Yaroslavl - city in the Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia

Yaroslavl (dead link: December 2020) (Ярославль) is the capital city of Yaroslavl Oblast in Russia and a point on Golden Ring itinerary.

Understand

With a population of 600,000 people, Yaroslavl is the second-largest city in Central Russia after Moscow. Its 1000-year history and location in the middle of Golden Ring make Yaroslavl a good point for a day or weekend trip from Moscow.

Get in

By train

Train timetables and fares can be found on the RZD website.

• Yaroslavl Glavny (Ярославль-Главный). The main railway station, located at the western end of ulitsa Svobody. 2018-12-18
• Yaroslavl-Moskovsky (Яросла́вль-Моско́вский). Smaller station, south of city centre. 2020-11-22

From Moscow

Yaroslavl is 266 km from Moscow and 13 trains per day make the 3-4 hour journey () from Yaroslavsky Railway station in Moscow. These trains include the Trans Siberian Railway trains, departing from Moscow.

From Saint Petersburg

An overnight train makes the 12-hour journey from Saint Petersburg daily. Tickets cost from .

From other points

Journey by elektrichka needs connection in Alexandrov, stopping in Rostov Veliky first and Sergiev Posad later - both worthwhile excursions.

Daily trains include other destinations of Arkhangelsk, Ivanovo, Vorkuta, Cherepovets, and Tolyatti.

By bus

There are buses from Moscow Central bus station near Schyolkovskaya metro station at 08:30, 12:15, 14:15, 17:30, 23:15 daily. The journey takes 5 hours. Underway, the bus passes places such as Rostov Veliky and Sergiev Posad, both well worth a visit.

By car

Taking the opportunity of no traffic jams from Moscow, if any, drive on Yaroslavskoye shosse aka M-8 'Kholmogory' and visit beautiful destinations en-route: Sergiev Posad, Pereslavl Zalessky, Rostov Veliky. The road takes 4 hours or more, depending on traffic near Moscow.

By plane

• Tunoshna Airport (IATA: IAR Аэропорт Туношна), 57.560667°, 40.157369°, +7 4852 43-18-00. There are regular flights to Saint Petersburg and Arkhangelsk and there are seasonal flights to Sochi.

Get around

Rides on public transport, which operate during the day and late at night and include buses, marshrutkas, and trolleybuses, costs .

The most useful trolleybus is trolleybus #1, which starts at the train station, and goes all the way down Svobody, through Volkovo to Yaroslavl Red Square.

See

The historical center of the city is found at the river confluence which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. Architecture is mostly Classicism era of Catherine the Great.

• Yaroslavl Architectural Historical and Art Museum Preserve, Bogojavlenskaja pl. 25, +7 485 230-40-72. Comprises six churches and three museums. 2020-11-22
• Museum of the Yaroslavl City History (Музей истории города Ярославля), Volzhskaya Naberezhnaya 17. 2020-11-22
• Museum of Fine Arts (Ярославский художественный музей), Volzhskaya Naberezhnaya, 23. Entrance 2020-11-23

• Private Museum: Music and Time, Volzhskaya Naberezhnaya d33A. Established by John Mostoslavsky, a circus magician. The museum possesses a curious collection of bells, samovars, irons, phonographs and musical instruments.

Religious buildings

• Church of Ilya the Prophet: a very impressive church, which is run like a museum. The frescoes inside are exceptionally rich in detail, and depict many of the most vivid Biblical stories. Well worth a visit. There is often a small choir performing in one of the side galleries, asking only for donations.
• Alexander Nevskiy Chapel
• Transfiguration Cathedral
• St. John the Baptist Church: a beautiful brick church on the Volga-riverside in a dreary suburb. Well worth a small trip (you can get their with marshrutkas (about in total) but taxis are much quicker and not that much more expensive (around ). This church is considered to be the epitome of Yaroslavl's school of church architecture - and probably the most impressive brick church of Russia, only surpassed by Saint Basil's of Moscow. .
• Vvedenskiy Tolga Convent
• St. Elijah The Prophet Church
• Kazansky Monastery
• Temple of the Lord Presentation

Monuments

• Monument to the Bear
• Monument to Afonya And Plasterer Kolya
• Monument of Yaroslav the Wise
• Monument Celebrating 1000 Years of Yaroslavl
• Monument to Copeck of 1612

Do

• Cruise over Volga.
• Tours of Smaller Golden Ring (Uglich-Myshkin-Tutayev-Rybinsk) that takes 3 days and even smaller excursions to neighboring towns.
• Be a guest of Baba-Yaga on her birthday, 26 June.

Festivals and events

• Jazz over Volga (Джаз над Волгой), the international festival of jazz taking place every odd year since 1979 in March.

Buy

Go along Deputatskaya St and you'll find several curious shops of traditional cloths (6/1), amulets (15) and stone (15/43).

Kiosks at the museums and rooms of souvenirs inside them are another opportunity to give a look and buy something.

Eat

The best place to eat out is the Volga promenade but there is a bunch of curious restaurants:

• Ioann Vasilyevich (Иоанн Васильевич), 34 Revolutsionnaya st, +7 4852 91-47-07. Ancient Russian cuisine.
• DudkiBar, 33 Sobinova St, +7 4852 33-09-33, dudkibar@dudkibar.ru. European, Japanese and grill menus.

For more standard Russian fare, visit one of the modern 'stolovaya's' (buffets) of the Bazar chain, found all around the city. Priced very competitively.

Drink

For a dark, smoky atmosphere, you could do worse than Bar Beer, which is on the main street, just off Ploshad Volkovo, heading towards the monastery. They only sell beer: if you're looking for anything other than beer, you would be better off heading to Ars Café, which is inside a theatre next to the Bear's Corner hotel. There are three main sections to Ars Café, an upstairs, with comfortable sofas, which is often busy, a downstairs section, with dance floor and a big long table for larger groups, and a back room, which you have to pay to get into, but is very comfortable, and is primarily supposed to be used to smoke Kalyan (Shisha). Across the road from Ars Café is Tarzan, a higher end establishment, which is a restaurant by day. Dark inside, with a jungle theme. The bar Silver is on Ulitsa Svobody, near the Ulitsa Pobedy junction. Pleasant inside, with a very silver theme. They also serve food. Bristol, on Kirova, is nice, but pricey.

Aktor, a studenty bar a few years ago, has become a seedy, unpleasant place, and Cocktail Bar, next door, threaten to serve you "Cancer" (a mis-translation of Crab), but that's the least of your worries - bad vodka, appalling service, and a joke of a toilet means it's better avoided.

Learn

• The center of German language (dead link: December 2020), email: jardc@mubint.ru.

Read

• Nikolay Nekrasov: His mansion in Yaroslavl Oblast is a museum 15 km from the city.

Sleep

Budget

• Tourist (Турист), Prospekt Lenina 2 (from railway station by trolleybus #3 to the stop Hotel Tourist), +7 485 272-86-15. Close to the Volga promenade.
• Parus (Парус), Volzhskaya Naberezhnaya, 4 (Volga Promenade), +7 485 264-98-91. For those who can rough it.
• Hostel Oxygen, Ulitsa Respublikanskaya, 15, +7 920 65-11-999. Check-in: Cozy hostel, with kitchen and wifi., check-out: undefined. per bed

Mid-range

• Hotel Kotorosl (Которосль), 87 B. Oktyabrskaya st (City center), +7 4852 212415, adm@kotorosl.biz.
• Hotel Yubileynaya (Юбилейная), 26 Kotoroslnaya Naberezhnaya (City center), +7 4852 30 92 59, info@yubilyar.com. 5 min from a monastery at the entrance to old town, it has 210 rooms with the Internet access, ATM and souvenir shop in the lobby.
• Volzhskaya Zhemchuzhina, Volzhskaya Naberezhnaya, 2Б, Central Volga Promenade, +7 485 273-12-73, info@riverhotel-vp.ru. Hotel on water 700 m from the city center with 38 rooms, Wi-Fi. for a double up to for penthouse
• ibis Yaroslavl Center (Звездный мини-отель), Pervomayskiy Pereulok, 2A, +7 485 259-29-00. An old standby, with wifi and dining. from for single room

Splurge

• Ring Premier Hotel, 55 Svodody st (City center), +7 485 258-11-58, info@ringpremier-hotel.ru. A Western-style, four-star, six-floor hotel in the city center with a restaurant, a pub (Dublin) and fitness facilities. Additional rooms for disabled persons. Free Wi-Fi.

Connect

Internet

Free Wi-Fi locations abound:

• McDonald's at 119, Leningradsky Prospekt and 115, Moskovsky Prospekt.
• Kinomaks at 123, Leningradsky Prospekt.
• Mojo Coctail Club at 9, Svobody St.
• Yubileynaya hotel.
• Le Petit Cafe at 4 Volzhskaya Naberezhnaya (riverside).
• Shaiba (sport-bar) at 135, Moskovsky Prospekt.
• Rodina at 7a, Respublikanskaya St. and many more but they may be pay Wi-Fi points.

Cope

Go next

Take an elektrichka to Rostov Veliky or Alexandrov.

Related: Golden Ring