Get Around Ekaterinburg Travel

The central part of Ekaterinburg has problems coping with traffic. Getting around the center of Yekaterinburg by car is a real pain. The public transport system, however, is efficient. There is a wide tram network that is inexpensive and reliable. Trams can be quite crowded and the ticket is purchased onboard. Buses and trolleybuses (electric buses) experience the disadvantage of heavy traffic during peak hours.

Yekaterinburg is a very compact city for its population (1.3 million). One can drive from one side of the city to the other in some 30 to 40 minutes, provided there is no traffic. Yekaterinburg has a single metro (underground train) line, connecting the central part (stop is near the Circus) to Uralmash — a large industrial and residential area, having stops near main railway station and further down to Uralmash. The metro (natives say it is the shortest metro in the world) has proved to be popular with locals because it is quick and inexpensive (2011: RUB18/ride). The stations are impressive, decorated with native Ural stones, granite and marble.

You can get free walking maps published by the "Ekaterinburg Tourist Information Service" at their office on 8 Marta St. 21, office 2 (620014 г. Екатеринбург, ул. 8 Марта, офис 2). Those include sightseeing and culture.

To get there take a metro train to ploshchad' 1905 goda (площадь 1905-ого года, square of 1905 year), walk away from the square, go straight across ploshchad' Malysheva (площадь Малышева) and it is the second house on the left hand side. They have merchandise in their windows (even GPS navigators) and you can enter from the court after you pass the house. There is an English speaker at hand and they can book tours as well.

If you can read cyrillic then you might get a good map from the railway stations and many street magazines called "Городской транспорт Екатеринбурга — карта с каждым домом" (city transport map of Yekaterinburg — map with all houses) which includes subway stations, all bus and elektrichka routes as well as three maps (inner city, big city, Koltsovo airport and surroundings) as well as a street register. By the same publisher, Urals Cartographic Company, Malysheva St. 122ze, 2F, Rm 207 (Уральская Картографическая Компания, ул. Малышева 122з, 2 этаж, к. 207), there is also a map called "достопримечательности Екатеринбурга" (Sights of Yekaterinburg) for about the same price of about RUB500.

If you get lost, there are information stands in the inner city around Square of 1905 that will show you your current location, a map of the inner city and possibly help you to find addresses, restaurants and sights. Though they are in Russian only, it should be enough to help you out.

Ekaterinburg Airport (SVX)

International Airport Koltsovo

Ekaterinburg Airport (SVX) 

Yekaterinburg Airport (SVX) 

International Airport Koltsovo is the most dynamically developing airport in Russia. More than 30 Russian and Foreign Airlines connect Ekaterinburg with 104 cities in the world and via convenient international airports-hubs with any place on the planet.

2.35 millions of people used the services of Koltsovo airport in 2007 - it is the third biggest airport in Russia (the first two are Moscow and Saint-Petersburg Airports).

Koltsovo airport web site

Brief History

The history of Koltsovo Airport goes back to 24 June 1943, when Koltsovo military airdrome was converted into Sverdlovsk Airport under the Red Army Air Force Head’s order.

On 1 January 1963, the Airport, Civil Flight Unit 120 and several other services were united into the Sverdlovsk Joint Air Unit of the Ural Civil Aviation Authority. Later, in 1991, it was reorganized into the First Sverdlovsk Air Enterprise.

On 28 December 1993, the First Sverdlovsk Air Enterprise was privatized, and two joint-stock companies established:

• Koltsovo Airport Public Stock Company;
• Ural Airlines Public Joint-Stock Company.

Since 1993 Koltsovo is an international airport.

Koltsovo Airport Company is a member of the Airports Council International (ACI), as well as of the Aeroport GA Association, an organization of Russian and CIS airports.

Open to the World

Koltsovo Airport Today

Koltsovo Airport of Ekaterinburg is rightly called the air gateway to Ural. The geographical position of Ekaterinburg, its status as the capital of the Sverdlovsk Oblast (province) and the Ural Federal Region, the high economic potential of the city and the oblast - these all are the factors determining the strategic significance of Koltsovo Airport in the Russian air transport system.

Public Transport Stop:

• bus No. 1: Koltsovo Railway Station - Koltsovo Airport - Sverdlovsk (Ekaterinburg Central) Railway Station;

Operating hours: 6.50-23.00

• yellow minivan: Koltsovo Airport - Sverdlovsk (Ekaterinburg Central) Railway Station

Operating hours: 7.00-22.00

Koltsovo Airport is connected with Ekaterinburg by highway.

Landside

The Liner Hotel is certified for *** class and offers a number of various services. The guests can find accommodation of different quality level - from economy four-bed rooms to two-room luxury suites.

Reception telephone: +7 (343) 226-86-06, 226-85-60, 226-85-61, 226-85-62

Ural Airlines set up a new record in passenger turnover

10.08.2011 — News


SVERDLOVSK REGION.
Ural Airlines have achieved their record high level of more than 1 million passengers serviced by the company over seven months within one year. In January-July the air-carrier provided services to 1,322,687 passengers.

The representatives of the Ural Airlines' Press Service informed "RusBusinessNews" that the performance of the respective period of the last year was exceeded by 35%.

Within seven months of 2011, the airline's aircraft made 11,828 flights, including 3,676 international flights. The highest demand is for flights from Ekaterinburg to Beijing, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Burgas, Barcelona, and Rome. This summer Ural Airlines offered flights from Ufa and Samara to Larnaca as well as from Samara to Barcelona, Varna and Thessaloniki.

The air company was able to increase its passenger flow, having added four A320s to its fleet. Today, Ural Airlines are operating eighteen А320 and А321 aircraft.
In August the company is launching new flights from Ekaterinburg, St. Petersburg, Irkutsk and Vladivostok to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Besides, Ural Airlines resume their flights to Georgia from Moscow and Ekaterinburg.

Facts about Ekaterinburg (Yekaterinburg)

1. Ekaterinburg was founded by the first Russian Emperor Peter I. Ironically the last Russian Emperor Nicolas II was executed here.

2. Britain Parliament's roof was once covered with roofing iron manufactured in Ekaterinburg.

3. The frame of the Statue of Liberty was made of metal manufactured in Ekaterinburg.

4. Ekaterinburg was the first Russian city where people started to get iron gold (in 1745).

5. The marquee in Spas-na-Krovi church in St. Petersburg built on the place of Emperor Alexander II was manufactured at the Ekaterinburg Emperor Lapidary factory.

6. Ekaterinburg holds a Guinness record for the biggest consumption of mayonnaise per capita.

7. The city has its own equivalent of Guinness World records — «Удивительный Екатеринбург» (Amazing Ekaterinburg). It has a collection of outstanding events that happened on its territory or performed by its citizen elsewhere.

8. During the World War II Sverdlovsk held the collections of State Hermitage.

9. During the Great Patriotic War Moscow Chekhov Art Theater and Central Red Army Theater were evacuated.

10 During the World War II Sverdlovsk was the center of radio broadcast of the USSR — the city had the most powerful radio transmitter in the country and in 1941 secretly Yury Levital moved to Sverdlovsk radio studio who received information from Sovinformburo from Moscow by phone. Thus the famous Levitan words «Внимание, говорит Москва»  (‘Attention Moscow speaking’) in fact broadcasted from Sverdlovsk.

11. The first biathlon championship in the USSR took place in Sverdlovsk in the Uktuskie Mountains in 1957.

12. The city name was given to tanker Sverdlovsk which had some tension with American ships in the Caribbean in 1961.

13. In 1963 Fidel Castro visited Sverdlovsk.  11 newborns were given the name Fidel that year.

14. The name Yekaterinburg was given to a nuclear ship from 667BDRM project Dolphin.

15. On the 1^st of July 2007 the name Ekaterinburg was given to an asteroid 27736.

16. The deepest drill was made using  «Uralmash-15000» (drilling equipment),manufactured in Ekaterinburg.

17. On the 16^th 2009 Ekaterinburg help the first offial BRIC summit.

18. Throughout its history 35 heads of states visited Ekaterinburg — starting with Alexander I in 1824 and ending with BRIC and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (13 presidents) that took place in July 2009.

19. Ekaterinburg was chosen to be place for the TV show «Счастливы вместе» (‘Happy together’). This choice was based on the fact that this series is a remake of a famous American show Married With Children which happens in Chicago — the third largest city in the US; the producers were deciding which city is the third in Russia and decided it was Ekaterinburg although in fact it is Novosibirsk.

20. Having hosted UEFA CUP mini-football Final games in 2009, Ekaterinburg became the most eastern city to have final matches under UEFA.

21. In 2010 Dmitry Medvedev and A. Merkel visited Ekaterinburg for the “Petersburg Dialog”

22. Ekaterinburg became the first Russian city to have a Cyrillic domain name - .РФ