Getting to Novosibirsk

Direct Way

One may get to Novosibirsk by plane without flying through Moscow or Saint-Petersburg. The international airport Tolmachevo is located eighteen kilometers to the west of the city. Nowadays, it is a large comfortable airport which hosts international flights as well as those to some cities of the former USSR. The majority of such flights are operated by S7 Airlines. Apart from it, there is a wide choice of charter flights to seaside resorts in summer.

Regular flights: Bangkok (by S7, Domodedovo airlines and Transaero), Dubai (S7), Beijing (S7 and Haihan Airlines), Seoul (s7), Urumchi (s7, China Southern), Frankfurt (s7), Dublin (s7, since 2008)
Charters: Goa (Transaero), Deli (LIICOM), Denpasar (Domodedovo airlines), Colombo (LIICOM), Munich/Munchen (s7), Phuket (s7), Sanja (s7), Tianjin (s7), Hurghada (s7), Sharm el-Sheikh (s7)

Tolmachevo Airport.

Tolmachevo Airport.

If there are no direct flights to Novosibirsk from your country, then you may get to the capital of Siberia via Moscow. There are two ways you can do it: by train or by air.

The cheapest option is to buy a ticket to an economy class carriage called "Плацкарт" [pluts-‘cart]. The price of one-way ticket of such kind is 2,158 rubles. However, travelling in an economy class carriage, which does not have any doors separating one compartment from another, may be tough even for many local citizens. That is why it is highly recommended that you choose another option. A separated compartment which has doors and locks and which accomodates four people will cost you from 5,500 to 8,500 rubles for a one-way trip from Moscow to Novosibirsk. The price very much depends on the date of departure and on the speed of the train. Finally, a one-way ticket in a luxury car costs 10,000 up to 17,000 rubles. Such compartments are more comfortable - they accommodate two people, and some extraservices are provided by the transporting company. These prices are actual for July 2007, but the information at our website will be updated as the prices change.

The latter option is really rewarding because passengers travelling along the Trans-Siberian Railway have an opportunity to acquire a firsthand experience about and to see with their own eyes more than a half of Russia. A trip in an express passenger train takes less than two days, whereas an ordinary train will deliver you in a little bit more than two days. As Novosibirsk has been initially found by railway workers, its main railway station, where trains from Moscow arrive, Novosibirsk Glavniy is located in a stone’s throw from the city centre. It is easy to get to any place in the city from the station since there is the subway station Garin-Mikhaylovsky’s Place [‘ploh-schud ‘Gah-ree-nah Mee-khi-‘lov-scah-vah] and a major bus junction in vicinity. Besides, the citizens of Novosibirsk claim their railway station to be the most beautiful in the country and they are probably right.

The other way of getting to Novosibirsk via Moscow is by plane. Nine planes a day follow the route Novosibirsk-Moscow. The airlines operating these flights are spread in the following order: S7 Airlines features 5 (since 04/2008) flights daily, Transaero has two and Aeroflot proposes to its passengers three flights a day. Almost all the planes take off from the international airport Domodedovo, Aeroflot being the only exception; its planes voyage to Novosibirsk from the airport Sheremetyevo. It is advisable to choose the former one which is considered to be more modern.

Flying to Novo. Photo by Svetlana Bumarina.

The minimal price of one-way economy class ticket for an adult amounted to 3,600 rubles at S7's offices in July 2007 . An average price, though, varies from 4,000 to 5,500 rubles. However, the students possessing ISIC or Euro26 student cards can buy discount tickets. Such cards are distributed by StarTravel, InterAir and some other firms. Please, take into account that the transportation tax, which amounts to a little bit more than 1,000 rubles for this route, is to be added to the price of the ticket. The flight from Moscow to Novosibirsk takes about three hours, whereas flying in the opposite direction is almost one hour longer.

All the planes from Moscow land in Tolmachevo – the local airport situated eighteen kilometers from the city centre. The means of transportation from there to the city are cabs and buses whose routes may be found at the airport’s website as well as directly on the display in the arrival hall. Be careful with the taxi drivers at the airport. Different sorts of difficulties related to them in particular and issues related to taxi in general are described at 'City Transport'. One must keep in mind that it is safer and wiser to address an official representative of a registered transportation firm. He or she can be usually found at a desk behind a special taxi calling window in the airport. Or else, some airlines provide to their passengers the service of calling a taxi straight from the board of a plane.

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