Travel by train from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok across Russia

For a long time I wanted to ride to Vladivostok, but I put off everything - now there is no money, then time. As always, like everyone else. Firmly decided that if I did not pass in the summer of 2019, then it is not known when there will be an opportunity and whether it will be at all. From Moscow to Vladivostok, for one week I would get tired of one train, I figured out that it is optimal to go through several cities - walking during the day, and driving further to the next city at night. The route turned out like this:
St. Petersburg - Moscow — Perm — Tyumen — Novosibirsk — Severobaikalsk — Neryungri — Khabarovsk — Vladivostok
back:
Vladivostok — Birobidzhan — Chita — Ulan-Ude — Irkutsk — Krasnoyarsk — Novosibirsk — Kurgan — Ufa — Penza — St. Petersburg

I began to dock trains from the Severobaykalsk — Neryungri stretch, because trains between these cities do not run every day.

Back:




I have been to Moscow a lot, this time walked around the Zaryadye park and went to look for a cafe with sockets. This is the biggest problem in all cities of Russia, and on trips I found out that the Chocolate Girl is 100% that there will be outlets, the benefit is that the network of these coffee houses is extensive. The food there is expensive and tiny portions, but the coffee is tolerable - at the same time and a laptop / phone / camera can be charged.

Perm

Green landscaped city, with good roads and good sidewalks. Moreover, when I was, 5-10 times in the center came across road work, i.e. something that is already well being improved. In the alleys and parks, a huge number of sculptures and art objects. Not every city in Russia has such an abundance, for example, an alley along Komsomolsky Prospekt is littered with sculptures on ethnic themes, singing Udmurtia and the Kama River.



The Kama embankment is not bad, in 2019 large-scale work was underway to improve and expand it. It will be great if, like in Samara , on the promenade 200-300 meters from each other there will be small cafes and coffee houses. Not a chaotic pile, but a fragmented arrangement of small establishments for 10-20 places. The passenger car fleet is excellent, the buses are brand new and seem to be comfortable. Everything is a selection of tinted and red. Trams are not very modern, but there are no old T3s.

Tyumen

One of the most comfortable cities in Russia. The embankment of the Tura River is generally beyond competition, even better than the excellent promenade in Samara. In the center of the city there are beautiful streetlights, beautiful and large. A lot of cafes, restaurants, canteens - for any wallet. Many clothing stores and boutiques.
The standard of living in Tyumen is considered to be high, which is indirectly confirmed by the abundance of catering establishments and the lack of old "buckets" on the roads. Those that are found, as a rule with numbers of other regions. The public transport fleet is also new, as in Perm, except that the color is green. Probably the best thing about the city’s authorities is that they preserved and restored a huge amount of antiquity, and there are a minimum of scary skyscrapers made of glass and concrete in the center (but, unfortunately, there are).

Novosibirsk

I walked around Novosibirsk a lot last year, this time greatly reduced the route - I decided to sit in a cafe and work.


As soon as I dismounted at the Novosibirsk train station, I was walking with a camera in my hands, when I heard the standard: “Oh, take a picture!” Well, I took a picture. The Chechen became brighter with surprise, and then broke into a smile - “take a picture of us together!”


Hold :) As a result, I am invited to Chechnya in Grozny and guarantee complete security :)

East of the Urals, a great topic is alive - street trading from barrels with kvass. A glass of 0.2 l - 12-15 p., 0.5 - 25-30. It is very strange that this has not happened in central Russia for a long time. After many kilometers of marching through the cities, this kvass, as well as street water pumps, always help me out.

Severobaykalsk

A small young city designed and rebuilt in the 20th century during the beginning of the construction of the BAM. There is nothing to see in the city, except perhaps the pearl of the entire region is Lake Baikal. Before the train, I sat down in a cafe that I had to look for, with this in the city it was not a lot, and was very surprised to meet the Italian. I don’t know what he forgot here, most likely a business trip - BAM is actively expanding, different specialists are needed.

Neryungri

The city is also young, the correct geometry of neighborhoods and streets, an abundance of greenery. You can get from the station to the city only by a passing bus at half-hour intervals. This struck me, because it’s 5 kilometers to the city, and I’m somehow not mentally prepared to order a taxi for such crazy money. There are enough cafes and restaurants in Neryungri, but this is only because the city is transit. In the city itself, it’s tight, but a lot of travel - shift workers who go to the North, to Yakutsk and beyond.

Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk met me in a fog, photos would have been more fun in the sun, but even in such weather they came out pretty well. Most of the attractions are concentrated along the Amur and Ussuri Avenues + on the embankment of the Amur River.


“Coffee with an Owl” - it's Five!


The train conductor sat and sang “Stop the engine, don’t knock the wheels” :).

Vladivostok

The city is located on the hills, the coastline is indented with bays, which is strongly reflected in the elevation and street geometry. The deviations are such that, to be honest, I am very tired in five days. And the most ordinary accident, when a handbrake broke off at a parked car and the car rolled down, ramming a couple of three.


A special flavor of the city is the Vladivostok fortress, a network of forts and batteries encircling the city and hiding both land approaches from the north and all the bays of the city and the Russian island. Most of the fortifications date back to 1903, when it became clear that a war with Japan was inevitable, and the main base of the Pacific Fleet was hastily strengthened, making it impregnable. In order to at least review the forts and batteries of Vladivostok, you need at least a month. I would also like to come and, preferably, to the Tiger Day (in September), when the whole city becomes striped.

Keep in mind - Vladivostok is quite an expensive city. There are good salaries, there is a bonus "for savagery" + active trade with China, Japan and South Korea. Due to the large flow of both our tourists and from Asia, Vladivostok has quite expensive hotels. Capsule type - from 2,500 p., Individual rooms - from 4,000-5,000 p. Cafes and taverns are probably even cheaper than the average for Russia, again thanks to the tourist flow and good earnings.

Birobidzhan

A small young city, rebuilt in the XX century. Therefore, it is very competently designed, very green. Traffic lights are old, far from all with a countdown and pedestrian traffic are set very high. Extremely few benches and urns. The sidewalks are of medium dilapidation, the roads are slightly better. The most struck me - the embankment.



The embankment of the Bira River is magnificent! There is no embankment in rich Ufa, but there is one in the impoverished Birobidzhan. How is that? That the city is a beggar is noticeable by the fact that there are few cafes and in places I tripped over jars of hawthorn. I have never seen anything like this in Russian cities.

I buy beer in the forecourt cafe, regular customers at the tables, but start asking:
- from where?
- Petersburg
- on foot or what ?!
- No, I'm not crazy - by trains.
- a geologist?
-... ??

Chita

As my friend correctly noted: “What did you forget in the land of the military and convicts ?!”
Yes, one can say by chance it turned out - so docked the train. The most interesting in the city is the ODORA park, the church museum of the Decembrists and the museum of railway equipment in the depot of Chita-1 station.


The Chita-Ulan-Ude train was mainly driven by shift workers and mainly Buryats. These Buryats and one Russian went in the morning to thump into a restaurant car. The first returned in the lunch area and sadly told that he had lowered 10,000 rubles. Following the rest, the Buryats returned and went to sleep. Waking up in the evening they were worried: “where is Danchik?” And the Russian hero Denis not only drunk everyone, they returned only by midnight, straightened his bed on his own and went to bed quietly. I think he will become the hero of another Buryat epic.

Ulan-Ude

In Ulan-Ude, there are two main attractions : Buddhist datsans (for example, datsan Rinpoche-Bagsha ) and Baikal. True, there is still a lot of wooden architecture. The city is rather depressing and local people are trying to leave at least to Irkutsk. In the cafe, guests complained that if not for Baikal, everyone would have fled for a long time. Having talked with these guys, he established himself in the axiom that the farther from Moscow, the better for people with geography. Listening to my story about the journey and the route, young people commented: “So, you traveled along the BAM to Vladivostok, back along the TransSib, west of Lake Baikal you went north and went along the northern branch, right?”

As an indicator of the poverty of the city: the nearest cafe from the station turned out to be two blocks away, which is very surprising - the station squares are always filled with taverns, because there is a constant flow of customers.


Under the bridge over the Uda River, patriotic graffiti is painted, but locals do not agree with it.


I laughed a lot from the LDPR party office in Ulan-Ude. LDPR!


They often pester me “take a picture of us!” Usually they are surprised that it’s free. Well, I’m not sorry - keep a portrait!

Irkutsk

One of the best cities in Russia! A huge amount of wooden antiquity of the 19th century (some are related to the Decembrists and an interesting story), and even the 130th quarter is beyond praise - the wooden houses are in excellent condition externally, cafes and shops are organized inside.

Krasnoyarsk

Another interesting Siberian city. I have not seen so many benches and ballot boxes in any city in Russia. Probably the most surprised me - palm trees in pots on all the central streets.


From the unusual - in the central park there is a unique children's railway, the entire infrastructure of which, including the diesel locomotive and wagons, is not typical, but made by local craftsmen specifically for this attraction.

Kurgan

Kurgan is another depressive city in Russia. He came up with a rule - if there are plenty of cafes / restaurants / taverns in the city, it means either a tourist city (Yaroslavl , Ryazan), or the residents have quite good incomes (Tyumen, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk).

Ufa

In the richest Ufa there is still no embankment. This is all you need to know about Ufa and its leadership. True, from a recent moment, the old authorities were transplanted and a new one was appointed, and there are chances that the city will be more comfortable. Ufa has lost most of the antiquity, especially wooden, and, as I understand it, is not going to stop.

Penza

It’s an excellent pedestrian street, but it was striking that there are a lot of closed cafes, i.e. they do not pay off. Separately: monuments and sculptures of Penza. In 2019, the beautification of the embankment was completed and it is very good, finally, the townspeople have a rest place with a view of the river. Another city from the category of depressive. Before the train I went to a tavern and met a fellow traveler from the last train there. There are so few places to sit culturally that we met in the same institution.

Russian Railways gave me 12,000 bonuses for these trips and from Penza to St. Petersburg I drove for free in a compartment. There were thoughts of driving through another city, but for the whole trip I was very tired. The start was July 15th, the finish line was August 13th. I only stayed in Vladivostok, i.e. month of continuous travel. A common question is how much money I spent. Because I drove a reserved seat, it turned out cheaply - about 40,000 rubles only for tickets. It could be cheaper, I chose not by cost, but by time of departure and arrival, so I drove several times with expensive branded trains No. 1 and No. 100.

Total: 16 cities, excluding St. Petersburg, ~ 20,000 kilometers by train, ~ 3,000 photos.

All my friends and acquaintances, of course, envied me, but there was a precedent - I tell a fellow traveler in the form of Russian Railways about this trip, and when she answered the question how much I spent money, she said that I was crazy. People are strange - every year flying to the same resort in Turkey is normal, and a ride around their home country is stupid.