modelled on the cathedral of the same name in the Moscow Kremlin. It was finished in 1585 with money left by Ivan the Terrible in a fit of remorse for killing his son. Outside the west door is the grave of Boris Godunov (Могила Бориса Годунова), the only tsar not buried in the Moscow Kremlin or St Petersburg’s SS Peter & Paul Cathedral. Nearby, the resplendent Chapel-at-the-Well (Надкладезная часовня) was built over a spring that is said to have appeared
during the Polish siege. The five-tier baroque bell tower (Колокольня) took 30 years to build in the 18th century, and once had 42 bells, the largest of which weighed 65 tonnes. Behind the Trinity Cathedral, the Vestry (Ризница; adult/student R200/150; 10am-5.30pm Wed-Sun) displays the monastery’s extraordinarily rich treasury, bulging with 600 years of donations by the rich and powerful – tapestries, jewel- encrusted vestments, solid-gold chalices and more. Getting There & Away The fastest way to reach Sergiev Posad is the express train that departs from Moscow’s Yaroslavsky vokzal (R320, one hour, at least twice daily) and continues to Yaroslavl (three hours) via Rostov (two hours). Suburban trains also run every half-hour (R130, 1½ hours). Festivals & EventsWinter Festival FESTIVALTwo weeks in December and January. Admire the elaborate ice sculptures on Red Square,stand in a crowd of snowmen on ul Arbat and ride the troika at Izmailovsky Park.Golden Mask Festival ARTS FESTIVAL(www.goldenmask.ru) Russia’s premier drama, opera, dance and musical event brightens upthe otherwise dreary March and April.Moscow International Film Festival FILM FESTIVAL(www.moscowfilmfestival.ru) This week-long event attracts film-makers from the US andEurope, as well as the most promising Russian artists.City Day FESTIVALCity Day, or den goroda in Russian, celebrates Moscow’s birthday on the first weekend inSeptember. The day kicks off with a festive parade, followed by live music on Red Square andplenty of food, fireworks and fun.Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art ARTS FESTIVAL(www.moscowbiennale.ru) This month-long festival, held in odd-numbered years, has the aimof establishing the capital as an international centre for contemporary art.December Nights Festival ARTS & MUSIC FESTIVAL(www.museum.ru/gmii) Perhaps Moscow’s most prestigious music event, this annual festival ishosted at the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum. SleepingFor the purposes of this chapter, budget accommodation is less than R3000. Budgetaccommodation is usually dorm-style, although there are some private rooms available in thisrange. Prices include coffee and tea, but no breakfast. Midrange accommodation falls between R3000 and R10,000 per night. This wide-rangingcategory includes privately owned minihotels, which usually occupy one or two floors in an
apartment building. The rooms have been renovated to comfortably accommodate guests, butthe hotel itself (which might have a dozen rooms or less) does not usually offer other facilities.Considering the shortage of midrange options, minihotels are some of the best-valueaccommodation in the city. Top end starts at R10,000 and goes all the way up. SERVICED APARTMENTS Entrepreneurial Muscovites have begun renting out apartments on a short-term basis. Flats are equipped with kitchens and laundry facilities and they almost always offer wireless internet access. Apartments are around €100 to €200 per night. Expect to pay more for fully renovated, Western-style apartments. Cheap Moscow (www.cheap-moscow.com) Heed the disclaimers, but this site has loads of listings for apartments to rent directly from the owner. Moscow Suites (www.moscowsuites.com) Slick apartments in central locations. Services like airport pick-up and visa support are included in the price, which starts at US$200 per night. Intermark Serviced Apartments (www.intermarksa.ru) Catering mostly to business travellers, Intermark offers four-star quality accommodations, starting at R5500 per night. Rick’s Apartments (www.enjoymoscow.com) Rick’s apartments are off the Garden Ring between Sukharevskaya and Tsvetnoy Bulvar metro stations. Studios start at US$135, with two-bedroom apartments about US$215 per night. Evans Property Services (www.evans.ru) Caters mainly to long-term renters, but also offers some apartments for US$150 to US$250 per night. HOFA (www.hofa.ru) Apartments from €62 per night and a variety of homestay programs. Moscow4rent.com (www.moscow4rent.com) Most flats are centrally located, with internet access, satellite TV and unlimited international phone calls. Prices start at US$150 per night.KITAY GORODKitay-Gorod Hotel $$ MINIHOTEL(Отель Китай-Город; Click here; 495-991 9971; www.otel-kg.ru; Lubyansky proezd 25; sR3500-4500, d R5500; ; Kitay-Gorod) Ever since the demolition of the old HotelRossiya, it has been impossible for budget-conscious travellers to stay this close to theKremlin. We’re pleased to see that capitalism has brought us full circle, with this privatelyowned minihotel on the edge of Kitay Gorod. This place has tiny little rooms, but they are fullyand comfortably equipped. The hotel’s small size guarantees a warm welcome (unlike at theRossiya). Half a block from the Kitay-Gorod metro station. ONCE & FUTURE HOTEL MOSKVA The story goes that Stalin was shown two possible designs for the Hotel Moskva (Гостиница Москва; Click here) on Manezhnaya pl. Not realising they were alternatives, he approved both. The builders did not dare point out his error, and so built half the hotel in constructivist style and half in Stalinist style. The incongruous result became a familiar and beloved feature of the Moscow landscape, even gracing the label of Stolichnaya vodka bottles. After years of rumours, the infamous Hotel Moskva was finally demolished in 2003, one in a long list of Soviet-era institutions to bite the dust. The site was claimed by Four Seasons, which reconstructed the old building complete with architectural quirks. The new high-class luxury hotel is
expected to open in 2012. Tverskoy Sights 1 Arbat C6 2 Bulat Okudzhava Statue C7 3 Bulgakov House C3 4 Gulag History Museum F4 5 Moscow Museum of Modern Art F3
6 Moscow Planetarium B47 Moscow Zoo A48 Patriarchs Ponds C39 White House A5 Activities, Courses & Tours10 Krasnopresnenskie Bani A411 Sanduny Baths F4 Sleeping Artel Hotel (see 40)12 Boulevard Hotel H3 Bulgakov Hotel (see 15)13 Godzillas Hostel F214 Golden Apple E315 Home from Home C716 Hotel Metropol G517 Hotel Savoy G418 Kitay-Gorod Hotel H619 Petrovka Loft F320 Sretenskaya Hotel H321 Suharevka Mini-Hotel H2 Eating22 Barashka F323 Café Pushkin E424 Delicatessen E225 Genatsvale on Arbat D626 Jagannath G4 Konditerskaya (see 23)27 Moo-Moo C728 Moo-Moo H429 Prime Star D630 Prime Star F431 Stolle C332 Tsentralny Restoranny Dom B433 Yolki-Palki F4 Yolki-Palki (see 37) Drinking34 Chaikhona No 1 E235 Kvartira 44 D536 Petrovich H437 Zhiguli Beer Hall D6 Entertainment38 Bolshoi Theatre F439 Madam Galife H140 Masterskaya G441 Moscow Art Theatre F442 Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy Bulvar F243 Obraztsov Puppet Theatre & Museum E2
44 Propaganda H5 45 Rhythm Blues Cafe E6 46 Simachyov F4 47 Tchaikovsky Concert Hall D3 Shopping 48 Salon Podarkov G4 49 Yeliseev Grocery E3 Information 50 36.6 Pharmacy D3 51 36.6 Pharmacy C6 52 Dutch Embassy D5 53 Mongolian Embassy (Visa Section) B6 54 New Zealand Embassy C5 55 UK Embassy A6 56 Ukrainian Embassy E4 57 US Embassy B5 Transport 58 Aeroflot F4 59 Aeroflot G4 60 Transaero B6TVERSKOY Artel $$ MINIHOTEL ( 495-626 9008; www.artelhotel.ru; Teatralny proezd 3, bldg 3; s/d economy fromR2450/2850, s/d standard R3570/4000; ; Kuznetsky Most) Tucked into an alley behind theBolshoi, the Artel has an unbeatable location and an awesome, offbeat atmosphere. Theeconomy rooms are minute but the whole place feels very creative and cool. Note the musicclub Masterskaya (Click here) is one floor below, so at times it may sound creative and cooltoo. Golden Apple $$$ BOUTIQUE HOTEL (Золотое Яблоко; Click here; 495-980 7000; www.goldenapple.ru; ul MalayaDmitrovka 11; r from R12,000; ; Pushkinskaya) ‘Moscow’s first boutique hotel’. Aclassical edifice fronts the street, but the interior is sleek and sophisticated. Comfort is alsoparamount, with no skimping on luxuries such as heated bathroom floors and down-filledduvets. Check the website for some great promotional discounts.Hotel Savoy $$ BOUTIQUE HOTEL(Отель Савой; Click here; 495-620 8500; www.savoy.ru; ul Rozhdestvenka 3; r fromR8260; ; Lubyanka) Built in 1912, the Savoy maintains an atmosphere ofprerevolutionary privilege for its guests. Unique for its intimate size, it has 70 rooms equippedwith marble bathrooms and Italian fittings and furnishings.
Godzillas Hostel $ HOSTEL( 495-699 4223; www.godzillashostel.com; Bolshoy Karetny per 6; dm R450-780, d/trR1960/2600; ; Tsvetnoy Bulvar) Godzillas is the biggest and most professionally runhostel in Moscow, with 90 beds spread out over four floors. To cater to the many guests, thereare bathroom facilities on each floor, three kitchens and a big living room with satellite TV.Reminder: don’t leave valuables in the luggage storage facility.Petrovka Loft $$ MINIHOTEL( 495-626 2210; www.petrovkaloft.com; ul Petrovka 17/2; s & d from R3500; ;Chekhovskaya) Enter the courtyard and go straight ahead to find the entrance to this 10-roomhotel (note the four-storey climb). None of the rooms are en suite but everything is pretty stylishand clean, and the location is brilliant. HISTORIC HOTELS Now I lay me down to bed, with historic thoughts in my head. Hotel National (Гостиница Националь; Click here; 495-258 7000; www.national.ru; Mokhovaya ul 15/1; r from R9528; ; Okhotny Ryad) A sort-of-museum from the early 20th century, displaying frescoed ceilings and antique furniture, alongside modern service and amenities. Hotel Metropol (Гостиница Метрополь; Click here; 499-501 7800; www.metmos.ru; Teatralny proezd 1/4; s/d from R9700/10,700; ; Teatralnaya) Nothing short of an art nouveau masterpiece, the historic Metropol brings an artistic touch to every nook and cranny.PRESNYA & ARBAT Home from Home $ HOSTEL & MINIHOTEL ( 495-229 8018; www.home-fromhome.com; ul Arbat 49, apt 9; dm R450-700, dR2000; ; Smolenskaya) Original art and mural-painted walls create a bohemianatmosphere, which is enhanced by ceiling medallions and exposed brick. For its excellentprivate en suite rooms, it goes by the name Bulgakov Hotel (www.bulgakovhotel.com). Thereis also a comfy, cosy common area with kitchen facilities. The building is on the Arbat but youmust enter the courtyard from Plotnikov per and look for entrance number 2.Radisson Royal (Hotel Ukraina) $$$ HOTEL(Рэдиссон Ройал Гостиница Украина; off Click here; 495-221 5555; www.ukraina-hotel.ru;Kutuzovsky pr 2/1; r from R10,000; ; Kievskaya) This bombastic beauty, occupyingone of the Stalinist skyscrapers known as the Seven Sisters, sits majestically on the banks ofthe Moscow River facing the White House. The place has retained its old-fashioned ostentation,with crystal chandeliers, polished marble and a thematic ceiling fresco in the lobby, while theguestrooms have a similar atmosphere of old aristocracy.
Red Dawn $$ BOUTIQUE HOTEL (Красная Заря; Click here; 495-980 4774; www.red-zarya.ru; Bersenevsky per 3/10,bldg 8; r from R7000; ; Kropotkinskaya) With a prime waterfront location on the edge ofthe Red October chocolate factory, this well-placed hotel offers lovely river views and easyaccess to the capital’s hottest nightlife. Prices decrease significantly at the weekend.Red Arrow $$ HOTEL(Красная Стрела; Click here; 985-928 6000; Bolotnaya nab 7, bldg 4; r R2500-4000; ; Kropotkinskaya) If you can find this teeny-weeny minihotel, you’ll enjoy cool, contemporaryrooms in Moscow’s newest and trendiest area for eating and drinking. Look for a barelymarked door in the small courtyard beside Art Akademiya. Note that the place is not protectedfrom the nightlife noise, so you might as well go out and join the party.Ozerkovskaya Hotel $$ BOUTIQUE HOTEL(Озерковская гостиница; Click here; 495-953 7644; www.cct.ru; Ozerkovskaya nab 50; s/dfrom R5900/6900; ; Paveletskaya) This comfy, cosy hotel has only 27 rooms, includingthree that are tucked up under the mansard roof. Simple rooms, attentive service and a centrallocation (convenient for the express train to Domodedovo airport), make for an excellent-valueaccommodation option.Ibis Paveletskaya $$ HOTEL( 495-661 8500; www.ibishotel.com; ul Shchipok 22; r from R3100; ; Paveletskaya)You know exactly what you’re getting when you book a room at the Ibis: affordable,comfortable rooms and professional, reliable service.BASMANNY Basilica Hotel $$ HOTEL, HOSTEL ( reservations 910-420 3446, front desk 915-462 5575; www.basilicahotel.ru;Serebryanichesky per 1a; s/d from R3000/4000; ; Kitay-Gorod) On the grounds ofthe 1781 Church of Silver Trinity, this aptly named hotel offers lovely, light-filled rooms withwood floors and contemporary furnishings. In the same building, the hostel(www.sweetmoscow.com; dm R700, s/d with shared bath from R2300/2400) has similarlydecorated dorm rooms. Breakfast not included. From Kitay-Gorod metro, walk 1km south on ulSolyanka.Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya $$$ HOTEL(Гостиница Ленинградская; 495-627 5550; www.hilton.com; Kalanchevskaya ul 21/40; dfrom R10,300; ; Komsomolskaya) Hilton has maintained the grandiosity of thisStalinist skyscraper in the lobby but updated the rooms with contemporary design and state-of-the-art amenities. Offering easy access to Yaroslavsky vokzal, this beauty overlooksKomsomolskaya pl in all its chaotic, commotion-filled glory.Trans-Siberian Hostel $ HOSTEL
( 495-916 2030; www.tshostel.com; Barashevsky per 12; dm R630-700, d R2200-3000; ; Kitay-Gorod) This tiny hostel has private rooms in addition to two dorm rooms, one withfour heavy wooden bunks and one with eight. The only common space is the kitchen, but it’sspacious and modern. A train-themed decor brightens the place up.Boulevard Hotel $$ HOTEL(Отель Бульвар; Click here; 495-776 7276; www.bulvar-sr.ru; ul Sretenka 1; s R3800-5100, d R4700-6050; ; Sretensky Bulvar) On the 2nd floor of a lovely classical buildingon the Blvd Ring Road, this minihotel offers simple, individually appointed rooms.Sverchkov-8 $$ HOTEL(Сверчков-8; 495-625 4978; www.sverchkov-8.ru; Sverchkov per 8; s/d R4800/5200; ; Chistye Prudy) On a quiet residential lane, this is a tiny 11-room hotel in a graceful 19th-century building. Though rooms have old-style bathrooms and faded furniture, this place is ararity for its intimacy and homey feel. Walk south on the Blvd Ring and turn right onArkhangelsky per.Suharevka Mini-Hotel $ MINIHOTEL & HOSTEL(Сухаревка; Click here; +7-910-420 3446; www.suharevkahotel.ru; BolshayaSukharevskaya pl 16/18; dm/r R500/1800; Sukharevskaya; ) This place occupies twoside-by-side flats in a big block on the Garden Ring. The ‘hostel side’ is cramped and cluttered,with no real common space. Some travellers will appreciate the relative spaciousness andserenity across the hall on the ‘hotel side’. Although the private rooms are also small, theyevoke an atmosphere of old Moscow with high ceilings and rich fabrics. All bathroom facilitiesare shared.Sretenskaya Hotel $$$ HOTEL(Сретенская гостиница; Click here; 495-933 5544; www.hotel-sretenskaya.ru; ul Sretenka15; d R12,540; Sukharevskaya; ) Special for its relatively small size and friendlyatmosphere, the Sretenskaya boasts a romantic, Russian atmosphere. Rooms have highceilings and tasteful, traditional decor. This place is particularly welcoming in winter, when youcan warm your bones in the sauna, or soak up some sun in the tropical ‘winter garden’.Discounts are available on weekends.Hotel Volga $$ HOTEL(Апарт-Отель Волга; 495-783 9109; www.hotel-volga.ru; Bolshaya Spasskaya ul 4; s/dR6800/7200; Sukharevskaya; ) This characterless but comfortable hotel complex,run by Moscow’s city government, is on a quiet corner northeast of the centre. The location isjust outside the Garden Ring and not far from the metro. Most of the rooms are actually suiteswith several rooms or a kitchen, making the Volga ideal for small groups or families. Hey, kids,this place also has a playground and a pool table! EatingMany restaurants, especially top-end eateries, accept credit cards, and almost all restaurants
have English-language menus. Discounted ‘business lunch’ specials are often availableweekdays before 4pm. This is a great way to sample some of the pricier restaurants aroundtown. Most upscale places require booking a table in advance.KREMLIN & RED SQUAREStolovaya 57 $ CAFETERIA(Столовая 57; Click here; 3rd fl, GUM, Red Square; meals R300-400; 10am-10pm;Okhotny Ryad) Newly minted, this old-style cafeteria offers a nostalgic re-creation of dining inpost-Stalinist Russia. The food is good – and cheap for such a fancy store. Meat cutlets andcold salads come highly recommended.TVERSKOYDelicatessen $$ INTERNATIONAL( 495-699 3952; www.newdeli.ru; Savodvaya-Karetnaya ul 20; meals R800-1000; noon-midnight Tue-Sat; ; Tsvetnoy Bulvar) ‘Thank you for finding us’ reads the sign over thedoor at this casual but classy restaurant-bar. It does take some finding, but it’s worth the effort.The menu has an eclectic array of offerings including salad Niçoise, shrimp ceviche and steaktartare, as well as burgers and pasta.Barashka $$$ AZERI(Барашка; Click here; 495-625 2895; www.novikovgroup.ru; ul Petrovka 20/1; mealsR1500-2000; ; Teatralnaya) Set in an understated Baku-style courtyard, Barashkaoffers a menu full of fresh tasty salads, grilled meats and slow-cooked stews, many of whichfeature the little lamb for which the restaurant is named.Jagannath $ VEGETARIAN(Джаганнат; Click here; Kuznetsky most 11; meals R400-600; 10am-11pm; ;Kuznetsky Most) If you’re in need of vitamins, this is a funky vegetarian cafe, restaurant andshop. Its decor is more New Agey than authentically Indian. Service is slow but sublime, andthe food is worth the wait.PRESNYA & ARBAT Café Pushkin $$$ RUSSIAN (Кафе Пушкинъ; Click here; 495-739 0033; www.cafe-pushkin.ru; Tverskoy bul 26a;business lunch R750, meals R1500-2000; 24hr; Pushkinskaya) The tsarina of haute-russe dining, with an exquisite blend of Russian and French cuisines – service and food aredone to perfection. The lovely 19th-century building has a different atmosphere on each floor,including a richly decorated library and a pleasant rooftop cafe. Go next door to theKonditerskaya for dessert.Stolle $ RUSSIAN(Штолле; Click here; www.stolle.ru; Bolshaya Sadovaya ul 8/1; meals R200-600; 8am-
10pm; ; Mayakovskaya) Don’t leave without sampling one of the magnificent pirogi(pies). It may be difficult to decide (mushroom or meat, apricot or apple?) but you really can’tgo wrong.Tsentralny Restoranny Dom $ CAFETERIA(Центральный ресторанный дом; Click here;Kudrinskaya pl 1; meals R200-300; 10am-11pm; Barrikadnaya) The ‘central restaurant house’ is on the ground level of the Stalinistskyscraper at Kudrinskaya pl, and the bombastic Empire-style interior has been preserved. It’san odd setting for a self-service lunch but that’s the charm of it. Standard Russian canteen farefor cheap.Shinok $$ UKRAINIAN(Шинок; 495-651 8101; www.shinok.ru; ul 1905 Goda 2; meals R1000-1200; 24hr;Ulitsa 1905 Goda; ) In case you didn’t think Moscow’s themed dining was over the top,this restaurant has recreated a Ukrainian peasant farm in central Moscow. As you dine, youcan look out the window at a cheerful babushka while she tends the farmyard animals (verywell taken care of, we’re assured).Genatsvale on Arbat $$ GEORGIAN(Генацвале на Арбате; Click here; 495-697 9453; www.restoran-genatsvale.ru; ul NovyArbat 11; meals R600-1000; ; Arbatskaya) Bedecked with fake trees and flowingfountains, this place conjures up the Caucasian countryside – the perfect setting to feast onfavourites such as khachipuri (cheesy bread) and lamb dishes. FAST FOOD, RUSSIAN STYLE There’s no shortage of fast food in Moscow – and we’re not talking about the invasion of McDonalds. If you’re short on cash or time, try one of these Russian fast-food chains: Moo-Moo (Ресторан Му-му; www.moo-moo.ru; meals R200-300; 9am-11pm; ) Arbat (ul Arbat 45/24; Smolenskaya); Basmanny (Myasnitskaya ul 14; Luby anka) Cafeteria-style service and Holstein-print decor. Prime Star (Прайм Стар; www.prime-star.ru; meals R200-300; 7am-11pm; ) Tverskoy (ul Bolshaya Dmitrovka 7/5; Teatralnaya); Zamoskvorechie (Pyanitskaya ul 5; Novokuznetskaya); Arbat (ul Arbat 9; Arbatskaya) A healthy sandwich shop, also serving soups, salads, sushi and other ‘natural food’. Yolki-Palki (Ёлки Палки; www.elki-palki.ru; meals R300-500; ) Arbat (ul Novy Arbat 11; 11am-midnight; Arbatskaya); Taganka (Taganskaya pl 2; 9am-11pm Mon-Fri; Taganskaya); Tverskoy (Neglinnaya ul 8/10; 10am- midnight; Kuznetsky Most); Zamoskvorechie (Klimentovsky per 14; 10am-9pm; Tretyakovskaya) This Russian chain is beloved for its country-cottage decor and its well-stocked salad bar.
Zamoskvorechie Sights1 Art Muzeon Sculpture Park C32 Cathedral of Christ the Saviour C13 Gallery of European & American Art of the 19th & 20th Centuries C14 Gorky Park B45 New Tretyakov B46 Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts C17 Red October C28 State Tretyakov Gallery D29 Statue of Peter the Great C3
Sleeping 10 Ibis Paveletskaya F6 11 Ozerkovskaya Hotel F4 12 Red Arrow C2 13 Red Dawn C2 Eating 14 Grably E2 15 Prime Star E1 16 Sok D2 17 Yolki-Palki E2 Drinking 18 Bar Strelka C2 19 Chaikhona No 1 A5 20 Kvartira 44 D3 Entertainment 21 Moscow International House of Music (MMDM) G4 Shopping 22 Artefact Gallery Centre A2 23 Russkaya Ulitsa C2 Information 36.6 (see 17) 24 Cafemax E2 25 Canadian Embassy A1 26 Finnish Embassy A2 27 French Embassy C4 Transport 28 Aeroflot E3 29 Transaero F4ZAMOSKVORECHIEGrably $ CAFETERIA(Грабли; Click here; www.grably.ru, in Russian; Pyatnitskaya ul 27; meals R200-300;10am-11pm; Novokuznetskaya; ) The big buffet features an amazing array of fish,poultry and meat, plus breakfast items, salads, soups and desserts. After you run the gauntletand pay the bill, take a seat in the elaborate winter-garden seating area.Sok $$ VEGETARIAN(Сок; Click here; www.cafe-cok.ru, in Russian; Lavrushinsky per 15; meals R500-800;11am-11pm; ; Tretyakovskaya) Citrus-coloured walls and delicious fresh-squeezed juices
are guaranteed to brighten your day. All the soups, salads, pasta and fabulous desserts arevegetarian, with many vegan options too. The menu even features a few Russian classics suchas beef stroganoff, made with seitan (a wheat-based meat substitute).BASMANNYDacha on Pokrovka $$ RUSSIAN(www.dacha-napokrovke.ru; Pokrovsky bul 18/15; meals R500-800; Kitay-Gorod) Thisramshackle old mansion offers a welcoming and familiar atmosphere – the perfect place toenjoy delicious and affordable Russian home cooking. From Kitay-Gorod, walk east to the BlvdRing.Liudi Kak Liudi $ FAST FOOD(Люди как люди; www.ludikakludi.ru; Solyansky tupik 1/4; meals R300; 11am-10pm Mon-Sat, 11am-8pm Sun; Kitay-Gorod; ) This cute cafe has a few things going for it: location,warm welcome, tasty food and low prices. It’s the perfect lunch stop for pretty much anyone,which explains why this is such a popular place. It’s just around the corner from the Kitay-Gorodmetro station.Avocado $ VEGETARIAN(Chistoprudny bul 12/2; meals R200-400; 10am-11pm; ; Chistye Prudy)Meatless versions of soups and salads, pasta and pelmeni are all featured (although there isno English-language menu, so bring your phrasebook). One block south of the metro on theBlvd Ring. Drinking Bar Strelka CAFE (www.strelkainstitute.ru; Bersenevskaya nab 14/5; Kropotkinskaya) The focal point ofthe new development at the Red October chocolate factory. Strelka also promises to giveMoscow a healthy dose of contemporary culture, hosting lectures, workshops, film screeningsand concerts. Petrovich BAR ( 495-923 0082; www.club-petrovich.ru; Myasnitskaya ul 24/1; meals R800-1000;Chistye Prudy) Owned by a local cartoonist this popular place reminisces with Sovietpropaganda and pop music. Book in advance and enter through an unmarked door in thecourtyard.Chaikhona No 1 CAFE(Чайхона No 1; Click here; www.chaihona.com; Hermitage Gardens; 2pm-last guest;Chekhovskaya) This cool outdoor Uzbek lounge and cafe is one of the best chill-out spots in thecity. There is another outlet near Gorky Park ( Frunzenskaya).
Kvartira 44 BAR(Квартира 44; Click here; www.kv44.ru, in Russian; Bolshaya Nikitskaya ul 22/2; noon-2amSun-Thu, noon-6am Fri & Sat; ; Okhotny Ryad) This old Moscow apartment has beenconverted into a crowded, cosy bar. Also in Zamoskvorechie (ul Malaya Yakimanka 24/8;Polyanka).Zhiguli Beer Hall BREWERY(Пивной зал Жигули; Click here; www.zhiguli.net, in Russian; ul Novy Arbat 11; 10am-2amSun-Thu, 10am-4am Fri & Sat; Arbatskaya) It’s hard to classify this old-style stolovaya(cafeteria) that happens to brew great beer. EntertainmentClassical MusicMoscow International House of Music CLASSICAL MUSIC(Московский международный дом музыки; MMDM; Click here; www.mmdm.ru;Kosmodamianskaya nab 52/8; tickets R200-2000; Paveletskaya) This graceful, modern,glass building has three halls, including Svetlanov Hall, which holds the largest organ in Russia.Tchaikovsky Concert Hall CLASSICAL MUSIC(Консертный зал Чайковского; Click here; box office 495-232 0400;www.classicalmusic.ru; Triumfalnaya pl 4/31; tickets R100-1000; ; Mayakovskaya) Hometo the famous State Philharmonic, the capital’s oldest symphony orchestra, the concert hall wasestablished in 1921. It sometimes hosts concerts for children.Opera & Ballet Bolshoi Theatre OPERA, BALLET (Большой театр; Click here; 8-800-333 1333; www.bolshoi.ru; Teatralnaya pl 1;tickets R200-2000; Teatralnaya) The glittering six-tier auditorium has an electric atmosphere,evoking 235 years of premier music and dance. In 2011, the theatre was preparing to reopenthe doors of its main stage after several years of work.Kremlin Ballet Theatre BALLET(Театр кремлевский балет; Click here; www.kremlin-gkd.ru; ul Vozdvizhenka 1; box officenoon-8pm; Aleksandrovsky Sad) The Kremlin Ballet performs in the State Kremlin Palace(inside the Kremlin).Folk MusicRussian Ball at Yar CABARET(Ярь; www.sovietsky.ru; Leningradsky pr 32/2, Sovietsky Hotel; tickets R1000, dinner R800-1200; Dinamo) Everything about Yar is over-the-top, from the vast, gilded interior to the
traditional Russian menu to the Moulin Rouge–style dancing girls. About 1km south of Dinamometro station. WANT MORE? For in-depth information, reviews and recommendations at your fingertips, head to the Apple App Store to purchase Lonely Planet’s Moscow City Guide iPhone app.TheatreMoscow Art Theatre (MKhT) THEATRE(Московский художественный театр, МХТ; Click here; http://art.theatre.ru; Kamergersky per3; box office noon-7pm; Teatralnaya) Often called the most influential theatre in Europe,this is where method acting was founded over 100 years ago.Taganka Theatre THEATRE(off; www.taganka.org, in Russian; ul Zemlyanoy val 76; Taganskaya) This legendarytheatre is famous for its rebellious director, Yury Lyubimov, and the unruly actor VladimirVysotsky. After Lyubimov’s sudden retirement in 2011, the theatre is in limbo.CircusNikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy Bulvar CIRCUS(Цирк Никулина; Click here; www.circusnikulin.ru; Tsvetnoy bul 13; tickets R400-2500; boxoffice 11am-2pm & 3-7pm; Tsvetnoy Bulvar) Founded in 1880, this circus is now namedafter beloved actor and clown Yury Nikulin (1921–97), who performed at the studio here formany years.NightclubsKrizis Zhanra NIGHTCLUB(Кризис Жанра; www.kriziszhanra.ru; ul Pokrovka 16/16; concerts 9pm Sun-Thu, 11pm Fri& Sat; Chistye Prudy) Good cheap food, copious drinks and rockin’ music every night, all ofwhich inspires the gathered to get their groove on. South of Chistye Prudy metro station on theBlvd Ring.Propaganda NIGHTCLUB(www.propagandamoscow.com; Bolshoy Zlatoustinsky per 7; noon-6am; Kitay-Gorod)This long-time favourite looks to be straight from the warehouse district, with exposed brickwalls and pipe ceilings. This is a gay-friendly place, especially on Sunday nights.
Simachyov BAR(Симачёв Бар & Бутик; Click here; www.bar.denissimachev.com; Stoleshnikov per 12/2;11am-last guest; Chekhovskaya) By day it’s a boutique and cafe, owned and operated bythe famed fashion designer of the same name. By night, this place becomes a hip-hop-happening nightclub that combines glamour and humour. You still have to look sharp to get inhere, but at least you can be bohemian about it.Live MusicMasterskaya LIVE MUSIC(Мастерская; Click here; http://mstrsk.livejournal.com, in Russian; Teatralny pro 3, bldg 3;cover R300; noon-6am; Okhotny Ryad) The eclectic and arty interior makes a cool placeto chill out any time of day. Evening hours give way to a diverse array of live performances.Enter from the courtyard.Art Garbage LIVE MUSIC(Запасник; www.art-garbage.ru; Starosadsky per 5; noon-6am; Kitay-Gorod; ) Thewalls are crammed with paintings of all genres, and there are DJs spinning or live music playingevery night. Is it art or is it garbage? From Kitay-Gorod metro, walk east on ul Maroseyka andturn right on Starosadsky per.Madam Galife LIVE MUSIC(www.madamgalife.ru; Prospect Mira 26/1; Prospekt Mira; ) Looking out to the MGUBotanical Gardens, Madam Galife is like an outdoor cafe. Also adding to the awesomeatmosphere is the live music every night– mostly piano and other jazzy ensembles.Rhythm Blues Cafe LIVE MUSIC(Ритм Блюз Кафе; Click here; 499-245 5543; www.blueshouse.ru, in Russian;Starovagankovsky per; noon-midnight Sun-Thu, noon-5am Fri & Sat; Borovitskaya) Ifyour dog got run over by a pick-up truck, find some comfort at the Rhythm Blues Cafe, withdown-and-out live music every night. Shopping Yeliseev Grocery FOOD & DRINK (Елисеевский магазин; Click here; Tverskaya ul 14; 8am-9pm Mon-Sat, 10am-6pmSun; Pushkinskaya) Peek in here for a glimpse of prerevolutionary grandeur, as the store isset in the former mansion of the successful merchant Yeliseev. It now houses an upscalemarket selling caviar and other delicacies. Russkaya Ulitsa CLOTHES & ACCESSORIES (Русская улица; Click here; www.russian-street.ru; Bersenevskaya nab 8/1;Kropotkinskaya) Showcasing Moscow’s burgeoning fashion industry, this little boutique ‘Russianstreet’ is crammed with cool clothes and accessories from more than 60 different Russian
designers. Located on the grounds of the former Red October chocolate factory.GUM SHOPPING MALL(ГУМ; Click here; www.gum.ru, in Russian; Krasnaya pl 3; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) In theelaborate 19th-century building on Red Square, the State Department Store – better known asGUM – is a bright and bustling centre filled with shops and cafes. TO MARKET, TO MARKET Moscow markets (rinok) are busy, bustling places, full of activity and colour. Even if you’re not shopping, it’s entertaining to peruse the tables piled high with multicoloured produce: homemade cheese and jam; golden honey straight from the hive; vibrantly coloured spices pouring out of plastic bags; slippery silver fish posing on beds of ice; and huge slabs of meat hanging from the ceiling. Many vendors bring their products up from the Caucasus to sell them in the capital. Prices are lower and the quality of product is often higher than in the supermarkets. Bring your own bag and don’t be afraid to haggle. Danilovsky Market (Mytnaya ul 74; Tulskaya) Dorogomilovsky Market (Mozhaysky val 10; 10am-8pm; Kievskaya) Rizhsky Market (pr Mira 94-96; Rizhskaya)Russian Gift HANDICRAFTS(www.russiangifts.ru; ul Zorge 2; 10am-8pm; Polezhaevskaya) An enormous handicraftcentre dedicated to preserving Russian folk traditions. Thousands of handicrafts are on display.There are smaller outlets of this store in GUM and in many of the upscale hotels.Artefact Gallery Centre ART GALLERY(Артефакт; Click here; ul Prechistenka 30; Kropotkinskaya) Near the Russian Academy ofArt, this is a sort of art mall, housing a few dozen galleries under one roof.Salon Podarkov SOUVENIRS(Салоны Подарков; Click here; Myasnitskaya ul 5; 11am-7pm Mon-Sat; Lubyanka) This‘gift salon’ is like an indoor souvenir market, with dozens of individual stalls selling all kinds ofarts and crafts and more. IZMAILOVO MARKET The centrepiece of the Kremlin at Izmailovo is the Vernisage market (Вернисаж в Измайлово; www.kremlin-izmailovo.com; Izmaylovskoe sh 73; 10am-8pm; Partizanskaya), packed with art, handmade crafts, antiques, Soviet paraphernalia and just about anything you might want to bring home. Various ‘trade rows’ are dedicated to icons, carpets, textiles, antiques, paintings and more.
InformationDangers & AnnoyancesAs in any big city, be on your guard against pickpockets and muggers. Be particularly careful ator around metro stations, especially at Kurskaya and Partizanskaya, where readers havereported specific incidents. Always be cautious about taking taxis late at night, especially nearbars and clubs that are in isolated areas. Never get into a car that already has two or morepeople in it. Some police officers can be bothersome, especially to dark-skinned or foreign-lookingpeople. Fortunately, reports of tourists being hassled about their documents and registrationhave declined. Always carry a photocopy of your passport, visa and registration stamp. Ifstopped by a member of the police force, do not hand over your passport! It is perfectlyacceptable to show a photocopy instead.EmergencyRussia is in the process of implementing a new Universal Emergency Number ( 112), whichis supposed to be functional in 2012.Fire 01Police 02Ambulance 03Internet AccessAlmost all hotels and hostels offer wi-fi, as do many bars, restaurants and cafes. If you are nottravelling with your own computer, there are plenty of internet cafes around the city:Cafemax (per hr R100; 24hr; ) Dorogomilovo (Bryanskaya ul 5; Kievskaya);Zamoskvorechie (Pyatnitskaya ul 25; Novokuznetskaya) Late-night and early-morningdiscounts.Internet Club (Kuznetsky most 12; 9am-midnight; Kuznetsky most)Time Online (Тайм ОнЛайн; www.timeonline.ru; per hr R70-100; 24hr; ) Leningradskyvokzal (Komsomolskaya pl 3; Komsomolskaya); Okhotny Ryad (Okhotny Ryad ShoppingCentre; Okhotny Ryad) Copy and photo services; 100 zippy computers.Mediaelement (www.elementmoscow.ru) This oversized newsprint magazine comes out weekly withrestaurant reviews, concert listings and art exhibits.Moscow News (www.moscownews.ru) This long-standing Russian news weekly focuses ondomestic and international politics and business.Moscow Times (www.themoscowtimes.com) This first-rate daily is the undisputed king of thehill in locally published English-language news, covering Russian and international issues, aswell as sport and entertainment. The Friday edition is a great source for what’s happening atthe weekend.Passport Magazine (www.passportmagazine.ru) An excellent monthly lifestyle magazine.
Medical ServicesHospitals Both of the international medical facilities listed here accept health insurance frommajor international providers.American Medical Centre (Американский Медицинский Центр; Click here; 495-933 7700;www.amcenter.ru; Grokholsky per 1; Prospekt Mira) Offers 24-hour emergency service, aswell as an on-site pharmacy with English-speaking staff.Botkin Hospital (Боткинская больница; 495-945 0045; www.botkinmoscow.ru, in Russian;2-y Botkinsky proezd 5; Begovaya) The best Russian facility.European Medical Centre (Европейский Медицинский Центр; Click here; 495-933 6655;www.emcmos.ru; Spirodonevsky per 5; Mayakovskaya) Includes around-the-clock medicaland dental facilities.Pharmacies36.6 (Аптека 36.6; 495-797 6366; www.366.ru; 24hr) Arbat (ul Novy Arbat 15;Arbatskaya); Basmanny (ul Pokrovka 1/13; Kitay-Gorod); Tverskoy (Tverskaya ul 25/9;Tverskaya); Zamoskvorechie (Klimentovsky per 12; Tretyakovskaya) A chain of 24-hourpharmacies with many branches all around the city.MoneyBanks, exchange counters and ATMs are ubiquitous in Moscow. Credit cards, especially Visaand MasterCard, are widely accepted. You can also use your credit card to get a cashadvance at most major banks.Alfa-Bank (Альфа-банк; 8.30am-8pm Mon-Sat) Basmanny (Myastnitskaya ul 13/1;Lubyanka); Tverskoy (Kuznetsky most 9/10; Kuznetsky Most); Zamoskvorechie (ulBolshaya Ordynka 21/2; Tretyakovskaya) Has ATMs that offer US dollars and euros inaddition to roubles.PostAlthough international service has improved, mail to Europe and the USA can take two to sixweeks to arrive.Central telegraph office (Центральный телеграф; Click here; Tverskaya ul 7; post 8am-10pm, telephone 24hr; Okhotny Ryad)Main post office (Московский главпочтамт; Click here; Myasnitskaya ul 26; 8am-8pmMon-Fri, 9am-7pm Sat & Sun; Chistye Prudy) HOW TO DIAL THE TELEPHONE It’s more complicated than you would think. There are now two area codes functioning within Moscow: 495 and 499. Dialling patterns for the two area codes are different: » »Within the 495 area code, dial seven digits, with no area code. » »Within the 499 area code, dial 10 digits (including 499). » »From 495 to 499 (or vice versa), dial 8 plus 10 digits (including appropriate area code). Although this looks like an intercity call, it is charged as a local call. The addition of mobile phones also complicates matters, as mobile-phone numbers have a completely different area code (usually 915, 916 or 926). To call a mobile phone from a landline (or vice versa) you must dial 8 plus 10 digits.
Travel AgenciesMaria Travel Agency (Агентство Мария; Click here; 495-775 8226; www.maria-travel.com; ul Maroseyka 13; Kitay-Gorod) Offers visa support, apartment rental and somelocal tours.Unifest Travel (Туристическое Агенство Юнифест Тревел; Click here; 495-234 6555;http://unifest.ru; Komsomolsky pr 13; Park Kultury) Formerly Infinity Travel, this on-the-balltravel company offers rail and air tickets, visa support, and Trans-Siberian and Central Asianpackages. About 1km southeast of Park Kultury metro station. Getting There & AwayTrainFor representative schedules and fares, Click here. For detailed information on timetables andfares, see the Plan Your Trip section.Stations Moscow has nine main stations:Yaroslavsky vokzal (Ярославский вокзал; Click here; http://yaroslavsky.dzvr.ru;Komsomolskaya pl; Komsomolskaya) Serves most Trans-Siberian destinations, includingYaroslavl, the Russian Far East, Mongolia and China, as well as some trains to/from Vladimir,Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Urals, Siberia; and suburban trains to/from the northeast, includingAbramtsevo and Sergiev Posad.Belorussky vokzal (Белорусский вокзал; off Click here; www.belorusskiy.info; TverskayaZastava pl; Belorusskaya) Serves trains to/from Smolensk, Kaliningrad, Belarus andnorthern Europe, as well as suburban trains to/from the west including Borodino, as well as theAeroexpress to Sheremetyevo.Kazansky vokzal (Казанский вокзал; Click here; www.kazansky.info; Komsomolskaya pl;Komsomolskaya) Serves trains to/from Kazan, as well as some trains to/from Vladimir, NizhnyNovgorod, the Ural Mountains and Siberia.Kievsky vokzal (Киевский вокзал; Click here; www.kievskiy.info, in Russian; Kievskaya pl; Kievskaya) Serves southeastern Europe, as well as suburban trains to/from the southwest,including Peredelkino and the Aeroexpress to Vnukovo.Kursky vokzal (Курский вокзал; Click here; pl Kurskogo vokzala; Kurskaya) Serves townsto the southeast, including the Caucasus, Crimea, Georgia and Azerbaijan. It also has sometrains to/from Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod and Perm; and suburban trains to/from the east andsouth, including Vladimir and Chekhov.Leningradsky vokzal (Ленинградский вокзал; Click here; www.leningradskiy.info;Komsomolskaya pl; Komsomolskaya) Serves destinations to the northwest includingNovgorod, Pskov, St Petersburg, Vyborg, Estonia and Helsinki, as well as suburban trainsto/from the northwest including Klin. Note that sometimes this station is referred to ontimetables and tickets by its former name, Oktyabrsky.Paveletsky vokzal (Павелецкий вокзал; Click here; Paveletskaya pl; Paveletskaya) Servessouthbound trains including the Aeroexpress to Domodedovo airport.Rizhsky vokzal (Рижский вокзал; Click here; Rizhskaya pl; Rizhskaya) Serves Latvia, withsuburban trains to/from the northwest, including Istra and Novoierusalimskaya.Savyolovsky vokzal (Савёловский вокзал; Click here; pl Savyolovskogo vokzala;
Savyolovskaya) Serves northbound trains. KUKUSHKA.RU Calling all railway buffs! Midway between Sergiev Posad and Rostov-Veliky, the little town of Pereslavl-Zalessky is home to a unique railway museum known as Kukushka.ru (www.kukushka.ru, in Russian; adult/child R100/50; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun Apr-Oct, to 5pm Sat & Sun Nov-Mar) The collection of locomotives occupies the tracks and depot that were used up until the middle of the 20th century. Don’t miss the opportunity to ride on the hand cart (adult/child R100/50). Visitors are ferried from the parking lot 1km away from the museum in vintage WWII era cars. Pereslavl-Zalessky is not on the train line, but buses travel frequently to Moscow (R310, 2½ hours), most arriving at Shchyolkovsky bus station (though some go to Yaroslavsky train station). Not all buses stop at Sergiev Posad (one hour, three daily).Suburban Trains Most Moscow stations have a separate ticket hall for suburban trains,usually called the Prigorodny Zal and often tucked away beside or behind the station building.These trains are usually listed on separate timetables, and may depart from a separate groupof platforms. TRAINS FROM MOSCOW Sample Trains from Moscow to St Petersburg All trains depart daily from Leningradsky vokzal. Prices are for a kupe ticket unless otherwise stated. TRAIN NUMBER DEPARTURE TIME DURATION FARE Krasnaya Strela02 11.55pm 8hr R2600-3000 Ekspress 04 11.59pm 8hr R2600-3000 Grand Express 54 11.40pm 9hr R2700-3400 Sapsan 152 6.45am 4hr 1st/2nd-class R5056/2612 (seat) Sapsan 158 1.30pm 4hr 1st/2nd-class R4645/2354 (seat) Sapsan 162 4.30pm 4hr 1st/2nd-class R5460/2870 (seat) Sapsan 168 7.45pm 4hr 1st/2nd-class R5530/2870 (seat) Sample International Trains from Moscow All trains depart daily. Prices are for a kupe ticket.
SAMPLE TRANS-SIBERIAN TRAINS FROM MOSCOWAll fares are for kupe (compartmentalised carriages) unless otherwise stated.
AirAirports Moscow has three main airports servicing international and domestic flights.Domodedovo (Домодедово; www.domodedovo.ru) Located 48km south of the city,Domodedovo is the city’s largest and most efficient international airport.Sheremetyevo-1 & 2 (Шереметьево; http://svo.aero) The other main international airport isSheremetyevo-2, 30km northwest of the city centre, while nearby Sheremetyevo-1 (connectedby shuttle bus) services domestic flights.Vnukovo (Внуково; www.vnukovo-airport.ru) About 30km southwest, Vnukovo serves manydomestic flights, including budget airlines such as SkyExpress (Click here).Tickets You can buy domestic airline tickets from most travel agents (Click here) and atAeroflot and Transaero offices all over town:
Aeroflot (Аэрофлот; 495-223 5555; www.aeroflot.ru; 9am-8.30pm Mon-Sat, to 4.30pmSun) Tverskoy (ul Petrovka 20/1; Chekhovskaya) Kuznetsky Most (ul Kuznetsky Most 3;Kuznetsky Most) Zamoskvorechie (Pyatnitskaya ul 37/19; Tretyakovskaya)Transaero (Трансаэро; 495-788 8080; www.transaero.com; 9am-6pm Mon-Sat) Arbat(Kamennaya Sloboda per 8; Smolenskaya); Zamoskvorechie (Paveletskaya pl 2/3;Paveletskaya)BusBuses run to a number of towns and cities within 700km of Moscow. To book a seat go to thelong-distance bus terminal, the Shchyolkovsky Bus Station ( Shchyolkovskaya), 8km eastof the city centre. Buses also depart from outside the various train stations, offering alternativetransport to the destinations served by the train.Car & MotorcycleSee Click here for advice about driving in Russia.Hire You might consider hiring a car for trips out of the city. Prices start at R1700 per day.Avis (Авис-Москва; 495-578 8425; www.avis.com; Komsomolskaya pl 3; 10am-8pm;Komsomolskaya) Located at Leningradsky vokzal.Europcar ( 495-926 6373; www.europcar.ru; 4-y Dobryninsky per 8; 10am-7pm;Oktyabrskaya) Cars prohibited from leaving Moscow Oblast.Hertz ( 495-232 0889; www.hertz.ru, in Russian; 1-ya Brestskaya ul 34; 9am-9pm;Belorusskaya)Thrifty ( 495-788 6888; www.thrifty.ru) Outer North (Leningradskoe sh 65, bldg 3; 9am-9pm; Rechnoy Vokzal); Outer South (ul Obrucheva 27, Bldg 1; 8am-8pm;Kaluzhskaya) Mileage limited to 200km per day. Getting AroundTo/From the AirportsAll three airports are accessible by the convenient Aeroexpress train ( 8-800-700 3377;www.aeroexpress.ru; business/standard R550/320) from the city centre.Domodedovo The Aeroexpress train leaves Paveletsky vokzal every half-hour between 6amand midnight for the 45-minute trip to Domodedovo.Sheremetyevo The slick new Aeroexpress train departs from Belorussky vokzal every half-hour from 5.30am to 12.30am for the 35-minute trip to Sheremetyevo.Vnukovo The Aeroexpress train makes the 35-minute run from Kievsky vokzal to Vnukovoairport every hour from 6am to 11pm.BoatSee Click here for information on ferries that ply the Moscow River.MetroThe Moscow metro (www.mosmetro.ru) is the easiest, quickest and cheapest way of gettingaround Moscow. Plus, many of the elegant stations are marble-faced, frescoed, gilded works
of art. The 150-plus stations are marked outside by large ‘M’ signs. Magnetic tickets (R28) are soldat ticket booths. Queues can be long, so it’s useful to buy a multiple-ride ticket (10 rides forR265 or 20 rides for R520). The ticket is actually a contactless smart card, which you must tapon the reader before going through the turnstile.TaxiTaxi Companies The safest and most reliable way to get a taxi is to order one by phone.Normally, the dispatcher will call you back within a few minutes to provide a description andlicence number of the car.Central Taxi Reservation Office (Центральное бюро заказов такси; 495-627 0000;www.6270000.ru; R400 per 30min)Detskoe Taxi (Детское такси; 495-765 1180; www.detskoetaxi.ru; per 10km R500)‘Children’s Taxi’ has smoke-free cars and car seats for your children.Diligence Taxi Service (Дилижанс; 495-966 5214; www.the-taxi.ru; R500 per 40min)New Yellow Taxi (Новое жёлтое такси; 495-940 8888; www.nyt.ru; R22-30 per km)Unofficial taxis Many private cars cruise around as unofficial taxis, and other drivers will oftentake you if they’re going in roughly the same direction. Expect to pay R200 to R400 for a ridearound the city centre. Don’t hesitate to wave on a car if you don’t like the look of its occupants. As a general rule,it’s best to avoid riding in cars that already have a passenger. Be particularly careful taking ataxi that is waiting outside a nightclub or bar.
Top of sectionSt Petersburg Includes » History Sights Tours Festivals & Events Sleeping Eating Drinking Entertainment Shopping Information Getting There & Away Getting AroundWhy Go?Beautiful, complex and imperious, with a hedonistic, creative temperament, St Petersburg(Санкт-Петербург) is the ultimate Russian diva. From its early days as an uninhabited swamp,the 300-year-old city has been nurtured by a succession of rulers, enduring practicallyeverything that history and nature’s harsh elements could throw at her. Constantly in need ofrepair but with a carefree party attitude, Petersburg still seduces all who gaze upon her grandfacades, glittering spires and gilded domes. Even if you don’t plan to start or end your train journey in St Petersburg, it would be a shamenot to visit the city. The long summer days of the White Nights season are particularly special –the fountains flow and parks and gardens burst into colour. The icy depths of winter have theirown magic, and are the perfect time for warming body and soul in all those museums andpalaces.
When to Gomid-May–mid-Jul The White Nights, when the sun never sets, is the most popular time to visit.May & Sep A great time to visit summery St Petersburg without the crowds of the peakmonths.Nov–Jan Freezing, dark and blanketed in snow, the winter in St Petersburg is magical.Best Places to Eat» »Dom Beat (Click here)» »Botanika (Click here)» »Kompot Café (Click here)» »Teplo (Click here)» »Makarov (Click here)Best Places to Stay» »Rossi Hotel (Click here)» »Casa Leto (Click here)» »Andrey & Sasha’s Homestay (Click here)» »Rachmaninov Hotel (Click here)» »Hostel Ligovsky 74 (Click here)Art AttackSt Petersburg, long Russia’s artistic engine, has recently seen the opening of several newmuseums and galleries that are really putting the city on the international art map. As well asthe incredible world-class collections at the Hermitage and the Russian Museum, the recentopening of the Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art (Click here), Russia’s largest private artmuseum with over 2000 works of modern Russian art, has made St Petersburg about far morethan classical art. Add to that two very interesting contemporary galleries, Loft Project ETAGI(Click here) and the Rizzordi Art Foundation (Click here), and art lovers will find plenty to keepthemselves entertained. PALACES UNDERGROUND
The St Petersburg metro isn’t quite as palatial as Moscow’s, but you shouldn’t miss the stations on the southern half of Line 1 (that’s the red line on the official metro map). Some highlights are detailed below. Avtovo Check out the Babylonian lavishness of marble and cut-glass clad columns holding up the roof, the relief of soldiers in the ticket hall, and the temple-like entrance. Narvskaya A fantastic sculpted relief of Lenin and the rejoicing proletariat hangs over the escalators, and carvings of miners, engineers, sailors and teachers grace the platform columns. Ploshchad Vosstaniya Lenin and Stalin are depicted together in the rondels at either end of the platform, as well as Lenin on a tank, Lenin alone, and the Kronshtadt sailors.Bridges Up!From the end of April to November all bridges across the Neva River rise at around 1am nightlyto let ships pass through the city and on to the rest of the world, or into Russia’s deep interior.The spectacle is well worth seeing, but it’s also well worth planning for – don’t find yourself onthe wrong side of the water when the bridges go up, or you’ll have a long night ahead of youuntil they go back down again at around 4.30am. SeeClick here for more specific times. NEED TO KNOW Trains to Irkutsk depart from Ladozhsky vokzal (reached by Ladozhskaya). Trains to Moscow depart from Moskovsky vokzal (reached from Ploshchad Vosstaniya).Fast Facts» »Telephone code: 812» »Population: 4,848,000» »Number of metro stations: 65» »Number of bridges: 342Getting into the City from the AirportFrom Pulkovo-1 take bus 39 (R21, every 15 minutes, 5.30am to 12.30am) to Moskovskayametro. From Pulkovo-2 take bus K-13 (R27, every 10 minutes, 5.30am to 12.30am) toMoskovskaya metro. A taxi from either terminal to the city centre should cost around R700.Resources» »St Petersburg Tourist Information (eng.ispb.info)» »St Petersburg Times (www.sptimes.ru)» »In Your Pocket St Petersburg (www.inyourpocket.com/russia/st-petersburg)» »Way to Russia (www.waytorussia.net)
St Petersburg Highlights Spending a day (or more!) in the Hermitage (Click here), one of the world’s unrivalled art collections Witnessing the amazing kaleidoscope of colours that is the Church on Spilled Blood (Click here) Revelling with locals during the ethereal endless daylight of the White Nights (Click here) Climbing the enormous dome of St Isaac’s Cathedral (Click here) for a bird’s-eye view of the imperial city Having the ultimate Russian experience by taking in a ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre (Click here) Cruising the rivers and canals (Click here) for the best views of this most watery of cities – they don’t call it the Venice of the North for nothing! Heading out of town to Tsarskoe Selo (Click here), Catherine the Great’s incredible summer palace, to see the magnificent Amber Room Seeing the sublime collection of art, from icons to the avant-garde, at the Russian Museum (Click here)HistoryStarting with the Peter & Paul Fortress, founded on the marshy estuary of the Neva River in1703, Peter the Great and his successors commissioned a city built to grand design by mainlyEuropean architects. By the early 19th century St Petersburg had firmly established itself asRussia’s cultural heart. But at the same time as writers, artists and musicians – such asPushkin, Turgenev and, later, Tchaikovsky and Dostoevsky – lived in and were inspired by thecity, political and social problems were on the rise. Industrialisation brought a flood of poor workers and associated urban squalor to StPetersburg. Revolution against the monarchy was first attempted in the short-lived coup of 14December 1825. The leaders (who included members of the aristocracy and who becameknown as the Decembrists) were banished to the outer edges of the empire (Click here). The next revolution was in 1905, sparked by the ‘Bloody Sunday’ of 9 January when morethan a hundred people were killed and hundreds more were injured after troops fired on apeaceful crowd petitioning the tsar outside the Winter Palace. The tsar’s government limped on,until February 1917, when food shortages and miserable social conditions in the newly renamedPetrograd culminated in popular protests that led to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. Leninand his Bolshevik followers took advantage of the weak Provisional Government that heldpower for the next six months and staged an audacious coup in the Winter Palace in October1917. To protect the city during the ensuing Civil War, the seat of government was moved back toMoscow, and, to break with the tsarist past, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad after Lenin’sdeath in 1924. The city – by virtue of its location, three-million-plus population and industry –remained one of Russia’s most important, thus putting it on the frontline during WWII. For 872
days the Germans besieged Leningrad, and one million perished from starvation in horrendousconditions. During the 1960s and 1970s Leningrad’s bohemian spirit burned bright, fostering the likes ofdissident poet Joseph Brodsky and underground rock groups such as Akvarium, and later on,Kino. As the Soviet Union came tumbling down, the city renamed itself St Petersburg in 1991.Millions of roubles were spent on restoration for the city’s tercentenary celebrations and StPetersburg looks better now than probably at any other time in its history. SightsWhile St Petersburg is a huge and sprawling city spread over many different islands, its mainsights are fairly well centred in the Historic Heart of the city, the area broadly surrounding themain avenue, Nevsky Prospekt. Other rich pockets of sights include those on Vasilyevsky Islandand the Petrograd Side, just across the Neva River from the Historic Heart, and those furtherdown Nevsky pr in the areas around the Smolny and pl Vosstaniya.
Central St Petersburg Sights 1 Commandants House D2 2 Loft Project ETAGI F5 3 Marble Palace D2 4 Menshikov Palace C3 5 Museum of Railway Technology C7 6 Naryshkin Bastion D2 7 Nevskaya Panorama D2 8 Nevsky Gate D2 9 Rizzordi Art Foundation A6 10 SS Peter & Paul Cathedral D2 11 Yusupov Palace C4 Sleeping 12 Alexander House C5 Hostel Ligovsky 74 (see 2) Eating 13 Stolle C4 Entertainment 14 Griboyedov F5 15 JFC Jazz Club F2 16 Mariinsky Concert Hall B5 17 Mariinsky Theatre B5 18 New Mariinsky Theatre B5 19 Tunnel Club C1 Information 20 Belarusian Consulate H3 21 Central Post Office C4 22 Chinese Consulate B5 23 German Consulate G2 24 UK Consulate H2 25 US Consulate F2 Transport 26 Avtovokzal No 2 F6 27 Ecolines E5HISTORIC HEART State Hermitage Museum MUSEUM (Эрмитаж; Click here; www.hermitagemuseum.org; Dvortsovaya pl; adult/ISICcardholders & under 17yr R400/free; 10.30am-6pm Tue-Sat, to 5pm Sun;
Admiralteyskaya) Mainly set in the magnificent Winter Palace, the Hermitage fully lives up to itssterling reputation. You can be absorbed by its treasures for days and still come out wishing formore. The following are the must-sees: Historic Heart Sights 1 Alexander Column B2 2 Anna Akhmatova Museum at the Fountain House F3 3 Church on Spilled Blood D2 4 General Staff Building B2 5 Kunstkamera A1 6 Mariinsky Palace A4 7 Mikhailovsky Castle E2 8 Museum of Music E2 9 Museum of Zoology A1 Pushkinskaya 10 (see 57) 10 Rostral Columns A1 11 Russian Museum D2 12 St Isaacs Cathedral A3 13 State Hermitage B1 14 Stroganov Palace C3
Activities, Courses & Tours15 Anglo Tourismo E3 Sleeping16 3MostA C117 Andrey & Sashas Homestay B418 Arkadia B319 Casa Leto B320 Friends Hostel C321 Guest House Nevsky 3 B222 Hotel Vera H223 Life Hostel F324 Location Hostel A225 Northern Lights A326 Petro Palace Hotel A327 Pio on Griboedov C328 Puppet Hostel F229 Pushka Inn C130 Rachmaninov Hotel C331 Rossi Hotel D4 Eating32 Botanika E133 Café King Pong B334 Dom Beat F535 Dve Palochki D236 Dve Palochki C2 Fartuk (see 44)37 Garçon C338 Garçon H439 Kompot Café F340 Kuznechny Market F541 Lend F442 Makarov F143 Okey G544 Schastye E445 Soup Vino C446 Stockman G447 Stolle C148 Stolle G249 Teplo A350 Terrassa C351 Zoom Café B4 Drinking52 Dyuni G553 Other Side C1 Terminal Bar (see 44) Entertainment54 Barackobamabar C2
55 Bolshoy Zal D2 56 Chinese Pilot Dzhao Da E1 57 Fish Fabrique G4 58 Maly Zal D3 59 Mikhailovsky Theatre D2 60 Mod Club C2 61 Zoccolo H3 Shopping 62 Gostiny Dvor D3 63 Souvenir Market D1 Information 64 36.6 Pharmacy E5 65 36.6 Pharmacy B3 66 36.6 Pharmacy F2 67 American Medical Clinic A4 68 Apteka Petrofarm C2 69 Austrian Consulate H1 70 Café Max F3 71 City Tourist Information Centre D3 72 Dom Knigi C3 73 Finnish Embassy F1 74 French Consulate C1 75 Internet Cafe B2 76 Japanese Consultate C1 77 Medem International Clinic & Hospital F4 78 Tourist Information Kiosk B2 79 Tourist Information Kiosk G4 Transport 80 Central Airline Ticket Office B2 81 Central Train Ticket Office C3 82 Ferry Centre G3 83 Sovavto Buses to Helsinki D3Room 100 Ancient EgyptJordan Staircase Directly ahead when you pass through the main entrance inside the WinterPalaceRooms 143–146 Hidden Treasures Revealed: French late-19th and early-20th-centurypaintings taken from private collections in Germany in 1945Rooms 178–198 Imperial staterooms and apartments including the Malachite Hall, NicholasHall, Armorial Hall and Hall of St GeorgeRoom 204 The Pavilion HallRooms 207–238 Italian art, 13th to 18th centuries
Rooms 239–240 Spanish art, 16th to 18th centuriesRooms 245–247 Flemish art, 17th centuryRooms 249–258 Dutch art, 17th centuryRoom 271 The imperial family’s cathedralRoom 298–301 English artRoom 316–320 Impressionist and Postimpressionist artRoom 343–350 20th-century artConcentrate the rest of your time on rooms 333 to 350 for late-19th-century and early-20th-century European art, including works by Matisse and Picasso. The museum’s main entrance is on Dvortsovaya pl (Palace Sq), one of the city’s mostimpressive and historic spaces. Stand back to admire the palace and the central 47.5mAlexander Column (Александровская колонна; Click here), named after Alexander I andcommemorating the 1812 victory over Napoleon. Enclosing the square’s south side is theGeneral Staff Building (Зданиеглавного штаба; Click here; www.hermitagemuseum.org;Dvortsovaya pl 6-8; admission R60; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun; Admiralteyskaya), which has abranch of the Hermitage in its east wing. Queues for tickets, particularly from May to September, can be horrendous. The museumcan also be very busy on the first Thursday of the month when admission is free for everyone.Apart from getting in line an hour or so before the museum opens or going late in the day whenthe lines are likely to be shorter, there are a few strategies you can use. The best is to bookyour ticket online through the Hermitage’s website: US$17.95 gets you admission to the mainHermitage buildings, plus use of a camera or camcorder; US$25.95 is for the two-day ticket toall the Hermitage’s collections in the city (except the storage facility). You’ll be issued with avoucher that allows you to jump the queue and go straight to the ticket booth. Joining a tour is another way to avoid queuing. These take you around the main sections inabout 1½ hours but at least provide an introduction to the place in English. It’s easy to ‘lose’ thegroup and stay on until closing time. To book a tour call the museum’s excursions office (571 8446; 11am-1pm & 2-4pm); staff there will tell you when they are running tours inEnglish, German or French and when to turn up.Church on Spilled Blood CHURCH(Храм Спаса на Крови; Click here; www.cathedral.ru; Konyushennaya pl; adult/studentR250/150; 10am-6pm Thu-Tue; Nevsky Prospekt) This multidomed dazzler of a church,partly modelled on St Basil’s in Moscow, was built between 1883 and 1907 on the spot whereAlexander II was assassinated in 1881 (hence its gruesome name). It’s now most commonlyknown as the church that took 24 years to build and 27 to restore. In August 1997, with muchfanfare, it finally opened its doors after more than 30 artists painstakingly restored the interior’sincredible 7000 sq metres of mosaics – and they fully justify the entrance fee.Russian Museum MUSEUM(Русский музей; Click here; www.rusmuseum.ru; Inzhenernaya ul 4; adult/student R300/150;
10am-5pm Mon, to 6pm Wed-Sun; Gostiny Dvor) Facing onto the elegant pl Iskusstv(Arts Sq) is the former Mikhailovsky Palace, now the Russian Museum, housing one of thecountry’s finest collections of Russian art. After the Hermitage you may feel you have had yourfill of art, but try your utmost to make some time for this excellent museum. The museum owns three other city palaces – all worth visiting if you have time – wherepermanent and temporary exhibitions are held: the Marble Palace (Мраморный дворец; Clickhere; www.rusmuseum.ru; Millionnaya ul 5/1; adult/student R300/150; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon; Nevsky Prospekt); Mikhailovsky Castle (Михайловский замок; Click here;www.rusmuseum.ru; Sadovaya ul 2; adult/student R300/150; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon;Gostiny Dvor); and the Stroganov Palace (Строгановский дворец; Click here;www.rusmuseum.ru; Nevsky pr 17; adult/student R300/150; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon;Nevsky Prospekt). A ticket for R600 (R300 for students), available at each palace, coversentrance to them all within a 24-hour period.St Isaac’s Cathedral CHURCH(Исаакиевский собор; Click here; www.cathedral.ru; Isaakievskaya pl; cathedral adult/studentR250/150, colonnade R150; 10am-6pm Thu-Tue; Admiralteyskaya) The golden dome ofthis cathedral dominates the city skyline. Its lavish interior is open as a museum, but manyvisitors just buy the separate ticket to climb the 262 steps up to the colonnade around thedome’s drum to take in the panoramic views. The French architect Auguste de Montferrandwon a competition organised by Alexander I to design the cathedral in 1818. It took so long tobuild – until 1858 – that Alexander’s successor Nicholas I was able to insist on a moregrandiose structure than Montferrand had planned. Special ships and a railway had to be builtto carry the granite from Finland for the huge pillars. There’s a statue of Montferrand holding amodel of the cathedral on the west facade.Yusupov Palace PALACE(Юсуповский дворец; Click here; www.yusupov-palace.ru; nab reki Moyki 94;adult/student/child R500/380/280; 11am-5pm; Spasskaya) In a city of glittering palaces,the extravagant interiors of the Yusupov Palace more than hold their own. A series ofsumptuously decorated rooms, each more spectacular than the last, culminate in a gilded jewelbox of a theatre, where classical music, ballet and opera performances are still held; check thewebsite for details. The palace is certainly one of St Petersburg’s finest, but it’s very overpriced for foreigners(Russians get a far better deal) and if you want to see the room where Rasputin’s murderbegan, you have to pay for an extra tour (adult/student R300/180), which takes place at1.45pm daily except Sunday. There are only 20 tickets available each day, so come in goodtime to secure a place. The admission price to the palace includes an audio tour in English anda number of other languages, but you’ll need to leave a R1000 deposit per audio guide.Sheremetyev Palace MUSEUMFacing the Fontanka Canal, the splendid Sheremetyev Palace (Шереметьевский дворец; built1750–55) houses two lovely museums. The Museum of Music (Музей музыки; Click here;www.theatremuseum.ru; nab reki Fontanki 34; admission R250; noon-7pm Wed-Sun;Gostiny Dvor) contains a lovely collection of beautifully decorated instruments. Upstairs the
palace rooms have been wonderfully restored; you get a great sense of how cultured life musthave been here. In a separate wing of the palace, reached from Liteyny pr, is the charming Anna AkhmatovaMuseum at the Fountain House (Музей Анны Ахматовой в Фонтанном Доме; Click here;www.akhmatova.spb.ru; Liteyny pr 53; admission R100, audio tour R100; 10.30am-6.30pmTue-Sun, 1-9pm Wed; Mayakovskaya), filled with mementoes of the poet and her family, allpersecuted during Soviet times. Admission also includes the Joseph Brodsky ‘American Study’.The poet did not live here, but his connection with Akhmatova was strong. His office has beenre-created, complete with furniture and other ‘artefacts’ from his adopted home inMassachusetts.Railway Museums MUSEUMEvery child’s and railway enthusiast’s dream will be realised at the Museum of RailwayTransport (Музей железнодорожного транспорта; Click here; www.railroad.ru/cmrt;Sadovaya ul 50; adult/student/child R100/50/30; 11am-5.30pm Sun-Thu; Sadovaya),which holds a fascinating collection of scale locomotives and model railway bridges, often madeby the engineers who built the real ones. As the oldest such collection in the world (the museumwas established in 1809, 28 years before Russia had its first working train!), it includes modelsof Krasnoyarsk’s Yenisey Bridge, the ship that once carried passengers and trains across LakeBaikal. It also has a sumptuous 1903 Trans-Siberian wagon complete with a piano salon and abathtub. Train spotters should also hasten to view the impressive collection of full-sized locomotives atthe Museum of Railway Technology (Центральный музей Октябрьской железной дорогой;Click here; nab kanala Obvodnogo 118; adult/child R200/100; 11am-5.30pm Tue-Sun;Baltiyskaya) behind the old Warsaw Station. Around 75 nicely painted and buffed engines andcarriages are on display, some dating back to the late 19th century.Contemporary Art Galleries ART GALLERYSt Petersburg has a small but thriving contemporary art scene and some of the best places tosee contemporary work include Loft Project ETAGI (Лофт проект ЭТАЖИ; Click here;www.loftprojectetagi.ru; Ligovsky pr 74; noon-10pm; Ligovsky Prospekt), a former breadfactory that contains three galleries and two exhibition spaces; Rizzordi Art Foundation(www.rizzordi.org; Kurlyandskaya ul 49; admission free; 2-8pm Tue-Sun; Baltiiskaya), abeautiful converted brewery; and the well-established group of galleries that collectively makeup Pushkinskaya 10 (Пушкинская 10; Click here; http://en.p-10.ru; Ligovsky pr 53; admissionfree; 3-7pm Wed-Sun; Ploshchad Vosstaniya). HISTORIC RAILWAY STATIONS St Petersburg’s oldest and most elegant station is Vitebsky vokzal (Vitebsk Station; Click here; Pushkinskaya), originally built in 1837 to serve the line to Tsarskoe Selo. The current building dates from 1904 and is partly graced with gorgeous Style Moderne (Russian art nouveau) interior decoration. While at Moskovsky vokzal (Moscow Station; Click here; Ploshchad Vosstaniya) look up at the expansive ceiling mural in the main entrance hall. There’s a striking giant bust of Peter the Great in the hall leading to the platforms.
Finlyandsky vokzal (Finland Station; Click here; Ploshchad Lenina), rebuilt after WWII, is famous as the place where, in April 1917, Lenin arrived from exile and gave his legendary speech atop an armoured car. Lenin’s statue, pointing across the Neva towards the old KGB headquarters, stands outside the station.VASILYEVSKY ISLANDSome of the best views of St Petersburg can be had from Vasilyevsky Island’s eastern ‘nose’known as the Strelka. The two Rostral Columns (Ростральные колонны; Click here) on thepoint, studded with ships’ prows, were oil-fired navigation beacons in the 1800s; on someholidays, such as Victory Day, gas torches are still lit on them. The best of many museums on Vasilyevsky Island is the riverside Menshikov Palace(Меншиковский дворец; Click here; www.hermitagemuseum.org; Universitetskaya nab 15;admission adult/student R60/free, free admission first Thu of the month, audio tour R150;10.30am-6pm Tue-Sat, until 5pm Sun; Vasileostrovskaya), built in 1707 for Peter theGreat’s confidant Alexander Menshikov. Now a branch of the Hermitage, the palace’simpressively restored interiors are filled with period art and furniture. The Kunstkamera (Кунсткамера; Click here; www.kunstkamera.ru; Universitetskaya nab 3;adult/student R200/50; 11am-6pm Tue-Sun, closed last Tue of the month;Admiralteyskaya) was established in 1714 by Peter the Great, who used it to display hisghoulish collection of monstrosities, notably preserved freaks, two-headed mutant foetuses andodd body parts. They still draw the crowds today. Nearby, the Museum of Zoology (Зоологический музей; Click here; www.zin.ru;Universitetskaya nab 1/3; adult/student R200/70, free last Thu each month; 11am-6pmWed-Mon; Admiralteyskaya) has some amazing exhibits, including a complete woollymammoth, thawed out of the Siberian ice in 1902, and a live insect zoo. For the intrepid, the new and rather far-flung Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art (МузейЭрарта; www.erarta.com; 29-aya liniya 2; adult/under 21 R300/150; 10am-10pm Thu-Tue; Vasileostrovskaya, then bus 6 from across the road from the metro) is highlyrecommended. Opened in 2010 and housed in a superbly converted Stalinist building, themuseum houses a permanent collection of some 2000 works of Russian art produced betweenthe 1950s and the present day, as well as a wide range of temporary exhibits where the workis normally for sale.PETROGRAD SIDEPeter & Paul Fortress FORTRESS(Петропавловская крепость; Click here; www.spbmuseum.ru; grounds 6am-10pm,exhibitions 11am-6pm Thu-Tue; Gorkovskaya) There’s plenty to see and do at this fortress,dating from the city’s founding in 1703. The oldest building in St Petersburg, planned by Peterthe Great as a defence against the Swedes, never saw action, and its main use up to 1917was as a political prison. To get a sense of its scale, and for river views, walk the NevskayaPanorama (adult/student R150/120) along part of the battlements, then enter the SS Peter &Paul Cathedral (Петропавловский собор; Click here; adult/student R200/90), whose 122m-tall, needle-thin gilded spire is one of the city’s defining landmarks. Its baroque interior is thelast resting place of all Russia’s prerevolutionary rulers from Peter the Great onward, except
Peter II and Ivan VI. It’s also possible to climb the bell tower (adult/student R130/70; tours11.30am, 1pm, 2.30pm & 4pm May-Sep) on an hour-long guided tour. At noon every day a cannon is fired from Naryshkin Bastion (Нарышкинский бастион; Clickhere). In the south wall is Nevsky Gate (Невские ворота; Click here), where prisoners wereloaded onto boats for execution. Notice the plaques showing water levels of famous floods. Another highlight is the fascinating History of St Petersburg exhibition inside theCommandant’s House (Комендантский дом; Click here; adult/student R100/60). Covering upto the 1917 revolution, there are some very good displays here, including a vivid painting of thegreat flood of 1824 that all but swept the city away, and a model showing how the AlexanderColumn in Palace Sq was erected. Outside the house look for Mikhail Shemyakin’scontroversial Peter the Great statue with its out-of-proportion head and hands: local lore has itthat it’s good luck to touch his right forefinger. Individual tickets are needed for each of the fortress’ attractions so the best deal is thecombined entry ticket (adult/student R350/170), which allows access to all the exhibitions onthe island (except the bell tower) and is valid for 48 hours. DETOUR: PETERHOF & TSARSKOE SELO Among the several palace estates that the tsars built around St Petersburg as country retreats, the ones not to miss are Peterhof (Петергоф; www.peterhofmuseum.ru; ul Razvodnaya 2), 29km west of St Petersburg, and Tsarskoe Selo (Царское Село; www.tzar.ru; Sadovaya ul 7), 25km south of the city in the town of Pushkin. If time is limited, Peterhof (also known as Petrodvorets) with its breezy Gulf of Finland location is the one to opt for, mainly because of its Grand Cascade & Water Avenue, a symphony of over 140 fountains and canals. To see them you are required to pay to enter the Lower (Нижний парк; www.peterhofmuseum.ru; adult/student R400/200; park 9am-8pm, fountains 10am-6pm). They only work from mid-May to early October, but the gilded ensemble still looks marvellous at any time of the year. Tsarskoe Selo (also known as Pushkin) is a wonderful park, and its highlight is the vast baroque Catherine Palace (Екатерининский дворец; adult/student R320/160; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon, individuals noon-2pm & 4-5pm), built between 1752 and 1756, but almost destroyed in WWII. The exterior and 20-odd rooms have been expertly restored; the Great Hall and the Amber Room are particularly dazzling. Getting There & Away From May to September, the Meteor hydrofoil (one way/return R500/800, 30 minutes) goes every 20 to 30 minutes from 9.30am until at least 7pm from the jetty in front of St Petersburg’s Hermitage to Peterhof. A far cheaper option is to take a marshrutka to Peterhof (R30, 30 minutes). These run frequently from outside the Avtovo (300, 424) and Leninsky Prospekt (103) metro stations. Marshrutky 286, 299, 342 or K545 regularly shuttle to Pushkin (R30, 30 minutes) from outside metro Moskovskaya. Infrequent suburban trains run from St Petersburg’s Vitebsky vokzal. For Tsarskoe Selo (R42) get off at Detskoe Selo station, from where marshrutky (R20) frequently run to the estate. ToursThe following operations can arrange city tours on foot and Anglo Tourismo can also organisetours by boat. For something more private than Anglo Tourismo’s cruises, there are many smallboats that can be hired as private water taxis. You’ll have to haggle over rates: expect to payaround R2500 an hour for a group of up to six people.
Peter’s Walking Tours WALKING TOURS( 943 1229; www.peterswalk.com; per person from R650) Established in 1996, PeterKozyrev’s innovative and passionately led tours are highly recommended as a way to see thecity with knowledgeable locals. The daily Original Peter’s Walk is one of the favourites andfunctions as a do-it-yourself introduction to the city: you tell your guide what aspects of the cityyou’re interested in and they improvise a tour for you then and there. Other tours include aFriday night pub crawl, a Rasputin Walk and a WWII and the Siege of Leningrad tour.Anglo Tourismo BOAT TOURS( 325 9906; www.anglotourismo.com; Nab Reki Fontanki 27; day/night R500/700) Whilethere is no shortage of boat tours on the canals and rivers of St Petersburg, Anglo Tourismo isthe only operator to run all its tours in English, and you’ll pay the same rate per tour as youwould for a Russian-language one. Boat tours last an hour and leave every two hours on thehour from 11am until 7pm. Night boat tours are also available.VB Excursions WALKING TOURS( 380 4596; www.vb-excursions.com; per person R800-1400) Offers excellent walking tourswith clued-up students on themes including Dostoevsky and revolutionary St Petersburg. Its‘Back in the USSR’ tour (R1150 per person) includes a visit to a typical Soviet apartment for teaand bliny. Festivals & EventsThe city’s biggest event is the Stars of the White Nights Festival, which includes numerousevents ranging from folk to ballet. The official festival dates are the last 10 days of June, but allkinds of arts events and performances take place across the city throughout June and ofteninto July, with the Mariinsky Theatre taking the lead. REIMAGINING THE CITY Ever since Peter the Great, the St Petersburg powers that be have traditionally deferred to foreign architects for major construction projects, something that hasn’t changed much in three centuries. Today firms such as Foster & Partners, RMJM and Diamond & Schmitt are influencing how St Petersburg transitions architecturally into the 21st century. Canadian firm Diamond & Schmitt are the designers of the New Mariinsky Theatre (see Click here), currently under construction behind the present theatre. The project to construct much-needed modern premises for the Mariinsky began a decade ago when an extraordinary original design by Dominique Perrault was accepted, scandalising and exciting locals in equal measure. Perrault’s proposed black marble building was to be wrapped in a vast, irregular golden glass dome, and would have totally broken with St Petersburg’s architectural tradition, but it fell foul of local building codes and – crucially – the Kremlin, which objected to the project’s spiralling costs. After a new competition in 2009, Canadian architects Diamond & Schmitt won the €295 million tender to build a very different structure, which can at best be described as a fairly unexciting modern building – too bland to excite but too modern to fit in. Originally slated to be open by late 2011, at the time of writing there was still some confusion as to when the project would be completed: don’t hold your breath, although officially an opening date of 2012 is envisaged. Even more controversial is the now notorious Okhta Centre, originally to have been called Gazprom City, but now on its third name, the Lakhta Centre, following years of local opposition to St Petersburg’s first high-rise building. The name and location may have changed, but the beast has not. The Lakhta Centre will be Europe’s tallest building, towering almost 400m over the Neva (that’s three time higher than the spire of the SS Peter & Paul Cathedral). The project
was originally planned to occupy the site of an abandoned factory on the Vyborg Side, just opposite Smolny Cathedral. But such was the (rare) public and international outcry at the plan that in 2010 City Hall backed down and cancelled the project, to the joy of many locals. It was later announced that the building would still be constructed at a new location in Lakhta, a good distance from the Historic Heart beyond the Kirovsky Islands. SleepingThe rates below are for the high season and include breakfast. As an alternative to hotel or hostel accommodation, City Realty (www.cityrealtyrussia.com),Travel Russia (www.travelrussia.su) and Intro by Irina (www.introbyirina.com) can arrangeapartment rentals.NEVSKY PROSPEKT & AROUND Rossi Hotel €€ BOUTIQUE HOTEL ( 635 6333; www.rossihotels.com; nab reki Fontanki 55; s/d/ste fromR5000/9000/10,500; ; Gostiny Dvor) This fantastic new addition to the local hotel sceneis a beautifully restored building on one of St Petersburg’s prettiest squares. The 46 rooms areall differently designed, but their brightness and moulded ceilings are uniform, with the very bestrooms having superb views over the Fontanka River. Casa Leto €€€ BOUTIQUE HOTEL ( 314 6622; www.casaleto.com; Bolshaya Morskaya ul 34; r R9500-12,000; ;Admiralteyskaya) A dramatically lit stone stairwell sets the scene for this discreet and stylishboutique hotel. With soft pastel shades and plenty of antiques, the spacious, high-ceilingedquarters are full of five-star perks, such as king-size beds, Molton Brown toiletries, heatedfloors and free international phone calls. Andrey & Sasha’s Homestay € HOMESTAY (У Андрея и Саши; Click here; 315 3330, 921 409 6701; email@example.com; nabkanala Griboyedova 49; s/d R2400/2800; Sadovaya) Legendary hosts on the St Petersburghomestay and apartment scene, photographer Andrey and doctor Sasha have a couple ofapartments they rent rooms in, including this one, which is also their delightfully decoratedhome.Rachmaninov Hotel €€ BOUTIQUE HOTEL(Антик - Отель Рахманинов; Click here; 571 7618; www.hotelrachmaninov.com;Kazanskaya ul 5; r from R6900; ; Nevsky Prospekt) Perfectly located and run by friendlystaff, the Rachmaninov Hotel is one for those in the know. Stuffed full of antiques, the roomshave been recently renovated and feel pleasantly old world with their hardwood floors andattractive Russian furnishings.Friends Hostel € HOSTEL( 571 0151; www.friendsplace.ru; nab kanala Griboyedova 20; dm/d R500/2500; ;
Nevsky Prospekt) This new chain of hostels is one of the best things to have happened to StPetersburg’s budget travellers for ages. All four locations are great, but our favourite is thisone, just next to the Kazan Cathedral in a quiet courtyard. The newly done dorms are spotless,all have lockers and share good bathrooms and a kitchen.Guest House Nevsky 3 €€ MINIHOTEL( 710 6776; www.nevsky3.ru; Nevsky pr 3; s/d R4700/5300; ; Admiralteyskaya) Thistiny place has just four individually decorated rooms and gets rave reviews from guests. Eachroom has a fridge, TV, safe and a fan, and overlooks a surprisingly quiet courtyard justmoments from the Hermitage.Life Hostel € HOSTEL( 318 1808; www.hostel-life.ru; Nevsky pr 47; dm R800-1000, s/d R2200/2600; ;Mayakovskaya) The 15 brand new rooms at Life Hostel range from doubles to dorms sleepingeight. There’s a big kitchen, clean bathrooms, free laundry and professional English-speakingstaff – all in all, a great option.Petro Palace Hotel €€ HOTEL( 571 2880; www.petropalacehotel.com; ul Malaya Morskaya 14; r from R5500; ;Admiralteyskaya) This large, superbly located midrange hotel between St Isaac’s Cathedraland the Hermitage has 194 rooms and excellent facilities, including a great basement fitnesscentre with a decent pool, Finnish sauna and full gym. Standard rooms are spacious andfurnished in an anonymously tasteful way.3MostA €€ BOUTIQUE HOTEL( 332 3470; www.3mosta.com; nab reki Moyki 3A; s/d from R3000/5000; ; NevskyProspekt) This brand new property, whose name means ‘Three Bridges’ in Russian, issurprisingly uncramped given its wonderful location. There are 24 rooms here, and even thestandards are a good size with tasteful furniture, minibars and TVs.Pushka Inn €€ HOTELBOUTIQUE( 312 0913; www.pushkainn.ru; nab reki Moyki 14; s/d from R4500/6700, apt R10,000-15,000; ; Admiralteyskaya) On a particularly picturesque stretch of the Moyka River,this charming inn is housed in a historic 18th-century building. The rooms are decorated indusky pinks and caramel tones, with wide floorboards and – if you’re willing to pay more –lovely views of the Moyka.Location Hostel € HOSTEL( 490 6429; www.location-hostel.ru; Admiralteysky pr; dm/d R600/1500; ;Admiralteyskaya) With a brilliant location virtually on the doorstep of the Hermitage, this artybut small hostel is definitely a good choice for budget travellers. Dorms are quite crowded, withsix to eight bunks in them, but there are also some double rooms if you need more space.There’s a communal kitchen, rather tatty-looking shared bathrooms and plenty of cool art in thestaircase.
Pio on Griboyedov €€ MINIHOTEL(Пио на Грибоедова; Click here; 571 9476; www.hotelpio.ru; nab kanala Griboyedova 35,apt 5; s/d/tr/q R3400/3800/4800/5400; ; Nevsky Prospekt) This excellent place overlooksthe Griboyedov Canal and has six rooms, all of which share three bathrooms and toilets. It’s notas hostel-like as it sounds though, much more like staying in a large apartment with friends. Thecommunal areas are very pleasant and the rooms are comfortable and clean.Hotel Vera €€ HOTEL( 702 6190; www.hotelvera.ru; Suvorovsky pr 25/16; s/d from R3600/4990; ;Ploshchad Vosstaniya) Housed in a fabulous building built in 1903, this well-run hotel hasslanted ceilings, stained-glass windows, ceramic tile stoves and ornate mouldings that harkback to its art deco origins. It’s not all stuck in the past, however – there’s satellite TV andfridges in all rooms and the bathrooms are thoroughly modern.Puppet Hostel € HOSTEL( 272 5401; www.hostel-puppet.ru; ul Nekrasova 12; dm/d R600/800; ; Mayakovskaya)Offering pretty basic dorms and doubles, it’s also an ideal choice if you’re travelling with kidsbecause staying here includes free tickets to the puppet theatre next door.ELSEWHERE IN ST PETERSBURG Alexander House €€ BOUTIQUE HOTEL (Дом Александра; Click here; 334 3540; www.a-house.ru; nab kanala Kryukova 27;r/ste from R9500/11,000, apt from R15,000; ; Sennaya Ploshchad) Owners Alexanderand Natalya have converted this historic building opposite Nikolsky Cathedral, styling each ofthe 14 spacious rooms after their favourite international cities. Lovely common areas include afireplace-warmed lounge and a vine-laden courtyard containing a guests-only restaurant. Hostel Ligovsky 74 € HOSTEL ( 329 1274; www.hostel74.ru; Ligovsky pr 74; dm/r R600/1500, design rooms R2500; ; Ligovsky Prospekt) The 3rd floor of Loft Project ETAGI (Click here) is given over to thissuper-friendly hostel. Some of the dorms here are enormous (one has 20 beds in it!) but thefacilities are spotless, including washing machines and a small kitchen.Arkadia €€ HOTELBOUTIQUE( 571 6173; www.arkadiahotel.ru; nab reki Moyki 58; s/d from R4100/5100; ;Admiralteyskaya) Hidden away inside a quiet flower-filled courtyard, this bright yellow hotelprovides a welcome respite from the city’s crowds. Warm hues, wood floors and natural lightingcharacterise the guest rooms.Northern Lights €€ MINIHOTEL( 571 9199; www.nlightsrussia.com; ul Bolshaya Morskaya 50; r without bathroom R3000,s/d with bathroom R4000/4300; ; Admiralteyskaya) Opposite the childhood home ofVladimir Nabokov is this very pleasant and friendly minihotel at the end of an impressive old
staircase. There are just five rooms here: three have their own bathrooms and air-con, whiletwo share facilities and are fan-cooled. EatingRestaurants Botanika € VEGETARIAN (Ботаника; Click here; www.cafebotanika.ru; ul Pestelya 7; mains R200-450; ;Gostiny Dvor) Enjoying perhaps the friendliest and most laid-back atmosphere of anyrestaurant in St Petersburg, this vegetarian charmer wins on all counts. The menu takes inRussian, Indian, Italian and Japanese dishes, all of which are good, and service is friendly. Teplo €€ INTERNATIONAL (Тепло; Click here; 570 1974; www.v-teple.ru; ul Bolshaya Morskaya 45; mainsR250-650; 9am-11pm, from 11am Sat, from 1pm Sun; ; Admiralteyskaya) Thismuch-fêted, eclectic and original restaurant has it all just right. Service is friendly and fast(when it’s not too busy) and the peppy, inventive menu will have something for everyone –there’s a heavy Italian presence, but dishes come from all over the world. Reservations areusually essential, so call ahead.Kompot Café €€ INTERNATIONAL(Первое, второе и компот; Click here; www.kompotcafe.ru; ul Zhukovskogo 10; mains R200-600; ; Ploshchad Vosstaniya) This stylish new restaurant has three rooms decked outin different decors and there’s a menu stretching from breakfasts served all day to soups,sandwiches, pies and ‘funky tomato bouillabaisse’.Dom Beat € INTERNATIONAL(Дом Быта; Click here; www.dombeat.ru; ul Razyezzhaya 12; mains R300-500; ;Ligovsky Prospekt) The sleek, retro-humorous interior, sumptuous menu and great atmosphereadd up to make this one of the best eating choices in town. As well as great breakfasts (serveduntil 7pm!), there’s a wide choice of dishes ranging from top-notch Asian cuisine to moderntakes on Russian meals and international bar food.Makarov €€ RUSSIAN(Макаров; Click here; 327 0053; Manezhny per 2; mains R500-800; 9am-11pm Tue-Fri,11am-11pm Sat-Mon; ; Chernyshevskaya) A charming place, overlooking the Cathedralof the Transfiguration of our Saviour, Makarov serves up traditional Russian dishes with a twistin a relaxed setting. Good breakfasts are served daily until noon, and until 2pm on weekends(reservations are essential).Fartuk € INTERNATIONAL(Фартук; Click here; ul Rubinshteyna 15/17; mains R200-300; ; Dostoevskaya)Despite its unfortunate name, Fartuk is a beautifully designed place with tiled floors and old-
world-meets-industrial fittings. The crowd here is cool and the menu is interesting: wok-cookedchicken with ginger and coriander sits next to freshly made bruschetta, soups and steaks.Schastye €€ ITALIAN(Счастье; Click here; www.schaste-est.com; ul Rubinshteyna 15/17; mains R200-700;8am-midnight, to 6am Fri & Sat; ; Dostoevskaya) ‘Happiness’ comes in several formshere: a multi-roomed venue full of cosy nooks and crannies to huddle up in, an expansive andinteresting Italian menu, delicious pastries and sweets piled up on plates around the place, anda lavish and thoroughly warm, if somewhat random, decor.Terrassa €€ FUSION(Терасса; Click here; 937 6837; www.terrassa.ru; Kazanskaya ul 3a; mains R450-1000;11am-1am Mon-Fri, from noon Sat & Sun; ; Nevsky Prospekt) Atop the Vanityshopping centre, this cool bistro boasts unbelievable views towards Kazan Cathedral. In theopen kitchen, chefs busily prepare fusion cuisine, exhibiting influences from Italy, Asia andbeyond.Café King Pong €€ ASIAN(www.kingpong.ru; Bolshaya Morskaya ul 16; mains R300-600; ; Admiralteyskaya)From the team that brings you the excellent Soup Vino comes this innovative and fun pan-Asiandiner, occupying sleek and luminous premises with a retro-glamorous feel just off Nevsky. Thelarge menu is very good quality and takes in dim sum, noodles, soups and rice dishes.Cafes & Quick EatsSoup Vino € ITALIAN(Суп вино; Click here; www.supvino.ru; Kazanskaya ul 24; mains R200-500; ; NevskyProspekt) This cute, tiny place does exactly what it says on the label. The menu featuresMediterranean-influenced soups, pasta and salads, perfect washed down with glasses of wine. Stolle € BAKERY (Столле; Click here; www.stolle.ru; Konyushenny per 1/6; pies R50-200; 8am-10pm; ; Nevsky Prospekt) The delicious, freshly baked Saxon-style pies (‘stolle’) at this cool andatmospheric bakery are legendary in St Petersburg, and a selection of sweet and savouryofferings sits on the counter, fresh from the oven any time of day. Takeaway is available. Othercentral outlets include ul Vosstaniya (ul Vosstaniya 32; Chernyshevskaya) and ulDekabristov (ul Dekabristov 19 Sadovaya).Garçon € FRENCH(www.garcon.ru; sandwiches R200; 9am-9pm; ) off Nevsky pr (nab kanala Griboyedova25; Nevsky Prospekt); Nevsky pr (Nevsky pr 103; Ploshchad Vosstaniya) Finding adecent sandwich in this town can be a Herculean feat, so this boulangerie chain’s outlet just offNevsky pr is a very welcome discovery. Freshly made sandwiches in freshly baked baguettes –not to mention a great range of cakes and other treats – are all available to stay or go. There’s
also a branch near Moscow Station.Dve Palochki €€ ASIAN(Две палочки; Click here; www.dvepalochki.ru; mains R200-600; 11am-6am; NevskyProspekt) Nevsky pr (Nevsky pr 22); Italianskaya ul (Italianskaya ul 6) This local chain is one ofthe most sophisticated of the ubiquitous sushi bars in the city. These central branches arealways packed with a trendy crowd.Zoom Café € EUROPEAN(www.cafezoom.ru; Gorokhovaya ul 22; meals R100-400; 9am-midnight Mon-Sat, 1pm-midnight Sun; ; Sennaya Ploshchad) Perennially popular cafe with a funky feel and aninteresting menu, Zoom does everything from Japanese-style chicken in teriyaki sauce topotato pancakes with salmon and cream cheese. A great lunch spot.Self-CateringKuznechny Market MARKET(Кузнечный рынок; Click here; Kuznechny per; 8am-8pm; Vladimirskaya) The bestfresh-produce market in town.Stockmann SUPERMARKET(Nevsky Centre Shopping Centre, Nevsky pr 112; 10am-11pm; Ploshchad Vosstaniya)Okey SUPERMARKET(Galeria Shopping Centre, Ligovsky pr 30A; 10am-11pm; Ploshchad Vosstaniya)Lend SUPERMARKET(Лэнд; Click here; Vladimirsky Passazh, Vladimirsky pr 19; 24hr; Dostoevskaya) Drinking Dyuni BAR (Дюны; Click here; Ligovsky pr 50; 24hr; Ploshchad Vosstaniya) St Petersburg’shippest bar is this hipster sandpit at the back of the large warehouse complex in the courtyardof Ligovsky 50. There’s a cosy indoor bar and a sprawling sand-covered outside area withtable football and ping pong. To find it, simply continue in a straight line from the entrance to thecourtyard.Terminal Bar BAR(Терминал; Click here; ul Rubinshteyna 13A; 4pm-6am; Dostoevskaya) A slice of NewYork bohemia on one of St Petersburg’s most happening streets, Terminal is a great place fora relaxed drink with friends, who can spread out along the length of the enormous bar, whilelive piano from anyone who can play fills the long, arched room.
The Other Side PUB(Другая сторона; Click here; www.theotherside.ru; Bolshaya Konyushennaya ul 1; ;Nevsky Prospekt) There’s live music most nights at this fun and funky bar as well as decentfood (mains R200 to R400), but most people turn up to enjoy the seven beers on tap and otheralcoholic libations. WANT MORE? For in-depth information, reviews and recommendations at your fingertips, head to the Apple App Store to purchase Lonely Planet’s St Petersburg City Guide iPhone app. EntertainmentCheck the weekly St Petersburg Times for up-to-date listings.Classical Music, Ballet & OperaMariinsky Theatre BALLET, OPERA(Мариинский театр оперы и балета; Click here; www.mariinsky.ru; Teatralnaya pl 1; boxoffice 11am-7pm, performances 7pm; Sennaya Ploshchad) Home to the world-famousMariinsky Ballet and Opera company, a visit here is a must, if only to delight in the sparklingglory of the interior. Use the website to book and pay for tickets in advance of your visit to thetheatre or to the acoustically splendid new concert hall (Концертный зал Мариинскоготеатра; ul Pisareva 20), which is nearby. Don’t miss (how can you?) the New MariinskyTheatre (ul Dekabristov 34), being completed across the Kryukov Canal.Shostakovich Philharmonia Bolshoy Zal CLASSICAL MUSIC(Большой зал филармонии Шостаковича; Click here www.philharmonia.spb.ru; NevskyProspekt) Under the artistic direction of world-famous conductor Yury Temirkanov, the StPetersburg Philharmonic Orchestra represents the finest in orchestral music. The Bolshoy Zal(Большой зал; Grand Hall; Mikhailovskaya ul 2) on pl Iskusstv is the venue for a full programof symphonic performances, while the nearby Maly Zal (Малый зал Глинки; Small Hall;Nevsky pr 30) hosts smaller ensembles.Mikhailovsky Theatre BALLET, OPERA(Click here; www.mikhailovsky.ru; pl Iskusstv 1; Nevsky Prospekt) Challenging the Mariinskyin terms of the standards and range of its performances is this equally historic and beautifullyrestored theatre.Live MusicSt Petersburg is a great place to see live bands.
Chinese Pilot Dzhao Da LIVE MUSIC(Китайский лётчик Джао Да; Click here; www. spb.jao-da.com; ul Pestelya 7; cover R100-200for concerts; noon-midnight; Gostiny Dvor) This is one of the very best places to see livemusic in the city. The premises are charming – the main bar area is bathed in light and there’splenty of seating and a genial buzz all day; there’s a stage and more seating for nightly gigs inthe back room.Fish Fabrique LIVE MUSIC(www.fishfabrique.spb.ru; Ligovsky pr 53, ground level; 3pm-6am, concerts from 8pm Thu-Sun; Ploshchad Vosstaniya) Here in this museum of boho life, artists, musicians andwannabes of all ages meet to drink beer and listen to music. Live bands kick up a storm from8pm nightly.Zoccolo LIVE MUSIC(Цоколь; Click here; www.zoccolo.ru, in Russian; 3-ya Sovetskaya ul 2/3; cover R100;noon-midnight Sun-Thu, noon-6am Fri & Sat, concerts 8pm; Ploshchad Vosstaniya)Zoccolo, in its urgently orange and green underground space near pl Vosstaniya, has slowlybecome another institution in St Petersburg’s music scene. Entry is free before 5pm, when thevenue functions as an arty cafe.JFC Jazz Club JAZZ CLUB( 272 9850; www.jfc-club.spb.ru; Shpalernaya ul 33; cover R100-500; 7-11pm;Chernyshevskaya) Very small and very New York, this cool club is the best place in the city tohear modern, innovative jazz music, as well as the occasional blues, bluegrass and variousother styles (see the website for a list of what’s on). Table reservations are a good idea.NightclubsGriboyedov night CLUB(Грибоедов; Click here; www.griboedovclub.ru; Voronezhskaya ul 2a; cover R200-400;noon-6am, concerts 10pm; ; Ligovsky Prospekt) Griboyedov is the longest-standing andmost respected music club in the city. Another club in a bomb shelter, this one was founded bylocal ska collective Dva Samolyota. It’s a low-key bar in the early evening, gradually morphinginto a dance club later in the night. Excellent music acts and international DJs play electronic,rock and dubstep.Mod Club night CLUB(www.modclub.info; nab kanala Griboyedova 7; cover Fri & Sat R100-300; 6pm-6am;Nevsky Prospekt) A popular spot for students and other indie types who appreciate the fun andfriendly atmosphere, the groovy mix of music (live and spun) and added entertainment such asnovus tables (a billiard-like game that is increasingly popular in Russia). Laid-back and greatfun, this is a solid choice for a night out.Tunnel Club night CLUB
(www.tunnelclub.ru; cnr Zverinskaya ul & Lybansky per; cover R100-230; midnight-6amThu-Sat, midnight-3am Sun-Wed; Sportivnaya) Closed for several years, this military-themed club reopened in the bomb shelter where it was first born. The setting is still spooky butsomehow appropriate for the techno and dubstep that goes down here.Barakobamabar night CLUB(www.barakobamabar.ru; Konyushennaya pl 2; 6pm-6am; Nevsky Prospekt) In thesummer months there’s a great outdoor bar and dance floor, while inside there are a couple ofcosy bars and a hookah lounge spread over two floors, both always full of beautiful youngthings. It’s right at the back through the complex at Konyushennaya pl 2. Shopping Udelnaya Fair MARKET (Удельная ярмарка; Vyborg Side; 8am-5pm Sat & Sun; Udelnaya) StPetersburg’s only well-established flea market is one shopping experience that’s truly worthtravelling for. Exit the Udelnaya metro station to the right and follow the crowds across the traintracks.Souvenir Market SOUVENIRS(Рынок сувениров; Click here; nab kanala Griboyedova 1; sunrise-sunset; NevskyProspekt) You’re unlikely to find any incredible bargains at this market behind the Church onSpilled Blood, but you will find a great selection of handicrafts and other souvenirs. Haggle withthe vendors – they speak enough English to barter back.Gostiny Dvor SHOPPING CENTRE(Гостиный двор; Click here; www.bgd.ru; Nevsky pr 35; 10am-10pm; Gostiny Dvor)Despite a renovation for the city’s tercentennial celebrations, the exterior of Russia’s oldestshopping mall is already looking like it needs a serious repaint. The interior retains a largelySoviet, if quaint, feel. InformationDangers & AnnoyancesWatch out for pickpockets, particularly along Nevsky pr and in crowded places such as theatresand cinemas. It’s also wise to avoid crossing directly in front of Moskovsky vokzal unless youhave to, since police there have been known to shake down foreigners for supposedinfringements of visa registration rules. From May to September mosquitoes are a nightmare. The plug-ins that slowly heat repellent-saturated cardboard pads are available everywhere in the city and are very effective.Alternatively bring repellent or cover up. Tiny traces of Giardia lamblia, a nasty parasite that causes stomach cramps and diarrhoea,have been found in St Petersburg’s water. There’s no preventative drug so the best advice isnot to drink straight from the tap. To be absolutely safe, drink only bottled water.
EmergencyAll of the following numbers have Russian-speaking operators. If you need to make a policereport and don’t speak Russian, first contact the Tourist Information Centre (Click here).Emergency numbers are as follows:Ambulance 03Fire 01Gas leak 04Police 02Internet AccessWireless access is increasingly ubiquitous across the city’s hotels and restaurants. In nearly allcases it’s free, but you’ll have to ask for the password. If you don’t have a smart phone or alaptop, the following internet cafes are centrally located.Café Max (www.cafemax.ru; Nevsky pr 90; per hr R120; 24hr; Mayakovskaya) A bigfancy place with 150 computers, a game zone and a comfy cafe and beer bar. It’s located onthe 2nd floor. There’s a second branch inside the Hermitage.Internet Cafe (Nevsky pr 11; per hr R80; 24hr; Admiralteyskaya) Above Subway.MediaThe following English-language publications are available free at many hotels, hostels,restaurants and bars across the city.In Your Pocket (www.inyourpocket.com/city/st_petersburg) Monthly listings booklet with usefulup-to-date information and short features.Pulse (www.pulse.ru) Fairly substance-free monthly magazine with features and reviews.St Petersburg Times (www.sptimes.ru) Published every Wednesday, this plucky littlenewspaper has been fearlessly telling it like it really is for over 15 years. The column Chernov’sChoice, a rundown of what’s going on in the city from veteran music journalist Sergey Chernov,is especially useful.Medical ServicesCLINICSThe clinics listed below are open 24 hours and have English-speaking staff.American Medical Clinic ( 740 2090; www.amclinic.ru; nab reki Moyki 78; Sadovaya)Medem International Clinic & Hospital ( 336 3333; www.medem.ru; 6 ul Marata;Mayakovskaya)PHARMACIESLook for the sign apteka, or the usual green cross to find a pharmacy.36.6 Pharmacy (Аптека 36,6; http://spb.366.ru) A chain of 24-hour pharmacies around thecity.Apteka Petrofarm (Nevsky pr 22; 24 hr; Nevsky Prospekt)MoneyATMs are ubiquitous and there are currency-exchange offices all the way along and aroundNevsky pr, many of which are open 24 hours a day.
PostPost office branches are scattered throughout the city. All the major air-courier services areavailable in St Petersburg.Central post office (Почтамт; Click here; Pochtamtskaya ul 9; 24hr; Admiralteyskaya)Worth visiting just to admire its recently renovated, elegant Style Moderne interior. The expressmail service EMS Garantpost is available here.TelephoneYou can buy a local SIM card at any mobile-phone shop for as little as R150, including R100credit. See Click here for information on the main mobile providers.Tourist InformationThe English-speaking staff at the City Tourist Information Centre (Городской туристическийинформационный центр; Click here; 310 2822; www.ispb.info; Sadovaya ul 14/52;10am-7pm Mon-Fri, noon-6pm Sat; Nevsky Prospekt) do their best to help with advice andinformation. There are also kiosks outside the Hermitage (Dvortsovaya pl 12; 10am-7pm;Admiralteyskaya), on Pl Vosstaniya (Pl Vosstaniya; 10am-7pm; Ploshchad Vosstaniya)and desks at the Pulkovo-1 and Pulkovo-2 airports ( 10am-7pm Mon-Fri).Travel AgenciesAll the following agencies have English-speaking staff.City Realty (Сити Риалти; www.cityrealty.ru) Can arrange all types of visas (tourist visas fromUS$25) including business ones, as well as accommodation and transport tickets. Very reliable.Ost-West Kontaktservice (www.ostwest.com) The multilingual staff here can find you anapartment to rent and organise tours, train tickets and visa invites.Sindbad Travel (www.sindbad.ru) A genuine Western-style discount air-ticket office, staffedby friendly, knowledgeable people. It also sells train tickets and ISIC/ITIC/IYTC cards and canbook youth hostel accommodation.Travel Russia (www.travelrussia.su) A small and very well-run company, Travel Russiaorganises apartments, visas, transfers and registration. Getting There & AwayTrainLONG-DISTANCE TRAINSThere are four major long-distance train stations in St Petersburg. Those taking Train 10 И toIrkutsk will depart from Ladozhsky vokzal (Ладожский вокзал; 768 5304; Zanevsky pr 73; Ladozhskaya), which also receives services to/from Helsinki, the far north of Russia and theUrals. Most commonly used is Moskovsky vokzal (Московский вокзал; Click here; 768 4597;pl Vosstaniya; Ploshchad Vosstaniya), which mainly serves Moscow, but also the rest ofwestern Russia, Crimea and the Caucasus. Other stations include Finlyandsky vokzal Финляндский вокзал; Click here; 768 7687; plLenina 6; Ploshchad Lenina) for services to/from Helsinki, and Vitebsky vokzal (Витебскийвокзал; Click here; 768 5807; Zagorodny pr 52; Pushkinskaya) for the Baltic states,
Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Belarus. Suburban services also run from these stations, as theydo from Baltiysky vokzal (Балтийский вокзал; Click here; 768 2859; Obvodny Kanal 120; Baltiyskaya). Tickets can be purchased at the train stations, the Central Train Ticket Office(Центральные желзнодорожные кассы; Click here; 762 33 44; nab kanala Griboyedova24; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat, 8am-4pm Sun; Nevsky Prospekt), the Central Airline TicketOffice (Click here) and many travel agencies around town.TRANS-SIBERIAN ROUTESMost travellers continuing to Siberia will travel via Moscow from where they will have a farwider choice of trains continuing east. However, it is possible to take the Train 10 И, theIrkutsk, from Ladozhsky vokzal to Irkutsk. Train 10 И leaves at 4.22pm on uneven dates,arriving three days and 14 hours later in Irkutsk. Tickets start at R9000. Note that the traindoes not go via Moscow.MOSCOWThere are about 10 daily trains to Moscow, all departing from Moskovsky vokzal: Click here fora table that lists the most popular services. Most depart between 10pm and midnight, arriving inthe capital the following morning between 6am and 8am. On the more comfortable firmeny(premium) trains, a first-class lyux ticket runs R5200 to R6000, while a kupe is R2000 toR3000. The overnight sleepers will save a night’s accommodation costs, while if you really wantto save money, some services have platskart (open dorm) carriages with very cheap tickets. There are also high-speed Sapsan day trains that travel at 200km/h and reach Moscow infour hours or less. Trains depart throughout the day. Comfortable 2nd-class seats are R2300to R2800, while super-spacious 1st-class seats run R5000 to R5600.INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONSFrom Helsinki there are four daily Allegro express trains that take you from the Finnish capitalto St Petersburg is an impressive 3½ hours. See www.vr.fi for prices and timetables. Servicesin both directions stop at Vyborg, so you can save yourself some money if you take a bus orlocal train there and then catch the train to Helsinki. The Lev Tolstoi (train 32) departs StPetersburg Ladozhsky for Helsinki daily from June to August (R3224, 6¾ hours). See Clickhere for more international connections. St Petersburg is well connected by train to lots of cities throughout Eastern Europe, includingBerlin, Budapest, Kaliningrad, Kyiv, Prague and Warsaw, but most trains pass through Belarus,for which you’re required to hold a transit visa. POPULAR TRAINS FROM ST PETERSBURG TO MOSCOW TRAIN NUMBER & NAME DEPARTURE TIME DURATION FARE 1 Krasnya Strela 11.55pm 8hr R2600-3000 3 Express 11.59pm 8hr R2380 5 Nikolaevsky Express 11.30pm 8hr R2750 53 Grand Express 11.40pm 9hr R5000-6000
151A Sapsan 6.45am 4hr R2612 157A Sapsan 1.30pm 4hr R2354 161A Sapsan 3.15pm 4hr R2870 165A Sapsan 7.45pm 4hr R2870AirPulkovo-1 and Pulkovo-2 ( Pulkovo-1 704 3822, Pulkovo-2 704 3444;www.pulkovoairport.ru/eng) are, respectively, the domestic and international terminals thatserve St Petersburg. Pulkovo-2 is the main international terminal, while Pulkovo-1 handles allinternal flights and those to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. St Petersburg has direct air links with all major European capitals and the many largerRussian cities. Tickets for all airlines can be purchased from travel agencies (Click here) andfrom the Central Airline Ticket Office (Центральные авиакассы; Click here; Nevsky pr 7;8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm Sat & Sun; Admiralteyskaya), which also has counters fortrain and international bus tickets.BoatBetween early April and late September, international passenger ferries connect Stockholm,Helsinki and Tallinn with Morskoy vokzal (Морской вокзал; Click here; pl Morskoy Slavy 1).It’s a long way from the metro, so either take bus 7 or trolley bus 10 from outside theHermitage. In the summer, regular river cruises depart from the River Passenger Terminal (Речнойвокзал; pr Obukhovskoy Oborony 195; Proletarskaya) and float along the Neva to inlandRussia, including cruises to Valaam, Kizhi and Moscow. Tours can be booked through mosttravel agents, or through the Ferry Centre (Паромный центр; Click here; ul Vosstaniya 19;Ploshchad Vosstaniya).BusSt Petersburg’s main bus station, Avtovokzal No 2 (Автовокзал No 2; Click here;www.avokzal.ru; nab kanala Obvodnogo 36; Obvodny Kanal) – there isn’t a No 1 – hasboth international and European Russia services. The website has current timetables androutes. The single cheapest way to get to Helsinki is to take a marshrutka from pl Vosstaniya(R500); they leave all day when full from the corner of Nevsky pr and Ligovsky pr, opposite themetro station. Other international buses are offered by a number of companies:Ecolines (www.ecolines.ru; Podyezdny per 3; Pushkinskaya) Daily buses from Vitebskyvokzal to Tallinn (R980), Rīga (R1250), Kyiv (R1880) and Odesa (R2320).Lux Express (www.luxexpress.eu; Admiral Business Centre, Mitrofanievskoe sh 2; 9am-9pm; Baltiyskaya) Runs buses from both Avtovokzal No 2 (above) and from outside theBaltiysky vokzal. Its buses run very regularly to Tallinn (from R850, 12 daily) and Rīga (fromR1000, three daily).Sovavto (www.sovavto.ru; Grand Hotel Europe, Mikhailovskaya ul 1; Gostiny Dvor) Dailydepartures in very comfortable, air-conditioned buses from the Grand Hotel Europe to Helsinki
(R1600, eight hours) and Turku (R2320, 11 hours). RAISING THE BRIDGES From the end of April to November all major bridges rise at the following times nightly to let seagoing ships through. The following schedule (which every year changes by five minutes here or there) governs the lives of the city’s motorists and nighthawks trying to get from one area to another. Most Alexandra Nevskogo 2.20–5.10am Birzhevoy most 2–4.55am Bolsheokhtinsky most 2–5am Dvortsovy most 1.25–4.50am Blagoveshchensky most 1.25–2.45am & 3.10–5am Liteyny most 1.40–4.45am Troitsky most 1.35–4.45am Tuchkov most 2–2.55am & 3.35–4.55am Getting AroundSt Petersburg can be a frustrating place to get around for visitors: the metro, while an excellentsystem, actually has relatively few stations in the centre of the city, and distances from stationsto nearby sights can be long. Many visitors find buses and marshrutky a little daunting, as allthe signage is in Russian only and you need to know where you’re going, so many people justwalk: bring comfortable shoes!To/From the AirportSt Petersburg’s airport is at Pulkovo, about 17km south of the centre. Domestic and CIS flightsarrive at Pulkovo-1, from where you can take bus 39 (R21, every 15 minutes, 5.30am to12.30am) from outside the terminal building. It connects you to Moskovskaya metro, fromwhere you can get to anywhere in the city. Buy your ticket on the bus. Alternatively jump intoany marshrutka, and check with the driver that it goes to Moskovskaya metro (nearly all do). International flights arrive at Pulkovo-2, from where bus K-13 shuttles you to Moskovskayametro (R27, every 10 minutes, 5.30am to 12.30am). Turn left when you leave the arrivals areaand the bus stop is between departures and arrivals. The bus terminates at Moskovskayametro, so you don’t need to worry about where to get off. If you’d prefer to take a taxi from either terminal, there are now taxi booking stands in thearrivals area of both terminals where staff speak English. State your destination and you’ll begiven a slip of paper with the price on it and be taken to a taxi outside. Expect to pay R600 toR800 for a trip to the centre, depending on where exactly you’re heading.Bus, Marshrutka, Trolleybus & TramTickets (R21 to R25 depending on the service) are bought inside the vehicle. Bus stops aremarked by roadside ‘A’ signs (for avtobus), trolleybus stops by ‘m’ (representing a handwrittenRussian ‘T’), tram stops by a ‘T’; all usually indicate the line numbers, too. Stops may also have
roadside signs with little pictures of a bus, trolleybus or tram. Marshrutky stop anywhere youhail them (except on Nevsky pr, where they’re banned from operating). Most transport runsfrom 6am to 1am. The following are some useful routes across the city:Along Nevsky pr between Admiralty and Moskovsky vokzal Buses 7 and 22; trolleybuses1, 5, 7, 10 and 22. Trolleybuses 1 and 22 continue out to pl Alexandra Nevskogo. Trolleybuses5 and 7 continue to Smolny.From Ligovsky pr via Troitsky most to Peter & Paul Fortress and Petrograd SideMarshrutka K76.From Vitebsky vokzal via Sennaya pl and Mariinsky Theatre to Vasilyevsky IslandMarshrutka K124.From the Hermitage to the far side of Vasilyevsky Island Bus 7; trolleybus 10.To the Kirovsky Islands Bus 10 from the corner of Bolshaya Morskaya ul and Nevsky pr.MetroThe St Petersburg metro (www.metro.spb.ru; flat fare R25; 6am-midnight) is a veryefficient five-lined system. The network of some 65 stations is best used for travelling longdistances, especially connecting the suburbs to the city centre. Zhetony (tokens), valid for one ride, can be bought from the booths in the stations. You’resupposed to buy an extra ticket if you’re carrying a large amount of luggage. If you are stayingmore than a day or two, however, it’s worth buying a smart card (R30), which is good forloading multiple journeys over a fixed time period. The more trips you buy, the more you save –though note, you can’t share a card with a friend.
Top of sectionMoscow to Yekaterinburg Includes » Vladimir Bogolyubovo Suzdal Nizhny Novgorod Perm KungurWhy Go?For travellers, this section of the journey across European Russia will often be accompanied bythe excitement of departure from the capital. It is a relatively densely populated section that hasthree main routes. One veers northeast via Yaroslavl and a second (used by Yekaterinburg’sflagship Ural train 16) goes southeast via multicultural Kazan. The most common route,however, passes through the ancient town of Vladimir and at Nizhny Novgorod crosses theVolga – a geographic highlight of this leg – before continuing to Perm, a city that is reinventingitself as a modern cultural capital. Kungur, set in rolling hills, has a spectacular ice cave, andfinally the train rattles sublimely across the Europe–Asia border and into Yekaterinburg.When to GoFeb Much of the Volga River will be frozen over and draped in a winter landscape.
late Apr–late May A spring sun warms the air and life moves onto the streets.late Jul–Sep The navigation season is in full swing on the Volga and hiking is excellent in theUrals.Route Info» »Distance: 1814km» »Duration: 26 hours» »Time zones: Moscow, Moscow +2Best Places to Stay & Eat» »Jouk-Jacques hotel (Click here)» »Hotel Giuseppe (Click here)» »Hotel Edem (Click here)» »Bezukhov bar & restaurant (Click here)» »Grill Taverna Montenegro (Click here)» »Vkus Stranstvy stolovaya (Click here) Moscow to Yekaterinburg Highlights Exploring the museums (Click here) of Nizhny Novgorod Focusing on the lively eating and drinking (Click here) scene in Nizhny Novgorod Strolling through the ice cave of Kungur (Click here) and enjoying a moment of pitch darkness Sailing the Volga on a short excursion in Nizhny Novgorod (Click here) or Kazan (Click here) Strolling through multicultural Kazan (Click here), one of Russia’s most dynamic cities and home to a picturesque kremlin
Checking out the shock of the new at PERMM (Click here), Perm’s museum of modern and contemporary art Taking a tour through Perm-36 (Click here), the haunting Gulag camp memorialThe RouteMoscow to Nizhny Novgorod0km from moscow For travellers leaving from Moscow and taking the train eastwards,departure will mean finding the right station (check your ticket carefully) and leaving plenty oftime (about an hour is good) to pass through security, stocking up on last-minute snacks andwaiting for the platform and track to be shown on the departure board. Once the doors haveclosed and the train slowly crawls away from the railhead, the provodnitsa (carriage attendant)will walk around the carriage to tear the silver seal on the tickets and give you bedding if this isnot already in the compartment.
MOSCOW TO YEKATERINBURG ROUTE PLANNER The following is a suggested itinerary for covering the main sites of this chapter: Day 1: Leave Moscow; 2½-hour train to Vladimir; stay Suzdal Day 2: Tour Suzdal; return to Vladimir; train to Nizhny Novgorod Day 3: Explore Nizhny Novgorod Day 4: Continue exploring Nizhny Novgorod or excursion to Gorodets; night train (14½ hours) from Nizhny Novgorod to Perm Day 5: Look around Perm Day 6: Visit Perm-36 Gulag camp or do a day trip to Kungur Day 7: Train (six hours) to Yekaterinburg Gradually the train leaves behind the platforms and station and sets a course between thestreets, backyards and apartment buildings of the capital towards provincial Russia. Most likelyyou will see comic signs warning Muscovites against taking shortcuts across the tracks.Everywhere, Muscovites will be taking shortcuts across the tracks, some of them carryingplastic shopping bags or rushing to work.13km A short distance beyond Los the train crosses the Moscow Ring Road. This stretch oftrack through outer Moscow has been immortalised by the Soviet underground writer VenediktYerofeyev in his novel Moscow to the End of the Line. The main character travels to Petushkion a whistle-stop elektrichka (suburban train) at the time of Gorbachev’s liquor ban,philosophising on the virtues of alcohol and the evils of the Soviet lifestyle while toasting everystation. He consumes mind-boggling cocktails, such as the ‘Tear of a Young Communist LeagueGirl’, which consists of three brands of cheap Soviet eau de toilette, mouth rinse, nail polish andlemonade. Don’t try to repeat this fictional (!) experience, or you’ll never get anywhere, let aloneto Siberia.190km (210km) About three hours after departing, the train reaches Vladimir (Click here),where most trains pause for about 20 minutes. Approaching the city, look for the golden spiresand domes of the Assumption Cathedral high on the embankment to the north. Vladimir hassome of the oldest churches in Russia and it was here that in 1157 Prince Andrei Bogolyubskyestablished his capital and shaped the town with architecture based on Kyivan and Westerntraditions. The dark side of the glitter is that our man met a sticky end: almost 20 years later aplot was hatched to get rid of him and on one fateful night his flunkies, bursting into thechamber while he slept, finished him off with an axe.200km (220km) Just beyond Vladimir you pass the small town of Bogolyubovo (Click here),another of the historic highlights of the region and the place where Prince Andrei built hispalace. Today it is largely a monastery complex dating from the 18th century. You can glimpsethis if you look north as the train approaches, and east of it is the Church of the Intercession –the paragon of Russian church architecture, sitting in splendid isolation at the confluence of theNerl and Klyazma Rivers.254km (274km) Tracing the valleys of the Klyazma and Oka Rivers, the train passes severalother ancient towns. One of these is Kovrov, mostly known as the centre of the peculiar sportof motoball – football on motorcycles. This is followed by the pretty Gorokhovets at 363km
(382km), home of the popular ski resort of Puzhalova Gora (www.puzhalova.ru, in Russian).441km (460km) The train slows and arrives at Nizhny Novgorod (Click here), one of the mostinteresting cities in the region. Most trains stop for about 10 minutes, which is another chanceto step onto the platform and engage in some serious hunting and gathering of supplies. KILOMETRE POSTS Use kilometre markings as approximations, as variances are inevitable. Over the years, the route of the Trans-Siberian has changed, making many of the kilometre markings inaccurate. For example, several different lines lead out of Moscow, each with their own markers from the railhead. Two join to form one line near Fryazevo, whereafter markers show the distance from Kursk Station. Further down the track, at the junction of this line and a former mainline route via the town of Yaroslavl, the distances are measured from Moscow via the old Yaroslavl route. On this first leg, the figures in bold brackets are the actual distance you’ve travelled from Moscow’s Yaroslavl Station via Vladimir up to Kotelnich.Nizhny Novgorod to Perm442km (461km) If you have done the Moscow to Nizhny stretch of the route overnight, one ofthe first things you will see on waking is the Volga River – a fine way to start a day at any timeof year. In spring, however, it’s impressive because the river is coated with a crust of icebroken by bluish waters. The Volga flows roughly north–south for 3530km – that’s theequivalent of the distance by rail from Moscow to the city of Tayga in Siberia – and culminatesin a beautiful wetland at its delta on the Caspian Sea. In the 13th century, the entire Volga region was conquered by the heirs of Chinggis (Genghis)Khaan, the Mongol-led Golden Horde. Challenged by the marauder armies of Timur(Tamerlane) in the south and upstart Muscovite princes in the north, the Golden Hordeeventually fragmented into separate khanates: Kazan, Astrakhan, Crimea and Sibir. In the1550s Ivan the Terrible razed Kazan and Astrakhan, and claimed the Middle and Lower Volgafor Muscovy (modern-day Moscow), the capital of the new Russian state. This was a criticaljuncture in Russian history as the collapse of Kazan allowed Slavic Russians to move into theUrals region around Perm, a stepping stone into Siberia. The landscape after Nizhny Novgorod is a typical blend of farmland, forest clearings andforest itself that is not yet the true taiga of conifer we associate with Russia.510-956km (530-956km) After passing Semenov (510km), which is home of the Khokhlomafolk-art style, the train reaches Kotelnich (869km), the junction with the old Trans-Siberianroute from Yaroslavl. See Click here for more on this route. Kotelnich is famous as a dinosaurs’playground – numerous Permian-period giant-lizard fossils have been discovered here. Justoutside Kotelnich the train crosses the Vyatka River, a meandering 1367km waterway thataccompanies the railway route to Kirov (956km), which is better known by its old name:Vyatka, same as the river. Most trains stop here for about 15 minutes. Not a lot of meaningfulactivity can be fit into the stopover at Vyatka, but one is perhaps to buy some beer and clinkglasses on the occasion of reaching the northernmost point of your whole Trans-Siberianjourney.1126km Yar is the first town you’ll pass through in the Udmurt Republic, home to the Udmurts,one of Russia’s four major groups of Finno-Ugric people. Around here the countryside becomespicturesque, with plenty of pretty painted log cabins.
1192km At Balezino there’s a change of locomotive during the roughly 20-minute halt.1221-1314km After crossing the Cheptsa River, the train enters the town of the same name.Cheptsa (1223km) is the junction with the line that runs between Perm and Kazan. About 40kmfurther east, you’ll cross into Perm Region and reach the foothills of the Ural Mountains, whichstretch about 2000km from Kazakhstan to the Arctic Kara Sea. However, the Urals rarely break500m above sea level in these parts, prompting the Russian academician Peter Pallas to drilynote in 1770 on one of his journeys that the middle section of the Urals were particularlyinconspicuous. Nevertheless, as the landscape unfolds you will have glimpses of verdant rollinghills and pine and birch forests, and this is one of the more attractive sections of the routebefore Kungur. In Perm Region (by the time you reach Vereshchagino; 1314km), local time istwo hours ahead of Moscow time.Perm to Yekaterinburg1434km The train rolls across the wide Kama River into the industrial city of Perm (Click here),where most trains stop for 20 minutes. On the northern side of the train is a steam locomotive,and the station itself has a small railway museum on the 2nd floor.1535km The railway turns southeast after Perm and reaches Kungur (Click here), the centreof the Stroganov patrimony. This industrial family virtually ruled the Urals from the time of Ivanthe Terrible to the reign of Peter the Great, and with the implicit agreement of Ivan the Terribleit also financed Yermak’s campaign across the Urals into Siberia (Click here). From Kungur, therailway follows the meandering course of the Sylva River, which on a fine day is dotted withanglers casting lines into the shallows, behind them a picturesque backdrop of low mountains.This stretch, in fact, offers the entertaining contrast of scenery and anglers beyond the window,the creaking of fittings inside the train as it struggles around the curves, and – if you are inplatskart (3rd class) – the likely interior scenario of weary travellers huddling over crosswordson their bunks, mentally ticking off the kilometres.1777km The landscape recedes to unremarkable upland once the train leaves the valley of theSylva River, and the next major point is the one-dog station of Vershina (6km afterPervouralsk) at the border between Europe and Asia, marked by a white monument. You willneed to have your wits about you to catch it, located on the south side of the line.1814km The train travels along the Chusovaya River as it approaches Yekaterinburg, througha valley that was long the heart of the mining industry in the Urals. The first major station inAsian Russia – but still 260km short of the official beginning of Siberia – is Yekaterinburg(Click here), where you can expect a 15- to 20-minute stop.Vladimir Владимир 4922 / POP 340,000 / MOSCOWVladimir may look like another Soviet Gotham City, until you pass the medieval Golden Gateand stop by the cluster of exquisite churches and cathedrals, some of the oldest in Russia.Hiding behind them is an abrupt bluff with spectacular views of the Oka Valley. Prince AndreiBogolyubsky chose Vladimir as his capital in 1157 after a stint in the Holy Land where hebefriended European crusader kings, such as Friedrich Barbarossa. They sent him their bestarchitects, who designed the town’s landmarks, fusing Western and Kyivan traditions. Vladimirflourished for less than a century under Andrei’s successor Vsevolov III, until a series of
devastating Tatar-Mongol raids led to its decline and dependence on Moscow. The last, a 1408siege, is vividly if gruesomely reenacted in Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Andrei Rublyov. SightsAssumption Cathedral CHURCH(Успенский собор; Sobornaya pl; admission adult/under 15 R70/30; 7am-8pm Tue-Sun,tourist time 1-4.45pm) Construction on this white-stone version of Kyiv’s brick Byzantinechurches began in 1158, its simple but majestic form adorned with fine carving, innovative forthe time. The cathedral gained the four outer domes when it was extended on all sides after afire in the 1180s. Inside the working church, a few restored 12th-century murals of peacocks and prophets canbe deciphered about halfway up the inner wall of the outer north aisle; this was originally anoutside wall. The real treasures though are the Last Judgment frescoes by Andrei Rublyov andDaniil Chyorny, painted in 1408 in the central nave and inner south aisle, under the choir gallerytowards the west end. The church also contains the original coffin of Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod, the 13th-century military leader who was also Prince of Vladimir. He was buried in the former NativityMonastery (Рождественский монастырь) east of the cathedral, but his remains were movedto St Petersburg in 1724 when Peter the Great awarded him Russian hero status. Adjoining the cathedral on the northern side are an 1810 bell tower and the 1862 StGeorge’s Chapel. It is presumed that outside the allocated tourist time, you can only visit thecathedral for prayer.Cathedral of St Dmitry CHURCH(Дмитриевский собор; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 60; admission adult/under 15 R50/20) Aquick stroll to the east of the Assumption Cathedral is the smaller Cathedral of St Dmitry, builtbetween 1193 and 1197, where the art of Vladimir-Suzdal stone carving reached its pinnacle. The attraction here is the cathedral’s exterior walls, covered in an amazing profusion ofimages. The top centre of the north, south and west walls all show King David bewitching thebirds and beasts with music. The Kyivan prince Vsevolod III, who had this church built as partof his palace, appears at the top left of the north wall, with a baby son on his knee and othersons kneeling on each side. Above the right-hand window of the south wall, Alexander theGreat ascends into heaven, a symbol of princely might; on the west wall appear the labours ofHercules.Сhambers MUSEUM(Палаты; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 58; admission adult/under 15 R150/70; 10am-5pmTue-Sun) The grand 18th-century court building between the two cathedrals is known as Palaty– the Chambers. It contains a children’s museum, art gallery and historical exhibition. Theformer is a welcome diversion for little ones, who may well be suffering from old-church fatigue.The art gallery features art since the 18th century, with wonderful depictions of the Golden Ringtowns.
History Museum MUSEUM(Исторический музей; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 64; admission adult/under 15 R50/20;10am-5pm Wed-Mon) Across the small street from the Palaty, this museum displays manyremains and reproductions of the ornamentation from Vladimir’s two cathedrals. Reminiscent ofMoscow’s History Museum, the red-brick edifice was purpose-built in 1902.Golden Gate TOWN GATE(Золотые ворота) Vladimir’s Golden Gate, part defensive tower, part triumphal arch, wasmodelled on the very similar structure in Kyiv. Originally built by Andrei Bogolyubsky to guardthe western entrance to his city, it was later restored under Catherine the Great. You can climbthe narrow stone staircase to check out the Military Museum (Военный музей; admissionadult/under 15 R40/20; 10am-6pm Fri-Wed) inside. It’s a small exhibit, the centrepiece ofwhich is a diorama of old Vladimir being ravaged by nomadic raiders in 1238 and 1293. Acrossthe street to the south you can see a remnant of the old city wall (Старая стена города) thatprotected the city.Crystal, Lacquer Miniatures and Embroidery Museum MUSEUM(Выставка хрусталя, лаковой миниатюры и вышивки; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 2;admission R60; 10am-4pm Wed-Mon) Housed in the former Old Believers’ Trinity Church,this museum features the crafts of nearby towns, including Gus-Khrustalny. The shop in thebasement has a decent selection of crystal for sale. SleepingAll hotel prices include breakfast.Voznesenskaya Sloboda €€€ HOTEL(Вознесенская слобода; 325 494; www.vsloboda.ru; ul Voznesenskaya 14b; d R4600; )Perched on a bluff with tremendous views of the valley, this hotel might have the most sceniclocation in the whole of the Golden Ring area. Outside is a quiet neighbourhood of old woodencottages and new villas dominated by the elegant Ascension church. The interior of the newbuilding is tastefully designed to resemble art nouveau style c 1900. The popular restaurantKrucha is on the premises.Hotel Vladimir €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Владимир; 324 447; www.vladimir-hotel.ru; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 74; s/dfrom R2300/2800; ) This hotel near the train station used to be a state-run establishment, butit has successfully survived the transition to a privately owned, efficiently run hotel. All therooms have been renovated with new bathrooms and furniture, but retain a hint of old-fashionedSoviet charm in the choice of wallpaper and draperies. It is a big place with a slew of services.Monomakh Hotel €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Мономах; 440 444; www.monomahhotel.ru; ul Gogolya 20; s R2300-2800, dR3500; ) Off the main drag, this newish hotel has 16 rooms that are simply decoratedbut fully equipped.
Eating & DrinkingSalmon & Coffee € EUROPEAN, ASIAN(Лосось и кофе; www.losos-coffee.ru; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 19a; meals R200-400)Salmon is yet to be found in the Oka, while coffee is not exactly what medieval princes had forbreakfast. But instead of hinting at the city’s past, this DJ cafe is here to give a cosmopolitantouch to the ancient town. Lots of dark wood, dim lights and magenta-coloured metal railingscreate a cool, intriguing atmosphere. The menu is divided in half between European andJapanese. One can only admire the chef’s sense of experimentation, but some dishes seemedway too funky to our tastes.Traktir € RUSSIAN(Трактир; 324 162; Letneperevozinskaya ul 1a; meals R300-500; 11am-last guest) Thiswooden mega-cottage, serving a simple menu of Russian food, is about the liveliest place intown. In summer, the terrace opens up for cold beer and grilled shashlyk. With live music onweekends (8pm to 11.30pm, Thursday to Saturday), it’s a popular spot for people tocongregate and celebrate.Guinness Pub SPORTS BAR(Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 67; beer R100) Here is a friendly, cheapish and blissfullyunauthentic pseudo-Irish pub, its walls adorned with insignia of obscure teams from obscureleagues. Plasma screens show football or hockey non-stop, but a surprising number of regularscome here to play chess. InformationCoffee Bean (Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 19a, inside Torgovye Ryady shopping mall) Thisoutlet of the best Moscow coffee chain is mostly useful for free wi-fi. Ask baristas for the key.Post & telephone office (Почтамт и переговорный пункт; ul Podbelskogo; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri) Getting There & AwayVladimir is on the main Trans-Siberian line between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod.Train The cheapest train from Moscow is the high-speed elektrichka that departs from Kurskyvokzal around 6pm (R600, 2½ hours). Sapsan high-speed train calls twice daily on the way toMoscow (R1200, two hours) and Nizhny Novgorod (R1300, two hours). Another usefulMoscow–Nizhny train is Burevestnik (2½ hours in both directions). About 10 slower trains dailystop on the way to/from the Urals and beyond (platskart R800 to R1000, kupe from R1700,three hours), notably Perm-bound Kama and Novosibirsk-bound Sibiryak.Bus Buses going to Kursky vokzal in Moscow depart from outside the train station hourly(R300, 3½ hours). For other destinations use the main bus station across the square. Suzdalbuses leave every 30 minutes (R70, one hour).Taxi Drivers charge R700 for Suzdal.
Getting AroundThe train station is located about 500m southeast of the centre. Trolleybus 5 from the train andbus stations runs up and along Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul, passing the main sights and hotels.Bogolyubovo Боголюбово 4922 / POP 3900 / MOSCOWAccording to legend, when Andrei Bogolyubsky was returning north from Kyiv in the late 1150s,his horses stopped where Bogolyubovo now stands, 11km east of Vladimir. Apparently, theywouldn’t go another step, so Andrei was forced to establish his capital in Vladimir and not hisfather’s old base of Suzdal. Whatever the reasoning, between 1158 and 1165, Andrei built a stone-fortified palace at thisstrategic spot near the confluence of the Nerl and Klyazma Rivers. Nearby, he built the mostperfect of all old Russian buildings, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl. Bogolyubovo isaccessed most easily from Vladimir. SightsPalace & Monastery HISTORICAL BUILDINGSFragments from Andrei Bogolyubsky’s palace survive amid a renovated and reopened 18th-century monastery. Travelling along the Vladimir–Nizhny Novgorod route, you can’t miss themonastery in the middle of Bogolyubovo. The dominant buildings today are the monastery’s 1841 bell tower beside the road and its1866 Assumption Cathedral. Just east of the cathedral there is the arch and tower, on whosestairs – according to one chronicle – Andrei was assassinated by hostile boyars (nobles). Thearch abuts the 18th-century Church of the Virgin’s Nativity.Church of the Intercession on the Nerl CHURCH(Церковь Покрова на Нерли; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) The church’s beauty lies in its simple butperfect proportions, a brilliantly chosen waterside site (floods aside) and the sparing use ofdelicate carving. Legend has it that Andrei had the church built in memory of his favourite son,Izyaslav, who was killed in battle against the Bulgars. As with the Cathedral of St Dmitry inVladimir, King David sits at the top of three facades, the birds and beasts entranced by hismusic. The interior has more carvings, including 20 pairs of lions. If the church is closed (fromOctober to April the hours are more sporadic), try asking at the house behind. To reach this famous church, walk down Vokzalnaya ul, immediately east of the monastery.At the end of the street, cross the railroad tracks and follow the cobblestone path across thefield. You can catch a ride in the horse-drawn carriage for R150 per person, two peopleminimum. Getting There & AwayTo get to Bogolyubovo from Vladimir, take trolleybus 1 to any stop beyond the railway stationturn, then catch marshrutka 53, 153 or 18 (R12; 15 minutes).
AROUND BEAR’S CORNER Back in Soviet times, most Trans-Siberian trains used to go via Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow, rather than via Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod, as they do today. This is still a viable alternative to the usual itinerary, which allows you to reunite with the main route shortly before the Urals. The most practical train to use on this route is the Moscow–Yaroslavl high-speed elektrichka (R760, 3¾ hours, twice daily), which leaves the capital around 8am and calls at Sergiev Posad (Click here) and Rostov-Veliky (R430, three hours, twice daily) en route. Rostov-Veliky Ростов-Великий Rostov is ideal for recovering from Moscow’s chaos. Coloured in the same shade of pink as the sunsets they have been watching for hundreds of years, the impregnable walls and perfectly proportioned towers of its kremlin (www.rostmuseum.ru; grounds R50, joint ticket to exhibitions R450; 10am-5pm) rise magnificently above the shimmering Lake Nero. Frowning upon Moscow for its relatively young age, Rostov (first chronicled in 862) was the original capital of Kyivan princes who moved into the land, which would become known as Muscovy and Russia. Today it is a sleepy village-like town which wakes you up with the sound of cockerels and gets eerily quiet when darkness falls, especially in winter. Rostov is about 220km northeast of Moscow. The train and bus stations are together in the drab modern part of the town, 1.5km north of the kremlin. If you like it cheap and funky, consider staying at Khors (Хорс; 62 483, +7903 163 05 94; www.khors.org; r weekdays R500-1200, weekends R1000-2400; ) – an art gallery–hotel with Soviet furniture and shared bathroom. A more upmarket option is Usadba Pleshanova (Усадьба Плешанова; 76 440; www.hotelvrostove.ru; Pokrovskaya ul 34; r from R2000- 2300; ), which occupies a 19th-century manor house, once the residence of a merchant and philanthropist family. Yaroslavl Ярославль Yaroslavl is just one hour further down the line. It was founded by its namesake Kyivan prince, who – as legend goes – came to the place then known as Bear’s Corner and axed the local tribe’s totem bear, which now appears on the city’s coat of arms. Embraced by two rivers, the mighty Volga and the smaller Kotorosl, Yaroslavl’s centre is dotted with onion domes like no other place in Russia. It indeed boasts a record-breaking 15-dome Church of John the Baptist at Tolchkovo (Церковь Иоанна Крестителя в Толчково; 2-ya Zakotoroslnaya nab 69; admission R50; 10am-5pm Sat-Thu). The city’s best attraction is the riverside promenade passing most churches and museums of note, such as the unique Music & Time museum (Музыка и время; 328 637; Volzhskaya nab 33a; admission R150; 10am-7pm), which contains ex-conjuror John Mostoslavsky’s impressive collection of clocks, musical instruments, bells and old vinyl records. Guides, including the owner himself, turn each tour into a bit of a concert. The most atmospheric place to stay in Yaroslavl is the floating Vozlshkaya Zhemchuzhina (Волжская жемчужина; 731 273; www.riverhotel-vp.ru, in Russian; Volzhskaya nab; s R2700-3300, d R4300-5200; ), located in a converted ‘river station’ – dozens of floating hubs like this one lined the Volga when boat travel was still in vogue. Cheap accommodation is scarce. To save money, you may rent an apartment from the Uyut agency ( +7903 690 1879, +7920 659 3233; www.yar- nasutki.ru; apt R1300-2000; ). No Yaroslavl visit will be complete without a bash at Dudki Bar ( 330 933; ul Sobinova 33; meals R200-400) – a two- storey affair which is good both for eating during the day and partying with local hipsters all night. The main station is Yaroslavl Glavny, on ul Svobody, 3km west of the centre. There are several eastbound trains daily that will get you back on the main Trans-Siberian line at Perm (R1500 to R3500, 20 hours, four daily). The Golden Ring chapter of Lonely Planet’s Russia guidebook covers this region in detail and can be purchased through www.lonelyplanet.com.Suzdal Суздаль 49231 / POP 12,000 / MOSCOWThe Golden Ring comes with a diamond and that’s Suzdal. If you have only one place to visitnear Moscow, come here – even though everyone else will do the same. In 1864, localmerchants failed to coerce the government into building the Trans-Siberian Railway through
their town. Instead it went through Vladimir, 35km away. As result Suzdal was bypassed notonly by trains, but by the 20th century altogether. This is why the place remains largely thesame as ages ago – its cute wooden cottages mingling with golden cupolas that reflect in theriver, which meanders sleepily through gentle hills and flower-filled meadows. As it happens, Suzdal served as a royal capital when Moscow was a mere cluster of sheds.It transformed into a major monastic centre in the times of Ivan the Terrible and an importantcommercial hub later on. But nowadays, it seems perfectly content in its retirement from bothbusiness and politics. SightsKremlin HISTORIC SITE(Кремль; exhibits R30-70, joint ticket adult/child R400/100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) The1.4km-long earth rampart of Suzdal’s kremlin, founded in the 11th century, encloses a fewstreets of houses and a handful of churches, as well as the main cathedral group onKremlyovskaya ul.
Suzdal Top Sights Kremlin C6 Saviour Monastery of St Euthymius B1 Sights 1 Annunciation Gate-Church B1 2 Archbishops Chambers C6 3 Assumption Refectory Church B1 4 Cathedral Bell Tower B1 5 Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour B1 Cross Hall (see 2) 6 Emperor Constantine Church D5 7 Father Superiors Chambers B1 8 Hospital & St Nicholas Church B1 9 Intercession Cathedral B2 10 Intercession Convent B2 11 Kremlin Bell Tower C6 12 Monastery Prison B1 13 Museum of Wooden Architecture & Peasant Life B7 14 Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral C6 Resurrection Church (see 13) 15 Resurrection Church D5 Suzdal History Exhibition (see 2) 16 Torgovaya pl C5 17 Trading Arcades C5 Transfiguration Church (see 13) 18 Virgin of All Sorrows Church D5 Activities, Courses & Tours Dva Kolesa (see 20) Sleeping 19 Godzillas Suzdal B5 20 Kremlyovsky Hotel B7 21 Nikolayevsky Posad C2 22 Petrov Dom D3 23 Pushkarskaya Sloboda C7 24 Rizopolozhenskaya Hotel C4 25 Stromynka 2 A3 Eating Graf Suvorov & Mead-Tasting Hall (see 17) Kremlin Trapeznaya (see 2) Salmon & Coffee (see 17)Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral
(Рождественский собор) The Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral, its blue domes spangled withgold, was founded in the 1220s. Only its richly carved lower section is original white stonethough, the rest being 16th-century brick. The inside is sumptuous, with 13th- and 17th-centuryfrescoes and 13th-century damascene (gold on copper) on the west and south doors.Archbishop’s Chambers(Архиерейские палаты) The Archbishop’s Chambers houses the Suzdal History Exhibition(admission R70; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon). The exhibition includes the original 13th-centurydoor from the cathedral, photos of its interior and a visit to the 18th-century Cross Hall(Krestovaya palata), which was used for receptions. The tent-roofed 1635 kremlin bell tower(Соборная колокольня) on the east side of the yard contains additional exhibits.Torgovaya ploshchad CENTRAL SQUARESuzdal’s Torgovaya pl (Market Sq) is dominated by the pillared Trading Arcades (Торговыеряды; 1806–11) along its western side. There are four churches in the immediate vicinity,including the Resurrection Church (Воскресенская церковь; admission R50). Make theprecarious climb to the top of the bell tower and be rewarded with wonderful views of Suzdal’sgold-domed skyline. The five-domed 1707 Emperor Constantine Church (Царево-Константиновская церковь) in the square’s northeastern corner is a working church with anornate interior. Next to it is the smaller 1787 Virgin of All Sorrows Church (Скорбященскаяцерковь).Saviour Monastery of St Euthymius MONASTERY(admission R20-80 each, all-inclusive ticket R300, under 15 R150; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun)Founded in the 14th century to protect the town’s northern entrance, Suzdal’s biggestmonastery grew mighty in the 16th and 17th centuries after Vasily III, Ivan the Terrible and thenoble Pozharsky family funded impressive new stone buildings and big land and propertyacquisitions. It was girded with its great brick walls and towers in the 17th century. Inside, the Annunciation Gate-Church (Благовещенская надвратная церковь) houses aninteresting exhibit on Dmitry Pozharsky (1578–1642), leader of the Russian army that drove thePolish invaders from Moscow in 1612. A tall 16th- to 17th-century cathedral bell tower (Звонница) stands before the seven-domedCathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour (Спасо-Преображенский собор). Everyhour on the hour from 11am to 5pm, a short concert of chimes is given on the bell tower’s bells.The cathedral was built in the 1590s in 12th- to 13th-century Vladimir-Suzdal style. Inside,restoration has uncovered some bright 1689 frescoes by the school of Gury Nikitin fromKostroma. The tomb of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky is by the cathedral’s east wall. The 1525 Assumption Refectory Church (Успенская церковь), facing the bell tower,adjoins the old Father Superior’s chambers (Палаты отца-игумена), which houses a displayof Russian icons and the excellent naïve art exhibition showcasing works by Soviet-era amateurpainters from local villages. The old monastery prison (Монастырская тюрьма), set up in 1764 for religious dissidents,is at the north end of the complex. It now houses a fascinating exhibit on the monastery’s prisonhistory, including displays of some of the better-known prisoners who stayed here. Thecombined hospital and St Nicholas Church (Больничные кельи и Никольская церковь;
1669) features a rich museum of church gold treasures. Intercession Convent CONVENT (Покровский монастырь; Pokrovskaya ul; admission free; 9.30am-4.30pm Thu-Mon)This convent was founded in 1364, originally as a place of exile for the unwanted wives oftsars. Among them was Solomonia Saburova, the first wife of Vasily III, who was sent here inthe 1520s because of her supposed infertility. The story goes that she finally became pregnant,but she was too late to avoid being divorced. A baby boy was born in Suzdal. Fearing he wouldbe seen as a dangerous rival to any sons produced by Vasily’s new wife, Solomonia secretlyhad him adopted, pretended he had died and staged a mock burial. This was probably just aswell for the boy since Vasily’s second wife did indeed produce a son – Ivan the Terrible. The legend received dramatic corroboration in 1934 when researchers opened a small 16th-century tomb beside Solomonia’s in the crypt underneath the Intercession Cathedral(Покровский собор). They found a silk-and-pearl shirt stuffed with rags, but no bones. Thecrypt is closed to visitors.Museum of Wooden Architecture & Peasant Life MUSEUM(Музей деревянного зодчества и крестьянского быта; Pushkarskaya ul; adult/under 15R150/60; 9.30am-7pm Wed-Mon May-Oct) This open-air museum, illustrating old peasantlife in this region, is a short walk across the river, south of the kremlin. Besides log houses,windmills, a barn and lots of tools and handicrafts, its highlights are the 1756 TransfigurationChurch (Preobrazhenskaya tserkov) and the simpler 1776 Resurrection Church(Voskresenskaya tserkov). ActivitiesThe rolling hills and attractive countryside around Suzdal are ideal for outdoor adventures,including horse riding and mountain biking.GTK Suzdal CYCLING, HORSE RIDING(GTK; 23 380, 20 908; ul Korovniki 45; 10am-6pm) The Hotel Tourist Complex rentsbikes, snowmobiles and skis, as well as offering horse-riding tours.Goryachie Klyuchi BANYA(Горячие ключи; 24 000; www.parilka.com; 11am-1am) Rural Suzdal is a great place tocleanse body and soul in a Russian banya (bathhouse). Beautiful, lakeside bani are availablefor rent at Goryachie Klyuchi starting at R1000 per hour for up to four people. Rooms start atsingle/double R2100/2500.Dva Kolesa CYCLING(Two Wheels; 8-910-186 0252; www.dvakolesa.ru; ul Tolstogo 5) This little guesthouserents bicycles at R500 per day to those who didn’t come on their own, unlike most of theirguests. Owners lead bicycle excursions through villages surrounding Suzdal. Rooms go forR2000 during the week and R3000 on weekends.
SleepingSuzdal is experiencing a tourist boom, which means there is plenty of choice in the midrangeand high-end bracket – from quaint two- to three-room guesthouses to vast holiday resorts.You may save up to R1000 per night if you avoid coming to Suzdal during weekends orholidays. Breakfast is included in all prices, unless otherwise stated.Pushkarskaya Sloboda €€ RESORT(Пушкарская слобода; 23 303; www.sloboda-gk.ru; ul Lenina 45; d in inn from R2900, d invillage from R3700; ) This holiday village has everything you might want from your Disneyvacation – accommodation in the log-cabin ‘Russian inn’ or the reproduction 19th-century‘Gunner’s Village’; three restaurants, ranging from the rustic country tavern to a formal diningroom; and every service you might dream up. It’s an attractive, family-friendly, good-valueoption, though it might be too well-manicured for some tastes. Petrov Dom €€ GUESTHOUSE ( 23 326, 8-919-025 8884; www.petrovdom.ru; per Engelsa 18; r weekdays R1500,weekends R2000, holidays R2500; ) Vlad and Lena offer three nicely furnished and strictlynon-smoking rooms in their wooden dacha-style house with a lovely garden on a quiet street(not to be confused with ul Engelsa), which makes it a great option for travellers with children.A sumptuous breakfast is included. Self-caterers are welcome to use the kitchen and gardengrill.Godzillas Suzdal € HOSTEL( in Moscow 495-699 4223; www.godzillashostel.com/suzdal; Naberezhnaya ul 12; perperson R650-750; ) An affiliate of the namesake hostel in Moscow, this big log cabin facilityoverlooking the river opened just a few years ago, but has already undergone a thoroughrenovation. Each dorm room has its own bathroom and balcony. Guests can also enjoy theblooming garden and Russian banya, as well as the chill-out lounge and the bar in thebasement. Breakfast not included.Stromynka 2 €€ HOTEL( 25 155; www.stromynka2.ru; ul Stromynka 2; s/d from R2300/2500; ) A cross between aRussian gingerbread cottage and a Swiss chalet, this medium-sized hotel prides itself in havingused only natural materials in the construction. Large and airy rooms are well-equipped, smelllike untreated wood and offer nice views of the Kamenka River Valley. Bikes available for hire;breakfast not included.Nikolayevsky Posad €€ RESORT( 23 585; www.nposad.ru; ul Lenina 138; r from R3200; ) Another large manicuredresort near St Euthymius Monastery. Accommodation is in two-storey buildings styled asmerchants’ mansion houses. There is a nice restaurant and a ‘hangover’ cafe in the premises.Kremlyovsky Hotel €€ HOTEL
(Кремлёвский Отель; 25 055; www.kremlinhotel.ru; ul Tolstogo 5; s/d weekdays fromR2700/2900, weekends R3700/3900; ) This white stone hotel mirrors the tall towers ofthe kremlin on the opposite bank of the river. The rooms are contemporary and comfortableand they offer lovely views of the winding waterway and the rustic wooden architecture in thevicinity.Rizopolozhenskaya Hotel € HOTEL( 24 314; ul Lenina; s/d/q R1200/2100/3000) Housed in the decrepit Monastery of theDeposition and destined to be grabbed by the church sooner or later, this cheapie has nointention to upgrade. Instead, it keeps its Soviet-furnished rooms clean, if poorly lit, and priceslow enough to attract a steady flow of guests. Breakfast not included.GTK Suzdal €€ HOTEL( 21 530; www.suzdaltour.ru; r hotel/motel from R2500/3300; ) A former Intouristflagship, this place is low on charm but high on facilities. Accommodation is in a large hotel or interraced houses with garage in the first floor and rooms in the second. The complex includes afitness centre, a bowling alley, several restaurants and a slightly more expensive hotel withupgraded rooms. EatingIn addition to the places listed below, all of the hotels have restaurants.Salmon & Coffee €€ EUROPEAN(Лосось и кофе; Trading Arcades, ul Lenina 63a; mains R200-450) Like its sister in Vladimir,Suzdal’s S&C is about the best place for an unhurried lunch or a cup of coffee. It is, however,much quainter, with lots of aged whitewashed wood to evoke the ‘Cherry Orchard’ dachaambience. Despite the name, salmon is not really prominent on the menu, which includesinventive fusion European dishes and sushi.Graf Suvorov & Mead-Tasting Hall €€ RUSSIAN(Граф Суворов и зал дегустаций; Trading Arcades, ul Lenina 63a; tasting menu R130-350,mains R150-300) With vaulted ceilings and kitschy wall paintings depicting Russian military heroCount Suvorov’s exploits in the Alps, this place serves standard Russian food and a few dozenvarieties of locally produced medovukha (mead), a mildly alcoholic honey ale that was drunk byprinces of old. Go for tasting sets, which include 10 samples each. Apart from the regular one,there are separate sets of berry- and herb-flavoured medovukha.Kremlin Trapeznaya € RUSSIAN(Кремлевская трапезная; meals R300-500; 11am-11pm) The attraction here is the choicelocation in an old dining hall inside the Archbishop’s Chambers. The menu features fillingRussian favourites. Information
Post & telephone office (Почтамт и переговорный пункт; Krasnaya pl; 8am-8pm) Open24 hours for phone calls.Sberbank (Сбербанк; ul Lenina 73a; 8am-4.30pm Mon-Fri) Exchange office & ATM. Getting There & AwaySuzdal is not on the Trans-Siberian line but can be accessed from Vladimir (Click here). Thebus station is 2km east of the centre on Vasilievskaya ul. Some long-distance buses pass thecentral square on the way. Buses run every half-hour to/from Vladimir (R50, one hour).Otherwise, most of the buses originate elsewhere. A daily bus goes directly to/from Moscow’sShchyolkovsky bus station (R365, 4½ hours).Nizhny Novgorod Нижний Новгород 831 / POP 1.25 MILLION / MOSCOWA glorious setting is not something most Russian cities can boast, but Nizhny (as it is usuallycalled) is a lucky exception. The mighty cliff-top kremlin overlooking the confluence of two widerivers – the Volga and the Oka – is the place where merchant Kuzma Minin and Count DmitryPozharsky (men commemorated in a monument in front of St Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow) rallieda popular army to repel the Polish intervention in 1612. Nizhny has been a major trading centre since its foundation in 1221. In the 19th century whenthe lower bank of the Oka housed the country’s main fair – yarmarka – it was said that ‘StPetersburg is Russia’s head; Moscow its heart; and Nizhny Novgorod its wallet’. During Soviettimes the city was named Gorky, after the writer Maxim Gorky, born here in 1868. Closed toforeigners by the Soviets, Gorky was chosen as a place of exile for the dissident physicistAndrei Sakharov. Nizhny is often called Russia’s ‘third capital’, but it is markedly quieter than the other two, witha laid-back ambience characteristic of the Volga cities downstream. Walking along riversidepromenades, drinking beer in an outdoor cafe by the kremlin or taking a boat ride to thepainters’ town of Gorodets are all excellent cures for nerves damaged by Moscow’s crowdsand traffic. SightsThe shop on the 2nd floor of the Nizhegorodsky State Art Museum sells an excellent WalkAround Nizhny Novgorod book (R170) in English, German and Russian with 10 illustratedroutes.
Nizhny Novgorod Top SightsKremlin F1National Centre of Contemporary Art F1Nizhegorodsky State Art Museum F1Rukavishnikov Mansion G1Western European Art Collection G1 Sights1 Annunciation Monastery C32 Cathedral of the Archangel Michael E13 Dmitry Tower F24 Monument to Heroes of WWII F15 Pilot Valery Chkalov Monument F1 Sleeping6 Ibis Hotel F47 Jouk-Jacques E48 Nizhegorodsky Hotel Complex C29 October Hotel G1 Eating10 Angliiskoe Posolstvo E4
11 Bezukhov E1 Biblioteka (see 16) 12 Moloko F2 13 Restoratsia Pyatkin E1 14 Tiffani G1 15 Vesyolaya Kuma D4 Shopping 16 Dirizhabl E4 Transport 17 River Station D1 18 Turbyuro E4 Volga-Flot Tour Office (see 17)Kremlin HISTORICAL BUILDING(Кремль; www.ngiamz.ru) Built upon remnants of an earlier settlement, Nizhny Novgorod’smagnificent kremlin dates back to 1500–15 when the Italian architect Pyotr Fryazin began workon its 13 towers and 12m-high walls. Even before the kremlin was finished the Khan of Kazanmade his first attempt to take it and failed. Inside, most of the buildings are government offices.The small 17th-century Cathedral of the Archangel Michael (Собор Михаила Архангела) is afunctioning church. Behind it, an eternal flame burns near a striking monument (Памятникгероям Отечественной войны) to the heroes of WWII. The main entrance to the kremlin is atthe Dmitry Tower (Дмитриевская башня; admission R70; 10am-5pm, closed Mon), whichhas changing exhibitions on local history. NIZHNY NOVGOROD’S STATE MUSEUMS Nizhny Novgorod has an excellent ensemble of museums inside and around the kremlin. Inside the kremlin, the Nizhegorodsky State Art Museum (Нижегородский государственный художественный музей; www.museum.nnov.ru/art; admission R100; 11am-6pm Wed-Mon) focuses on Russian artists, beginning (on the left after you enter) with 16th- century icons. The entire collection is chronological, so you can see by Room 6 how rudimentary landscape perspectives creep into 17th-century icons. After the icons comes the large collection of mostly oil-on-canvas paintings by Russian masters, including Vasily Surikov and lots by Nikolai Rerikh (aka Nicholas Roerich; Room 20), culminating in Soviet art. The English descriptions are excellent. Situated in the former arsenal located on the right after you enter the main gate, the new National Centre of Contemporary Art (Государственный центр совеременного искусства; www.ncca.ru; admission R100; noon-8pm Tue- Sun) has changing exhibitions of international and Russian contemporary artists. Outside the kremlin and just a short walk along the attractive Verkhne-Volzhskaya nab, lined with restored 19th-century buildings, you find the Western European Art Collection (Собрание Западноевропейское искусство; Verkhne- Volzhskaya nab 3; admission R120; 11am-6pm Wed & Fri-Mon, noon-8pm Thu), with its collection of mostly anonymous or lesser-known European painters who, despite their modest credentials, produced some remarkable works. A few houses along, inside a 19th-century mansion once belonging to the Rukavishnikov merchant family, is the Rukavishnikov Mansion (Усадьба Рукавишникова; Verkhne-Volzhskaya nab 7; tours R300; 10am-5pm Tue-Fri, noon- 7pm Sat & Sun). This is visited on 40-minute tours in Russian and English leaving every 1½ hours from 10am to 4pm weekdays and half-hourly weekends from noon to 6pm. Furniture and the illustrious interior of the unusual mansion are the threads running through all excursions in this museum, and these are complemented by changing exhibitions – often with a focus on household furnishing and objects.
Annunciation Monastery MONASTERY(Благовещенский монастырь; ul Garshina) The proliferation of onion domes and golden spiresis a ubiquitous reminder of the city’s rich history. The 13th-century Annunciation Monastery,above Chernigovskaya ul, is located among the city’s oldest buildings.Pechorsky Monastery MONASTERY(Печерский Вознесенский монастырь; Privolzhkaya sloboda 108) The 17th-centuryPechorsky Monastery, overlooking the Volga, houses a small Museum of the NizhnyNovgorod Diocese (Музей Нижнего Новгородского епархий; admission R20; 10am-5pm),which includes a moving exhibition on Bolshevik repressions against the church. Beneath themonastery is the Rowing Canal, with sandy banks that have become the city’s main beach,sprinkled with beach restaurants. Take any marshrutka or bus from pl Minina i Pozharskogo topl Sennaya.Museum of Volga People’s Architecture & Culture MUSEUM(Музей архитектуры и быта народов Нижегородского Поволжья; www.ngiamz.ru;Gorbatovskaya ul 41; admission R40; 10am-5pm Sat-Thu, closed mid-Oct–mid-May) Theopen-air Museum of Volga People’s Architecture & Culture has a pleasant woodland setting anda collection of traditional wooden buildings from Russian and Mordva (a Finno-Ugric people)villages. The museum is located in the remote Shchelokovsky Khutor Park, which is the finalstop of bus 28 (30 minutes, every hour), which passes ul Belinskogo in the centre. Marshrutka62 also stops close.Sakharov Museum MUSEUM(Музей Сахарова; 466 8623; pr Gagarina 214; admission R50; 9am-5pm Sat-Thu) Areminder of more repressive times, the Sakharov Museum is located in the flat where thedissident scientist spent six years in exile. The Nobel laureate was held incommunicado until1986, when a KGB officer came to install a telephone. When it rang, it was Mikhail Gorbachevat the other end, informing Sakharov of his release. The phone is a highlight of the exhibition. Toget there take bus 1 from pl Minina i Pozharskogo or marshrutka 3 or 19 from pl Gorkogo tothe stop Muzey Akademika Sakharova. ToursTeam Gorky TOURS( 278 9404; www.teamgorky.ru; ul 40 let Oktyabrya 1a) Canoe and bicycle tours in theNizhny Novgorod region and beyond. Three-day adventure canoe trips start at R6300. VOLGA-URALS SIDE TRIP
The Volga, one of Europe’s great rivers, winds for some 3530km through Russia’s heartland and has been a part of the continent’s longest ‘highway’ for time immemorial. Travelling along or alongside the Volga you encounter spectacular hilltop kremlins in Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Astrakhan, bombastic architecture in Volgograd, numerous lively provincial capitals, as well as picturesque stretches such as the Samara Bend. Trains cross the Volga at Yaroslavl (the northern route in European Russia), Nizhny Novgorod (the major route) and Kazan (a southern route through Tatarstan). Each of these is worth a stopover, but for longer Volga trips Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan are the best starting points. From Nizhny Novgorod it’s possible to take day trips on hydrofoils to the artists’ town of Gorodets (Click here). Chapters of Lonely Planet’s Russia guidebook covering the Volga and Urals regions in detail can be purchased online from www.lonelyplanet.com. Prices and times for the following Volga-Urals side trip are from the previous stop: » » South to the Volga delta Leave the Trans-Sib at Nizhny Novgorod (Click here) and head south by train to Kazan (Click here; platskart R822, nine hours, daily), continuing on to Ulyanovsk (platskart R550, six hours, frequent). From Ulyanovsk the easiest way to Samara (R370, five hours) is by bus. From there, get back on the rails again to continue to Volgograd (kupe R1760, 19 hours), Astrakhan (platskart R685, 10½ hours) and the Volga Delta. » » Northeast return leg The nicest way to rejoin the Trans-Sib is to return from the lower Volga by rail via Ufa (Bashkortostan) and Chelyabinsk, then head north to rejoin the Trans-Siberian route at Yekaterinburg (Click here; from Volgograd: kupe R5010, 39 hours). » » How long and how much? Plan a minimum of two weeks and about €100 per day in all-up costs, including transport, for this side trip with a couple of stopovers plus time in the delta and on one of the Urals lakes. Sleeping Jouk-Jacques €€€ BOUTIQUE HOTEL (Жук-Жак; 433 0462; www.jak-hotel.ru; Bolshaya Pokrovskaya ul 57; s R3750-6825,d R6825, ste R9375; ) This cosy boutique hotel is one of the best in town. The cheapestrooms are a bit cramped, but they’re neat and breakfasts are superb by Russian standards.Nizhegorodsky Hotel Complex €€ HOTEL(Нижегородский Гостиничный Комплекс; 430 5387; www.hotel-nn.ru; ul Zalomova 2; sR2660-4250, d R3200-4250; ) This ugly concrete eyesore has good refurbished rooms,and the embankment underneath has been converted into a lovely terraced park. The moreexpensive rooms have fabulous river views. Steps just to the left as you exit lead directly to theRozhdestvenskaya bus stop.Ibis Hotel €€ HOTEL(Ибис Отель; 233 1120; www.ibishotel.com; ul Maksima Gorkogo 115; r without breakfastfrom R3100) Nizhny’s Ibis is a relative newcomer and offers a high standard of rooms andcomforts, with the advantage that it is large enough to cope with busy periods.October Hotel €€€ HOTEL(Гостиница Октябрьская; 432 8080; www.oktyabrskaya.ru; Verkhne-Volzhskaya nab 9a; sR4000-5000, d R6100, ste R10,000-14,000; ) The rooms here have been renovated butoverall it retains a hint of post-Soviet kitsch.
Gostinitsa NGLU € HOTEL(Гостиница НГЛУ; 436 5945; Bolshaya Pecherskaya ul 36; dm R480, s/d R880/1440without bathroom, tw apt with bathroom R2520; ) This is part of the Linguistic Universitydormitory; it doesn’t register visas.Resting rooms € HOSTEL(Железнодорожные комнаты отдыха, komnaty otdykha; 244 2110; dm R750, s/d withoutbreakfast R1550/3300) Located in a separate building on your right as you exit the train station. Eating & DrinkingThe cheap and cheerful summer cafes by the city’s main hang-out near the Pilot ValeryChkalov monument (Памятник летчику Чкалову) are a great place to mingle with locals.Rozhdestvennskaya ul east of the river station also has clusters of places to eat and drink. Bezukhov € RUSSIAN, INTERNATIONAL (Безухов; www.bezuhov.ru; Rozhdestvenskaya ul 6; mains R375; 24hr; ) Thisliterary cafe with antique furnishings, stucco ceiling and the feel of a living room is part of aproject in Nizhny Novgorod called Eda i Kultura (Food and Culture), which brings food andculture together into a delicious whole. The menu is overflowing with salads, pastas and fish,poultry and red-meat dishes, and augmented by good breakfasts and sushi rolls.Restoratsia Pyatkin €€ RUSSIAN(Ресторация Пяткин; Rozhdestvenskaya ul 23; mains R350; noon-midnight) This placemakes you feel like a merchant back in his mansion after a great trading day at the fair. Themenu is full of Volga fish specialities; it also brews the unusual apple kvas and has a children’smenu.Moloko €€ RUSSIAN, BAR(Молоко; ul Alekseevskaya 15; mains R200-300, coffee R100; noon-2am; ) Also partof the Food and Culture project – more upmarket in style but with very similar food to Bezukov– ‘Milk’ exudes a sleek lounge feel beyond its sofas and aged wooden panelling. Pl Minina iPozharskogo is your best transport stop.Angliiskoe Posolstvo €€ PUB(Английское Посольство; ul Zvezdinka 12; mains R500; 8am-midnight Mon-Fri, 8am-2amSat & Sun; ) Set on two levels, the ‘English Consulate’ is a convivial place for that familiar pubatmosphere (or Russian interpretation of it). A selection of English beers is available and fishand chips costs R260.Tiffani €€€ INTERNATIONAL, CAFE(Тиффани; 436 3542; Verkhne-Volzhskaya nab 8; mains R370-950; breakfast-late; )This upmarket all-rounder is a restaurant during the day and evening, a cafe at any time andhas well-known DJs some nights. The views across the Volga to the forest are spectacular and
kids love it because they can loll on plush sofas beneath the black marble ceiling. Dress up inthe evening.Vesyolaya Kuma €€ UKRAINIAN(ul Kostina 3; mains R400; noon-midnight; ) Set among a row of lesser restaurants, the‘Happy Godmother’ merrily serves hearty borsch and other Ukrainian fare.Biblioteka € ITALIAN(Библиотека; Bolshaya Pokrovskaya ul 46; dishes R180-300; 11am-10pm; ) Upstairsfrom the Dirizhabl bookshop with generic but tasty Italian dishes in an informal, quirkyatmosphere. ShoppingDirizhabl BOOKSTORE(Дирижабль; Bolshaya Pokrovskaya ul 46; 10am-9pm Mon-Sat, 11am-8pm Sun) A goodselection of maps and local guidebooks, and some books in foreign languages. InformationCentral post office (Центральный почтамт; pl Gorkogo; internet per hr R40; 8am-8pm)Ellips Bank (Эллипс Банк; pl Maksima Gorkogo 4/2) ATM, accepts major cards.Volga Telecom (Волга Телеком; pl Gorkogo; per 30 min R40; 24hr) Internet terminals. Getting There & AwayTrainNizhny Novgorod train station still goes by its old name of Gorky-Moskovsky vokzal (station), so‘Gorky’ appears on some timetables. It is on the western bank of the Oka River, at plRevolyutsii. The service centre at the train station is helpful for buying rail tickets, and also hasinternet access. Go to the blue booth for converting your e-ticket to hard copy. There arekomnaty otdykha (rest rooms), but you’ll need an onward ticket to stay there. The daily Volga firmeny train (a premium, long-distance train; 59) connects St Petersburg’sMoskovsky vokzal with Nizhny Novgorod (R5042, 15¼ hours), and numerous cheaper servicesgo to/from St Petersburg and Moscow. Train 24 is a good overnight service from Moscow’sKazansky vokzal (R2183, 6½ hours).Westbound The high-speed Sapsan (seat R1490, four hours, two daily) runs to Moscow’sKursky vokzal. One service continues to St Petersburg (seat R4200, 8½ hours, daily). Over adozen other trains (platskart R1123, seven hours) also serve Moscow, via Vladimir (platskartR872, three hours).Eastbound For Perm the flagship No 18 Kama (platskart R1716, kupe R3184, 14½ hours,daily) or for Kazan the No 41 (platskart R822, nine hours, daily) are good services. Other trainsgo to Yekaterinburg (R3800, 21 hours, six daily) and beyond.
AirNizhny Novgorod International Airport is 15km southwest of the city centre. S7 flies six times aweek from Moscow (from R4000, one hour) and Lufthansa ( 275 9085) flies directly to/fromFrankfurt five times a week (return €600, 3½ hours). Airline tickets are available at agenciesaround the city, including the Turbyuro ( 439 3260; ul Zvezdinka 10b; 8am-8pm, closedSun).BoatThe river station is on Nizhne-Volzhskaya nab, below the kremlin. A Volga-Flot Tour ( 4618030; www.vftour.ru, in Russian; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat, 10am-3pm Sun) officeinside the station building and the cash office on the embankment sell mostly weekend day tripsdeparting 9am to the ancient Makaryev monastery (R1440) at the village of Makaryevo, 60kmto the east. Book ahead. Food and an excursion are included. Several hydrofoils daily go toGorodets (R150, one hour), leaving from their own pier.BusBuses to Vladimir (R400, 4½ hours, eight daily), Kostroma (R750, eight hours, daily) andGorodets (R120, 1½ hours, almost every half-hour) depart from the small Kanavinskaya busstation. Private operators run minibuses to Moscow, which depart across the road from thetrain station (R600, six hours, at least six times daily); others start from the bus station. Getting AroundThe train station (Московский вокзал) is located across the river from the kremlin and isconnected to the centre by buses and minibuses. The two transport hubs in the centre are plMinina i Pozharskogo (пл Минина и Пожарского) near the kremlin and pl Gorkogo (пл Горкого)south of this. If you need to, you can change at the stop on the city side of the bridge,Kanavinsky Most. At pl Minina i Pozharskogo, transport heading back to the train station picksup from the kremlin side of the road. The city’s metro might be extended across the river in the lifetime of this book, providing auseful link between pl Gorkogo and the train station (Московский вокзал). ALTERNATIVE ROUTE TO YEKATERINBURG VIA KAZAN The route across European Russia to Yekaterinburg via Kazan is the least travelled of the three major lines on this leg, but it is a fascinating one because it allows you to stop over in Kazan (Казань), an attractive city situated on the Volga River. Kazan is the capital of the Tatarstan Republic – the land of the Volga Tatars, a Turkic people commonly associated with Chinggis Khaan’s hordes, although they prefer to identify themselves with the ancient state of Volga Bulgaria, which was devastated by the Mongols. The independent Kazan khanate was created in 1438. It was ravaged in 1552 by Ivan the Terrible’s troops and Tatar allies, and the collapse of Kazan caused such unease further east in the surviving khanate of Sibir (in Western Siberia) that Sibir nominally began paying tribute to Ivan. Kazan’s collapse also cleared the way for Slavic Russian farmers to pour into the Urals region around Perm. As well as time spent taking in the sights, allow time to walk around and soak up the multicultural atmosphere of the city. Tatar autonomy is strong here and not just about bilingual street signs. It also ensures that Tatarstan benefits greatly from vast oil reserves in this booming republic. The post-Soviet cultural revival, manifested by the popularity of modern Muslim fashions and Tatar-language literature, characterises its self-confidence. Football (soccer) fans might be familiar with the city because of its popular club Rubin Kazan (http://rubin-
kazan.ru/en/main). A highlight in the more traditional sense is the kremlin (кремль). After you enter the main gate, an alley leads past the enormous Kul Sharif Mosque (Мечеть Кул Шариф), completed in 2005, which is named after the imam who died defending the city against the troops of Ivan the Terrible in 1552. In front of this is the former cadet school building, which today houses the Hermitage Centre (Эрмитаж-Казань; admission R120; 10am-5pm, closed Mon) and runs rotating exhibitions from the collection of St Petersburg’s Hermitage. Also check out the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan (Kremlyovskaya ul 2; admission R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), which is located opposite the kremlin’s main entrance, occupying an ornate 1770 building. It has a large archaeology collection as well as jewellery, weapons and exhibits on the history of the Tatar people and its literary figures. If you decide to travel on this route, plan a couple of nights in Kazan. Hotel Volga ( 231 6349; www.volga-hotel.ru; ul Said- Galeeva 1; s from R1400, r R1600-4900) is 10 minutes by foot from the station (turn left on the busy street). Hotel Giuseppe ( 292 6934; www.giuseppe.ru; Kremlyovskaya ul 15/25; s R3100-5500, d R4030-7150, ste R8000-23,000; ), above Giuseppe pizzeria, has hints of a Venetian villa (and good eating options). For good food and drinks, drop into Priyut kholostyaka ( 292 0771; ul Chernyshevskogo 27a; mains R350-600; 11am-midnight Mon-Fri, to 2am Sat & Sun), the ‘Bachelor’s Shelter’ – a spotlessly white oasis of style. An inexpensive place to try local Tatar food is Kazan Askhane-Chai Yorty (ul Baumana 64; mains R80, pastry R30; 9am-7pm). Kazan’s excellent tourist information centre ( 292 3010; http://gokazan.com; Kremlyovskaya ul 15/25; 9.30am- 6.30pm Mon-Fri, to 3.30pm Sat) has a good sheet map of town (also available in many hotels). Kazan is the unchallenged highlight of this route, and after it you can doze for about five hours until the Kama River crossing at around 1150km (after Agryz). The overnight Ural (16) departs Moscow’s Kazansky station late afternoon and arrives at 4.20am, before the night is over (platskart/kupe R1254/2123, 11½ hours). Better in all senses is the premium 002 Й from Moscow (not to be confused with train 2, the Rossiya), towing carriages ranging from platskart (R1254) through kupe (R3093) to a grand deluxe carriage (peaking at around R30,000 for a double suite with private facilities). The beautifully restored original train station on ul Said Galeeva now serves as a waiting room for the main train station in a separate building. Buses and marshrutky run to the kremlin. The Volga chapter of Lonely Planet’s Russia guidebook has further information on this region and can be purchased through www.lonelyplanet.com.Perm Пермь 342 / POP 1 MILLION / MOSCOW +2HRThe word ‘Perm’ once meant a mysterious Finno-Ugric land encompassing most of thenorthwestern Ural Mountains that was slowly colonised by Russians since the early medievalages. But the city is relatively new, founded by the lieutenants of Peter I in 1723. It is believed that Chekhov used Perm as the inspiration for the town his Three Sisters weredesperate to leave, and Boris Pasternak sent his Doctor Zhivago to a city clearly resemblingPerm. It would be hard for these characters to recognise their city today. The neat provincialarchitecture has been critically diluted by Soviet concrete blocks and post-Soviet glassystructures. Huge military plants were moved here during WWII when the town was calledMolotov after the Soviet minister of Molotov cocktail fame. Today the city is in the throes of reinventing itself as a cultural centre outside Moscow and StPetersburg, having long had a famous ballet school, augmented by some interesting museums.It is also the base from which to visit one of the best wooden architecture museums in Russia,located in Khokhlovka; the famous ice cave in Kungur; and a grim reminder of Soviet-erapolitical persecution – the Perm-36 labour camp. SightsA green line runs through the central district connecting the major sights, complemented bysigns in Russian and English explaining the history. Perm Tourist has a free, multilingual GreenLine booklet for self-guided city walks. This is complemented by a red line, focusing on local
love stories. Perm Top Sights Museum of Contemporary Art PERMM D1 Perm Regional Museum C1 Perm State Art Gallery B1 Sights 1 Archaeological Collection C2 2 Mosque A2 3 Sergei Diaghilev Museum D3 Activities, Courses & Tours Perm Tourist Travel Agency (see 8)
Sleeping 4 Hotel Astor C2 5 Hotel Edem D2 6 Hotel New Star D3 7 Hotel Prikamye C3 8 Hotel Ural B3 Eating 9 Grill Taverna Montenegro D2 10 Kama C2 11 Vkus Stranstvy C2 12 Zhivago C2 Entertainment 13 Tchaikovsky Theatre of Opera & Ballet C2 Information Perm Tourist (see 8) Transport Aviakassa (see 8) Railways Bookings Office (see 8) Museum of Contemporary Art ‘PERMM’ ART GALLERY (Mузей современного искусства PERMM; www.permm.ru; ul Ordzhonikidze 2;admission R100; noon-9pm) The brainchild of Marat Gelman, a prime mover and shaker onRussia’s gallery scene, this museum of modern and contemporary art is housed inside theformer river station hall on the banks of the Kama River. It forms the centrepiece of Gelman’svision to transform Perm into a cultural hub. The exhibitions are often controversial locally,which probably means the museum fulfils its role as a contemporary art space verysuccessfully. Check out the website for what’s on. Trolleybus 1 and bus 3 take you there.Perm State Art Gallery ART GALLERY(Художественная галерея; www.sculpture.permonline.ru; Komsomolsky pr 4;Russian/foreigner R120/210; 11am-6pm Tue-Sun) Housed in the grand Cathedral of ChristTransfiguration on the banks of the Kama, the Perm State Art Gallery is renowned for itscollection of Permian wooden sculpture. These brightly coloured figures are a product of anuneasy compromise between Christian missionaries and the native Finno-Ugric population. Thelatter, having been converted, closely identified the Christian saints these sculptures depict withtheir ancient gods and treated them as such by smearing their lips with the blood of sacrificedanimals. There are plans to house the museum in a new building, but the location is yet to bedecided; Perm Tourist can tell you more. Take trolleybus 1 to the stop Galereya or trams 3, 4,7, 12 or 13 to the stop Tsum.Perm Regional Museum MUSEUM
(Пермский краевой музей; ul Ordzhonikidze 11; admission R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun)Located inside the imposing Meshkov House, the regional museum has a moderately interestingcollection of household objects, weapons and other cultural relics of the region. It only getsreally interesting when you see the small collection of intricate metal castings of the ‘Permanimal style’ used in the shamanistic practices of ancient Finno-Ugric Permians. More of thesemetal castings may be on display in the museum branch known as the ArchaeologicalCollection (Sibirskaya ul 15; admission R100; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri).Sergei Diaghilev Museum MUSEUM(Дом Дягилева; Sibirskaya ul 33; admission by donation; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, closed 31May-1 Sep) The Sergei Diaghilev Museum is a small, lovingly curated school museumdedicated to the impresario (1872–1929) who turned Russian ballet into a world-famous brand.Children speaking foreign languages, including English, serve as guides.Mosque MOSQUE(Мечеть; ul Osinskaya 5) A lovely mosque that has served local Tatar Muslims since 1902. ToursKrasnov TOURS(Краснов; 238 3520; www.uraltourism.ru; ul Borchaninova 4; 10am-6.30pm Mon-Fri,11am-5pm Sat) Offers active and adventure tourism such as 19 days of rafting (R22,800) orcross-country skiing in the Urals, beginner Russian courses, river cruises and many moreactivities. The Russian version of the website has a wider and sometimes less expensivechoice.Perm Tourist Travel Agency TOURS(Пермь Турист туристическое агентство; 218 6999; www.hotel-ural.com/tourist; ul Lenina58, office 209; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat) Inside the Hotel Ural, organisesexcursions such as to Kungur and Perm-36 (each from R5800), as well as city tours in Permand Volga river cruises. Festivals & EventsWhite Nights CULTURAL(www.permfest.com) Inaugurated in 2011, the White Nights festival runs through most of June,presenting a month of contemporary music, street art, theatre, readings and interesting side-festival events.Kamwa Festival CULTURAL(www.kamwa.ru) The annual ‘ethno-futuristic’ Kamwa Festival held in late July to early August inPerm and Khokhlovka brings together ancient ethno-Ugric traditions and modern art, music andfashion.
Sleeping Hotel Edem €€ HOTEL ( 212 0036; ul Maxima Gorkogo 21b; r R2000-2500; ) The six large rooms withdouble beds in this excellent minihotel are named by their colour scheme – the ‘Pink Room’, andso on. As with some minihotels, service is friendly but patchy; here you get a kettle, coffee,plates and cutlery as well as a fridge in order to make good use of the 24-hour supermarketacross the road if you’re on a tight budget.Hotel Ural €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Урал; 218 6262; www.hotel-ural.com; ul Lenina 58; s R2000-2700, d R3500-4300; ) This one-time Soviet monolith rising up in the heart of the city has shed virtually allof its cheap, unrenovated rooms and boasts a shimmering, high-tech lobby and mostly modernrooms at reasonable prices. Hotel Astor €€ HOTEL (Гостиница Астор; 212 2212; www.astorhotel.ru; ul Petropavlovskaya 40; s R2900-5000, d R3400-5500, tr R6000; ) Spotless white dominates this hotel’s colour scheme.Its reputation among business travellers is high, and rooms are low-allergy.Hotel Prikamye €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Прикамье; 219 8353; www.prikamie-hotel.ru; Komsomolsky pr 27; s R2300-3200, d R3300-3850, ste R4600-4900; ) Nicely spruced-up rooms in this former Sovieteyesore make Prikamye a very decent option. Deals are better if you book on the web. Wi-fi isavailable but expensive.Hotel New Star €€ HOTEL( 220 6801; www.newstar-hotel.ru; ul Gazety Zvezda 38b; s/d R3500/5000; ) Modernwell-equipped rooms. The R1900 ‘economy class’ singles are most attractive for solo travellersbut can be noisy. Kids get significant discounts here. Eating & Drinking Grill Taverna Montenegro €€ BALKAN (Гриль-Таверна Монтенегро; ul Maxima Gorkogo 28; meals R700; noon-midnight; ) The trompe l’oeil village fresco downstairs, upstairs pseudo-portico and outdoor terracelend nice touches to this excellent restaurant. The Kalmyk lamb kebab is superbly grilled.Vkus Stranstvy € CAFETERIA(Вкус странствий; Sibirskaya ul 8; meals R300; 10am-10pm; ) With the feel of amidpriced restaurant, the cheerful ‘Taste for Travel’ neo-stolovaya (canteen) serves some ofthe best cafeteria food in the Ural Mountains.
Zhivago €€ RUSSIAN(Живаго; 235 1716; ul Lenina 37; mains R350-600; 9am-midnight) This restaurant forthe well-heeled and the literary inclined is actually two-in-one. Pasternak downstairs has alounge-like, post-modernist cafe feel, while Zhivago upstairs is a fully fledged formal restaurant.Steaks and several more-expensive dishes cost over R1000.Kama €€ BREWERY(Кама; www.pivzavodkama.ru; Sibirskaya ul 25; mains R300-600; noon-2am; ) Thismicrobrewery brews several tasty varieties of own-brew. The food, including its vegetarianborsch, is reasonably priced by Russian microbrewery standards. Sometimes good bandsperform live here; other times it’s a guitar soloist with canned backing. Entertainment Labarint KARAOKE (Лабаринт; 3rd fl, ul Lenina 88; cover Thu-Sat R300-400, Sun-Wed free; 6pm-6am)This club has 50,000 tunes and everything from Russia’s best- and least-known to Westernrock of all types (just write down the title and artist’s name if it’s not on the list).Tchaikovsky Theatre of Opera & Ballet THEATRE(Театр оперы и балета Чайковского; 212 5416; www.opera.permonline.ru; ulPetropavlovskaya 25) One of Russia’s top ballet schools. InformationMain post office (Главпочтамт; ul Lenina 29; internet per hr R45; 8am-10pm Mon-Fri,9am-6pm Sat & Sun)Perm Tourist (Пермь Турист; 218 6021; www.visitperm.ru; ul Lenina 58; 9am-8pmMon-Fri, from 10am Sat & Sun; ) City and regional information, including the free multilingualGreen Line booklet explaining sights on a city walk. Hires city bikes (24 hours R550) and has alist of tour operators. Its inside the Hotel Ural; use side entrance. Getting There & AwayInside the Hotel Ural you will find a railways booking office ( 233 02 03; 8am-7.30pmMon-Sat, to 6pm Sun) and an Aviakassa ( 233 2509; 8.30am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pmSat & Sun).TrainPerm-II, the city’s major train station, 3km southwest of the centre, is on the Trans-Siberianroute. Many trains travel the route from Moscow, including the firmeny train called the Kama(R4370, 20 hours). When the Kama leaves Perm for Moscow the station loudspeakers blareout the rousing tune ‘Proshchanie Slavyanki’ (Slavic Farewell). Heading east, the next majorstop on the Trans-Siberian route is Yekaterinburg (platskart/kupe R700/1450, six hours),serviced by all the major firmeny trains except the 15/16 (Ural), which goes via Kazan, not
Perm. There were no direct trains to Kazan at the time of research. Note that some trainsdepart from the gorny trakt (mountain track) on the north side of Perm-II, as opposed to theglavny trakt (main track). The station has resting rooms (komnaty otdykha) on the 3rd floor.The station website (www.perm2.net/r_pass.htm, in Russian) has useful information on trainsand how long they usually stop here. The disused and crumbling Perm-I station, 1km northeast of the centre, is currently beingrestored.AirSeveral airlines fly to Moscow (about R5000, two hours, nine daily). Lufthansa flies to/fromFrankfurt four times a week.BoatThe river station pier is at the eastern end of ul Ordzhonikidze, in front of Perm-I station.Boats do short tours of the Kama in the navigation season. Fully fledged seven- to 14-daycruises down the Kama to the Volga and continuing to the major towns between Kazan andAstrakhan cost anything from R11,000 for the cheapest class to R58,000 for the mostexpensive. The Perm Tourist Travel Agency and Krasnov (Click here) handle bookings.BusFrom the bus station (ul Revolyutsii 68) numerous buses go to or via Kungur (Click here);there are three buses a day to Khokhlovka (R84, 1½ hours) and two daily buses to Ufa (R569,11½ hours). Buses to Kazan depart Friday and Saturday (R1300, 12 hours, two weekly). Getting AroundThe train station is situated about 3km from the Hotel Ural in the centre, connected by tram 4.Tram 11 connects ul Maxima Gorkogo with the central market (about 400m from the busstation) via ul Kommunisticheskaya and ul Lenina. Marshrutka 1t links the bus station, thePerm-II train station and the airport. Bus 42 goes between the bus station and the airport.Around PermKHOKHLOVKA ХОХЛОВКА 342The Architecture-Ethnography Museum ( 299 7181; admission R100; 10am-6pm) isset in the rolling countryside near the village of Khokhlovka, about 45km north of Perm. Itsimpressive collection of wooden buildings includes two churches dating from the turn of the 18thcentury. Most of the structures are from the 19th or early 20th centuries, including an oldfirehouse, a salt-production facility and a Khanty izba (traditional wooden cottage). A few busesa day serve Khokhlovka from Perm (R84, one hour), the best ones departing Perm at 9.55amand returning from Khokhlovka at 4.25pm.PERM-36 ПЕРМЬ-36Once an ominous island in the Gulag Archipelago, Perm-36 (www.perm36.ru; admission R50,
tours in Russian R500; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) is now a haunting memorial and museumdedicated to the victims of political repression. The buildings have been preserved in theiroriginal condition, with the interior of some re-created to illustrate the conditions under whichprisoners lived. PERM-36: EVEN WALLS HAVE EARS YAKOV L KLOTS ‘Even walls have ears’, goes the Russian saying. At Perm-36, the former camp for political prisoners, the walls have survived…unlike most of those who were kept behind them. Dissidents, poets, intelligentsia. Ordinary people whose lives had been taken away and silenced. Concrete floors, barred windows, plank beds, aluminium bowls, spoons and mugs, and the barbed wire coiling along the borders of the restricted areas: all outlived the inmates. Nowadays, representing the camp’s daily routine with an existential accuracy, the walls keep the memory of bygone times – of prisoners who were not fated to see their place of detention become a museum, of halls walked by prison guards instead of high-school students. Before the first prisoners were brought to Perm-36, all of the trees around the grounds were destroyed. The purpose was to prevent convicts from determining in which part of our vast country they had landed. Prisoners were not allowed to leave their cells, so they could not hear the gush of the Chusovaya River, which flowed a few hundred metres from the camp’s gate. And the rich local landscape that they might spy through narrow window slits was wiped out. But the guards were powerless to prevent local birds from flying and singing above the camp barracks. So an inmate – a biologist sentenced to 25 years of ‘special regime imprisonment’ – identified the bird species by their songs, and determined he was in the Urals. One can never know for sure what tomorrow is going to be like. Perhaps the darkest side of life in imprisonment is the constant awareness that tomorrow is not going to be different from yesterday. The deathly silence that resounds in the damp, dark cells at Perm-36 reminds us of what this place was like yesterday.Kungur Кунгур 34271 / POP 68,000 / MOSCOW + 2HRBetween the two regional capitals Perm and Yekaterinburg, Kungur is like cream in a biscuit.Despite the city’s rundown appearance, its skyline is graced by a multitude of pretty churchcupolas, including the 18th-century Tikhvinskaya Church in the centre and theTransfiguration Church on the other bank of the Sylva, while the frozen magic of its ice cavedraws a steady stream of visitors. Founded in 1663 on the banks of the meandering river, Kungur was a copper-smelting centreduring the 17th and 18th centuries. This topic is covered in the Regional Local StudiesMuseum (ul Gogolya 36; admission R20; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun). The Kungur Ice Cave (guided tour R500-600; 10am-4pm) is about 5km out of town. Thenetwork of caves stretches for more than 5km, although only about 1.5km are open to explore.The ancient Finno-Ugric inhabitants of the Perm region believed the cave to be the home of afiery underground creature, and the grottos are adorned with unique ice formations, frozenwaterfalls and underground lakes. You can enter only with one of the guided tours that departevery two hours. Tickets are sold at the box office outside; the number of participants on eachtour is limited to 20, so tickets may not be available for the next departure. The cost of theexcursion includes admission to a small museum on the site with displays of rocks and fossils.Take enough warm clothes to withstand subzero temperatures in the initial grottos.
If the cave is your reason for visiting Kungur, you can stay at the popular Stalagmit TouristComplex ( 62 610; www.kungurcave.ru; with breakfast s R800-1500, d R1400-2500; ),close to the cave entrance, which has excellent rooms, all with their own bathrooms (thecheaper ones don’t have fridges and TV). The beautiful countryside surrounding Kungur is greatfor outdoor sports, and bicycles as well as rafts, canoes and cross-country skis can be hiredinexpensively at Stalagmit. In the centre of town, Hotel Iren ( 32 270; ul Lenina 30; without bathroom s R500-1400, dR1000, with bathroom s R1300-2500, d R2100) is good value, though it doesn’t have a lift.Even the rooms without bathrooms are pleasant enough, and the shared toilets and showersare very clean. Prices include breakfast. Across the bridge, the riverside cafe-disco Tri Medvedya (ul Vorovskaya 5; mains R150;24hr) is a good place to eat. Helpful staff can order a taxi for you back to the bus and trainstations. In Kungur the bus and train stations are located alongside each other. To get to Hotel Iren,take bus 9 from the train station into the centre. By foot it’s at least 20 minutes. Located on the Trans-Siberian route, Kungur is served from Perm by frequent intercity(R472, 1½ hours) and suburban trains (R110, 2¼ hours, four daily) and by distance trainsto/from Yekaterinburg (platskart R872, four hours). From Perm, bus is the best option,however, with departures every one to two hours, the most convenient being from Perm at8.25am or 9.25am and returning from Kungur at 6.40pm or 7.55pm (R181, 2½ hours). Bus 9(R11, every one to two hours) plies the route between Hotel Iren, the train and bus stations andthe Stalagmit Tourist Complex.
Top of sectionYekaterinburg to Krasnoyarsk Includes » Yekaterinburg Tyumen Tobolsk Omsk Novosibirsk TomskWhy Go?This leg of the journey isn’t the most visually exciting, with little more to see than endless milesof semi-taiga and farmland. Perhaps the best way to make the journey, then, is on a seriews ofnight trains – you won’t miss much in the way of scenery and you’ll save on hotels. If you dotake day trains, there is admittedly a certain pleasure to be gained from the unchangingcountryside and the opportunity it provides to reflect on Russia, life, or whatever takes yourfancy. After the historically important city of Yekaterinburg, your journey takes you into Siberiaand eventually on to its capital, Novosibirsk. But the main attractions on this leg both requiredetours off the Trans-Siberian route. From oil-rich Tyumen, consider a trip to picturesqueTobolsk. Further on, branch lines will take you to the friendly student town of Tomsk.When to Go
May & Jun Grand WWII Victory Day celebrations in Novosibirsk.Jul–Sep Travel across Siberia in glorious sunshine!Dec & Jan Tramp through Tomsk’s winter wonderland and greet the New Year, Russian style.Route Info» »Distance: 2287km» »Duration: 35 hours» »Time zones: Moscow +2, Moscow +3Best Places to Stay & Eat» »Hotel Sibir (Click here)» »Avenue hotel (Click here)» »Toyan hotel (Click here)» »Yermolaev bar-restaurant (Click here)» »Perchini pasta restaurant (Click here)» »Slavyansky Bazar restaurant (Click here) Yekaterinburg to Krasnoyarsk Highlights Pondering Russia’s often violent history at the Romanovs’ execution site in Yekaterinburg (Click here) Visiting the picturesque Trinity Monastery in Tyumen (Click here) Exploring the dishevelled old town of Tobolsk (Click here) Taking a stroll through the student city of Tomsk (Click here) with its charming wooden homes Discovering the historic centre of Omsk (Click here) Clubbing in Novosibirsk (Click here), Siberia’s capital
The RouteYekaterinburg to Omsk1814km from moscow Major trains halt at Yekaterinburg (Click here) for 15 to 30 minutes.The cultural and economic capital of the Urals, the city is famous as the birthplace of BorisYeltsin and as the place where Tsar Nicholas II and his family met their deaths at the hands ofthe Bolsheviks. Wander across the street for a look at the old train station, which now houses arailway museum.
YEKATERINBURG TO KRASNOYARSK ROUTE PLANNER The following is a suggested itinerary for covering the main Trans-Sib stops in this chapter: Day 1: Leave Yekaterinburg early morning; arrive in Tyumen around 9am Day 2: Leave Tyumen for Tobolsk; arrive in Tobolsk around noon; night train to Omsk (14 hours) Day 3: Briefly explore Omsk; night train to Tomsk (14 to 19 hours) Day 4: Explore Tomsk Day 5: Second day in Tomsk Day 6: Take morning train to Novos ibirsk; arrive early afternoon Day 7: Take evening train from Novos ibirsk to Krasnoyarsk (12 to 14 hours)2102km This is where Siberia officially begins. Look out for the kilometre marker and celebratethe event in some way. After all, you are now in the famed land of snowstorms, Gulag campsand enthusiastic hospitality. Even for Russians, the word ‘Sibir’ – or ‘Siberia’ – is an evocativeone, conjuring up images of hardy Sibiryaki (Siberians), endless steppe and perpetual taiga. It’salso where the influence of European Russia begins to visibly wane – in more ways than one.‘We Siberians have real trouble communicating with Muscovites and the like,’ a fellow travelleradmitted to LP as our train rolled through yet more taiga. ‘Our mentalities are so different. Theyalways seem to be rushing somewhere after something or other. We, on the other hand, prefera much more relaxed kind of lifestyle.’ And with that, he took a long swig on his beer andsettled down for a nap.2138km Trains stop for 15 minutes in Tyumen (Click here), the region’s oldest Russiansettlement, and now a dynamic oil-rich city. There’s not much to see directly outside the trainstation, so you’d be better off stocking up on supplies if necessary from the station shop. FromTyumen our route follows the Irtysh River and detours 221km northeast off the official Trans-Siberian line to the old Siberian capital of Tobolsk (Click here). Near the 212km marker, east-facing windows have pleasant if distant views of Tobolsk’s kremlin. The town has a fine andpicturesque market right on the platform, with stalls selling mainly varieties of dried and smokedfish, as well as beer and ubiquitous cheap Chinese noodles. It’s a long way into town, so avoidarriving late at night if you can. If you do get stuck, make use of the station’s comfortable andclean resting rooms.2428km Back on the main Trans-Siberian route east, the next major stop is for 12 to 15minutes at tiny Ishim, which was famous for its 19th-century Nikolskaya trade fairs (revivedsince 1991). The birthplace of the Russian fairytale writer Pyotr Yershov (1815–69), whosemost famous work, The Humpbacked-Horse, was banned for many years by the tsar’scensors, the town retains a striking, whitewashed 1793 cathedral. The Trans-Siberian reachedthis town of 65,000 in 1913 as the railway was extended from Tyumen to Omsk. At 2497km,local time becomes Moscow time plus three hours. Swampy land provides opportunities forbirdwatchers, in warmer seasons at least.2562km Depending on what train you are on, there’s a five- to 15-minute halt at agricultural-processing town Nazyvaevskaya. The name of the town is derived from the Russian for ‘toname’ and while tough to directly translate, it sounds most unimaginative to Russian ears. Ifyou’re coming straight from Moscow you’ll now be into day three of your journey. It’s at this
point that many travellers on Trans-Siberian trips lasting a week or more report thatdisorientation sets in. If you feel like something other than this guidebook to read, papers andmagazines (in Russian) are continually offered by salespeople on the trains. There’s usually afair selection of sudoku puzzle books as well, if that’s your thing. Most of the salespeople aredeaf, but we’ve never been able to figure out why this is so.2716km After the impressive six-span Irtysh River bridge, trains pause for 25 minutes in Omsk(Click here), where Fyodor Dostoevsky was exiled in 1849. If you are quick, you should havetime to nip out and have a look at the fine Lenin statue right outside the station. If you are reallyfast and urgently need to send an email, you could pop into the internet cafe on the ground levelof the station. It’s to the left of the entrance.Omsk to KrasnoyarskIf you notice an increase in passing trains after Omsk, blame it on coal from the Kuzbas Basineast of Novosibirsk going to the smelting works of the Urals. In freight terms this is the world’sbusiest section of railway.3035km Barabinsk was once a place of exile for Polish Jews. The surrounding BarabinskSteppe is a boggy expanse of grassland and lakes that was formerly the homeland of theKirghiz people. Many train engines and carriages that service the Trans-Siberian put in here forrepairs at some point or other. The shop on the platform has been full of drunken local teensdancing to disco music around plastic tables on LP’s last two visits. If you’re in the mood to joinin, you’ll have time to down a beer and strut your stuff to at least a couple of tracks in the 17-minute stop here.3330km Get ready for the seven-span, 870m-long bridge across the Ob, one of the world’slongest rivers. It’s also extremely busy, with all manner of barges and cargo ships going abouttheir business.3343km There is a 20-minute stop at Novosibirsk (Click here), which is just about enoughtime to inspect the grand station interior, a real temple of the Trans-Siberian. Also try to have aquick look at the two WWII memorial statues on platform 1 depicting a family waving offsoldiers to the front. The Nazis never got this far, but lots of Siberians left for the war from thisstation.3565km The 25-minute halt at the intriguingly named but entirely unspectacular town of Taigaprovides plenty of time to wish you were heading 79km north up the branch line to Tomsk(Click here). This is not a Womble (as Brits of a certain age may expect, from the kids’ TVprogram) but a charming old Siberian city that lost much of its regional importance when it wasbypassed by the Trans-Siberian Railway. Myth says that the city fathers, fearing the dirt andpollution it would bring, declined the offer to have the town connected to the railway. However,the truth is rather more prosaic – swampland made the construction of a bridge over the riverOb problematic, and a decision was taken not to lay lines to the city. Its beautiful woodenbuildings and lively cafe scene are well worth the short detour.3713km Spot another engine-repair yard to the south as you approach the station at Mariinsk,a 20-minute stop along the banks of the Kiya River. Originally named Kiysk, the town grewwealthy as the focus of a Siberian gold rush. It was renamed in 1857 to honour Tsar AlexanderII’s wife, Maria. Fifty years later, the town finally got round to unveiling a statue in her honour.Many of the furniture and metal factories that operated here in Soviet times are closed now,leaving few employment opportunities. Do your bit to help the local economy by buying a beeror kvas and some dried fish from the women who meet the trains here to offer all manner of
goods. We were tempted by a large fluffy toy, but common sense eventually prevailed.3820km The line enters vast Krasnoyarsky Territory, with enormous mineral and forestwealth. It covers 2.5 million sq km, stretching all the way to the Arctic coast. A journey throughthis stretch of the Trans-Siberian is particularly memorable around sunset, with sunlightflickering hypnotically through the branches of endless rows of trees. Time, perhaps, to get outthat dried fish and reflect once more on Russia and her colossal territory.3846km The train makes a very brief stop at Bogotol, another example of a town beingformed around the Trans-Siberian. A train station was opened here in 1893, but it was another18 years before the subsequent settlement was awarded town status. Bogotol is today hometo a locomotive-production factory, hence the tiny model train perched on top of the welcome-to-town sign.3914km Next up is Achinsk. This small town, built around an alumina refinery, has its origins inthe founding of a fortress in the area in 1683. In the 19th century, soap made in Achinsk wasfamous all over Russia. The train stops here for a few minutes before twisting throughwoodlands and over hills with yet more cinematic landscapes to enjoy.3932km A small, easily missed white obelisk south of the train line marks the halfway pointbetween Moscow and Běijīng (via Ulaanbaatar).4098km Major services stop for 20 minutes at Krasnoyarsk (Click here). That’s just longenough to nip out and see a fine communist-era mural in red mosaics decorating a wall on thestation square outside before heading on. SIBERIA – THE GRAPHIC NOVEL Graphic novels have never taken off in Russia, with even the genre’s best works largely dismissed as being fit purely for children. This lack of a comic-book tradition makes Nikolai Maslov’s Siberia, released by the US-based Soft Skull Press, all the more astonishing. Drawn entirely in pencil on paper, Maslov’s tale of a Soviet youth (the book’s original title) spent in Siberia is bleak, bitter and beautiful. Portraying with almost unbearable honesty the faces of the drunks and bullies he grew up with, Maslov had reportedly never actually read a graphic novel before he approached the French publisher of Asterix in Russia with the first pages of the book and asked him to finance the rest. The publisher agreed, allowing Maslov to quit his job as a night watchman and devote himself to his work. Maslov tells the story of his often brutal life with a complete lack of sentimentality, using matter-of-fact, almost crude frames to portray characters and everyday scenes in Western Siberian villages and towns. One of the few works of art to portray everyday life in Soviet Siberia, as opposed to Solzhenitsyn-type Gulag camp tales, Maslov’s book has yet to find a publisher in his native Russia.Yekaterinburg Екатеринбург 343 / POP 1.35 MILLION / MOSCOW +2HRGem rush, miners’ mythology, the execution of the Romanovs, the rise of Yeltsin and gangsterfeuds of the 1990s – Yekaterinburg is like a piece of conceptual art in which the subtext isperhaps more startling than surface appearances. Bland on the outside, the political capital of the Ural Mountains is overflowing with history andculture, while its economic growth is manifested in a thriving restaurant scene and, as in manyother regional capitals, in atrociously trafficked avenues.
With one of the best international airports in Russia and a couple of agencies experienced indealing with foreign travellers, Yekaterinburg is a good base camp for exploring the UralMountains.HistoryYekaterinburg was founded as a factory-fort in 1723 as part of Peter the Great’s push toexploit the Ural region’s mineral riches. The city was named after two Catherines: Peter’s wife(later Empress Catherine I), and the Russian patron saint of mining. The city is notorious, however, for being the place where the Bolsheviks murdered TsarNicholas II and his family in July 1918. Six years later, the town was renamed Sverdlovsk, afterYakov Sverdlov, a leading Bolshevik who was Vladimir Lenin’s right-hand man until his death inthe flu epidemic of 1919. The region still bears Sverdlovsk’s name. WWII turned Sverdlovsk into a major industrial centre, as hundreds of factories weretransferred here from vulnerable areas west of the Ural Mountains. The city was closed toforeigners until 1990 because of its many defence plants. During the late 1970s a civil engineering graduate of the local university, Boris Yeltsin, beganto make his political mark, rising to become regional Communist Party boss before beingpromoted to Moscow in 1985. Several years later he was standing on a tank in Moscow as theleading figure in defending the country against a putsch by old-guard communists. He becamethe Russian Federation’s first president in June 1991. That year Yekaterinburg took back its original name. After suffering economic depressionand Mafia lawlessness in the early 1990s, the city has boomed in recent years and weatheredthe various crises well. Sights Romanov Death Site CHURCH, MEMORIAL (Место убийства Романовых; ul Karla Libknekhta & ul Tolmachyova 34; dawn-dusk) On the night of 16 July 1918, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and children were murdered in thebasement of a local engineer’s house, known as Dom Ipatyeva (named for its owner, NikolayIpatyev). During the Soviet period, the building housed a local museum of atheism, but it wasdemolished in 1977 by then governor Boris Yeltsin, who feared it would attract monarchistsympathisers.
Top SightsIstorichesky Skver C5Literary Quarter D3Museum of Architecture & Industrial Technology C5Romanov Death Site D3 Sights1 Ascension Church E32 Chapel of the Revered Martyr Grand Princess Yelizaveta Fyodorovna D33 Church upon the Blood D34 Literary-Memorial House-Museum Reshetnikov D45 Metenkov House-Museum of Photography D46 Military History Museum F37 Monument to the Founders of Yekaterinburg C58 Museum of Fine Arts C69 Nevyansk Icon Museum D410 Rastorguev-Kharitonov Mansion D311 Ural Geology Museum B8 Urals Mineralogical Museum (see 15)12 Viewing Platform E513 Water Tower C5 Activities, Courses & Tours14 Ekaterinburg Guide Centre F4 Sleeping15 Bolshoy Ural Hotel E516 Hotel Iset F417 Hotel Tsentralny D618 Meeting Point G519 Novotel Yekaterinburg Centre D620 Park Inn E5 Transhotel Yekaterinburg (see 19) Eating21 Dacha A522 Demidov A423 La Rond E824 Paul Bakery B625 Pozharka B626 Serbian Courtyard E4 Shoko Kofeyniya (see 17)27 Stolle C328 Zhili Byli B5 Drinking Alibi (see 17)29 Ben Hall D830 Dr Scotch C631 New Bar B632 Rosy Jane D5
Entertainment 33 Opera & Ballet Theatre E5 34 Philharmonic D3 Shopping 35 Dom Knigi B4 36 Grinvich B7 Transport 37 Railway & Air Kassa C6 38 Transaero Tours Centre F4 Today the massive Byzantine-style Church upon the Blood (Храм на Крови) dominatesthis site and is easily the most celebrated of memorials to the Romanovs. Nearby, the prettywooden Chapel of the Revered Martyr Grand Princess Yelizaveta Fyodorovna ( 9am-5.30pm) honours the imperial family’s great-aunt and faithful friend. After her relatives’ murders,this pious nun met an even worse end when she was thrown down a mineshaft, poisoned withgas and buried. Opposite the site are the historic Rastorguev-Kharitonov mansion (Усадьба Расторгуев-Харитонова) and the restored Ascension Church (Вознесенская церковь; ul Klary Tsetkin11).Istorichesky skver PARKThe prettiest and most lively part of Yekaterinburg in summer is the landscaped parklandalongside the City Pond (Gorodskoy prud), where pr Lenina crosses a small dam. This waswhere Yekaterinburg began back in 1723. The Monument to the Founders of Yekaterinburg(Памятник основателям Екатеринбурга) standing nearby depicts founders Vasily Tatishchevand George Wilhelm de Gennin.Literary Quarter NEIGHBOURHOODSituated north of skver Popova, the Literary Quarter features restored wooden houses. Someof them now house museums about celebrated Ural Mountains writers such as Dmitry Mamina-Sibiryak and Pavel Bazhov; a full list of museums is on the website www.ompu.ur.ru. TheLiterary-Memorial House-Museum Reshetnikov (Литературно-мемориальный дом-музейРешетникова; ul Proletarskaya 6; admission R70; 11am-5pm Mon-Sat) is interesting for itsmuseum section about the postal system – the method of transport across Russia before theadvent of the railway.Museum of Architecture & Industrial Technology INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM(Музей истории архитектуры города и промышленной техники Урала; ul Gorkogo 4a)Istorichesky skver (Historical Sq) is also the location of the city’s major museums. Peek into theold water tower (Водонапорная башня), one of the city’s oldest structures, then head over tothe old mining-equipment factory and mint buildings. These contain the Museum of Architecture
& Industrial Technology, which displays the machinery used in the mining industry from the 18thand 19th centuries and through WWII.Urals Mineralogical Museum MUSEUM(Уральский минералогический музей; ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 1a; admission R50; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 5pm Sat & Sun) A private collection offering a stunning introduction to theregion’s semiprecious stones, located in the Bolshoy Ural Hotel.Museum of Fine Arts ART GALLERY(Музей изобразительных искусств; ul Voevodina 5; admission R150; 11am-7pm Tue-Sun)The star exhibit of the Museum of Fine Arts is the elaborate Kasli Iron Pavilion that won prizesin the 1900 Paris Expo.Ural Geology Museum MUSEUM(Уральский геологический музей; ul Kuybysheva 39; admission R50; 11am-5pm Mon-Fri)Over 500 minerals from the Ural Mountains region and a collection of meteorites. Enter from ulKhokhryakova inside Urals State Mining University.Military History Museum MUSEUM(Военно-исторический музей; ul Pervomayskaya 27; Russian/foreigner R50/100; 9am-4pmTue-Sat) Well worthwhile for buffs and anyone with a general interest. Has a small piece ofGary Powers’ spy plane, shot down in 1960.Metenkov House-Museum of Photography MUSEUM(Музей Фотографии; ul Karla Libknekhta 36; admission R100; 10am-6pm) Featuresevocative photos of old Yekaterinburg. Nevyansk Icon Museum MUSEUM (Музей Невянская икона; ul Tolmachyova 21; 11am-7pm) Excellent icons from the17th to the 20th century, from the local Nevyansk school.Railway Museum RAILWAY MUSEUM(Железнодорожный музей; ul Chelyuskintsev; admission R75; noon-5pm Tue-Sat) Housedin the old train station, dating from 1881. Exhibits highlight the history of the railroad in theUrals, including a recreation of the office of the Soviet-era railway director. ToursEkaterinburg Guide Centre TOURS(Екатеринбургский центр гидов; 359 3708; www.ekaterinburgguide.com; pr Lenina 52/1,office 12) Organises English-language tours of the city and trips into the countryside, includingthe difficult-to-reach village of Verkhoturie (where Grigory Rasputin started his spiritualjourney), as well as hiking and rafting expeditions. Day trips cost anything between R1300 and
R7300, depending on numbers. It also books budget dorms from R1150 in a central minihotel.Ural Expeditions & Tours TOURS( 356 5282; http://welcome-ural.ru; ul Posadskaya 23; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri) This group ofgeologists from the Sverdlovsk Mining Institute leads trekking, rafting and horse-riding trips toall parts of the Ural Mountains, including Taganay and Zyuratkul National Parks. English-speaking guides. Sleeping Hotel Tsentralny €€ HOTEL (Отель Центральный; 350 0505; www.hotelcentr.ru; ul Malysheva 74; s R3150-3780, d R4050-5900; ) This historical hotel is housed in a grand art nouveau building in theheart of town, with excellent business-class and standard rooms. Eating and nightlife are neverfar away from here. Trolleybuses 1 and 9 are among the many going there from the trainstation.Marins Park Hotel €€ HOTEL(Маринс Парк Отель; 214 3000; www.sv-hotel.ru; ul Chelyuskintsev 106; s R1600-2900, dR2300-3900, ste R4400-5100; ) Formerly known as the Sverdlovsk, a Soviet disaster zonewhen it came to hotels, this place has been renovated and is gradually reinventing itself as amodern congress hotel; it retains its chief advantage of being right across the road from thetrain station.Hotel Iset €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Исеть; 350 0110; www.hoteliset.ru; pr Lenina 69/1; s R3400, d R3800-4800,ste R4500; ) If it looks funky from the street, it’s because it’s shaped like a hammer andsickle when seen from the sky. Inside, curving corridors lead to nicely furnished rooms, thoughthey aren’t large. Take any tram going south down ul Lunacharskogo from the station.Hotel Guru €€ HOTEL( 228 5070; www.guruhotel.ru; ul Repina 22; s/d R2800/3500; ) This is an intriguingoption located inside the new building of a dance school of the same name. But before youcheck in at a weekend, find out if the disco downstairs is operating (which can be annoying).Trolleybuses 3 and 17 from the train station stop nearby at Institut Svyazi.Hotel Park Vista €€ HOTEL( 216 4244; http://parkvista.ru; ul Vostochnaya 45; s/d R2000/3000; ) Rooms are largeand the only downsides of this excellent-value minihotel owned by a local metals-cuttingcompany are the minimal service and that breakfast is a couple of wearily fried eggs and a cupof tea in the 24-hour Azeri eatery downstairs. Bring your own coffee. Take tram 21 from thetrain station to TsPKiO (ЦПКиО).Novotel Yekaterinburg Centre €€€ HOTEL
( 253 5383; http://novotel-ekaterinburg.ru; ul Engelsa 7; s R7000-8000, d R8000-9000; ) This excellent new chain hotel in the centre is 20% cheaper weekdays and offers gooddeals online through www.hotel.com. The easiest way from the station is marshrutka 56 to ulRozy Lyuksemburg.Resting rooms € HOSTEL(комнаты отдыха, komnaty otdykha; 358 5783; train station 4th fl; per bed 6hr 2-/4-bedroom R600/350) Onward tickets are not essential if demand is low for beds in the restingrooms at the train station. Prices for 12 hours are R1000/600.Park Inn €€€ HOTEL( 216 6000; www.parkinn.com/hotel-ekaterin burg; ul Mamina-Sibiryaka 98; r R6800-7650; ) Offers rooms with cheering colour schemes and all amenities you would expect for theprice. Trolleybuses 18 and 19 from the station stop at Dom Kino close by.Bolshoy Ural Hotel €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Большой Урал; 350 0143; www.b-ural.ru; ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 1; r withoutbathroom from R1050, r with bathroom R2300-3500, ste R3800-4200) Occupies an entire cityblock. The somewhat dour atmosphere is buffered by the prime location. Trolleybus 18 fromthe station to Dom Kino takes you close.Transhotel Yekaterinburg €€€ HOTEL( 355 1211; www.transhotel.su; ul Gogolya 15; s R3500-4100, d R4100-5900, ste R6200-6900; ) A small and friendly modern hotel behind Novotel.Minigostonitsa Vesta €€ APARTMENT( 219 5488; www.hhotel.ru; apt from R2500) Very centrally located apartments in newbuildings for short stays of a couple of days or more.Meeting Point € HOSTEL( 8-953-604 1941; www.meetingpoint.hostel.com; ul Malysheva 87, apt 73; 8-bed dm €16; ) Small hostel in the centre of town with registration that’s free for guests staying three daysor more. Trolleybus 18 from the train station runs to the Transagenstvo stop nearby. See Ekaterinburg Guide Centre (Екатеринбургский центр гидов; 359 3708;www.ekaterinburgguide.com; ul Lenina 52/1, office 12) for another cheap hostel. EatingUlitsa 8 Marta between pr Lenina and ul Malysheva has several popular chain and Western-style places such as Thank God It’s Friday and Traveller’s Coffee, and ul Vaynera has amoderate choice of eateries. Dacha €€€ INTERNATIONAL, RUSSIAN (Дача; 379 3569; pr Lenina 20a; mains R500-800, business lunch R300; noon-
midnight) Each room in this quality restaurant is decorated like a Russian country house, fromthe casual garden to the more formal dining room. It’s a great place to enjoy unbeatable cuisineand hospitality. Zhili Byli € RUSSIAN (ul Vaynera 8; mains R250-350; 11am-11pm; ) Decorated in the traditionalvillage style of this chain, Zhili Byli serves Russian dishes to the wheeze of saxophones andtinkling lounge music, all totally out of keeping with the fake oak tree, coloured glass windowsand peasant costumes that hang around.La Rond €€€ FRENCH, RUSSIAN( 359 6222; http://atriumhotel.ru; ul Kuybysheva 44; mains R1000-1600; lunch & dinner)Located inside the Atrium Palace Hotel, this is an upmarket gourmet act especially popularamong its business guests.Shoko Kofeyniya €€ CAFE(www.restoraciya.ru; ul Malysheva 74; mains R400; 8am-2am Mon-Fri, from 6am Sat,6am-midnight Sun) This upmarket cafe is the pick of the crop among the cluster of bars andeateries located in and alongside the Hotel Tsentralny building. The hours are useful for chillingout late at night.Paul Bakery € BAKERY(ul Malysheva 36; light meals R250-350; 8am-1pm Mon-Fri) This cafe, entered from ulVaynera, is great for a quick snack and coffee, ordered from the counter.Demidov €€€ RUSSIAN( 371 7344; ul Fevralsskoy Revolutsii 9; mains R350-700; 11am-2am) ‘Museum’restaurant located in the house where the White Russian leader Kolchak stayed in 1919. Withan outdoor grill.Pozharka €€ PUB(ul Malysheva 44; mains R350-500; noon-midnight Sun-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat) About 40different beers and food (that gets expensive if you don’t choose carefully) as anaccompaniment.Serbian Courtyard €€ SERBIAN(Сербский дворик; 350 3457; http://serbskiy-dvorik.blizko.ru; pr Lenina 53; meals R700;noon-midnight) Best Balkan in town. Drinking Rosy Jane PUB (pr Lenina 34; mains R600-900; 6am-4am) This English-style pub aims at the New
Russian drinking and eating crowd, who grace the bar (with or without cigars) and perch atpolished wood tables gourmandising on steak and other very well prepared Russian andinternational dishes.Dr Scotch PUB(ul Malysheva 56a; noon-2am) Less expensive and more popular than Rosy Jane.Ben Hall PUB( 251 6368; ul Narodnoy Voli 65; mains R350-600; noon-2am Sun-Thu, to 4am Fri & Sat; ) This popular pub hosts local rock bands at weekends, its owner being a well-knownmusician. Trams 15 and 27 from Operny Teatr or along pr Lenina to Tsirk (Цирк) drop youclose by.New Bar BAR(ul 8 Marta 8; 10am-2am Mon-Thu & Sun, to 6am Fri & Sat) Art-scene cafe and cocktail baron the top floor of Mytny Dvor mall. EntertainmentPhilharmonic CLASSICAL MUSIC(Филармония; 371 4682; www.filarmonia.e-burg.ru; ul Karla Libknekhta 38)Yekaterinburg’s top venue for the classical performing arts often hosts visiting directors andsoloists, as well as regular performances of the acclaimed Ural Mountains academic orchestra.Opera & Ballet Theatre OPERA, BALLET(Театр оперы и балета; 350 8057; www.uralopera.ru; pr Lenina 45a; tickets from R100)The level of professionalism is not quite on a par with the Philharmonic, but the ornate baroquetheatre is still a lovely place to see the Russian classics. ShoppingGrinvich SHOPPING MALL(ul 8 Marta 46; 10am-10pm) This enormous shopping complex near the ul Vaynerapedestrian zone is an oasis away from the traffic.Dom Knigi BOOKSTORE(Дом книги; ul Antona Valeka 12; 10am-8pm) InformationMain post office (Почтамт; pr Lenina 39; 8am-10pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun) Withinternet.Traveller’s Coffee (ul 8 Marta 8; 8am-midnight) Free internet on borrowed laptops.
LUBA SUSLYAKOVA’S PLACES The Yekaterinburg journalist and blogger Luba Suslyakova works on the English-language newspaper Your Yekaterinburg and blogs on Ask Urals (http://askural.com). The Romanov Memorial It’s popular with locals, who go there for wedding photos. Russian tourists also like it. Some strong Orthodox believers say they prefer to go to the older churches. Foreigners like it because of the small museum on the ground level, which gives you a picture of what happened there. For Russian Pies Stolle (Штолле, Shtolle; ul Maxima Gorkogo 7a; pirozhki from R200; 10am-midnight) – we have three in Yekaterinburg. The atmosphere is good and they usually play jazz music. Boris Yeltsin Statue and Memorial Centre The sculptor Georgy Frangulyan is known for his unusual views. He says he saw Yeltsin as a huge piece of stone moving forward, leaving debris behind him. The ‘presidential centre’ behind it will have a library and a small museum about Yeltsin. Drinking Spots Dr Scotch (Click here). There’s also a new place called Alibi (www.alibibar.ru; ul Malysheva 74; noon-3am Sun-Thu, to 5am Fri & Sat). Bird’s-Eye View I’d definitely go to the viewing platform in the Antey Shopping Centre (Смотравая площадка; ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 10; R50; noon-11.30pm; enter through door on far right). Somewhere Peaceful Lake Shartash (Озеро Шарташ), a piece of nature right within the city. It’s easy to get there by tram. It’s peaceful, you can picnic there, walk around the lake, rent a bicycle. (To get to Lake Shartash, take tram 8, 13, 15, 23, 32 or A from pr Lenina to stop Kamennie palatki. Follow the sign to Shartashsky Lesopark (Шарташский Лесопарк) and climb the stone steps.) Getting There & AwayTrainYekaterinburg – sometimes still ‘Sverdlovsk’ on timetables – is a major rail junction withconnections to all stops on the Trans-Siberian route. The station has resting rooms (Click here),and the closest toilets to the platforms (24 hours) are on the right as you exit the tunnel. All trains to Moscow stop at either Perm (platskart/kupe R700/1450, six hours) or Kazan(platskart/kupe R2670/1730, 15 hours). Frequent trains to/from Moscow include the firmeny(premium) Ural (R4520, 27 hours, daily) via Kazan, but many non-firmeny trains will becheaper. Heading east, the next major stops are Tyumen (platskart / kupe R568/1280, 4¾hours), Omsk (R2580, 14 hours) and Novosibirsk (R4087, 22 hours). If you want to travel directto Tobolsk (platskart / kupe R750/1750) without stopping in Tyumen, the Novy Urengoy serviceand others do this. You can buy tickets at outlets throughout the city, including the convenient Railway and AirKassa ( 371 0400; ul Malysheva 31D; 7am-8.30pm).AirThe main airport is Koltsovo ( 224 2367; www.koltsovo.ru), 15km southeast of the citycentre. Frequent inland services include Moscow, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk,
Khabarovsk, Ufa, St Petersburg, Samara and a host of Black Sea hubs. International servicesinclude Frankfurt am Main (Germany), Běijīng (China), Prague (Czech Republic) and Almatyand Astana (Kazakhstan). Transaero Tours Centre ( 365 9165; pr Lenina 50), locatedinside the City Centre shopping mall, handles bookings for all airlines.BusThe main bus station (ul 8 Marta 145) is 3km south of the city centre, but most buses passthe northern bus station (Severny avtovokzal), conveniently located by the train station. There’sa bus station at the Koltsovo airport serving destinations in Sverdlovsk region and Chelyabinsk(R400, 3½ hours, five daily). Getting AroundThe train station is located 2km from the centre at the top of ul Sverdlova/Karla Libknekhta.Many trolleybuses and marshrutky (pay on board) connect the train station with pr Lenina,where trams 13, 15 and 18 cover long stretches of this main east–west axis. Marshrutka 24runs along ul 8 Marta to the train station and marshrutka 57 connects Grinvich shopping centrevia ul 8 Marta with the train station. Bus 1 links the Sverdlovsk-Passazhirskaya train station and Koltsovo airport (one hour) from6.30am to 11.30pm. Marshrutka 26 goes from the airport to metro pl 1905 goda. Marshrutka39 goes to metro Geologicheskaya. A single metro line runs between the northeastern suburbs and the city centre, with stops atthe train station (Uralskaya), pl 1905 goda and ul Kuybysheva near the synagogue(Geologicheskaya). STRADDLING THE CONTINENTS The Ural Mountains have numerous monuments marking the border between Europe and Asia. Interestingly, the border was thought to be the Don River by the Ancient Greeks, but Yekaterinburg’s founder Vasily Tatishchev drew it at the Ural Mountains in the mid-18th century, based on ideas of the day. One of the more historic monuments is located 40km west of Yekaterinburg near Pervouralsk. It was erected in 1837 to commemorate a visit by Tsar Alexander II, who drank wine there and inadvertently began a favourite pastime of locals – drinking a glass in Europe and another glass in Asia (as if you needed an excuse!). To reach the monument, take a taxi (about R1000 if you order in advance) to Pervouralsk or one of the very frequent buses 150 or 180 from the Severny bus station (R60). They also stop at the Institut Svyazi at ul Repina 15. In an attempt to make this geographic landmark more accessible to intercontinental travellers, the city has erected a new border marker, more conveniently located just 17km out of Yekaterinburg and looking a little like a mini Eiffel Tower. This one is more kitsch, but a taxi will take you out there for about R500. Ekaterinburg Guide Centre can organise a trip for R1050 to R2950 per person, depending on the number of people.Around YekaterinburgGANINA YAMA ГАНИНА ЯМАAfter the Romanov family was shot in the cellar of Dom Ipatyeva, their bodies were discarded
in the depths of the forests of Ganina Yama, 16km northeast of Yekaterinburg. In their honour,the Orthodox Church has built the exquisite Monastery of the Holy Martyrs ( 343-217 9146;www.g-ya.ru) at this pilgrimage site. In 2010 one of the seven chapels burned down but isearmarked for reconstruction. According to the Orthodox Church, this is the final resting placeof the Romanov family and is therefore sacred ground. The nearest train station to Ganina Yama is Shuvakish, served by elektrichka (suburbantrain) from the central station. The monastery owns a bus that runs six times a day between thecentral station, Shuvakish station and Ganina Yama. Ekaterinburg Guide Centre offers three-hour tours for R1300 to R3500, depending on the number of people.NEVYANSK & AROUND НЕВЬЯНСКThe small town of Nevyansk is in the heart of the former patrimony of the Demidovs, a family ofindustrialists who effectively controlled much of the Ural Mountains and who received Peter I’sblessing to develop the region. At their most decadent stage, they bought the Italian feudal titleof Count San-Donato. The main highlight here is the Nevyansk Leaning Tower, an impressivestructure flanked by an equally impressive Saviour-Transfiguration Cathedral, which wouldhave graced any large city. The Nevyansk History and Architecture Museum (http://museum-nev.ru; pl Revolyutsii 2;museum R60, Nevyansk tower excursion per group of 1-5 people R1200; 9am-5pm Tue-Sun) is where you buy tickets for worthwhile excursions into the tower. This is the only way toaccess it and get great views over the landscape. Seven kilometres from Nevyansk is the lovely Old Believers’ village of Byngi, where anentrepreneurial German and his Russian wife have converted an izba (traditional woodencottage) into a guesthouse (www.semken.eu) in the building itself and erected three yurts inthe yard. Excursions, including rides on vintage Ural motorcycles, are available. EkaterinburgGuide Centre runs seven-hour tours to Nevyansk and the nearby old potters’ village of Tavolgi.Ask to stop on the way at the village of Kunary, where a local blacksmith has turned his izbainto a masterpiece of naive art. Elektrichki (R104, 2½ hours, 12 daily) – some of them express trains (R154, 1¾ hours) – runto Nevyansk, most bound for Nizhny Tagil.Tyumen Тюмень 3452 / POP 507,000 / MOSCOW +2HRFounded in 1586, Tyumen was the first Russian settlement in Siberia. These days the city is thecapital of a vast, oil-rich oblast (region) stretching all the way to the Arctic Circle. Tyumen has abusinesslike drive and youthful bustle, best experienced by strolling through the City Park whenthe weather is good. There’s more than enough here to keep you (mildly) entertained for a dayor so, but if you have limited time you’d be much better off seeing Tobolsk instead. From the fine Trinity Monastery to well beyond the bus station, the main thoroughfare is ulRespubliki. The train station lies around 1km south of ul Respubliki at the end of ulPervomayskaya. City maps and bus-route plans are sold at Knizhny Magazin (Книжный магазин; PoliklinikaBldg, Privokzalnaya ul 28a; 8.30am-6pm Mon-Sat, 9am-4pm Sun) near the train stationand more expensively at Knizhnaya Stolitsa (Книжная Столица; ul Respubliki 58; 10am-
7pm). They can also be found at newspaper kiosks throughout the city. SightsTrinity Monastery MONASTERY(Троицкий монастырь; ul Kommunisticheskaya 10) Riverside Trinity Monastery is undoubtedlyTyumen’s most appealing architectural complex. Its kremlin-style crenellated outer wall ispierced by a single gate tower. Behind, black and gold domes top the striking 1727 Peter &Paul Church, whose soaring interior is emphasised by a giant, seven-level candelabra anddecorated with murals.
Tyumen Top Sights City Park C4 Fine Arts Museum D4 Trinity Monastery A1 Znamensky Cathedral B3 Sights 1 Archangel Mikhail Church B3 2 Civil War Monument B3 3 Former House of Soviets D4 4 House-Museum of 19th- & 20th-Century History B3 5 Krestovozdvizhenskaya Church A2 6 Lenin Statue C4 7 Lovers Bridge A2 8 Old Wooden Houses A1 9 Parliament C4 10 Saviours Church B3 11 WWII Monument A2 Sleeping 12 Hotel Tyumen D4 13 Prezident Hotel C3 Eating 14 Central Market D5 15 Cherry Orchard C4 16 Malina Bar C4 17 Yerevan B3 18 Yermolaev B3 Information 19 Knizhnaya Stolitsa D4 20 Knizhny Magazin B5 Transport Buses to Centre (see 5) 21 Buses to Centre from Train Station B5 22 UtAir Aerokassa B5 To get to the monastery, walk west out of the city to the end of ul Respubliki or take buses14 or 30 from the city centre. Both also stop at the nearby 1791 KrestovozdvizhenskayaChurch (Крестовоздвиженская церковь; ul Lunacharskogo 1). This attractive church is evenmore photogenic seen across the ferric-brown river from tree-lined Bergovaya ul with itssprinkling of curiously twisted old wooden houses (старые деревянные дома), notablynumbers 73 and 53. If the weather is good, it’s a pleasant 40-minute walk back into the centre
of town from the monastery.City Park PARKTake a stroll in the pedestrianised City Park (Svetnoi Bulvar) with all the students, new mumsand roller skaters. If you get peckish, grab a snack from one of the many fast-food stalls andcafes. The park also contains a big wheel and other fairground attractions.Znamensky Cathedral CHURCH(Знаменский собор; ul Semakova 13) With its voluptuously curved baroque towers, the 1786Znamensky Cathedral is the most memorable of a dozen ‘old’ churches which have recentlycome back to life following years of neglect.Saviour’s Church CHURCH(Спасская церков; ul Lenina 41) Saviour’s Church is structurally similar to Znamensky, butunfortunately lacks the quiet backstreet location.Archangel Mikhail Church CHURCH(Храм Михаила Архангела; ul Turgeneva) The attractive Archangel Mikhail Church sits at thetop of a hill leading down to streets full of even more old wooden houses.Fine Arts Museum MUSEUM(Музей изобразительного искусства; ul Ordzhonikidze 47; admission R270; 10am-6pmTue-Sun) The Fine Arts Museum has an impressive and eclectic collection, ranging from ornatewindow frames saved from the city’s old wooden houses to tiny, intricately carved bone figuresproduced by Siberian artists. Also puts on some impressive one-off exhibitions.Lovers Bridge BRIDGE(Мост влюблённых; ul Kommunisticheskaya) A short walk from the monastery on the wayback into town, Lovers Bridge is a local landmark covered in appropriately romantic graffiti.Some guy called Sasha had just declared his everlasting love for a certain Katya when we werein town (the paint was still wet!).WWII Monument MONUMENT(ul Kommunisticheskaya) Opposite Lovers Bridge, this unusual WWII monument features aSoviet woman piercing the heart of a winged reptilian creature. The embodiment of evil, weassume.Civil War Monument MONUMENT(Монумент в честь Гражданской войны; ul Respubliki) To the right of Selskhoz Academy(Сельсхоз Академия), this monument is dedicated to locals who died during battles against theWestern-backed White Army immediately after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.Lenin Statue MONUMENT
(Памятник Ленину; Tsentralnaya pl) Flanked by the sturdy buildings of the Tyumen OblastParliament (Дом Советов) and the former House of Soviets (Бывший Дом Советов), now alocal government administrative building, Lenin gazes down on skateboarders in the summermonths.House-Museum of 19th- & 20th-Century History MUSEUM(Музей истории дома XIX-XX вв; ul Respubliki 18; admission R100; 9.30am-4.30pm Tue-Sun) This museum contains artefacts from Tyumen’s past and is housed in the city’s finestcarved cottage. For more examples of wooden houses, take a walk along ul Turgeneva. SleepingMany hotels in Tyumen will only accept foreigners if they have booked in advance via anofficially recognised travel agency. The hotels listed below are willing to accept independent,foreign travellers, and all offer complimentary breakfasts. Hotel Vostok €€ HOTEL (Гостиница Восток; 205 350; www.vostok-tmn.ru; ul Respubliki 159; s/twR3150/3350; ) This former Soviet monstrosity has seen a massive facelift (inside, at least)and now boasts modern, plush rooms with friendly, helpful staff. Within walking distance of thecentre.Hotel Tura €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Тура; /fax 282 209; www.hotel-tura.ru; ul Melnikayte 103a; s/tw/dR2400/2950/3600) This compact hotel near the Vostok has pleasant, if slightly anonymous,rooms with shower booths. Also has a small sports bar (beer R70 to R110).Hotel Tyumen €€€ LUXURY HOTEL(Гостиница Тюмень; 494 040; www.hoteltyumen.ru/en; ul Ordzhonikidze 46; s/dR6500/8700; ) Tyumen’s top hotel offers everything you would expect at a price to match.The complimentary breakfast is one you’ll want to linger over.Prezident Hotel €€€ HOTEL(Президент Отель; /fax 494 747; ul Respubliki 33; s/d/ste R3200/4000/5500; ) Centraland sleek, the Prezident’s rooms are fully equipped, but lack a certain charm. If you want tosplash out on a hotel, you’d be much better off staying at Hotel Tyumen.Olimp-5 €€ HOTEL(Олимп-5; 273 667; www.olimp5.info/en; ul Respubliki 204; s/d R2300/2900; ) Thisheavily advertised hotel is some way from the centre. Rooms are modest but sufficient andthere is free wi-fi in the 1st-floor cafe. Take bus 15 (25 minutes) from the central market tothe Воровского bus stop near a red-and-white Lukoil filling station. From here, it’s an obviousfive-minute walk down a side street. Or take a taxi for R250.
Resting rooms € HOSTEL(комнаты отдыха, komnaty otdykha; s/d from R300/500) Some way from the centre,Tyumen’s clean and functional resting rooms are not ideal for the sights. Eating & Drinking Yermolaev €€ RUSSIAN (Ермолаев; www.ermolaev72.ru; ul Kirova 37; meals R450-950; noon-1am) Thisspacious bar-restaurant is done up in a wooden, rustic style and serves filling traditionalRussian meals. The Siberian mushroom soup (R165) is recommended, as is the kvas (a drinkof fermented rye bread water). Also has a large selection of beers (R100 to R190), includingsome home-brewed options, plus genuine Cuban cigars (from R1100). Check out the summergarden if the weather is good.Malina Bar €€ BAR(Малина Бар; ul Pervomayskaya 18; meals R400-800; 24hr; ) Opposite the City Park,the trendy Malina Bar is popular with a young crowd and their laptops. The eclectic menu runsfrom Italian food to sushi to pancakes. Also offers a good range of teas, wines and beers(R120 to R250).Cherry Orchard €€ CAFE(Вишневый Сад; ul Lenina 46; meals R400-800) The flowery Cherry Orchard offers pastries,Italian food and sushi along with real English ales (R120 to R250) in a cosy building just downfrom City Park.Kalyan House Café € CAFE(Кальян Хаус; ul Respubliki 155a; meals R300-500; 24hr; ) Near the Vostok hotel, thisspacious cafe does great breakfasts (R99) and has free wi-fi round the clock. Specialises inflavoured water pipes (from R700).Teatralnoe Café € CAFE(Театральное Кафе; ul Respubliki 36/1; meals R350-550) This refined theatre-themed cafefeatures tasty cakes, warming soups and a wide selection of teas and coffee.Yerevan €€ RUSSIAN, CAUCASIAN(Ереван; ul Turgeneva 19; meals R500-800; ) Opposite the Archangel Mikhail Church, theYerevan restaurant is located in a cosy, renovated cellar and offers a choice of Russian,European and south Caucasus food. Worth popping into if you get peckish while walking backinto town from Trinity Monastery. InformationMain post office (Почтамт; ul Respubliki 56; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat, 9am-6pm Sun)
Telephone office (Тюмень Телеком; ul Respubliki 51; internet per 30min R40; 24hr)Tyumen.ru (www.tyumen.ru) Has air and railway timetables plus information on local weather,cinema listings etc.Web Khauz (Хауз; ul Respubliki 61; internet per hr R70; 11am-8pm) Down the stairs to theleft; follow the blue signs. Getting There & AwayTrainTrains depart from Tyumen to all Trans-Siberian destinations. There are around eight trains aday to Novosibirsk, with the first and last leaving just after and before midnight (platskart/kupefrom R1680/3680). There is a useful overnight rail connection to Omsk (platskart/kupeR880/1824, 8½ hours, 10.19pm). Seven daily trains (4½ hours) serve Tobolsk. The mostconvenient leaves at 7.10am (R1127/569). There is one train a day to Tomsk (R3200/2100, 22hours) at 8am. The ticket offices are just inside the entrance to the recently renovated station, on the right.AirThere are four daily flights to Moscow (R4300 to R7000, three hours) and two direct flights aweek to St Petersburg (R8021, 3½ hours, Thursday and Sunday). Getting AroundTyumen’s relatively shiny train station is located some 1.5km southwest of the centre. Bus 25serves Hotel Vostok and passes near the bus station – to get here, hop off at theNeptun/Stroitel stop, then walk a block east, crossing the big clover-leaf junction of ulsPermyakova and Respubliki. Taxis between the bus and train stations cost R100. Bus 13 from the train station loops around to Hotel Neftyanik; switch to frequent buses 30 or14 in front of the Prezident Hotel for the Trinity Monastery. These follow ul Respublikiwestbound but return along ul Lenina.Tobolsk Тобольск 3456 / POP 101,000 / MOSCOW +2HROnce Siberia’s capital, Tobolsk is one of the region’s most historic cities, sporting a magnificentkremlin and a charmingly decrepit old town. The city is off the Trans-Siberian main line butdirect overnight trains to both Yekaterinburg and Omsk make getting here straightforward.Tobolsk can also be reached easily from Tyumen. The centre of the Russian colonisation of Siberia, the city was founded in 1587. Its strategicimportance started to wane in the 1760s, when it was bypassed by the new Great SiberianTrakt (post road). However, until the early 20th century it remained significant as a centre forboth learning and exile. Involuntary guests included Fyodor Dostoevsky en route to exile inOmsk, and deposed Tsar Nicholas II, who spent several doomed months here in 1917. Buses from the inconvenient train station (some 10km north) give visitors a dismal first
impression. Concrete drabness reaches a glum centre around the Hotel Slavyanskaya, butdon’t be put off. Tobolsk’s glories begin 3km further south around the splendid kremlin.Immediately beyond and below the kremlin, the old town sinks into the Irtysh’s boggy floodplain. The initial view of the old town has been spoiled slightly in recent years by theconstruction of new office and apartment buildings, but it’s still well worth a wander for theviews of the kremlin alone. SightsKremlin HISTORIC BUILDING( grounds 8am-8pm) Within the 18th-century tower-studded walls of the kremlin are theintriguing but disused Trading Arches (Гостиный двор) and the glorious 1686 St SofiaCathedral (Софийский собор). Less eye-catching from the outside, but with splendid archedceiling murals, is the 1746 Intercession Cathedral (Покровский собор). Between the two is a1799 bell tower, built for the Uglich bell, which famously signalled a revolt against Tsar BorisGodunov. The revolt failed; in a mad fury, Godunov ordered the bell to be publicly flogged,detongued and banished to Tobolsk for its treacherous tolling. A tatty copy of the bell isdisplayed in the Museum of the Spiritual Cultures of Western Siberia (Архиерейский дом;admission R50; 10am-4pm Wed-Sun), an otherwise entertaining museum within the elegantArkhiereysky mansion.
Tobolsk Top Sights Deputys Palace C2 Fine Art Museum Kremlin C2 Minsalim Folk Trade D2 Sights 1 Archangel Mikhail Church C4 2 Bell Tower C2 3 Intercession Cathedral C2 4 Mendeleyev Mansion B4 5 Mosque A5 6 Museum of the Spiritual Cultures of Western Siberia C3 7 Pryamskoy Vzvoz C2 8 St Sofia Cathedral C2 9 Tobolsk Rayon Administration Building B4 10 Trading Arches C2 11 Victory Chapel B4 12 Zachary & Elisabeth Church B3 Sleeping 13 Hotel Georgievskaya D1 14 Hotel Novy Tobol D1 15 Hotel Sibir D2 Transport 16 Bus 4 to Train Station C2 17 Bus 10 to New Town C4 18 Buses 1, 3 & 10 to Old Town D1 19 River Station A3 20 Various Buses to New Town D2 21 Various Buses to New Town C4Deputy’s Palace MUSEUM(Дворец Наместника; admission R150; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) Just to the right of thekremlin, this 18th-century former administration building houses a museum detailing Tobolsk’stime as the capital of Siberia. Features historical artefacts, paintings and documents. SomeEnglish language info, but you’ll get much more out of it with some Russian.Fine Art Museum MUSEUM(М узей изобразительного искусства; ul Oktyabrskaya 1; admission R100, video camerasR200; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun) Built in 1887 for the 300th anniversary of the founding ofTobolsk, the Fine Art Museum has a celebrated collection of WWI-era Russian avant-gardecanvases. It also has a newly acquired mammoth skeleton and a display of bone carvings.
Minsalim Folk Trade ART GALLERY ( 240 909; firstname.lastname@example.org; ul Oktyabrskaya 2; 9am-5pm) Minsalim will happilydemonstrate how he turns antler fragments into a range of detailed figures, as well as givevisitors the low-down on Tobolsk’s history and culture. His son and some members of staffspeak English.Tobolsk Rayon Administration Building HISTORICAL BUILDING(Административный районный центр Тобольска; ul Mira 10) The less-eye-catching TobolskRayon Administration Building was the home in exile of the last tsar, and where he wasreportedly tortured, before his fateful journey to execution in Yekaterinburg.Pryamskoy Vzvoz LANDMARK(Прямской Взвоз) Wooden stairs lead beneath the kremlin’s Pryamskoy Vzvoz (gatehouse) tothe wonderfully dilapidated old town full of weather-beaten churches and angled wooden homessinking between muddy lanes.Mendeleyev Mansion HISTORICAL BUILDING(Дом Менделеева; ul Mira 9) Near the little 1918 Victory Chapel (Часовня Победы), whereuls Mira and Kirova meet at a small square, is the grand Mendeleyev mansion, which oncehoused the family of the famous scientist.Archangel Mikhail Church CHURCH(Церковь Архангела Михаила; ul Lenina 24) The attractive Archangel Mikhail Church has acolourfully restored interior. The character of Tatiana Larina in Pushkin’s epic Eugene Onegin issaid to have been modelled on Natalya Fonvizina, a Decembrist wife who prayed here.Zachary & Elisabeth Church CHURCH(Церков Захария и Елизаветы; ul Bazarnaya pl) The 1759 Zachary & Elisabeth Church, withits soaring black-tipped spires, is extremely photogenic. Sleeping & EatingTobolsk has seen something of a tourist boom in recent years and now has a number of new orrefurbished hotels. All of the hotels listed here – with the exception of the Slavyanskaya and theresting rooms – are perfectly located for the kremlin and offer complimentary breakfasts.Despite increased tourism, there is still no restaurant scene to speak of. Hotel Sibir €€ HOTEL (Гостиница Сибирь; 222 390; pl Remezova 1; s/tw/ste R2000/2400/3800) Rightacross from the kremlin, the Sibir’s rooms are comfortable and spacious. Rates include a goodbreakfast and the cosy 24-hour restaurant (meals R350 to R600, beer R90 to R130) does amean fish soup (pokhlebnaya ribnaya; R120).Hotel Georgievskaya €€ HOTEL
(Гостиница Георгиевская; 246 614; www.hotel-georgievskaya.ru; ul Lenekaya 35; s/dR2600/3500; ) Right behind a Dostoyevsky statue, the Hotel Georgievskaya has stylish andplush rooms, as well as a sumptuous restaurant (meals R500 to R850, beer R100 to R175).Hotel Novy Tobol €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Новый Тобол; 246 614; ul Oktyabrskaya 20; s/d R1500/2000) The badlysignposted Tobol has sparse but functional rooms with mostly uninspiring views. It’s to the leftof the Hotel Georgievskaya. There’s a bowling alley and a disco on the ground level if you getbored.Resting rooms € HOSTEL(комнаты отдыха, komnaty otdykha; 495 222; train station; 12/24hr from R125/250) Cleanand friendly, the location is utterly impractical for visiting the city, but ideal if you’re arriving lateor waiting for an early-morning connection. Cheaper singles are without their own toilet.Hotel Slavyanskaya €€€ HOTEL(Гостиница Славянская; 399 101; www.slavjanskaya.ru; 9-iy Mikro-Rayon, prMendeleeva; s/tw/d from R2200/4400/6000; ) Astonishingly well appointed for ruralSiberia, the big, modern Slavyanskaya has fully Western-standard comforts. Its onlydisadvantage is the uninspiring new-town location. Offers internet access for R50 an hour in thelobby. Romanov Restaurant €€€ RUSSIAN (Ресторан Романов; 399 104; meals R1000-1500; noon-11pm) Housed in HotelSlavyanskaya, the Romanov restaurant features succulent 19th-century Russian dishes and isfurnished with mock period furniture. Also has a family portrait of Russia’s last tsar and hisfamily on the ceiling. Dmitry Medvedev visited here shortly after winning Russia’s 2008presidential elections.Café Oasis € CAFE(Кафе Оазис; ul Oktyabrskaya 44; meals R150-250; 9am-5am) The dark and murky CaféOasis does cheap shashlyk and beers (R60 to R90). Attracts some shady characters as theevening drags on. InformationNashtobolsk.ru (http://Nashtobolsk.ru) Handy info on Tobolsk.Post office (Почта; Komsomolsky pr 42; 8am-6pm) Has an attached telephone office. Getting There & AwayTrainFrom Tobolsk there are trains at 9.55am and 11.51pm on odd dates to Novosibirsk(platskart/kupe R3750/R1400 for morning train, R5210/2300 for evening train, both 24 hours).
The same train goes to Omsk (R2145/1010, 14 hours). More than 10 trains a day make theshort journey to Tyumen (R700/1600). The good resting rooms are up a flight of stairs in theright-hand corner of the 2nd floor, if you are facing the platform. There are also left-luggagefacilities on the 1st floor. The station’s remoteness and random drunks mean it is not the nicestplace to hang around in late at night. Getting AroundBus 4 and marshrutka 20 link the isolated train station, new town and kremlin. Buses 1, 3 and10 travel past the kremlin and loop around the old town. Bus 1 passes the mosque. Taxisfrom/to the station cost around R200. Eight buses per day to various destinations pass Abalak. DETOUR: ABALAK MONASTERY From Tobolsk, a quiet road skirts the border of the ancient Tatar kingdom of Isker, continuing 25km to Abalak. Here the region’s holiest monastery was built on the site of a miraculous materialising icon, which was bought up and last spotted in Australia long after the Soviets had turned the church into a tractor barn. There are charming views over the bend in the Irtysh River, with 249 steps leading down to the riverbank. Today the monastery is working again, with a copy of the icon over the door. The monastery, like many remote holy places in Russia, is home to recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, hence the guys and girls wandering around with scars and alcohol-ravaged faces. A short walk from the Abalak monastery is the Abalak Holiday Centre, which offers ‘relaxation for not only the body, but also the soul’. The centre, set in pristine countryside, is based around the charming and tiny Hotel Belaya Sova ( 331 279; www.abalak.su; R5000-R7000). The rooms, of which there are only three, are cosy beyond belief and have fine views of the nearby river. The hotel restaurant (meals R500-950, beer R100-150) serves hearty and tasty traditional Russian food. Animal sculptures and an on-site playground mean kids won’t be bored either. Worth a visit even if you don’t plan to stay.Omsk Омск 3812 / POP 1.145 MILLION / MOSCOW +3HRWith its modest sights hidden behind busy roads, this big industrial city is not worth a specialdetour. You may find it a convenient stopover to break up long journeys. The trendiest street is ul Lenina (у лица Ленина), home to several witty statues including anodd Soviet 1963 ‘slacker’ brass workman emerging from a manhole, and Luba’s bench,featuring the wife of a 19th-century city governor reading Pushkin. If you’re looking to kill more time, the Art Museum (Омский областной музейизобразительных искусств Врубеля; 313 677; ul Lenina 23; admission R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) displays a lot of fussy decorative arts. The rectilinear 1862 building, a historicalcuriosity in itself, was built as the Siberian governor’s mansion and hosted passing tsars. In1918–19, however, the building was home to Admiral Kolchak’s counter-revolutionarygovernment. In the gardens behind the museum there is a war memorial (Памятник ВеликойОтечественной войны) and a Lenin statue (Памятник Ленину). Other attractive buildings include the ornate Drama Theatre (Омский академический театрдрамы; 244 065; www.omskdrama.ru; ul Lenina; cash desk 10am-7pm) and the
Assumption Cathedral (Успенский собор; pl Lenina), rebuilt after the collapse of the USSR.The Lenin statue that stood nearby was removed in the 2000s – rumour has it a pious officialdecided the great atheist had no business being anywhere near a house of God. SleepingHotel Mayak €€€ HOTEL(Гостиница Маяк; /fax 315 431; www.hotel-mayak.ru; ul Lermontova 2; s/tw R2860/4125)In the rounded end of the vaguely ship-shaped art-deco river station, the Mayak has small,stylish rooms with artistic lines and good bathrooms. Popular with Western business travellers.Friendly staff and good complimentary breakfast.Hotel Turist €€ HOTEL(Отель Турист; 316 419; www.tourist-omsk.ru; ul Broz Tito 2; s/d from R2500/3500) Afairly central address with decent, bright rooms and fine views of the river from upper floors.Complimentary buffet breakfast.Resting rooms € HOSTEL(комнаты отдыха, komnaty otdykha; train station; s/d R1200/1700) While slightly impracticalfor the sights, the clean and secure resting rooms should suffice as a base if your time in Omskis limited. Exit the main station, turn left and find the door before the baggage kassa (ticketoffice). Eating Tamada €€ GEORGIAN (Тамада; ul Gagarina 3; meals R450-800; 10am-midnight; ) This extremelyfriendly, spacious cellar restaurant serves fine Georgian food amid a setting of fake ponds andvibrant oil paintings. The khachapuri (bread baked with cheese filling; R140) and lobiyo (spicyred beans stewed in vegetables; R90) are recommended. Just off ul Lenina in a courtyard.They’ll even call a taxi for you when you are ready to – probably reluctantly – leave.Chashka €€ INTERNATIONAL(Чашка; www.hollcup.ru; 3rd fl, Pyat Zvyozd shopping mall, ul Karla Libknekhta; meals R400-650; ) Cosy and professional, Chashka offers a range of dishes from traditional Russianhome cooking to reasonably spicy Asian. InformationInternet Available in the train-terminal lobby for R100 per 30 minutes.Post office (Почтамт; ul Gertsena 1; 8am-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun) Getting There & Away
TrainThere are two trains a day for Tobolsk at 5.54am and 1.24pm (platskart/kupe R1300/3100,13¾ hours), and one a day for Tomsk at 5.42pm (R1450/3900, 14 hours). There are over 15trains a day to Novosibirsk (R950/2010, 9½ hours). There are eight trains a day toKrasnoyarsk, departing from 6.30am to 11.10pm (from R1290/2260, around 22 hours). Omsk’s impressively grand train station is at the southern end of lengthy pr Marksa, someway from the main sights. Ticket offices are to the right of the entrance to the station. Theinternet cafe is to the left. There are handy left-luggage facilities in the basement (take thestairs to the left of the entrance). Numerous air-ticket agencies at the river station (pl Bukhgoltsa) sell rail tickets (R150commission).AirFlight destinations include Moscow (R6500 to R8000, six daily) and St Petersburg (R9400,direct flights on Wednesday).BoatOn a green barge behind the river station is the Rechflot (Речфлот; 398 563; 9am-7pm)ticket office. Also here is the jetty for hydrofoils to Tevriz via Tara and for ferries cruising theIrtysh River to Salekhard (1st/2nd/3rd class R3750/1750/1300, six days) via Tobolsk(R2100/1000/950, two days) roughly three times monthly. Getting AroundFrom the train station, trolleybus 4 and marshrutka 335 run along pr Marksa to pl Lenina, pastthe main post office. Ul Lenina runs parallel to pr Marksa – it’s on the left if you are heading intothe city. Bus 60 crosses the Irtysh to the airport ( 517 570; Inzhenernaya ul 1) whiletrolleybus 7 or the faster marshrutka 366 head for the bus station. Construction began onOmsk’s metro system back in 1985, but its opening has been delayed and rescheduled foryears.Novosibirsk Новосибирск 383 / POP 1.5 MILLION / MOSCOW +3HRIt may be the capital of Siberia and Russia’s third-biggest city by population size, but there isn’tactually very much to see in Novosibirsk. As compensation of sorts, there are a lot of nightclubsand restaurants, and the city has a fairly lively music scene. Novosibirsk grew up in the 1890s around the Ob River bridge built for the Trans-SiberianRailway. Named Novo-Nikolaevsk until 1925 for the last tsar, it grew rapidly into Siberia’sbiggest metropolis, a key industrial and transport centre exploiting coalfields to the east andmineral deposits in the Urals. Despite its daunting scale, Novosibirsk has a manageably simple centre focused on plLenina. The city’s main axis, Krasny pr, runs through this square linking most points of interest.Dom Knigi (Дом книги; Krasny pr 51; 10am-8pm Mon-Sat, to 7pm Sun) has maps.
SightsOpera & Ballet Theatre THEATRE(Театр оперы и балета) Novosibirsk’s pl Lenina is dominated by this huge, silver-domedtheatre. Bigger than Moscow’s Bolshoi, its grand interior alone makes performances one of thecity’s highlights. In front, the dashing Lenin statue (Памятник Ленину) is flanked by wavingpartisans vainly trying to direct the chaotic traffic.
Novosibirsk Top Sights Lenin Statue C3 Opera & Ballet Theatre D3 Sights 1 Alexander Nevsky Cathedral D5 2 Cathedral of the Ascension B1 3 Chapel of St Nicholas C4 4 Local Studies Museum C4 5 Monument to First Traffic Light D5 6 State Art Museum C5 7 WWII Family Statues A2 Sleeping 8 Avenue C3 9 Hotel Novosibirsk A2 10 Hotel Tsentralnaya C3 11 Resting Rooms A2 Eating 12 Café Bliss B4 13 Nikolaevskaya Pelmennaya C4 14 Pechki Lavochki C2 15 Perchini C4 16 Tiflis C2 Drinking 5Nizza (see 10) Entertainment 17 Opera & Ballet Theatre D3 18 Rock City C3 19 Spartak Stadium D2 Transport 20 Aviakassa C1 21 Marshrutky A2 22 Trolleybus 2 to Severny Airport A2Local Studies Museum MUSEUM(Краеведческий музей; Krasny pr 23; admission R250; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) In anelegant mansion, the Local Studies Museum has Altai shaman coats, cutaway pioneer housesand some splendid religious artefacts.
State Art Museum MUSEUM(Художественный музей; Krasny pr 5; adult/ student R180/100; 10am-5.20pm Tue-Fri,from 11am Sat & Sun) The State Art Museum has an extensive collection including icons,Siberian art and works by celebrated spiritual Russian painter Nikolai Rerikh (known in Englishas Nicholas Roerich).WWII ‘Family’ Statues MONUMENTSPlatform 1 at the main train station boasts two WWII ‘family’ statues depicting a mother and hersmall daughter and a father and his small son waving off relatives to WWII – it was from thisstation that many Siberians went directly to the front.Chapel of St Nicholas CHURCH(Часовня Святителя Николая; Krasny pr) The pretty little Chapel of St Nicholas was said tomark the geographical centre of Russia when it was built in 1915. Demolished in the 1930s, itwas rebuilt in 1993 for Novosibirsk’s centenary. Today it is an oasis of calm in the bustling citycentre.Cathedral of the Ascension CHURCH(Вознесенский собор; ul Sovetskaya 91) The gold-domed 1914 Cathedral of the Ascensionhas a wonderful, colourful interior with a soaring central space that’s unexpected from its fairlysquat exterior appearance.Alexander Nevsky Cathedral CHURCH(Собор Александра Невского; Krasny pr 1a) The 1898 Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is a red-brick Byzantine-style building with gilded domes and colourful murals.Monument to First Traffic Light MONUMENT(cnr ul Serebrennikovskaya & ul Sibrevkoma) This humorous monument is based at therumoured site of the city’s first ever traffic light. SleepingThe majority of Novosibirsk hotels are poor value by Siberian standards. On top of this, manywill only accept foreigners when booked through a tour agency (incurring booking fees andcommission). Avenue €€ MINIHOTEL (Авеню; 227 0534; www.avenu.vipngs.ru; ul Sovetskaya 57; s/d R3400/3600; )Set in a quiet, leafy residential courtyard, this minihotel is by far the best place to stay inNovosibirsk. Just a 10-minute walk away from the centre, all the great-value rooms arespacious, stylish and comfortable. Also has free wi-fi, a sauna for rent (R600 per hour) and agood complimentary breakfast. And staff are friendly to boot!Hotel Novosibirsk €€€ HOTEL
(Гостиница Новосибирск; 220 1120; www.hotel-novosibirsk.ru; Vokzalnaya magistral 1;s/tw/ste R3960/4410/8100) Boasting awesome views of the city centre from its upper floors,this formerly glum Soviet-era tower has been transformed in recent years into a plush modernhotel. Odd pricing scheme means it’s possible (we managed it) to get two nights for the priceof one if you arrive after midnight for the first night. The complimentary breakfast is tasty andfilling.Resting rooms € HOSTEL(Комнаты отдыха, komnaty otdykha; 229 2376; 2nd fl, Novosibirsk Glavny station; 12/24hrfrom R550/1100) As clean and pleasant as you could reasonably expect. It’s frequently full.Hotel Tsentralnaya € HOTEL(Гостиница Центральная; 222 3638; fax 227 660; ul Lenina 3; s/tw without bathroomR1300/1600) The cheapest rooms here are depressing cupboard-like hovels, while the moreexpensive options are no less welcoming. No complimentary breakfast, either. That said, it iscentrally located. And relatively cheap. For Novosibirsk, at least. Eating & Drinking Perchini € ITALIAN (Перчини; www.perchini.ru; Krasny pr 25/1; meals R350-400; 10am-1am; ) If allthe pelmeni (Russian ravioli) and pancakes are getting you down, visit Perchini. With a choiceof seven freshly made pastas to choose from and a range of imaginative sauces, this simpleyet effective restaurant is popular with a young, hip crowd. Just behind the Ploshchad Leninametro station, on the 4th floor.Tiflis €€ CAUCASIAN(Тифлис; www.tiflisnsk.ru; ul Sovetskaya 65; meals R400-800; ) This atmospheric tavern-cavern offers the most authentic Georgian cuisine in town. The filling and delicious khachapuripo-adzharski (Georgian cheese bread with a raw egg swimming in the middle) is well worth atry.Pechki-Lavochki € RUSSIAN(Печки-Лавочки; ul Frunze 2; meals R250-450) Rustic interior and traditional Russian food atgreat prices. Try the kvas. Can get smoky and noisy in the evenings (beer from R75).Café Bliss € BREAKFAST(ul Lenina 20) This modestly named cafe does great pancakes (from R50) and fresh juices aswell as good breakfast deals (R150). A nice way – and place – to start the day.5Nizza € BAR(5Ницца; ul Lenina 3; beer R90-150, snacks R70-130; noon-2am) Sharing its name with apopular Moscow reggae group, this lively bar is on the 1st floor of the Hotel Tsentralnaya.
Nikolaevskaya Pelmennaya € RUSSIAN(Николаевская Пельменная; Krasny pr 13; meals R150-210; 10am-11pm) Cheap andsimple pelmeni with meat and fish fillings in an equally modest cafe located beneath a sexshop. EntertainmentOpera & Ballet Theatre THEATRE(Новосибирский государственный академический театр оперы и балета; 227 1537;www.opera-novosibirsk.ru; Krasny pr 36; admission R200-4000; Oct-Jun) For classicalculture don’t miss an evening at this gigantic theatre. Ticket prices depend on seats andperformances. Morning shows are a lot cheaper.Spartak Stadium FOOTBALL STADIUM(Стадион Спартак; 217 0474; www.fc-sibir.ru; ul Frunze 15) This 12,500-capacity venue isthe home of local football team, Sibir. Games are usually played on Saturday, and tickets costfrom R200 to R700. Matches are advertised on posters around the city.Rock City NIGHTCLUB(Рок Сити; 227 0108; www.rockcity.ru; 3rd fl, Krasny pr 37; tickets from R350; fromnoon) Novosibirsk’s top spot for everything from Latin dancing to heavy-rock concerts. It’sabove the Old Irish pub. InformationMain post office (Главпочтамт; ul Lenina 5; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, to 7pm Sat & Sun)Telephone office (Междугородный телефонный пункт; ul Sovetskaya 33; 24hr) Getting There & AwayTrainThe city’s huge 19th-century train station, Novosibirsk Glavny (ul Shamshurina 43), has 14platforms and sees the departure of numerous daily long-distance trains. There are great viewsof the station from the upper floors of Hotel Novosibirsk. For Moscow (48 to 55 hours via Omsk, Tyumen and Yekaterinburg), comfortable flagshiptrain 25 – the Sibiryak – (platskart/kupe R5400/10,500, 6.40am, on even-numbered dates) isalso one of the fastest. The journey from Moscow to Novosibirsk also leaves on even dates anddeparts at 4.20pm. The much cheaper 239 (R4600/8410, 5.17am, odd-numbered dates)follows the same route but takes six hours longer and isn’t quite as comfortable. ForKrasnoyarsk, train 12 (R1750/3680, 10.20pm, 11 hours, odd-numbered dates) is well timed.For Tomsk, consider train 38, which leaves at 12.56am (R800/1350, 5½ hours).AirNovosibirsk’s Tolmachyovo airport ( 216 9841; http://en.tolmachevo.ru) is 30km west of
the city, off the Omsk road. The website gives timetables. There are a number of direct dailyflights to Moscow (from R6000 to R10,000), as well as five direct flights a week to StPetersburg (from R9000). There are also flights to Vladivostok, as well as Bangkok andBěijīng.BusFrom the bus station (Krasny pr 4) around 20 daily buses serve Tomsk (R420, five hours). Forroughly double the price, shared taxis shave an hour or more off those times. Getting AroundFrom the centrally located train station, take trolleybus 2 to Severny airport, marshrutka 1122to Tolmachyovo airport or marshrutka 1212 to the bus station via pl Lenina. The metro (tripticket R12) has a major north–south line running beneath Krasny pr and across the river toStudencheskaya and pl Karla Marksa. For the main train station you’ll need metro stop plGarina-Mikhaylovskogo, which is on a second three-stop line that intersects with the major lineat Sibirskaya/Krasny pr. Generally marshrutky are handier within the centre. A taxi ( 2994646) to the airport can be ordered by phone and costs around R500. The journey from thecentre takes about 30 to 40 minutes, depending on traffic. DETOUR: SEYATEL – RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE MUSEUM To get to the Seyatel – Railway Locomotive Museum (admission R80; 11am-5pm Sat-Thu) take marshrutka 1015 (R30, 30 minutes) from Novosibirsk Glavny train station to Seyatel train station. The museum has over 100 exhibits, ranging from Soviet steam engines to pre-revolution carriages. You can return to central Novosibirsk the same way or jump on an hourly elektrichka (suburban train; R50).Tomsk Томск 3822 / POP 524,000 / MOSCOW +3HRWell worth a short detour off the main Trans-Siberian route, hip and friendly Tomsk is the kindof town where it’s no surprise to come across a gigantic and unexplainable Tom Waits posteron the main street (pr Lenina). A university city with half a dozen major academicestablishments – around one in every five residents of Tomsk is a student – it has a youthful,intellectual atmosphere. One of Siberia’s oldest cities, Tomsk was founded in 1604 and was a major trade outpostbefore the founding of Novosibirsk (then Novonikolaevsk) and the subsequent relocation of theTrans-Siberian Railway line. Magnificent in snow, but pleasant at any time of the year, Tomsk also boasts endlessexamples of fine wooden buildings and an animated cafe and art scene. The city has enjoyed areputation as the ‘cultural capital of Siberia’ since the 1960s, when artists, writers and theatreand film directors were invited to take up residence here. Tomsk is also excellent for semi-aimless strolls: try exploring the numerous side streets that
branch off the central pr Lenina to discover some truly memorable buildings and river views. The bus station and Tomsk 1 (main) train station sit together about 2km southeast of thecentre. SightsPloshchad Lenina HISTORICAL SITECentral pl Lenina isn’t really a square so much as a jumbled collection of beautifully restoredhistoric buildings interspersed with banal Soviet concrete lumps. The frustrated Lenin statue(Памятник Ленину), now relegated to a traffic circle, points at the ugly concrete of the DramaTheatre, apparently demanding ‘build more like that one’. Fortunately, nobody’s listening. Thetheatre is flanked instead by the splendid 1784 Epiphany Cathedral (Богоявленский собор),the former trading arches (Бывший Гостиный двор) and the elegant 1802 Hotel Magistrat.Topped with a golden angel, in a second circle beside Lenin, is the recently rebuilt IverskayaChapel (Иверская часовня; 10am-6pm), whose celebrated icon is dubbed ‘Tomsk’sSpiritual Gateway’.
Tomsk Top SightsChekhov Statue A2Lenin Statue B1Oppression Museum B4ul Tatarskaya Wooden Houses A3 Sights1 Atashev Palace B42 Catholic Church B13 Dragon House D54 Epiphany Cathedral A15 Former Hunters House B36 Former Trading Arches A17 Iverskaya Chapel B18 Kirovs House C19 Monuments to Victims of Stalinist Repression A410 Peacock House D511 Peter & Paul Cathedral D312 Ploshchad Lenina A113 Prospekt Lenina 56 A314 Red Mosque A315 Resurrection Hill B116 Russian-German House D617 Tomsk Art Gallery A218 Tomsk History Museum & Lookout Tower B119 University A6 Activities, Courses & Tours20 Tomskturist B5 Sleeping21 Bon Apart B522 Hotel Magistrat B123 Hotel Siberia B324 Hotel Sputnik C525 Hotel TGU B626 Toyan B1 Eating27 Babulini Pelmeshki B428 Café Fondue B329 Café Modern B430 Coffee House Leto Café B231 Korchma U Tarasa B632 Obzhorni Ryad B533 Slavyansky Bazar A234 Vechny Zov B5
Drinking 35 Bar House City B3 36 Bulanzhe A2 37 Jazz Café B4 38 Peoples Bar & Grill D4 Sibirsky Pub (see 40) Entertainment 39 Aelita Theatre A2 40 Drama Theatre A1 41 Philharmonia B1 42 Tom Tomsk FC B5 Oppression Museum MUSEUM (Музей НКВД; 516 133; rear entrance, pr Lenina 44; admission R30; 9am-6pmMon-Fri) A former NKVD (proto-KGB) prison, this gloomy building is now a memorableOppression Museum. Tours are recommended, but are only in Russian. Failing that you can justwander round yourself. Look out for the stunning Gulag map, the system of Soviet labourcamps depicted as an uncountable mass of red dots across the territory of the former USSR.Outside the museum there are two monuments to victims of Stalinist repression – thelarger to local victims, the second to Poles slaughtered by Uncle Joe and his cronies. CHEKHOV ON TOMSK – ‘BORING CITY, DULL PEOPLE’ Not everyone falls in love with Tomsk. Playwright Anton Chekhov – who visited the city on his way to Russia’s Far East – certainly didn’t. ‘Tomsk isn’t worth a damn,’ he wrote in his diary. ‘A boring city…with dull people.’ He also described it as ‘a drunken city’ where there were ‘no beautiful women at all’. He also complained that a waitress had wiped a spoon ‘against her backside’ before handing it to him. But then, as legend has it, he did almost drown while crossing the Tom River, so maybe he was feeling grumpy. The city had its revenge though. In 2004, on Tomsk’s 400th anniversary, a caricature of the famous writer was unveiled, in the form of a bronze statue entitled ‘Anton Pavlovich [the writer’s patronymic] through the eyes of a drunk lying in a ditch’. Chekhov Statue MONUMENT On the riverbank, opposite Slavyansky Bazar restaurant, this cheeky Chekhov statuewas sculpted in bronze for the 400th anniversary of the city’s founding.WWII Memorial MONUMENT(Лагерный сад) A Tomsk landmark, this moving mother and son monument is at the verysouthern end of pr Lenina. The beautiful birch-tree park here is a local favourite for strolls, notleast for its fine views across the Tom River.University HISTORICAL BUILDING
(Томский Государственный Университет) The classically colonnaded main buildings of theuniversity lie in resplendently leafy grounds, giving Tomsk the soubriquet ‘Oxford of Siberia’.There’s not much open to the public, but there’s nothing to stop you taking a walk around thegrounds.Tomsk Art Gallery ART GALLERY(Художественный музей; www.artmuseum.tomsk.ru; per Nakhanovicha 5; admission R60;10am-7.30pm Tue-Sun) Features a wide range of exhibits, from modern art to religious icons.Atashev Palace HISTORICAL BUILDING(Краеведческий музей; pr Lenina 75) Built for gold-mining entrepreneur Ivan Atashev in 1842,the Atashev Palace was once used as a church, hence the incongruous steeple tower andwonderful organ hall where concerts are held.Ulitsa Tatarskaya HISTORICAL AREA(улица Татарская) Contains some fine examples of Tomsk’s famed ‘wooden-lace’ architecture– the carved windows and tracery on old log and timber houses. The street is reached via thesteps beside a lovely old house at prospekt Lenina 56 that contains shops selling DVDs,seeds and secondhand clothes in its basement.Ulitsa Gagarina HISTORICAL AREAAlso well worth strolling along – look out for the picturesque former ‘hunter’s house’(Бывший дом охотника) at number 42.Ulitsa Krasnoarmeyskaya HISTORICAL AREAHome to some great examples of wooden mansions, including the spired, bright-turquoiseRussian-German House (Российско-Немецкий дом; ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 71); the DragonHouse (Дом Дракона; ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 68), which is home to a clinic; and the fan-gabledPeacock House (Дом Павлина; ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 67a). Ul Dzerzhinskogo is worth a looktoo.Kirov’s House HISTORICAL BUILDING(Дом Кирова; per Kononova 2) This is where the doomed communist mastermind Sergei Kirovlodged in 1905.Znameniye bozhyey materi Church CHURCH(Храм знамение Божьей матери; ul Voykova 14) This attractive church is all the morephotogenic for the wooden house that stands alongside it.Resurrection Hill HISTORICAL AREAThis was the location of Tomsk’s original fortress, and the replica of its ‘Golden Gate’ thatstands on it today was built in 2004 for the city’s 400th anniversary celebrations.
Tomsk History Museum MUSEUM(Исторический музей Томска; admission R40; 11am-5pm Tue-Sun) This well-presentedmuseum has resprouted its wooden lookout tower (Смотровая башня; admission R35) : tryto spot the seven historic churches from the top. The stone just outside the museum entrancemarks the founding of the city.Ascension Church CHURCH(Вознесенская церковь; ul Oktyabrsky Vzvoz) This Gothic edifice with five gold-tipped blackspires has great potential as a Dracula movie set. A truly massive bell hangs in its lurid-pinkbelfry.Ozero Beloye POND(Озеро Белое; ul Bakunina) Popular with mums and kids, students and the odd very optimisticfisherman, this sizeable pond is a good place to chill with a drink and a pie from one of thenearby food stands. On the same street, named after the 19th-century ‘father of anarchy’ andone-time student in the city, is a Catholic church (Католическая церковь) dating from 1833.Old Believers’ Wooden Church CHURCH(Деревянная церковь старообрядцев; ul Yakovleva) This cute church is worth a look ifyou’ve got any energy left, though its surroundings are relatively uninteresting.Peter & Paul Cathedral CHURCH(Петропавловский собор; ul Altayskaya 47) A Byzantine-style brick cathedral that dates from1911.Red Mosque MOSQUE(Красная мечеть; ul Tatarskaya 22) This modest mosque, dating from 1904, was used as avodka factory by the atheist Soviets, but was reopened to worshippers in 1997. The friendlyimam is always up for a chat with foreigners. ToursTomskturist WALKING TOURS(Томсктурист; 528 179; pr Lenina 59; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat) Tomskturistcan arrange individual walking tours of the city, with English-, French- and German-speakingguides. It also sells air and train tickets for a small commission. It’s based in a lovely woodenhouse opposite the university. Sleeping Toyan €€€ BOUTIQUE HOTEL (Тоян; /fax 510 151; www.toyan.ru; ul Obrub 2; s/tw/ste from R3900/5900/6900; )Toyan, built in 2008, is both intensely elegant and laid-back – and well worth splashing out on if
your budget will run to it. Rooms are tastefully decorated, somehow managing to be bothstylish and homely. The more expensive have great views of central Tomsk. All rooms have wi-fi. The complimentary breakfast isn’t bad either!Bon Apart €€€ HOTEL(Бон Апарт; 534 650; www.bon-apart.ru; ul Gertsena 1a; s/tw/ste R3400/4500/5700; )The quiet and professional Bon Apart offers small but plush rooms for reasonable prices. It’scentrally located, and the complimentary breakfast in the next-door family restaurant is tastyand satisfying.Hotel TGU € HOSTEL(Гостиница ТГУ; 534 352; 5th fl, pr Lenina 49; dm/s/tw R600/1000/1500) Uniquely goodvalue, these clean, bright rooms have kettle, fridge and fully equipped new bathrooms (exceptin the dorms, which share facilities between two triples). Staff are very friendly, to boot. Interm-time, reservations are essential (R150 booking fee), but dropping in might work inmidsummer. Enter from the rear of the building and climb the stairs to the 5th floor. No lift andno breakfast either. Midnight curfew.Hotel Siberia €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Сибирь; /fax 527 225; www.hotelsibir.tomsk.ru; pr Lenina 91; s/d/steR2800/3100/5000) This centrally located old hotel is extremely popular, despite its largelyunimaginative singles and doubles. It does, however, offer great suites with real fireplaces forR5500, if you are feeling wealthy. Dinner is available on top of complimentary breakfast forR300 extra, but you’d be better off eating elsewhere.Hotel Sputnik €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Спутник; 526 660; www.sputnik.tomskturist.ru; ul Belinskogo 15; s/d/tw/trR850/1700/1900/2400; ) The winner of Tomsk’s first hotel competition in the 1990s, theSputnik today remains a decent place to stay, let down only by its dodgy plumbing (there wasbrown sludge coming out of the taps when we stayed) and doors so flimsy that cheers from thenearby stadium could probably knock them down. Complimentary breakfast is hardly worthgetting up for. The cheapest singles and doubles have shared toilets. Wi-fi in every room.Hotel Magistrat €€€ HOTEL(Гостиница Магистрат; 511 111; www.magistrathotel.com; pl Lenina 15; s/d/steR5500/6500/9500; ) Behind the palatial 1802 facade, the luxurious rooms are brand new ina comfortable international style though, sadly, without historical idiosyncrasies. English isspoken and the restaurant is lavish.Resting rooms € HOSTEL(комнаты отдыха, komnaty otdykha; Tomsk I train station; 3hr s/tw R400/R700) Perfectlyclean rooms with shared toilets, and shower and televisions. Curfew 1am to 5am. Eating
Slavyansky Bazar €€€ RUSSIAN (Славянский Базар; pr Lenina 10; meals R800-1200; ) On the bank of the TomRiver, Slavyansky Bazar is one of the most upmarket restaurants in the city, housed in a 19thcentury building. Black caviar dishes start at R800. Chekhov ate at an earlier incarnation of thepresent-day establishment in 1890. The food was one of the few things he liked about the city. Coffee House Leto Café € CAFE (Кофейная Лето; ul Gagarina 2; meals R300-500; ) One half of a bright-yellowbuilding that also contains a decent sushi restaurant, Bamboo (Бамбук). Sunny and bright andfeatures food with hard-to-get ingredients such as pumpkin, pesto and real feta cheese. Alsodoes real coffee.Café Fondue € CAFE(Кафе Фондю; ul Belentsa 14; meals R300-500; noon-1am Sun-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat)This small and welcoming cafe was conceived of during the unlikely fondue craze that sweptRussia in the mid-2000s. Serves cheese and chocolate fondue options, as well as moretraditional Russian and European dishes. Just off pr Lenina 97.Café Modern € EUROPEAN(Кафе Модернь; pr Lenina 83; meals R400-600; ) An atmospheric cafe with painstakinglyrestored plasterwork tracery on the high ceilings and Gustav Klimt prints on the walls.European menu, with large selections of salads, pastries, desserts, teas, wines (from R75 aglass) and beer (R75 to R120).Vechny Zov €€ RUSSIAN(Вечный Зов; www.vechzov.tomsk.ru; ul Sovetskaya 47; meals R550-900; noon-4am)Named after a popular Soviet TV serial, this is one of Tomsk’s top dining options and boasts amock Siberian ranch outside and a cosy antique-filled-home feel inside.Obzhorni Ryad € RUSSIAN(Обжорний Ряд; ul Gertsena 1; meals R250-400; 11am-11pm) Next to the Bon Apart hotel,this good-value family restaurant’s name translates as Guzzler’s Row. The indoor adventureplayground means it’s great for those with kids, but anyone else might find all the noisedistracts from the simple but tasty Russian dishes.Korchma u Tarasa € UKRAINIAN(Корчма у Тараса; pr Lenina 51; meals R250-450; noon-1am) This cheap and friendly cafespecialises in Ukrainian favourites such as salo (salted pig fat; R95 a plate) and borsch (R70).It’s a pick-and-mix kind of place, but there’s not much for vegetarians.Inzhir €€ ASIAN(Инжир; pr Kirova 66; meals R400-750) Right opposite the train station, Inzhir (Fig) offers avariety of eastern food, from Uzbek dumplings to Turkish kebabs. It’s often full in the evening.
Babulini Pelmeshki € RUSSIAN(Бабулины Пельмешки; pr Lenina 54; 10am-8pm) The cheap and satisfying pelmeni andvareniki (dumplings; R50 to R130) in this basement cafe come with a range of fillings, fromlamb and fish to cheese and cherry. Look out for the cardboard cut-out of a babushka on thestreet. Drinking Jazz Café CAFE, BAR (Кафе Джаз; www.jazz-cafe.tomsk.ru; pr Lenina 46; beer R100-250; 11am-midnightSun-Thu, noon-2am Fri & Sat; ) A hip and literally underground basement hang-out with anextensive drinks and food menu (meals R500 to R700). We liked the vegetarian borsch (R90)and the screenings of old black-and-white films. There’s live jazz, including frequent US guests,most weekends (cover R250 to R400).Sibirsky Pub PUB(Сибирский Паб; www.siberian-pub.ru; pl Novosobornaya 2; Guinness per pint R240;noon-3am) Siberia’s first British pub was founded over a century ago by a certain Mr Crawley,an Anglo-Egyptian albino who’d got stuck in Tomsk after touring with a circus freak show.Today’s pub is no relation. Bands play live at weekends (cover charge).Bar House City BAR(Бар Хаус Сити; pr Lenina 64; beers R80-120; noon-2am) This popular student hang-outgets extremely lively in term time. Check out the summer garden if the weather is good.Bulanzhe CAFE(Буланже; 2nd fl, pr Lenina 80; espresso R40; 8am-midnight) Tomsk’s answer toStarbucks serves great coffee and stuffed bliny (from R60). There is another branch at ulKrasnoarmeyskaya 107.People’s Bar & Grill BAR(pr Lenina 54; beer from R90; noon-2am) Beer, pizza and thumping dance music in a centrallocation. Can get crowded at weekends. Enter from the rear of pr Lenina. Entertainment Tom Tomsk FC STADIUM (Томь Томск ФК; 527 967; www.football.tomsk.ru; ul Belinskogo 15/1) The home ofSiberia’s top football club. If you’re lucky you might catch a game against 2008 UEFA Cupchampions Zenit, or one of the big Moscow sides. Tickets cost from R300 upwards. There isalso a shop selling Tomsk scarves, T-shirts – and even slippers – attached to the stadium. It’sopen 11am to 7pm Monday to Friday, and on weekends on home match days.
Human Puppets Theatre 2+ku PUPPET THEATRE (Театр живых кукол 2+ку; www.2ky.tomsk.ru; Yuzhny Per 29; admission from R200)Housed in a quaint log cabin near the WWII memorial (take ul Savinikh all the way down untilyou can’t go any further), this one-man, homey ‘robotic puppet’ theatre is a real experience, andone you don’t need to understand Russian to appreciate.Aelita Theatre THEATRE(Театр Аэлита; 516 131; www.aelita.tsk.ru; pr Lenina 78) Eclectic offerings from rockconcerts to Indian dance to experimental plays. An adaption of Clockwork Orange was onwhen we visited.Philharmonia CONCERT HALL(Филармония; 515 965; pl Lenina 1) Classical music and great big-band jazz.Drama Theatre THEATRE(Драматический театр; 512 223; pl Lenina 4) TOM TOMSK FOREVER! MARC BENNETTS It’s tough being a supporter of FC Tom Tomsk, Europe’s most easterly top-flight football team. The side’s nearest Premier League opponents are based in Perm, over 2000km away, and a trip to Moscow means either a four-and-a-half-hour flight or just over two days on a train. ‘It’s a hobby, I guess, just like anything else,’ Tomsk fan Sergei told me during a visit to the team’s 15,000-capacity Trud stadium. ‘We all go off together – a group of up to 30 of us usually travel…I gave the recent trip to Chechnya a miss though, only two lads supported the team that day.’ Tomsk almost went under in 2009 after cash-strapped regional authorities cut funding. It took the personal intervention of Vladimir Putin to keep the side afloat. Look out for the billboard featuring the ex-KGB man at the stadium. The words on it read: ‘There must be football in Tomsk.’ The side has never seriously challenged for honours, but has been a regular fixture in the Premier League since promotion in 2004. Go along and give it your support if you are in town. It managed a creditable 1-1 draw with 2004 UEFA Cup champions CSKA Moscow when I went along. InformationAfisha (www.afisha.westsib.ru) Has concert and cinema details.Main post office (Почтамт; pr Lenina 95; 9am-7.30pm Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm Sat, 9am-5pmSun) Stamps, but no postcards of Tomsk!Netcafe (Неткафе; pr Lenina 44; from per hr R19; 24hr) All-night internet access costsR110. Other branches at pr Lenina 32 and pr Frunze 57 open 10am to 8pm.Sent to Siberia (www.senttosiberia.wordpress.com) An American Fulbright scholar’s humorousand affectionate account of life in Tomsk.Tomsk (www.tomsk.ru09.ru) Interactive maps, photos and general info.
Getting There & AwayTrainIf you are taking a detour off the Trans-Siberian line to Tomsk, two trains a day, at 2.01am and6.48am, pass through the tiny town of Taiga (platskart/kupe R390/800, two hours). FromTomsk there are services on odd-numbered dates at 8.20am to Moscow’s Yaroslavsky vokzal(R5491/10,061, 56½ hours). For Omsk, there are two trains on odd-numbered dates. The firstleaves at 4.10am (R1276/3288, 15 hours) while the second departs at a more convenient8.20am (R1868/2968). A train to Irkutsk leaves on even-numbered dates at 4.28pm(R1800/3165, 34 hours). Tomsk’s two-storey-high station was opened in 1896 and has two platforms. Ticket officesare to the right of the entrance. Resting rooms are up the stairs from the central hallway.AirBogashevo Airport ( 270 084), 22km southeast of Tomsk, has three flights a day toMoscow (R10,700, 8.40am, 9am, 9.30am), plus some local regional services on Tomskavia ( 412 466; www.tomskavia.ru, in Russian; ul Yelizarovkh). The choice is much wider fromNovosibirsk’s Tolmachyovo Airport, to which there are five direct buses a day (R320, fivehours) from Tomsk bus station.BusFor Novosibirsk, shared taxis (from R750, 3½ hours) are much faster than buses from thecentral bus station (R415, 5½ hours, over 15 daily). Buses to Kemerovo leave five times a day(R310, two hours). There are also useful buses to Novokuznetsk (R500, seven hours, fourdaily) and Barnaul (R530, nine hours, two daily). Getting AroundHandy bus 7 runs from near the somewhat inconveniently located train station, along pr Frunze,up pr Lenina, then east again on ul Pushkina. Marshrutka 11 shows you the wooden housesalong ul Krasnoarmeyskaya, 29 does the same for ul Tatarskaya via pl Yuzhny, while bus 4goes west from the train station and then runs north the length of pr Lenina. Hop on and offbuses 9, 12 and 17, which all also go along pr Lenina.
Top of sectionLake Baikal: Krasnoyarsk to Ulan-Ude Includes » Krasnoyarsk Irkutsk Western Lake Baikal Listvyanka Port Baikal Bolshie Koty Olkhon Island South Baikal & the Tunka Valley Ulan-Ude Eastern BaikalWhy Go?If you’ve made it this far from Moscow or Běijīng, this 1500km ribbon of rail and sleeper iswhere things get interesting. Arguably the most varied stretch of the line, bid farewell to yourprovodnitsa (carriage attendant) along its length for some of the most memorable experiencesSiberia has to offer. Most making a single halt on their Trans-Sib odyssey do so in Irkutsk, surely Siberia’s mostengaging city. Only 350 years old in 2011, this grande dame packs in heaps of history, andwhen you tire of ornate facades, stuccoed palaces and streets of traditional timber dwellings,glorious Lake Baikal, the unrivalled highlight of any rail trip across Russia, is just a short busride away. When the tracks finally peel away from Baikal’s mind-boggling vistas, Trans-Sibbers findthemselves in the Republic of Buryatiya, an exotically Asian retreat of Buddhist temples andshamanist traditions, increasingly coming under the gravitational pull of southern neighbourMongolia.When to Go
Nov–Mar Snuggle into a Russian Railways blanket and watch the snowbound Siberianlandscapes.Mar Take a stroll on Lake Baikal when Siberia’s harsh winter turns its surface hard as steel.Jul & Aug Join holidaying Russians on the sandy beaches of Lake Baikal’s eastern shore.Route Info» »Distance: 1544km» »Duration: 24 to 26½ hours» »Time zones: Moscow +4, Moscow +5Best Places to Stay & Eat» »Baikaler Eco-Hostel (Click here)» »Hotel Sayen (Click here)» »Derevenka (Click here)» »Nikita’s Homestead (Click here)» »Kochevnik restaurant (Click here)» »Baatarai Urgöö restaurant (Click here)
Krasnoyarsk to Ulan-Ude Highlights Gazing out across the southern shores of Lake Baikal from a slow train betweenIrkutsk and Ulan-Ude (Click here), possibly the most attractive section of the entire Trans-Sibline Taking the ultimate Trans-Sib branch line trip on the Circumbaikal Railway (Click here)for some stunning Baikal vistas
Admiring the ostentatious 19th-century architecture of Irkutsk (Click here), once known as the ‘Paris of Siberia’ Walking, cycling or hitching a lift across frozen Lake Baikal (Click here) Mooching with the monks at Buddhist temple Ivolginsky (Ivolga) Datsan (Click here) Navigating a section of the Great Baikal Trail between Listvyanka (Click here) and Bolshie Koty (Click here) Enjoying a couple of meditative days on wonderful Olkhon Island (Click here) or getting away from it all in the often overlooked Barguzin Valley (Click here)The RouteKrasnoyarsk to Tayshet4098km from moscow Heading east out of Krasnoyarsk your fellow travellers will not haveeven fathomed there’s a foreigner in their midst before the train crosses the 1km-long YeniseyRiver bridge, whose 1898 original won a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Expo (along with theEiffel Tower). The Yenisey traditionally marks the unofficial border between Eastern andWestern Siberia.4229km There’s no stop for the Rossiya, but most other trains do shudder to a halt at Uyar,where you can admire the dinky cream and green art nouveau–style station. Understandablythe town is rarely referred to by its full name, Uyarspasopreobrazhenskoye.
KRASNOYARSK TO ULAN-UDE ROUTE PLANNER Here’s a suggested itinerary for continuing from Krasnoyarsk to Ulan-Ude: Day 1: Take an overnight train from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk (18 hours) Day 2: Arrive Irkutsk, then head out for a tour of the city Day 3: Bus to Taltsy Museum of Wooden Architecture then on to lakeside Listvyanka for one night Day 4: Return to Irkutsk; catch train for short hop to Slyudyanka for more lake views and perhaps a ride on the Circumbaikal Railway to Port Baikal Day 5: Skirt around the picturesque southern shore of Lake Baikal on a day train to Ulan-Ude4265km The Rossiya makes a short stop at Zaozernaya, from where a line runs north to theoff-limits space centre of Krasnoyarsk-45.4344km There’s more screeching of brakes at Kansk-Yeniseysky, which serves thesettlement of Kansk. Founded in 1636, this historic town boasts a scattering of century-oldbuildings, a Trinity Cathedral whose spire can be seen for miles around, an impressive bronzewar memorial and an illuminated victory arch. With ample time, this is possibly the only place onthis entire stretch worth getting off to see (just). If you are confined to the platform, there’salways the obligatory steam train to marvel at, this time mounted on an impressive marbleplinth.4377km Ilansky has a small museum ( 10am-5pm Mon-Fri) in the 100-year-old, red-bricklocomotive depot at the western end of the station, and a freshly painted locomotive and watertower behind the wooden station building. The provodnitsa allows passengers to roam for 20minutes here. The last exciting thing to happen here was when a previous LP author wasdetained by the police for taking photographs on the platform. Better leave the camera in yourcompartment.4453km At Reshoty a branch line heads south to the Republic of Khakassia. When the tracksto the Tuvan capital are completed in 2013 this will also be where potential Irkutsk–Kyzylservices veer off the main Trans-Sib route.4474km The train passes into Irkutsk Region; local time becomes Moscow time plus five hours.4501km If you’re heading from Moscow to Běijīng via Chita, you’re halfway there.4515km The Rossiya stops for just two minutes at Tayshet, long enough for most people.Other trains can loiter here for 20 minutes, giving you time to photograph yet another beachedsteam loco and its large, newly renovated station building. This is the Trans-Siberian’swesternmost junction with the BAM, but most travellers change at Krasnoyarsk for throughservices to Severobaikalsk and Tynda. Tayshet was once an infamous transit point for Gulagcamp prisoners. The town even gets a less-than-complimentary mention in AleksanderSolzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago (not recommended reading on a trip to Russia, believeus).Tayshet to Irkutsk4515km to 4600km If riding straight through from Moscow, you’re now on day three but onlyhalfway to the Pacific. As the railway skirts the foothills of the Sayany Mountains, endlesstaiga and a real sense of wilderness set in.
4644km Around about now you can crack open a celebratory tub of instant porridge or sachetof three-in-one coffee – you’ve made it halfway from Moscow to Vladivostok.4678km There’s a 12-minute stop at mildly historical Nizhneudinsk, but as this comes after11pm on the Rossiya, few are distracted from their vodka and bedtime instant noodles.Cossacks first built a small fortress here in 1649 and for over two centuries the town served asan important centre for gold and fur traders. The St Nicholas Church and the regional museum(ul Lenina 27; 8am-5pm) entice few off the rails, but an 18km hike along the Uda River tothe 20m-high Ukovsky waterfalls could make for an adventurous side trip. Further east thelandscape flattens out and the forests have been extensively logged.4795km The next stop is timber Tulun, where you’ll have just two minutes to contemplate themerits of the architecturally confident station building. From here a road heads 225km north toBratsk (Click here) on the BAM. The town has a far-flung Decembrist Museum but very fewvisitors.4934km There’s an overgenerous 30-minute break in proceedings at the former exile town ofZima, which translates ominously as ‘winter’.5087km (No stop for the Rossiya.) More translation is required at Polovina, whose namemeans roughly ‘halfway’ (between Moscow and Vladivostok), which it was in the early 20thcentury before the line was rerouted in many places.5118km From Polovina the train heads southeast and is joined by the Angara River aroundUsole-Sibirskoe, where a shuddering stop may jolt you from your slumber but hopefully notfrom your bunk altogether. The town supplies much of Russia’s salt and many of its matches.5145km By the time you reach oil-rich Angarsk, where there’s a clock museum and a couple ofgood restaurants if you really want to get off, it’s probably time to start collecting yourbelongings scattered around the compartment if you’re alighting at Irkutsk.5171km Around the 5171km marker, look north through the trees; 50m beyond the tracksbehind two barbed-wire fences are neat rows of decommissioned old tanks and rocket-launcher trucks (without rockets) rusting away thinking of their Cold War heyday.5178km Heading west on some services originating in Irkutsk, you may rejoice at having acompartment all to yourself – that is until hordes of locals board at Irkutsk Sortirovka, amarshalling yard on the city’s western outskirts.5185km The train crosses the Irkut River 3km before Irkutsk (Click here) station. Oncenicknamed the ‘Paris of Siberia’, Irkutsk is the most popular Siberian stop for mosttranscontinental travellers, notably as a launching point to reach Lake Baikal, 70km furthersoutheast.Irkutsk to Ulan-Ude5185km to 5321km Moving on from Irkutsk, the line takes a sharp right where the tracks oncecontinued along the Angara River to Port Baikal, a stretch flooded by the Angara Dam project.The early 1950s rerouting includes the tightest twists and the steepest descent on the entireline (providing great opportunities for photos of the train) just before Kultuk, where passengersget their first tantalising glimpse of Lake Baikal.5311km At Slyudyanka (Click here) the lake is so close it’s tempting to dash down for a quickdip. However, the scheduled stop here – usually no longer than three minutes for the Rossiya –means that you could run the very real risk of being stranded in Siberia as the train chugs offwithout you. If that prospect doesn’t appeal, stay on the platform and snap up a snack of
smoked omul (a fish native to Lake Baikal) from the countless hawkers instead. If theprovodnitsa won’t let you off, perform the transaction through a window (if one will open). Forthe next 200km or so the stuffy carriages fill with a fishy aroma, especially on hot days. Ifyou’ve not bought any omul, fellow travellers are certain to offer you some.5352km There’s no stop for the Rossiya between Slyudyanka and Ulan-Ude as it races throughthe late morning and early afternoon around the southern shores of Lake Baikal. You may beglad the train doesn’t hang around in Baikalsk, where the smell of boiled rotten cabbage isemitted by the Baikalsk cellulose plant, the biggest polluter of Lake Baikal. Despite thewretched pong, many come to ski at the resort just above the town.5352km to 5561km Bag a left-facing window for this stretch (right-facing if you’re travellingwest), considered by most seasoned Trans-Sibbers as the most scenic on the entire line. Thetracks run just metres from the lake at some points, at others delving into thick forest. Theviews across Baikal are superb at any time of year, but especially on crisp sunny days in latewinter when the entire lake freezes into one mammoth block of white ice. If you’re stuck on the‘wrong’ side of the train, don’t despair – the views of the Khamar Daban Mountains are equallyimpressive. Imagine the 18th- and 19th-century tea caravans from China emerging over theridges to catch their first glimpse of Lake Baikal below.5391km Some trains such as the 340 and 362 make a two-minute halt at the lakeside fishingvillage of Vydrino. You’ve now entered the fascinating Republic of Buryatiya, which is in thesame time zone as Irkutsk Region. On this stretch of the Trans-Siberian this is possibly themost worthwhile place to leave the comfort of your compartment. Some 5km to the south liethe Teplye Lakes, wonderful bodies of water cupped by steep wooded hills. The name ‘Teplye’means warm and comes from the fact that the water is kept above freezing year round bythermal springs. There’s a cheap turbaza (holiday camp) nearby.5420km Just after another Baikal fishing settlement called Tankhoi the train rumbles over abridge spanning the fast-flowing Pereyomnaya River, one of 300 rivers feeding Lake Baikal.The village is home to the headquarters of the Baikal Biosphere Reserve in which you now findyourself.5477km The village of Babushkin (for Mysovaya) is a blur from the Rossiya, but in the early20th century, before the line around the south of Lake Baikal was built (and occasionallyafterwards), this was where the icebreakers Angara and Baikal carrying their cargoes ofwagons and passengers from Port Baikal would dock. Both of the ships were built inNewcastle-upon-Tyne and the Angara (Click here) survives as a museum in Irkutsk. The Baikalwent to the bottom of Lake Baikal during the Russian Civil War, though no one is sure exactlywhere it lies.5530km The Trans-Sib waves farewell to Lake Baikal’s bluer-than-blue waters just before thevillage of Posolskaya. A road from here heads to Lake Baikal and the village of Posolskoe,where a recently renovated and very picturesque monastery looks out across the water.5561km Around half an hour after Posolskaya the Rossiya zips through Selenga (forSelenginsk), the nearest stop to the incredible Selenga Delta (Click here).5561km to 5641km At Selenga the Trans-Sib joins up with the Selenga River carrying its loadof silt (and Mongolian pollution) to Lake Baikal. The line hugs the left riverbank as far asTataurovo, after which it crosses to the right bank, just in time to arrive at Ulan-Ude (Clickhere).
Krasnoyarsk Красноярск 391 / POP 974,000 / MOSCOW +4HRBustling, affluent and backed by attractively jagged foothills, Krasnoyarsk enjoys a moreappealing setting than most typically flat Siberian cities. While its architecture isn’t particularlyinspiring, amid the predominantly unaesthetic concrete of post-WWII industrialisation rise a fewoutstandingly well-embellished timber mansions and a sprinkling of art nouveau curves.Pleasant river trips, the nearby Stolby Nature Reserve and the region’s best concert halls,theatres and museums make Krasnoyarsk an agreeable place to break the long journeybetween Tomsk (612km west) and Lake Baikal. The city centre’s grid layout is easy to navigate, but there’s no central square. The zoo andStolby Reserve are over 10km west along the Yenisey’s south bank. SightsDotted about Krasnoyarsk are some very fine wooden houses, notably ul Lenina 88 and 67 andul Karla Marksa 118. There are also many art nouveau facades such as pr Mira 76, ul Lenina62 and ul Parizhskoy Kommuny 13. Central Krasnoyarsk Sights 1 Chasovnya Chapel E1 2 Intercession Cathedral F3 3 Literature Museum F2 4 Regional Museum F4
5 Resurrection Church G2 6 Rezanov Statue H3 7 Surikov Art Museum G3 8 Surikov Museum-Estate D3 9 SV Nikolai H3 Sleeping 10 Dom Hotel C3 11 Hotel Krasnoyarsk E3 12 Hotel Metelitsa G3 13 Hotel Ogni Yeniseyya F4 14 Hotel Oktyabrskaya G3 15 Hotel Sever D3 16 Krasnoyarskstroystrategiya H3 17 Resting Rooms A4 Eating 18 Buddha Bar & Lounge E3 19 Burzhuy H2 20 Central Market D2 21 English School Café C3 22 Mama Roma F3 23 Miks Patio E3 24 Sem Slona E3 25 Stolovaya OK G3 Drinking Bar Chemodan (see 21) 26 Kofemolka C3 27 Krem H3 28 Travellers Coffee F3 Entertainment Bellini (see 27) 29 Havana Club B4 30 Opera-Ballet Theatre E4 31 Philharmonia H3 32 Puppet Theatre D3 33 Rock-Jazz Kafe F3 Tri Dnya Dozhdya (see 27) Shopping 34 Ekspeditsiya F3 35 Russkoe Slovo G2 Stolby Nature Reserve NATURE RESERVE Arguably Krasnoyarsk’s greatest attractions are the fingers and towers of volcanic rockcalled stolby. These poke above the woods in the 17,000-hectare Stolby Nature Reserve(Zapovednik Stolby) south of the Yenisey River. To reach the main concentration of rock
formations, you could try to find the track (7km long) near Turbaza Yenisey (bus 50), but thereis much easier access via a year-round chairlift (Фуникулёр; R160; Tue-Sun) belonging tothe ski resort. From the top, walk for two minutes to a great viewpoint or around 40 minutes toreach the impressive Takmak Stolby. Better still is to take a tour with SibTourGuide (Clickhere; priced according to itinerary). Infected ticks are dangerous between May and July andtick protection or predeparture encephalitis jabs are essential at this time.Regional Museum MUSEUM(Краеведческий музей; www.kkkm.ru; ul Dubrovinskogo 84; admission R100; 11am-7pmTue-Sun) Housed in an incongruously attractive 1912 art nouveau Egyptian temple, this is oneof Siberia’s better museums. Arranged around a Cossack explorer’s ship, surprisingly wellpresented exhibitions across the two floors examine every facet of the region’s past, fromCossacks and gentlemen explorers to the Tunguska explosion and local fauna, pre-revolutioninstitutions to religious art. Highlights include the 20th-century ‘nostalgia’ section on the upperlevel and the 4m-tall mammoth skeleton looking like something straight off a Hollywood museummovie set. There are touch-screen games for kids throughout and a decent cafe to lookforward to at the end.Surikov Museum-Estate MUSEUM(Музей-усадьба Сурикова; ul Lenina 98; admission R59; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sat) TheSurikov Museum-Estate preserves the house, sheds and vegetable patch of 19th-centurypainter Vasily Surikov (1848–1916). The heavy-gated garden forms a refreshing oasis of ruralSiberia right in the city centre. More of Surikov’s work is on show at the old-school Surikov ArtMuseum (Художественный музей Сурикова; ul Parizhskoy Kommuny 20; admission R50;10am-6pm Tue-Sun).Bobrovy Log Ski Resort SKI RESORT(Лыжный курорт Бобровый Лог; www.bobrovylog.ru; ul Sibirskaya 92) Below the stolby theslap and swish of skis and snowboards can be heard at the Bobrovy Log ski resort. Snowcanons keep the slopes going well into May, and in the summer months the Roedelbahn (a kindof downhill forest roller coaster), a pool and regular sports events keep the fun level high. Askat the English-speaking year-round information centre about ski hire, lift passes and othertickets. Bus 37 runs from the train station direct to the resort.Roev Ruchey Zoo ZOO(Зоопарк Роев Ручей; www.roev.ru; adult/child R160/30; 9am-9pm) Take bus 50 or 50A tothis expanding, relatively humane zoo near the Bobrovy Log ski resort to see numerous Siberianspecies.Rezanov Statue MONUMENT(pr Mira) A statue of Nikolai Rezanov, an 18th-century Russian diplomat and nobleman whodied in the city in 1807, gazes towards a slightly temporary-looking arch raised in 2003 to markthe site of the first Cossack stronghold.
Resurrection Church CHURCH(Благовещенская церковь; ul 9 Yanvarya) The top-heavy but elegant Resurrection Church(1804–22) was decapitated in the 1930s but given a new tower in 1998–99. Its icon-filledinterior billows with incense.Literature Museum MUSEUM(Литературный музей; ul Lenina 66; admission R30; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) This quaintmuseum within a glorious 1911 merchant’s mansion occasionally hosts classical-musicperformances.Chasovnya Chapel HISTORICAL BUILDING(Часовня; top of Karaulnaya Hill) For wonderful views climb Karaulnaya Hill to the little chapelwhich features on the Russian 10-rouble banknote (now slowly being replaced with a coin). Atmidday there’s a deafening one-gun salute here.SV Nikolai MUSEUM(СВ Николай; admission R50; 10am-8pm) Permanently docked below an ugly brown-concrete exhibition centre (formerly the Lenin Museum) is the SV Nikolai, the ship thattransported Vladimir to exile in Shushenskoe.Intercession Cathedral CHURCH(Покровский собор; ul Surikova) This pleasingly small old church dating from 1795 has aninterior of unusually glossed and intricately moulded stucco framing haloed saints. SleepingThere are plenty of accommodation options in Krasnoyarsk, including a couple of budgetchoices. Though way out of the centre, there are a couple of small peaceful hotels in the Stolbyarea (south of the river), relatively handy for skiing and trips to the Stolby Nature Reserve. Usebus 50. For a great insight into local life take an English-speaking homestay organised bySibTourGuide (Click here). Most such homestays are in the high-rise Vyetluzhanka area, whichis 20 minutes’ drive west of the centre but well served by city buses 91, 49 and 43. Pricesinclude a free station pick-up.CITY CENTREDom Hotel €€€ HOTEL( 290 6666; www.dom-hotel24.ru; ul Krasnoy Armii 16a; s/d from R4000/4800; )Centred around a rather characterless courtyard, the 74 light-filled rooms at Krasnoyarsk’snewest hotel are immaculately maintained and have become a firm favourite among foreignerslooking for Western comforts. Staff are courteous and there is an inexpensive restaurant onsite. Breakfast costs extra.
Hotel Krasnoyarsk €€€ HOTEL(Гостиница Красноярск; 274 9400; www.hotelkrs.ru; ul Uritskogo 94; s/tw fromR3860/5320; ) Every Soviet metropolis has one: a concrete lumpen hotel celebrating thecity’s name in metre-high lettering. But unlike many of these stale relics, the sprawling eight-storey Krasnoyarsk is well kept with bright corridors, totally rebuilt full-service rooms andEnglish-speaking receptionists. Rates are also decidedly ‘post-Soviet’ but at least breakfast isincluded.Hotel Metelitsa €€€ HOTEL(Гостиница Метелица; 227 6060; www.hotel-metelica.ru; pr Mira 14; s/d fromR3900/R4900; ) Intimate, exclusive minihotel of the type favoured by Russia’s oil-stainedbusiness elite and the ugliest gallery of pop stars you’re ever likely to see. Every room is doneout differently, some with design-mag flair, and bathrooms are far from bog-standard. Staffspeak reluctant English and there’s a pool where you can pretend you are by an alpine lake.Breakfast included.Hotel Sever €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Север; 662 266; email@example.com; ul Lenina 121; s R750-1800, tw R1200-2200) Krasnoyarsk’s most central budget option is cheap and friendly with cosmeticallyimproved but loyally Soviet rooms. Pricing has been kept refreshingly straightforward and staffare polite. Breakfast is included in room rates.Hotel Oktyabrskaya €€€ HOTEL(Гостиница Октябрьская; 227 1926; www.hoteloctober.ru; pr Mira 15; s R4000-5300, dR5200-6300) Comfortable and professionally run with rooms approximating Western standards,albeit without air-conditioning. Satellite TV includes CNN and some English is spoken. Thetrendy lobby area has a stylish juice bar. Includes breakfast.Hotel Ogni Yeniseyya €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Огни Енисея; 227 5262; ul Dubrovinskogo 80; s R750-4600, tw R1350-4350; ) One of the last budget options left, there’s a vast selection of rooms here, but whatever youplump for, make sure it has Yenisey views.Krasnoyarskstroystrategiya €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Красноярскстройстратегия; 227 6911; pr Mira 12; s R630-2100, tw R1260-2960) The only good thing about this place is the dirt-cheap singles. Otherwise, it’s unfriendlywith, it must be said, smelly, renovated Soviet rooms in need of rehab. Enter from ulKaratanova, if you dare.Resting Rooms € HOSTEL(комнаты отдыха, komnaty otdykha; 248 3820; train station; 12/24hr from R320/640) Cleandorm rooms in the train station.SOUTH OF THE YENISEY
Hotel Turist €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Турист; 276 1900; ul Matrasova 2; s R2280, tw R2640) On a busy roundaboutdirectly across the long Yenisey Bridge from the city centre, this 16-storey Soviet monolith hasa variety of rooms with toilet and shower. Some are pleasantly renovated.STOLBY AREASnezhnaya Dolina €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Снежиая Долина; 269 8110; www.sneg-dolina.ru; per cottage from R5300, sR700-3200, d R1400-3700; ) This accommodation complex has a hotel, a minimotel androws of cosy cottages meaning lots to choose from. There’s a swimming pool, a tennis courtand a decent restaurant, but the main draw here is the clean air and the proximity to the Stolbyand ski slopes.Turbaza Yenisey € HOTEL(Турбаза Енисей; 698 110; ul Sverdlovskaya 140/7; d & tw R700) Despite the name this isa two-storey hotel, not a camp. Good-value renovated rooms are simple but neat and sharesparkling-clean showers. Some of the pricier doubles have private facilities. There’s a glimpseof the river from the small communal terrace but no cafe. EatingKrasnoyarsk has the highest concentration of eateries of any Eastern Siberian city with newplaces springing up all the time. However, most newcomers aim to serve the city’s moneyedelite with prices and interiors to match. At the other end of the food chain, self-service canteensabound. For more cheap snacks and picnic supplies head for the extensive central market(Центральный Рынок; ul Kerchinskogo; 8am-6pm). English School Café €€ CAFE (www.esc24.ru; ul Lenina 116; mains R70-300; 10am-11pm; ) With its English-teacher, expat and traveller clientele, wired castle-themed cellar setting and suitablyinternational menu, every visitor should drop in at this Anglophone sanctuary while in town. Theglobalised beer menu, inventive coffees, real porridge and top-notch cooking provide goodenough reason to come, but it’s the five-minute free (yes free!) call to any number in the worldfrom your table, plus free wi-fi, that might have you looking for Lenina 116 sooner rather thanlater.Buddha Bar & Lounge € TIBETAN, EUROPEAN(ul Karla Marksa 127; mains R100-160; noon-midnight; ) This low-lit, incense-infusedvegetarian cellar eatery and lounge is a calming place to escape the city-centre blare. Order aplate of exotic Tibetan food (tsampa, momo and other dishes you won’t know) from theEnglish-speaking waitress, then give the bar-top prayer wheel a lazy spin before retreating witha hookah pipe (R400) to the cushioned chill-out lounge where nightly DJs drift chill-out music toa chilled crowd. As if Siberia wasn’t chilly enough.
Burzhuy € CAFE(Буржуй; 2nd fl, Metropol bldg, pr Mira 10; pelmeni R52, other mains R40-70; 8am-7pmMon-Sat, 9am-6pm Sun) Cheap and very popular self-service lunch spot where office workersswap chitchat over plates of pelmeni (meat ravioli) at formica tables. The ‘ear bread’ comeswith several fillings and sauces, or choose from other hot dishes and salads.Mama Roma €€ ITALIAN(pr Mira 50a; pizzas R200-470, pasta R165-465; 11am-1am; ) Herb-infused air waftstemptingly out of one of the best Italian eateries in town, where chequered tablecloths andadmirable attempts at pasta, risotto and pizza may make you feel you’re in Rome or Naples –but only if you’ve never been there.Sem Slona € CANTEEN(ul Karla Marksa 95; mains R30-70; 24hr) Got a sudden craving for buckwheat at 3am?Then brave the darkened streets and make your way to this all-hours, no-nonsense canteenplating up solid Russian favourites with a growl. The name translates as ‘I could eat anelephant’ – this being Siberia, a horse just won’t do.Krasnaya Palatka € FAST FOOD(Красная Поляна; Bobrovy Log ski resort; meals R150; 10am-10pm) Watch skiers slitherdown the slopes from the huge circular windows at this film-themed self-service cafeteria. Thedecor is trendy, but the Russian and international dishes are unexciting and perhapsappreciated more after a long hike or climb in the Stolby.Miks Patio € FAST FOOD(Микс Патио; ul Perensona 20; mains R15-42; 10am-10pm) With budget-airline decor, amenu heavy with Slavic comfort food and prompt service, this is the stolovaya (canteen)dragged into the 21st century.Stolovaya OK € CANTEEN(Столовая ОК; ul Uritskogo 33; mains R25-40; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri) Well signposted fromul Parizhskoy Komunity, this super-cheap and ultra-basic student canteen keeps both stomachsand wallets happy. Enter from the rear of the building. DrinkingTraveller’s Coffee CAFE(pr Mira 54; 8am-midnight) The tempting aroma of newly milled beans lures you into thistrendy coffee house where the circular brown-cream leather tub seats give the impressionyou’re sitting in a cuppa. Smiley service and sensibly priced milkshakes, muffins and pancakes.Krem CAFE(pr Mira 10; 24hr) Krasnoyarsk’s classiest coffee house has black-and-white photography,
dark-wood furniture, a belt-stretching dessert menu and reasonably priced lattes andespressos.Bar Chemodan PUB(Бар Чемодан; ul Lenina 116; noon-midnight Mon-Sat, from 1pm Sun) A wonderfullyatmospheric, if fiercely expensive, 1920s-themed pub-restaurant stocking dozens of whiskies.The stair lift outside is for both the disabled and the inebriated.Kofemolka CAFE(Кофемолка; pr Mira 114; 10am-midnight; ) Sip roasts from every corner of the bean-growing world amid faux mahogany as dark as the roasts and geometrically patterned screensthat divide things up into intimate gossip booths. Long dessert menu. EntertainmentOpera-Ballet Theatre THEATRE(Театр оперы и балета; 227 8697; www.opera.krasnoyarsk.ru; ul Perensona 2) Thisarchitecturally nondescript theatre has two shows a day (11am and 7pm) from October toJune.Philharmonia LIVE MUSIC(Филармония; 227 4930; www.krasfil.ru; pl Mira 2b) The Philharmonia has three concerthalls showcasing folk, jazz and classical music.Puppet Theatre THEATRE( 211 3162; www.puppet24.ru; ul Lenina 119) Classic Russian puppet shows for bothchildren and adults.Bellini COCKTAIL BAR(www.bellini.bar10.ru; ul Mira 10) Pass the monster Mona Lisa to enter this strikingly whitecocktail and sushi bar where DJs spin most nights.Tri Dnya Dozhdya NIGHTCLUB(www.3dd.bar10.ru; ul Mira 10) Where Krasnoyarsk’s rich, young and beautiful head to pose,drink and dance to top acts.Havana Club NIGHTCLUB(Гавана Клуб; ul Bograda 134; 8pm-1am Mon-Thu, to 3am Fri & Sat) A big nightclub withthree dance floors and Moscow DJs.Rock-Jazz Kafe LIVE MUSIC(Рок-Джазз Кафе; ul Surikova 12; 4pm-6am Tue-Sun) Entered through a small bar beside
the Dublin Irish Pub, this dark venue showcases live bands around an upturned motorcycle from6pm most days. ShoppingEkspeditsiya OUTDOOR GEAR(Экспедиция; ul Uritskogo; 10am-7pm) Source all the equipment you need for a trek intothe Siberian wilderness or replace lost or broken camping gear at this small shop.Russkoe Slovo BOOKSHOP(Русское Слово; ul Lenina 28; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 3pm Sat) A good central bookstoreselling useful public transport plans as well as city and regional maps. InformationPost office (ul Lenina 62; internet per hr R38; 8.30am-5.30pm Mon-Fri, to 4.15pm Sat)ROSBank (pr Mira 7; 9am-6pm Mon-Thu, 9am-4.45pm Fri) Currency exchange and 24-hour indoor ATM.Sayan Ring ( 223 1231; www.sayanring.com; ul 3-ya Krasnodarskaya 14a; 10am-8pmMon-Fri, 11am-5pm Sat) Specialist agency for Tuva and Khakassia tours.Sberbank (Сбербанк; ul Surikova 15; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat) Currency-exchange window andATM.SibTourGuide ( 2512 654; www.sibtourguide.com) Experienced tour guide AnatolyBrewhanov offers personalised hiking trips into the Stolby, imaginative tours aroundKrasnoyarsk and general travel assistance. He also runs a mini-hostel, provides authentic ‘ruralexperiences’ at his dacha, organises cruises along the Yenisey and leads trips to the site of theTunguska Event, all while maintaining an info-packed website.Yergaki tourist office ( 227 8637; www.visitsiberia.info; pr Mira 86; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm)Bona fide but little advertised tourist office with English-speaking staff armed with limited visitorinfo. Ring the bell to be buzzed in then head to the back of the building, up the stairs andthrough a grey metal door. Getting There & AwayTrainTSAVS (ЦАВС; www.krascavs.ru; ul Lenina 115; 8am-8pm) is the most central bookingoffice, though the station itself is relatively central and often queue-free. There are up to five overnight trains to Irkutsk, but with a journey time of 18 hours you can’tavoid travelling for at least some part of the first or second days. Heading west to Tomsk,trains 11 and 91 only run every other day and neither are overnight services. OtherwiseKrasnoyarsk has the following rail connections:Irkutsk platskart/kupe R1400/3500, 18 hours, up to nine dailyLesosibirsk (for Yeniseysk) platskart R810, 9½ hours, every other dayMoscow platskart R3110, kupe R6600 to R11,200, two days 16 hours, up to seven daily
Novosibirsk platskart R1360 to R2700, kupe R800 to R1250, 12 hours, up to 13 dailySeverobaikalsk platskart R1660 to R1800, kupe R2600 to R4860, 26 to 36½ hours, threedailyTomsk platskart/kupe R2170/1020, 14 hours, every other dayAirFrom Krasnoyarsk’s Yemelyanovo Airport you can fly to almost anywhere in Russia. A handfulof flights leave from nearby Cheremshanka Airport – check yours isn’t one of them.Moscow from R5500, up to 10 dailyNovosibirsk from R1400, dailyKyzyl from R3300, three dailyIrkutsk from R7000, four weeklyBoatSummer hydrofoils to Divnogorsk depart up to five times a day, returning an hour later. Buytickets on board. Getting AroundKrasnoyarsk’s grandly modern train station is located in the southwest tip of the city centre.Frequent, if slow, trolleybus 7 trundles from there through the city centre via ul Karla Marksa. Within the city centre, almost all public transport runs eastbound along ul Karla Marksa or prMira, returning westbound on ul Lenina. Bus 135 (1¼ hours, hourly) runs from the bus station to Yemelyanovo Airport, 46kmnorthwest of the city. It passes Cheremshanka Airport en route. Useful bus 50 starts beyond the zoo, passes the Turbaza Yenisey and comes through thecentre of town, winding on to the bus station. From June to September cycle hire is available near the Rezanov Statue (R150 per hour).Around KrasnoyarskDIVNOGORSK ДИВНОГОРСК 39144 / POP 30,000 / MOSCOW +4HRFrom Krasnoyarsk, a popular day trip by bus or summer hydrofoil follows the Yenisey River27km to Divnogorsk town through a wide, wooded canyon. Some 5km beyond Divnogorsk’sjetty is a vast 90m-high dam. Turbine-room visits are not permitted, but if you’re lucky youmight see ships being lifted by a technologically impressive inclined plane to the hugeKrasnoyarsk Sea behind. A few kilometres beyond you can observe ice fishing from Decemberto March or, in the summer, boats and yachts can be hired. The Krasnoyarsk–Divnogorsk road has a panoramic overlook point at km23 and passesquaint Ovsyanka village. From the main road walk 100m (crossing the train tracks) toOvsyanka’s cute wooden St Innocent Chapel (ul Shchetinkina) then 50m right to find thehouse-museum (ul Shchetinkina 26; admission R50; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) of famous local
writer Victor Astafiev, who died in 2001. Directly opposite in Astafiev’s grandma’s cottage-compound is the more interesting Last Bow Museum (ul Shchetinkina 35; ticket valid for both; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), giving a taste of rural Siberian life. Hydrofoils (R250, 45 minutes, up to five daily) depart from Krasnoyarsk’s river station andregular marshrutky (R54) leave from Krasnoyarsk’s bus station. Taxis meet boats on arrival inDivnogorsk and want at least R700 return to shuttle you to a point overlooking the dam.However, it’s potentially cheaper, safer and more fun to hire a mountain bike from a stand200m downstream from the quay. SibTourGuide in Krasnoyarsk offers various tailoredexcursions in English or will include the Divnogorsk loop as part of its ‘Ten-Rouble Tour’. YENISEYSK Using Lesosibirsk overnight trains, historic Yeniseysk (Енисейск) makes an engaging two-night, one-day excursion from Krasnoyarsk, 340km away. Founded in 1619, this was once Russia’s great fur-trading capital, with world-famous 18th-century August trade fairs (recently revived for tourists), and 10 grand churches punctuating its skyline. Eclipsed by Krasnoyarsk despite a burst of gold-rush prosperity in the 1860s, the town is now a peaceful backwater with an unexpectedly good Regional Museum (ul Lenina 106; admission R50; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat), some faded commercial grandeur along ul Lenina and many old houses; over 70 are considered architectural monuments. Most appealing of the surviving churches are the walled 1731 Spaso-Pereobrazhensky Monastery (ul Raboche-Krestyanskaya 105) and the Assumption Church (Uspenskaya tserkov; ul Raboche-Krestyanskaya 116) with its unusual metal floor and splendid antique icons. To reach Yeniseysk, take the overnight train from Krasnoyarsk to Lesosibirsk (platskart R810, 9½ hours). A bus meets the train and takes passengers to Lesosibirsk bus station where they must alight, queue up to buy a ticket and reboard. After that there are at least hourly departures to Yeniseysk throughout the day (R90, 45 minutes). If you don’t want to travel back overnight, buses run back to Krasnoyarsk day and night (R519, seven hours, 10 daily). Further North along the Yenisey From mid-June to early October, passenger ships slip along the Yenisey River from Krasnoyarsk to Dudinka in the Arctic Circle (4½ days) via Yeniseysk (17 hours) and Igarka (three days, two to seven hours). There are three to four sailings per week, most departing early morning. Returning upstream, journeys take 50% longer so most independent travellers choose to fly back to Krasnoyarsk. Foreigners are not allowed beyond Igarka as Dudinka and nearby Norilsk are ‘closed’ towns. Contact SibTourGuide in Krasnoyarsk for timetables, tickets and round-trip tours. Novosibirsk-based Acris (www.acris.ru) can also arrange trips.Irkutsk Иркутск 3952 / POP 587,000 / MOSCOW +5HRThe de facto capital of Eastern Siberia, pleasantly historic Irkutsk is by far the most popularstop on the Trans-Siberian Railway between Moscow and all points east. With Lake Baikal amere 70km away, the city is the best base from which to strike out for the western shoreline.Amid the 19th-century architecture, revived churches, classy eateries and numerous apartmenthostels, plentiful English-speaking agencies can help you plan anything from a winter trekacross the lake’s ice to a short walking tour through the city. Irkutsk spent the summer of 2011 celebrating its 350th birthday, an event which seems tohave triggered something of a minirevival in civic pride and a recognition that the city may holdsome interest for visitors. A new municipally funded information centre, detailed city mapsplanted at strategic points and a handful of freshly conceived museums may have improved thevisitor experience only slightly, but it’s a welcome start.
HistoryFounded in 1661 as a Cossack garrison to extract the fur tax from the indigenous Buryats,Irkutsk was the springboard for 18th-century expeditions to the far north and east, includingAlaska – then known as ‘Irkutsk’s American district’. As Eastern Siberia’s trading and administrative centre, Irkutsk dispatched Siberian furs andivory to Mongolia, Tibet and China in exchange for silk and tea. Constructed mostly of localtimber, three-quarters of the city burnt down in the disastrous blaze of 1879. However, profitsfrom the 1880s Lena Basin gold rush swiftly rebuilt the city’s most important edifices in brickand stone. Known as the ‘Paris of Siberia’, Irkutsk did not welcome news of the October Revolution. Thecity’s well-to-do merchants only succumbed to the Red tide in 1920, with the capture andexecution of White army commander Admiral Kolchak, whose controversial statue was re-erected in 2004. Soviet-era planning saw Irkutsk develop as the sprawling industrial andscientific centre that it remains today. SightsIrkutsk’s centre can be easily explored on foot – you’ll only need to hop aboard a bus ormarshrutka to see the Angara Dam and the Znamensky Monastery. Irkutsk
Sights1 Bogoyavlensky Cathedral D12 City History Museum F13 Museum of City Life H24 Raising of the Cross Church E55 Regional Museum D56 Saviours Church D17 Statue of Tsar Alexander III C58 Sub-Gallery E39 Sukachev Regional Art Museum D310 Tea Museum H211 Trinity Church B212 Trubetskoy House-Museum G213 Volkonsky House-Museum H2 Sleeping14 Admiral Hostel C215 Baikaler Hostel D316 Hotel Delta G317 Hotel Gloria H518 Hotel Gornyak E419 Hotel Sayen D320 Hotel Uzory H221 Hotel Viktoria E322 Hotel Yevropa H5 Eating23 Arbatski Dvorik F324 Blinnaya D325 Domino D426 Govinda F327 Kafe Elen E528 Kochevnik D329 Lancelot E330 Mamochka F231 Odnoklassniki D532 Povaryoshka D333 Poznaya Sytny Ryad G334 Snezhinka E335 Wiener Café C3 Drinking36 Bierhaus E337 Cheshskaya Pivovarnya H238 Chili E439 Liverpool E240 Pervach D141 Ryumochnaya F342 U Shveyka F1 Entertainment
43 Aystyonok Puppet Theatre G5 44 Circus E2 45 Okhlopkov Drama Theatre D4 46 Philharmonic Hall E4 Shopping 47 Fanat E5 48 Karibu G3 49 Knigomir E3 Information Tourist office (see 10)Znamensky Monastery HISTORICAL BUILDINGSet in a leafy garden behind a noisy roundabout, the 1762 Znamensky Monastery is 1.5kmnortheast of the Bogoyavlensky Cathedral. Echoing with mellifluous plainsong, the interior hassplendidly muralled vaulting, a towering iconostasis and a gold sarcophagus holding themiraculous relics of Siberian missionary St Innocent. Celebrity graves outside include thenautically themed tomb of Grigory Shelekhov, the man who claimed Alaska for Russia, and amuch humbler headstone belonging to Decembrist wife Ekaterina Trubetskaya. White Russiancommander Admiral Kolchak was executed by Bolsheviks near the spot where his statue wascontroversially erected in November 2004 at the entrance to the monastery grounds; the plinthis exaggeratedly high enough to prevent die-hard communists from committing acts ofvandalism.Volkonsky House-Museum MUSEUM(Дом-музей Волконского; per Volkonskogo 10; admission R200; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) Thewell-preserved home of Decembrist Count Sergei Volkonsky, whose wife Maria Volkonskayacuts the main figure in Christine Sutherland’s unputdownable book The Princess of Siberia, is asmall mansion set in a scruffy courtyard with stables, a barn and servant quarters. In thedecade leading up to the Volkonsky’s return to St Petersburg in 1856, the house was theepicentre of Irkutsk cultural life, with balls, musical soirées and parties attended by wealthymerchants and the governor of Eastern Siberia himself. Today the slightly over-renovateddownstairs piano room, upstairs photo exhibition – including portraits of Maria and other womenwho romantically followed their husbands and lovers into exile – and other displays of everydayobjects used by the family tell the story of their time in Irkutsk.Regional Museum MUSEUM(Краеведческий музей; www.museum.irkutsk.ru; ul Karla Marksa 2; admission R200;10am-7pm) Irkutsk’s rapidly ageing Regional Museum is within a fancy 1870s brick building thatformerly housed the Siberian Geographical Society, a club of Victorian-style gentlemenexplorers. The highlights here are the downstairs ethnographical exhibitions and the nostalgicdisplay of 20th-century junk upstairs, as well as the small gift shop selling birch-bark boxes,jewellery made from Baikal minerals and other interesting souvenirs.
City History Museum MUSEUM(www.history.irk.ru; ul Frank-Kamenetskogo 16a; admission R150; 10am-6pm Thu-Tue)Relocated in 2011 from its former far-flung location to the interior of one of Irkutsk’s mostimpressive central edifices, the City History Museum is the greatest symbol of the authorities’efforts to perk up the visitor experience. Painstakingly renovated in time for Irkutsk’s 350thbirthday, this palatial 19th-century school building now houses a comprehensive overview of thecity’s three and a half centuries, focusing on trade, life of the merchant classes, education,churches and the Trans-Sib.Museum of City Life MUSEUM(ul Dekabrskikh Sobyty 77; admission R100; 10am-6pm Wed-Mon) This brand-newmuseum filling six rooms of a former merchant’s house illustrates just why 19th-century Irkutskwas nicknamed the ‘Paris of Siberia’. Changing exhibitions of everyday and decorative itemssuch as lamps, dolls, tableware and porcelain are donated free of charge by the people ofIrkutsk and are displayed against a background of period wallpaper, elegant double doors andhigh ceilings. The new Tea Museum opposite (in the same building as the tourist office) wasset to open in late 2011.Sukachev Regional Art Museum ART GALLERY(Художественный музей; ul Lenina 5; admission R100; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) The grandold Art Gallery has a valuable though poorly lit collection ranging from Mongolian thangkas(Tibetan Buddhist religious paintings) to Russian Impressionist canvases. Behind a photogenic1909 facade its sub-gallery (ul Karla Marksa 23; admission R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) isstrong on Siberian landscapes and petroglyph rubbings and has some superb 17th-centuryicons.Raising of the Cross Church CHURCH(Крестовоздвиженская церковь; Krestovozdvizhenskaya tserkov; ul Sedova 1) The 1758baroque Raising of the Cross Church has a fine interior of gilt-edged icons and examples ofintricate brickwork in a rounded style that’s unique to Irkutsk and the Selenga Delta village ofPosolskoe.Kazansky Church CHURCH(ul Barrikad) The gigantic Kazansky Church is a theme-park-esque confection of salmon-pinkwalls and fluoro turquoise domes topped with gold baubled crosses. Get off tram 4 two stopsnortheast of the bus station.Angara Dam LANDMARKSome 6km southeast of the centre, the 1956 Angara Dam is 2km long. Its construction raisedLake Baikal by up to 1m and caused environmental problems, most notably the silencing of theso-called singing sands on Baikal’s eastern shore. The dam itself is hardly an attraction butmoored nearby is the Angara icebreaker (admission R150; 10am-8pm). Originally importedin kit form from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to carry Trans-Siberian Railway passengers across LakeBaikal (the trains went on her bigger sister ship Baikal, sunk during the Civil War), it’s now a
less-than-inspiring museum reached by a permanent gangway.Trubetskoy House-Museum MUSEUM(Дом-музей Трубецкого; ul Dzerzhinskogo) Dismantled and carted off for renovation in late2007, Irkutsk’s second Decembrist house-museum was expected to make a comeback in late2011 or 2012. From the outside the restorers seem to have done a cracking job on thepleasingly symmetrical minimansion.Trinity Church CHURCH(Троицкий храм; Troitsky khram; ul 5 Armii 8) Restoration work remains half-finished on the18th-century Trinity Church where Admiral Kolchak was christened and married.Statue of Tsar Alexander III MONUMENT(Памятник Александру III) Across the road from the Regional Museum, a recast statue ofTsar Alexander III (a copy of the 1904 original) looks as though he’s holding an invisible balloonon a string.Saviour’s Church CHURCH(Спасская церковь; Spasskaya tserkov; 8am-8pm) Under heavy renovation at the time ofresearch, this 1706 church has remnants of murals on its facade and until a decade ago houseda museum.Bogoyavlensky Cathedral CHURCH(Богоявленский собор; ul Nizhnaya Naberezhnaya) Much more eye-catching than theSaviour’s Church is this fairy-tale ensemble of mini onion domes atop restored salmon, whiteand green towers. The interior is a fragrant riot of aureoled Byzantine saints with no surface leftplain. ToursLocal tour companies are useful not only for organising excursions but also for booking hotelsand most kinds of tickets. All of Irkutsk’s hostels can arrange Baikal tours.Cheap Travel TOUR COMPANY( 668 335; www.cheapandtrip.ru) English-speaking travel fanatic Maxim books plane andtrain tickets for R200 commission, can help out with Mongolian visas and Russian visaregistration (R400) and will even find you a bed for the night. The company currently has nobase, but is set to operate from 2012 in a new hostel (location to be decided).Baikaler TOUR COMPANY( 336 240; www.baikaler.com) Imaginative Jack Sheremetoff speaks very good English andis well tuned to budget-traveller needs. Original personalised tours, two great hostels and afriendly welcome.
BaikalComplex TOUR COMPANY( 461 557; www.baikalcomplex.com) Busy, well-organised operation offering homestays andtrips tailored for international travellers.Baikalinfo TOUR COMPANY( 707 012; www.baikalinfo.ru; ul Krasnykh Madiyar 50) Commercial tour company thatarranges Baikal tours as well as trips on the Circumbaikal Railway.Green Express TOUR COMPANY( 734 400; www.greenexpress.ru; ul Karla Libknekhta 48) Professional outfit specialising inoutdoor activities.Baikal Discovery TOUR COMPANY( 200 550; www.baikal-discovery.com) Adventure tours in the Baikal region and beyond.BaikalExplorer TOUR COMPANY( 8-902-560 2440; www.baikalex.com) Baikal cruises, fishing and diving trips. SleepingAlthough options are constantly expanding, Irkutsk’s accommodation still gets very full insummer. Bookings are generally a very good idea. The newest swanky places to catch some Zs in Irkutsk will be the Marriot and the Park Innby Radisson, both under construction at the time of research. Hostels have sprouted like mushrooms after a rainfall, but lifespans can be short and someare open only in high season. To save you some research time, we’ve only included a list of themost established backpacker quarters. As across the former USSR, they are ideal for findingEnglish-speaking assistance, arranging tours and meeting fellow travellers. Baikaler Hostel € HOSTEL ( 336 240; www.baikaler.com; apt 11, ul Lenina 9; dm R700; ) Run byexperienced tour guide Jack Sheremetoff, the super-central Baikaler apartment hostel isIrkutsk’s original backpacker haven and still the place to meet fellow travellers and organisetrips. The spotless, air-conditioned dorms are spacious, but beds are limited and bookingahead from June to September is essential. The entrance is from the rear of the building. Italso runs the Baikaler Eco-Hostel in Listvyanka.Hotel Sayen €€€ HOTEL( 500 000; www.sayen.ru; ul Karla Marksa 13b; r R7700-13,800; ) Described by someas the finest luxury sleep east of the Urals, this very central Japanese hotel gets rave reviewsand deservedly so. The 24 rooms enjoy design-mag decor, big baths and gadgets galore,going beyond the standards of many Western hotels. The 24-hour room service is a given,there are two top-hole restaurants and a spa is on hand should you feel the urge to have hotstones placed on your back. Possibly about as smart as things will ever get in Irkutsk.
Hotel Viktoria €€€ HOTEL( 792 879; www.victoryhotel.ru; ul Bogdana Khmelnitskogo 1; s R3500-3800, d R3800-4300; ) Just a few steps off ul Karla Marksa, the 30 rooms at this relative newcomer remainstylish and unfrumpy despite the antique-style furniture and flowery wall coverings. If you’vebeen in Russia a while, the courteous staff, baths in every room and online booking could feelalmost eccentric.Admiral Hostel € HOSTEL( 742 440; apt 1, ul Cheremkhovsky 6; dm R550; ) With its Kolchak-inspired name, thiscosy 13-bed apartment hostel has become well-established digs for Trans-Siberian wanderers.The lower bunks sport privacy curtains, staff sell bus tickets to Olkhon Island, there’s a free(light) breakfast and you can even get your washing done. Enter from the rear of the building.Baikal Business Centre €€€ HOTEL( 259 120; www.bbc.ru; ul Baikalskaya 279; s R3900-6100, tw R5100-6100; ) If you’re inIrkutsk on business, this white and blue-glass tower is where you’ll want to unsheathe thecompany credit card. Rooms are just about international standard, there’s a business centreand rates are slashed at weekends – on a winter Saturday you can pay as little as R1800 for asingle, a real bargain for this standard.Baikalhostel € HOSTEL( 525 742; www.baikalhostels.com; apt 1, ul Lermontova 136; dm R650; ) This German-owned hostel receives rave reviews from travellers, despite the very inconvenient andinsalubrious location several kilometres south of the train station; take marshrutka 72 from thestation to the Mikrochirurgia Glaza stop.Hotel Yevropa €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Европа; 291 515; www.europehotel.ru; ul Baikalskaya 69; s/d fromR2900/3700; ) Behind nine Doric columns immaculate rooms are realistically priced at thisgleaming four-star favourite. Reception staff speak English and the Western-style breakfast isreportedly the best in town.Hotel Zvezda €€€ HOTEL( 540 000; www.zvezdahotel.ru; ul Yadrintseva 1 ж; s/tw R4000/4300, ste R6000-18000; ) Within a Swiss chalet–style building, rooms here are modern and comfortable, service ispleasant and English is spoken, though you’d expect little less for these room rates. Itsatmospheric restaurant specialises in game and exotic meats.Hotel Gloria €€€ HOTEL(Отель Глория; 540 664; www.gloriahotel.org; Sovetskaya ul 58a; s R3500, d R4500-6500; ) This pastel-beige tower is home to nine international-class rooms and two biggersuites that have both a bath and shower. English is spoken and there’s a decent, if pricey, on-site restaurant.
Hotel Uzory € HOTEL(Узоры Гостиница; 209 239; ul Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsii 17; s/tw R650/1000) Clean,unpretentious rooms with leopard-skin-patterned blankets but communal bathrooms and toilets.It’s popular with independent travellers but maintains a tradition of employing Irkutsk’s sourestreceptionists.Hotel Delta €€€ HOTEL(Отель Дельта; 794 090; www.deltairkutsk.ru; ul Karla Libknekhta 58; s R2950-3850, dR4820-6000; ) Bog-standard rooms with little panache, aimed primarily at low-budgetbusiness travellers.Hotel Gornyak €€ HOTEL(Гостиница Горняк; 243 754; ul Lenina 24; s R1500-2700, tw R2200-3300) As a last resortyou could try this reasonably presentable if overpriced central hotel, but at the time of researchforeigners were being turned away due to visa registration issues. Enter from ul Dzerzhinskogo. Eating Kochevnik €€ MONGOLIAN (Кочевник; ul Gorkogo 19; mains R200-650; 11.30am-midnight; ) Take your tastebuds to the Mongolian steppe for some yurt-size portions of mutton, lamb and steak as well asfilling soups and buuzy (dumplings), sluiced down with a bottle from the decent foreign wine list.Smiley service, a picture menu, low prices and an exotically curtained summer terrace makethis the most agreeable place to eat in town.Mamochka € CAFE(ul Karla Marksa 41; mains R80-100, coffee R70-140; 10am-9pm; ) With its menu ofimaginative salads, filling soups and (almost) healthy mains, this is no ordinary point-and-eatcanteen. Swab the decks with a Czech, Slovak or German lager then sit back and admire theinterior, a mishmash of old newspapers and Soviet bric-a-brac. Great.Govinda € VEGETARIAN(2nd fl, ul Furye 4; mains R30-80; 11am-8pm; ) Irkutsk’s only vegie restaurant is asmall self-service affair with a half-hearted Indian theme and a menu of soya sausages,basmati rice, spicy soups, mild curries, quorn chilli con carne, imaginative desserts and wholeplantations of tea. Extra heat can be added from the chilli bowl on the counter.Wiener Café €€ CAFE(Венское Кафе; ul Stepana Razina 19; mains R80-400; 10am-11pm) Marble-top tables,Parisian bar chairs and a Tyrolean folk ensemble of waitresses make this an entertaining noshstop. A good mid-morning breakfast option with tempting pastries, real oat porridge and ranksof mouth-watering desserts.
Snezhinka €€ CAFE(Снежинка; opposite ul Karla Marksa 25; mains R200-500; 9am-midnight) This cosy belleépoque–style cafe has attentive English-speaking service and regularly wins local awards for itsfood. It’s been around since 1957, making it the city’s longest-serving eatery.Blinnaya € RUSSIAN(ul Sukhe-Batora 8; mains R25-70; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, to 4pm Sat) The city centre’scheapest eat is this unrepentantly Soviet canteen where befrilled dinner ladies dispatch platesof filling pancakes, buckwheat kasha (porridge), meatballs and pasta, all washed down withplastic cupfuls of over-diluted kompot (fruit squash).Odnoklassniki €€ RUSSIAN(bul Gagarina 13a; mains R150-450; noon-last customer) The name of this contemporary,purpose-built eatery is a rip-off of the Russian-language equivalent of the Friends Reunitedwebsite, but this is still an enjoyable place to pig out on grilled meat, salads and generoushelpings of Slavic stodge. The nostalgic Soviet-schooldays theme may be a bit lost onforeigners, but who cares with such a vast drinks menu to peruse on the terrace.Kafe Elen € CAFE(ul Timiryazeva; meals R180-350; 9am-11pm Mon-Sat, from 10am Sun; ) Bubblingaquariums, rattan furniture, raffia-threaded blinds and lots of potted plants make this a tranquilbreakfast and lunch spot as you watch the trams trundle past the church opposite.Arbatski Dvorik €€€ RUSSIAN(Арбатский Дворик; ul Uritskogo; mains R350-1500; noon-last customer; ) Thisupmarket restaurant is all inside out, the walls lined with imitation facades, doorways and streetlamps. However there’s nothing topsy-turvy about the impeccable service and well-craftedmenu. Oddly, it’s accessed via the gaudy Fiesta fast-food place below.Lancelot €€ RUSSIAN(Kievskaya ul 2; mains R200-400; noon-midnight Sun-Wed, to 2am Thu-Sat; ) Flamingtorches lead down through a portcullis into an amusing neomedieval castle interior. Arthurian-named dishes can be enjoyed at the round table and there’s live music at weekends.Povaryoshka € FAST FOOD(ul Lenina 32; mains R45-100; 9am-10pm) This new self-service canteen has rural knick-knackery kept high out of clients’ reach and a menu of Eurasian standards and half-decentpizzas.Poznaya Sytny Ryad € CAFE(Позная Сытный Ряд; ul Partizanskaya 9a; pozi R30, other mains R60-180; 10am-11pm)Irkutsk’s most appealing cheap pozi (dumpling) joint is in a primly faux-rural timber housesurrounded by the disarray of the market area.
Domino € FAST FOOD(Домино; ul Lenina 13a; pizza slices R70; 24hr) Domino has Russian-flavour pizza andvastly superior bliny available round the clock. Drinking Liverpool PUB (Паб Ливерпуль; ul Sverdlova 28; noon-3am; ) You’ll never walk (or drink) alone atIrkutsk’s most popular theme pub. The crowds enter through a mocked-up red telephone box tofind an interior tiled in Beatles photos and old vinyl LPs and strewn with reminders of northwestEngland’s erstwhile musical prowess. The beer menu is a global affair, the service laid-backand mimicky local rock bands regularly thump and strum for drinkers.U Shveyka PUB(У Швейка; ul Karla Marksa 34; noon-midnight; ) This beamed cellar pub serves old-styleglass tankards of Czech Pilsner Urquell beer made under licence in Irkutsk. The adjacent beergarden is possibly the city’s best and is busy with drinkers from May to late September.Chili BAR(Чили; ul Karla Marksa 26; cocktails from R200; 24hr) Aztec-themed nightspot and all-daybar where you can join Irkutsk’s moneyed youth on beige couches bathed in flamingo neon for aflashy cocktail or overpriced meals (R250 to R600).Bierhaus PUB(ul Gryaznova 1; noon-2am Mon-Thu, until 4am Fri & Sat, until midnight Sun; ) UpmarketBavarian-style bierstube (beer hall) serving Newcastle Brown and Guinness as well as Germanbeers and sausages. Enter from ul Karla Marksa.Cheshskaya Pivovarnya PUB(Чешская Пивоварная; ul Krasnogvardeyskaya 29; noon-2am Tue-Sat, to midnight Sun &Mon) You’ll smell this place before you see it as Irkutsk’s unpretentious microbrewery-pubcreates its own Pilsner Urquell lager, pumping out a pungent hop aroma in the process.Pervach PUB(Первач; ul Chkalova 33; noon-1am) Pervach is a cosy, stone-and-brick cellar pub, heatedby real fires in winter.Ryumochnaya BAR(Рюмочная; ul Litvinova 16; 24hr) If low-cost inebriation is your aim, this no-frills bar is yourplace. Entertainment
Okhlopkov Drama Theatre THEATRE(Драматический театр Охлопкова; 200 477; ul Karla Marksa 14) Shakespeare, Russianclassics and local playwright Vampilov staged regularly (in Russian) from September to June.Circus CIRCUS(Цирк; 336 139; ul Zhelyabova; ticket office 10am-7pm) Permanent big top with mostperformances at weekends.Aystyonok Puppet Theatre PUPPET THEATRE(Театр Кукол Аистёнок; 205 825; ul Baikalskaya 32) Marionette shows for the kiddies.Philharmonic Hall LIVE MUSIC(Филармония; 242 968; www.filarmoniya.irk.ru; ul Dzerzhinskogo 2) Historic buildingstaging regular children’s shows and musical programs from jazz to classical.Akula NIGHTCLUB(www.akula-club.ru; bul Gagarina 9) Nothing subtle about this place – expect top DJs, litres ofethanol-based beverages and public nudity at some point.Panorama Club NIGHTCLUB(www.clubpanorama.ru; ul Dekabrskikh Sobyty 102) Four dance floors pounding to differentmusic styles and an international DJ guest list. ShoppingFanat OUTDOOR GEAR(Фанат; ul Timiryazeva; 10am-7pm) Sells Western-brand camping, fishing and skiingequipment, hiking boots and mountain bikes.Knigomir BOOKSTORE(Книгомир; ul Karla Marksa 28; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun) Best place to sourcemaps of Irkutsk and many other Baikal towns as well as Russian guides, atlases and largesouvenir wall maps of Lake Baikal.Karibu CLOTHING(ul Timiryazeva 34; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat, noon-5pm Sun) Tiny shop selling beautifully furryunty (traditional deerskin cowboy boots) made on site and typically costing around R10,000.Some English spoken. InformationIrkutskOut (www.irkutskout.ru) A wealth of practical details including cafe and restaurantlistings.
Irk.ru (www.irk.ru) Where locals go for city info.Moy Bank (Мой Банк; ul Gryaznova 1; 9am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat) ExchangesChinese yuán.Post office (ul Stepana Razina 23; internet access per hr R50; 8am-10pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun) Internet access.Sberbank (Сбербанк; ul Uritskogo 19; 9am-7pm Mon-Thu, until 6pm Fri, 10am-5pm Sat &Sun) Currency-exchange window and 24-hour indoor ATM.Tourist office ( 205 018; www.itsirkutsk.com; ul Dekabrskikh Sobyty 77; 9am-6pm; )Municipally funded tourist office with English-speaking staff, free wi-fi, free city maps and lotsof well-produced brochures and booklets on Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. Located behind theelaborately carved House of Europe.Travelling to Baikal (www.travellingtobaikal.com) English-language website promoting tourismin Irkutsk and the Baikal area. Lots of listings.VTB Bank (ВТБ Банк; ul Sverdlova 36; 9.30am-5.30pm Mon-Thu, to 4.30pm Fri) Currencyexchange and 24-hour indoor ATMs.WWW Irkutsk (www.irkutsk.org) Bags of information on every aspect of the city. Getting There & AwayTrainTrain tickets can be bought from Cheap Travel, the Bratsk bus-ticket booth and many upmarkethotels. Some of the city’s hostels can also help out. It’s well worth paying the commission theseagents charge as you won’t waste time making the tram trip to the station and standing in thequeues there. There are up to six overnight trains to Krasnoyarsk, though ones to avoid are the 903 and929 that take almost 30 hours to do the 18-hour run. Definitely consider doing the Irkutsk–Ulan-Ude journey during the day; otherwise you’ll miss the most scenic section of the entire Trans-Siberian Railway around the southern shores of Lake Baikal. Irkutsk has a connecting serviceto the BAM (Click here), with trains 71 and 87 taking turns on alternate days to make thesometimes gruelling trip to Severobaikalsk via Bratsk. Otherwise Irkutsk has the following railconnections:Běijīng kupe R11,000, two days 22 hours, twice weeklyChita platskart/kupe R1400/3100, 16 to 19 hours, up to six dailyKhabarovsk platskart/kupe R3600/8400, two days 13 hours, three dailyKrasnoyarsk platskart/kupe R1400/3500, 18 hours, up to nine dailyMoscow platskart R3500 to R4800, kupe R7700 to R12,500, three days three to 15 hours,three dailySeverobaikalsk platskart R2100, kupe R3300 to R4700, 37 hours, dailySlyudyanka elektrichka (suburban train) R70, four hours, four dailyUlaanbaatar kupe R4500, 27 hours, dailyUlan-Ude platskart R875, kupe R1300 to R2300, 6½ to 8½ hours, up to nine dailyVladivostok platskart/kupe R4400/10,100, two days 22 hours, three daily
AirIrkutsk’s antiquated little ‘international’ airport (www.iktport.ru) is handily placed near the citycentre. Foreign destinations include Tashkent (€250 to €400), Dushanbe (R20,000), Bangkok(R20,000) and Běijīng (R10,000 to R20,000). Aeromongolia (www.aeromongolia.mn)operates twice-weekly flights to Ulaanbaatar, while Yakutia (www.yakutia.aero) has starteduseful flights to Munich (R17,400, twice weekly). For Moscow Domodedovo there are direct flights with S7 Airlines (from R7900 daily) and atleast two other companies. Irkutsk also enjoys direct air links to many other domesticdestinations, with tickets for all services sold through the convenient Central Air Agency (201 517; ul Gorkogo 29; 8am-8.30pm, to 7pm winter). FLIGHTS WITHIN RUSSIA FROM IRKUTSK DESTINATION COST FREQUENCY Bratsk R3000-4000 3 per week Chita R4500-7000 5 per week Khabarovsk R7000-10,000 daily Magadan R12,000-20,0003 per week Novosibirsk R6000-15,000 daily St Petersburg R15,000 5 per week Ulan-Ude R2000 3 per week Vladivostok R8000-12,000 8 per week Yekaterinburg R8000-12,000 dailyBoatIn summer hydrofoils buzz along the Angara to Listvyanka (June to September, three daily) andup Lake Baikal to Bolshie Koty (June to September, three daily), Olkhon Island (July andAugust, three weekly), Ust-Barguzin (July and August, weekly) and Nizhneangarsk (July andAugust, twice weekly). Departures are from the Raketa hydrofoil station beyond the AngaraDam in Solnechny Mikro-Rayon, two minutes’ walk from bus 16 stop ‘Raketa’. Timetables areposted by the quay. Services in the other direction to Bratsk leave from a separate jetty in thecity centre. All services are operated by VSRP ( 356 726; www.vsrp.ru). Check the website for timesand prices.BusFrom the slowly renovating bus station (ul Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsii) book tickets at least aday ahead in summer for Arshan (R250, four daily), and Listvyanka (R100, 1¼ hours, 11 daily)via Taltsy (R60).
Comfortable coaches for Bratsk (R900, 8pm) leave from a special ticket booth opposite themain bus station. Minibuses to Ulan-Ude (R700, seven hours) depart throughout the day butmore frequently in late evening from the train-station forecourt. THE EASY WAY TO OLKHON ISLAND To Khuzhir on Olkhon Island convenient door-to-door transfers (R700) can be arranged through any of Irkutsk’s hostels. Minibuses pick up from any hostel in the morning and drop off passengers at any guesthouse in Khuzhir mid-afternoon. Hostels sell tickets even to nonguests. Getting AroundIrkutsk’s grand train station is located across the Angara River from the city centre. Trams 1, 2and 4A run from outside to uls Lenina and Timiryazeva, 4A continuing on to the bus station. Within the central area, walking is usually the best idea as one-way systems make busroutes confusing. Frequent trolleybus 4 and bus/ marshrutka 20, 80, 90 and countless other services connectthe city centre with the airport. A taxi costs around R150 to R200. Tram 4 links the central market with the bus station.Around IrkutskTALTSY MUSEUM OF ARCHITECTURE & ETHNOGRAPHYAbout 47km east of Irkutsk, 23km before Listvyanka, Taltsy (Архитектурно-этнографическиймузей Тальцы; www.talci.ru; admission R150; 10am-5pm) is an impressive outdoorcollection of old Siberian buildings set in a delightful riverside forest. Amid the renovatedfarmsteads are two chapels, a church, a watermill, some Evenki graves and the eye-catching17th-century Iliminsk Ostrog watchtower. Listvyanka–Irkutsk buses and marshrutky stop onrequest at Taltsy’s entrance (look out for the roadside ‘Музей’ sign), and the ticket booth is aminute’s walk through the forest.Western Lake BaikalLake Baikal (Озеро Байкал), the ‘Pearl of Siberia’, is a crystal-clear body of the bluest water.It’s drinkably pure, surrounded by rocky, tree-covered cliffs and so vast that you can sail forhours without the mountain backdrops becoming appreciably closer. Shaped like a banana, Lake Baikal – 636km from north to south, but only 60km wide – wasformed by rifting tectonic plates. Though nearly 8km of the rift is filled with sediment, it isgradually getting deeper as the plates separate. It will eventually become the Earth’s fifthocean, splitting the Asian continent. In the meantime it’s the world’s deepest lake: 1637m nearthe western shore. As such, it contains nearly one-fifth of the world’s fresh, unfrozen water –
more than North America’s five Great Lakes combined. Swimmers brave enough to face Baikal’s icy waters (never warmer than about 15°C) riskvertigo, as it is possible to see down as far as 40m. In February and March you can drive rightacross on the 1m-thick ice, though this is safest in the north and most practical betweenSeverobaikalsk (Click here) and Ust-Barguzin (Click here). The lake itself is a living museum of flora and fauna, 80% of which is found nowhere else onthe planet, most famously the loveable black-eyed nerpa (freshwater seals) and salmonlikeomul fish, which are delicious smoked. Don’t worry if you’re not getting off the train aroundBaikal as they’re sold on the station platforms, most notably in Slyudyanka. THE GREAT BAIKAL TRAIL Inspired largely by the Tahoe Rim Trail (a hiking path encircling Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada), in summer 2003 a small band of enthusiasts began work on the first section of what was grandly named the Great Baikal Trail (GBT; in Russian, Bolshaya Baikalskaya Tropa, BBT). Every summer since has seen hundreds of volunteers flock to Lake Baikal’s pebbly shores to bring the GBT organisation’s stated aim – the creation of a 2000km-long network of trails encircling the whole of Lake Baikal – closer to fruition. This lofty ambition may still be a far-off dream, but the GBT is nonetheless the first such trail system in all Russia. These rudimentary bits of infrastructure, the GBT organisation hopes, will attract more low-impact tourists to the region, thus encouraging ecofriendly businesses to flourish and providing an alternative to industrial and mass tourism development. Volunteers and local activists are also involved in raising awareness of environmental issues among local people, visiting schools and fundraising. Nomination as a finalist in National Geographic’s 2008 Geotourism Challenge is arguably the GBT’s greatest achievement to date and greatly raised its profile in the world of ecotourism. Many Baikal explorers simply enjoy trekking the 540km of trails created thus far, but every year young and old from around the world join work crews for a few enjoyable weeks of clearing pathways, cutting steps, creating markers and cobbling together footbridges. Those eager to volunteer should visit the GBT website (www.greatbaikaltrail.org), or contact Evgenia Nekrasova, GBT’s International Volunteer Coordinator (gbt.volun firstname.lastname@example.org).Listvyanka Листвянка 3952 / POP 1830 / MOSCOW +5HRAs the closest lakeside village to Irkutsk, Listvyanka – aka the ‘Baikal Riviera’ – is the touristyspot to which most travellers are funnelled to dunk their toes in Baikal’s pure waters. Havingpicked at omul, admired the hazy views of the Khamar Daban mountains on the opposite shoreand huffed their way from one end of the village to the other, most are on a marshrutka back toIrkutsk late afternoon. But there’s more to Listvyanka than this; others stay longer to hike theGreat Baikal Trail, discover more about the lake at the Baikal Museum and chill out at one ofSiberia’s most eco-friendly sleeps.
If you’re looking for beach fun, you’re at the wrong address – the eastern shore (Buryatiya) isthe place to build sandcastles. However, what the Buryat shore doesn’t have is Listvyanka’srange of activities: anything from short boat trips to diving and jet skiing in the summer and icemountain biking to lake treks and ice sculpting in the winter.
The village extends 4.5km from Rogatka at the mouth of the Angara to the market area. Asingle road skirts the shore with three valleys running inland where most of Listvyanka’scharacterful timber dwellings and accommodation options are located. There’s no publictransport which can mean some very long walks. Sights & ActivitiesSourcing a map at Irkutsk’s tourist office before you set off will save a lot of hunting.Baikal Museum MUSEUM(ul Akademicheskaya 1, Rogatka; admission R150; 9am-5pm Oct-May, to 7pm Jun-Sep)One of only three museums in the world dedicated solely to a lake, this sometimes overlyscientific institution examines the science of Baikal from all angles. Pass quickly by thegruesomely discoloured fish samples and seal embryos in formaldehyde to the tanks containingtwo frolicsome nerpa seals and the various Baikal fish that you may later encounter onrestaurant menus. A new attraction is a minisub simulator which takes you deep down intoBaikal’s nippy waters; adjoining the building is a park containing over 400 species of plants,some rare or endangered.Baikal Dog Sledding Centre DOG SLEDDING( 8-908-660 5098; www.baikalsled.ru; ul Kulikova 136a) From December to March thecentre offers thrilling dog sledding on forest tracks. All kinds of tours are available, from 5kmtasters for R1500 per person to multiday trans-Baikal ice expeditions costing over R70,000.Some English spoken.St Nicholaas Church CHURCH(Krestovka) Listvyanka’s small mid-19th-century timber church is dedicated to St Nicholas whosupposedly saved its merchant sponsor from a Baikal shipwreck.Retro Park ART GALLERY(Krestovka) This garden near the St Nicholas Church is full of wacky sculpture pieces fashionedfrom old Soviet-era cars and motorbikes.Nerpinarium AQUARIUM(www.baikalnerpa.ru; ul Gorkogo 101A; admission R400; 11am-5pm Tue-Fri, to 6pm Sat &Sun) Thirty-minute seal shows in a silver building resembling an upturned ship next to the PriboyHotel. SleepingMany Irkutsk tour agents and even some hostels and hotels have their own guesthouse orhomestay in Listvyanka. For turn-up-and-hope homestays the best street to try first is ulChapaeva.
Baikaler Eco-Hostel € HOSTEL ( 8-924-839 6520; www.baikaler.com/eco-hostel; ul Chapaeva 77A; dm R300-700, twR1500-1700; ) Located at the far end of ul Chapaeva, this purpose-built hostel providestop-notch digs for backpacker prices, leaving Listvyanka’s other flat-footed accommodation inits green wake. From the energy-saving light bulbs and basalt-foam insulation to the solar-heated water and solar-generated electricity, owner Jack Sheremetoff has crafted a low-impact haven with lots of personal touches. Start the day with a bit of sun worship on the yogadeck and breakfast on the forest-facing chill-out area; end it with a scramble up the miniclimbing wall and a scrub down in the banya (bathhouse) before snuggling up in a hand-madetimber bed (no bunks) in an en suite dorm. Guest kitchen, 24-hour reception and many otherfeatures you won’t find anywhere else. Booking well ahead is essential.Derevenka €€ HOTEL( 8-914-877 5599; www.baikal-derevenka.ru; ul Gornaya 1; s/d R2000/3000, camping pitchR350) On a ridge behind the shore road, cute little wooden huts (named after Baikal’s winds)with stove-heaters, private toilets and hot water (but shared showers) offer Listvyanka’s mostappealing semi-budget choice. Behind the complex is Listvyanka’s only official campsite. Ratesinclude breakfast.U Ozera €€ HOTEL(У Озера; 496 777; Irkutsk Hwy km3; d R2500-4000, cottages R3500-5000; ) Just 10mfrom the shoreline, it’s not surprising that all nine rooms (doubles only) at this small hotel havewonderful lake views. Rooms are a little too intimate but have balconies where you can stretchout. The cottages sleeping two lack the views but offer more space. Located betweenKrestovka and Rogatka.Baikal Dream €€ GUESTHOUSE( 496 758; ul Chapaeva 69; s R1100-1300, d R1500-2000) Brick-built Baikal Dream offersbig bright comfortable rooms with underfloor heated bathrooms but minimalist decor. There’salso a common room with leather sofas and TV and a guest kitchen. Eager-to-please ownerNikolai will pick you up from the bus stop and cook you delicious meals. He also guarantees youwon’t forget his ‘banya experience’. Breakfast included.Devyaty Val €€ GUESTHOUSE( 496 814; www.9val.irk.ru; ul Chapaeva 24; d R1800-2200; ) Friendly, family-runguesthouse where the huge, good-value lyux rooms with big beds, TV and private shower andtoilet in a long timber extension are a big step up from the polo-lyux. There’s a small indoorpool (R1000 per hour) and rates include breakfast.Hotel Mayak €€€ HOTEL( 496 911; www.mayakhotel.ru; ul Gorkogo 85; s/tw R4300/4900; ) There were once (nowmothballed) plans to transform Listvyanka and other villages on the shores of Lake Baikal intopurpose-built resorts with plasticky upmarket hotels like the ‘Lighthouse’. The village’s most in-your-face hotel has Western-standard rooms, a good restaurant and an unbeatable location
near the hydrofoil quay.Baikal Chalet €€ GUESTHOUSE( 3952-461 557; www.baikalcomplex.com; ul Gudina 75; tw R2000) The 13 comfortable twinrooms in this timber guesthouse around 800m back from the lake are a good deal. Sisterguesthouse in Bolshie Koty offers similar rates and standards. Breakfast included.Priboy €€ HOTEL( 496 725; upper fl, ul Gorkogo 101; dm R500, r R2500) Spitting distance from the lake inthe port area, this glass-and-steel block of incongruity has cheap, if unappealing, dorms andsome basic rooms with shared toilet, shower and dubious taste in wallpaper. A Chineserestaurant occupies the ground level.Krestovaya Pad €€€ HOTEL( 496 863; www.baikalvip.ru; ul Gornaya 14a; d R3000-6000) Big, brash and quite pricey,this upmarket complex housing very comfortable, international-standard pine-clad roomsdominates the hillside above Krestovka.Green House € HOSTEL( 496 707; ul Shtorkmana 3; dm R700) Located right by the market, this one-timeguesthouse now touts itself as a hostel. It has a TV room and guest kitchen but ageingcommunal bathrooms. Bookable through Hostelworld. EatingNear the port, the large fish and souvenir market is the best place to buy smoked omul and issurrounded by greasy spoons offering cheap plov and shashlyk.Proshly Vek €€ RUSSIAN(ul Lazlo 1; meals R160-520; noon-midnight; ) Listvyanka’s most characterful eatery hasa nautical theme, a fish-heavy menu and Baikal views. The upper floor is filled with fascinatingold junk which you can admire while tucking into omul done any which way you please.Pyaty Okean €€ CAFE(ul Gorkogo 59A; mains R150-320; 11am-10pm) The speciality at this lakeside place isBaikal Abyss – fish and potatoes baked in sour cream. Eat indoors or out by the gurglingCheremshanka stream.Café Podlemore € CAFE(ul Gorkogo 31; mains R120-160; 9am-midnight; ) The Podlemore has porridge and oven-fresh pastries, but rather flummoxed serving staff. Early opening makes it a popular breakfasthalt.Shury Mury €€ CAFE
(meals R130-400; 10am-11pm) This handy but overpriced cafe next to the tourist centreboasts a lakeside summer terrace. InformationATMs can be found in the Mayak and Baikal hotels.Post office (ul Gorkogo 49; internet per hr R50; 8am-1pm & 2-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pmSat) Internet access.Tourist office ( 656 099; hydrofoil quay; 10am-1pm & 2-6pm) Surprisingly useful officehanding out free maps as well as providing bus, ferry and hydrofoil timetables and offeringimaginative Baikal boat trips. Bike rental available (per hour/day R150/800); some staff speakEnglish. Getting There & AwayHourly marshrutka 524 (R100, 1¼ hours) leaves for Irkutsk from outside the information centre(where tickets are bought). The last service departs at 9pm. From mid-May to late September, hydrofoils stop at Listvyanka between Irkutsk (R320, onehour) and Bolshie Koty (R250, 30 minutes) three times a day. Year-round a tiny, battered car ferry lumbers across the never-frozen Angara River mouth toPort Baikal from Rogatka.Port Baikal Порт Байкал 3952 / POP 425 / MOSCOW +5HRYou’d be excused for dismissing Port Baikal as a rusty semi-industrial eyesore when seen fromListvyanka across the unbridged mouth of the Angara River. But the view is misleading. Akilometre southwest of Stanitsa (the port area), Baranchiki is a ramshackle ‘real’ village withlots of unkempt but authentic Siberian cottages and a couple of handy accommodation options.Awkward ferry connections mean that Port Baikal remains largely uncommercialised, lackingListvyanka’s attractions but also its crowds. It’s thus popular with more meditative visitors, butthe main draw is that it’s both the beginning and terminus of the Circumbaikal Railway. From 1900 to 1904 the Trans-Siberian Railway tracks from Irkutsk came to an abrupt halt atPort Baikal. They continued on Lake Baikal’s far eastern shore at Mysovaya (Babushkin), andthe watery gap was plugged by ice-breaking steamships, including the Angara, now restoredand on view in Irkutsk. Later, the tracks were pushed south and around the lake. ThisCircumbaikal line required so many impressive tunnels and bridges that it earned the nickname‘The Tsar’s Jewelled Buckle’. With the damming of the Angara River in the 1950s, the originalIrkutsk–Port Baikal section was submerged and replaced with an Irkutsk–Kultuk shortcut(today’s Trans-Siberian). That left poor little Port Baikal to wither away at the dead end of ararely used but incredibly scenic branch line. Sleeping & EatingIf the last ferry back to Listvyanka has just left, the B&B is full and the Yakhont seems tooexpensive, it’s always possible to fall back on several basic homestays in Baranchiki. Ask
around or look out for ‘сдаются комнаты’ signs. Apart from the Yakhont restaurant, a couple ofpoorly stocked grocery kiosks are the only sources of sustenance. Both accommodationoptions listed here offer meals, and homestays often have a kitchen guests can use.Yakhont €€ HOTEL( 250 496; www.baikalrest.ru; ul Naberezhnaya 3; s/tw R3000/3100) Port Baikal’s top digscould be the Siberian boutique hotel you’ve been dreaming of. It’s a traditionally designed loghouse decorated with eclectic good taste by the well-travelled English-speaking owners.Guests congregate in the stylish communal kitchen-dining room, above which rooms haveperfect Western bathrooms. The large restaurant below the hotel is the village’s sole eatery.Advance bookings are essential.Gostevoy Dom Paradis € GUESTHOUSE( 607 450; www.baikal.tk; ul Baikalskaya 12; full board R1450) Cheaper than the Yakhont,this timber guesthouse is set 400m back from the lakeside. Various pine-clad but rather spartanrooms share two Western-style toilets and a shower. Getting There & AwayThe ferry (R70, 20 minutes) to Rogatka near Listvyanka’s Baikal Museum runs year-round, fourtimes daily at 8.15am, 11.15am, 4.15pm and 6.15pm (departures at 6.50am, 10.30am, 3.50pmand 5.50pm from Rogatka), but check the schedule beforehand. From mid-June to Augustthere are direct hydrofoils to/from Irkutsk (one hour 10 minutes). All services are operated byVSRP (www.vsrp.ru). Very infrequent trains come via the slow Circumbaikal route from Slyudyanka. CIRCUMBAIKAL RAILWAY Excruciatingly slow or a great social event? Opinions are mixed, but taking one of the four-per-week Slyudyanka–Port Baikal trains along the scenic, lake-hugging Circum baikal Railway (Кругобайкальская Железная Дорога) remains a very popular tourist activity. The most picturesque sections of the route are the valley, pebble beach and headland at Polovinnaya (around halfway), and the bridge area at km149. Views are best if you can persuade the driver to let you ride on the front of the locomotive – possible on certain tour packages. Note that most trains from Port Baikal travel by night and so are useless for sightseeing. The old stone tunnels, cliff cuttings and bridges are an attraction even for non-train buffs who might drive alongside sections of the route on winter ice roads from Kultuk. Hiking the entire route or just sections of the peaceful track is also popular and walking a couple of kilometres from Port Baikal leads to some pleasant, if litter-marred, beaches. Or get off an Irkutsk– Slyudyanka elektrichka (suburban train) at Temnaya Pad three hours into the journey and hike down the stream valley for about an hour. You should emerge at km149 on the Circumbaikal track, from where you can continue by train to Port Baikal if you time things well. At the time of research, short wooden-seated Matanya trains departed from a side platform at Slyudyanka I station at 1.30pm, four times per week – check timetables carefully. In summer an additional tourist train direct from Irkutsk departs at 7.42am on Saturday. Wonderfully detailed website Circumbaikal Railway (http://kbzd.irk.ru/Eng/) has regularly updated timetables plus photographs of virtually every inch of the route. Irkutsk agencies such as Krugobaikalsky Ekspress ( 3952-202 973; www.krugobaikalka.ru) run organised Circumbaikal tours (R1900 including lunch), though some travellers grumble about the rather superfluous ‘guides’ who tag along for the entire nine-hour trip.
Bolshie Koty Большие КотыPOP 50 / MOSCOW +5HRTiny and roadless, this serene Baikal village is what the great Siberian escape is all about. Butthings weren’t always this quiet; in the 19th century Koty experienced a mini gold rush andboasted soap and candle factories, a glassworks, churches and a school. Today all that’s longsince over, leaving Irkutsk’s nouveau riche to assemble their lakeside dachas in peace. A section of the Great Baikal Trail runs between Koty and Listvyanka, a fabulous full- or half-day hike (around 20km). Take plenty of food (drink from the lake) as there’s none en route. Three minutes’ walk from the hydrofoil quay, the Lesnaya 7 Hostel ( 8-904-118 7275;www.lesnaya7.com; ul Lesnaya 7; dm R600-700; Mar & May–mid-Oct; ) fills a traditionaltimber house where showers run hot and the 12 beds are all in double rooms. Booking ahead isessential. The only way to reach Bolshie Koty (unless you hike from Listvyanka) is aboard one of thethree hydrofoils a day from Irkutsk (via Listvyanka). Check VSRP (www.vsrp.ru) for times andticket prices. Winter ice roads briefly unite the village with the outside world.Olkhon Island Остров ОльхонPOP 1500 / MOSCOW +5HRHalfway up Lake Baikal’s western shore and reached by a short ferry journey from Sakhyurta(aka MRS), the serenely beautiful Olkhon Island is a wonderful place from which to view thelake and relax during a tour of Siberia. Considered one of five global poles of shamanic energyby the Buryat people, the 72km-long island’s ‘capital’ is the unlovely village of Khuzhir (Хужир),which has seen something of an unlikely tourist boom over the last decade, mainly thanks to theefforts of Nikita’s Homestead. Escaping Khuzhir’s dusty, dung-splattered streets is the key to enjoying Olkhon. Everymorning, tours leave from Khuzhir’s guesthouses to the north and south of the island, the mostpopular a seven-hour bounce in a UAZ minivan to dramatic Cape Khoboy at Olkhon’s verynorthern tip where Baikal seals sometimes bask. Driver-guides cook fish soup for lunch over anopen fire, but few speak any English. See the Nikita’s Homestead website (www.olkhon.info)for details of this and other excursions. Otherwise, rent a bike and strike out on your own.Maps are available from Nikita’s but take all food and water with you as there’s none outsideKhuzhir. CASH FOR TRASH At time of research a small environmental tax (R25) was being levied on all visitors arriving on Olkhon to fund desperately needed refuse collection across the island. Rest assured, this is not a scam.
Sights & ActivitiesThe following sights provide minor distraction in Khuzhir.Museum MUSEUM(ul Pervomayskaya 24; admission R100; 2-8pm Sun-Fri) Khuzhir’s small museum displays arandom mix of stuffed animals, Soviet-era junk, local art and the personal possessions of itsfounder, Nikolai Revyakin, a teacher for five decades at the school next door.Shaman Rocks LANDMARKA short walk north of Nikita’s, the unmistakable Shaman Rocks are neither huge norspectacular, but they have become the archetypal Baikal vista found on postcards and travel-guide covers. A long strip of sandy beach lines the Maloe More east of the rocks. Sleeping & EatingKhuzhir has an ever-growing range of places to stay, though the vast majority of independenttravellers bunk down at Nikita’s Homestead. If all 50 rooms at Nikita’s are full staff can arrangehomestays costing around R850 with meals taken at the Homestead canteen (R400 withoutmeals). Booking ahead anywhere in Khuzhir is only necessary during July and August. There’sno ATM on the island, so you’ll need to bring enough cash to cover your stay. Nikita’s Homestead € GUESTHOUSE (www.olkhon.info; ul Kirpichnaya 8; full board per person R900-1150; reception8am-11pm) Occupying a sizeable chunk of Khuzhir, this intricately carved timber complex hasgrown (and continues to grow) into one of Siberia’s top traveller hang-outs. The basic rooms inmyriad shapes and sizes are attractively decorated with petroglyphs and other ethnic finery andheated by wood-burning stoves – but only a select few have showers (put your name down forthe banya). The vastly improved organic meals are served three times a day in the largecanteen near reception and two other (paid) eateries (French and Uzbek) stand behind. There’sa small cycle-hire centre and a packed schedule of excursions and activities, plus staff canregister your visa (R350).U Olgi € GUESTHOUSE( 8-908-661 9015; ul Lesnaya 3-1; full board per person R750, without meals R350) Thiswell-liked option has nine rooms, three in a typical village house and six in a purpose-built, pine-fragrant building opposite. New showers and flushing toilets plus scrumptious Siberian farecooked by Olga herself make this a winner every time. Book through Baikaler in Irkutsk.Camping Hotel Olkhon €€ HOTEL(Кемпинг-Отель Ольхон; 708 885; www.alphatour.ru; Baikalskaya 64; summer huts sR900-2100, d R1300-2100, hotel s R2200-3000, d R2700-3500, economy rooms s R300-600,d R600-800, tent pitches R100) This hotel with an enclosure of timber Monopoly houses outback has four standards of accommodation – comfortable hotel rooms, basic cottages, spartancrash-pad cubicles and tent pitches. Full board is an extra R650 and receptionists speak
English. It’s 200m beyond the shop (to the left) at the top end of the main street (ulBaikalskaya).Solnechnaya € GUESTHOUSE(Солнечная; 3952-683 216; www.olkhon.com; ul Solnechnaya 14; full board per personR1100-1450; ) No happening scene like at Nikita’s, but it’s still a pleasant place to stayoffering a good range of activities. Accommodation is in two-storey cabins and tiny single-roomshacks with verandas. Enter from ul Solnechnaya or from near the relay station at the top ofthe hill. Getting There & AwayThe simplest way to reach Olkhon is aboard the morning marshrutka that leaves Irkutsk’shostels around 8.30am. Many other services run in July and August but can be impossible totrack down in Irkutsk. With a little warning, agencies or hostels can usually find you a ride in a private car to/fromIrkutsk (5½ hours) for R1250 per seat, R5000 for the whole car. Prices include the short ferryride to/from MRS – from mid-January to March an ice road replaces the ferry. When ice ispartly formed or partly melted, the island is completely cut off for motor vehicles, though an adhoc minihovercraft service is sometimes operated by locals. In summer a hydrofoil service operates from Irkutsk to Olkhon, dropping passengers near theferry terminal, from where it’s possible to hitch a paid lift into Khuzhir. See VSRP (www.vsrp.ru)for times and prices.South Baikal & the Tunka ValleyThe windows of Trans-Siberian trains passing between Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude frame attractivelake vistas along much of Baikal’s south coast. Few Westerners are actually tempted off thetrain along this stretch but if they are, it’s usually at Slyudyanka, the best place to startCircumbaikal train rides and a launch pad into the remotely scenic Tunka Valley.SLYUDYANKA СЛЮДЯНКА 39544 / POP 18,500 / MOSCOW +5HRSlyudyanka’s glittering marble train station is a mere five-minute walk from Lake Baikal’sscrappy shore. En route you pass a multicoloured timber church and, across the tracks,former locomotive workshops host an interesting museum (ul Zheleznodorozhnaya 22;admission R50; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun) with archaeological finds, old railway switching boxesand an identification guide to 47 locomotive types. Unfortunately, there is no English. Geologybuffs should consider heading to the privately run Baikal Mineral Museum (ul Slyudyanaya 36;admission R100; 8am-9pm), which claims to exhibit every mineral known to man. Take anymarshrutka heading from the bus station up ul Slyudyansk