Yaroslavl

Yaroslavl (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

Yaroslavl station

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. (updated Dec 2018)

From Moscow

Yaroslavl is 266 km from Moscow and 13 trains per day make the 3-4 hour journey (RUB500-900) 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 RUB750.

From other points

Journey by elektrichka needs connection in Alexandrov.

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.

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 (Аэропорт Туношна)), (IAR  ^IATA), ++7 4852 43-18-00, is 18 km southeast of the city centre. There are regular flights to Saint Petersburg and Arkhangelsk and there are seasonal flights to Sochi.

Get around

Elijah the Prophet Church

Rides on public transport, which operate during the day and late at night and include buses, marshrutkas, and trolleybuses, costs RUB16-25.

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

Tolga monastery

• 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, ☎ [phone]. Comprises six churches and three museums. 
• Museum of the Yaroslavl City History, Volzhskaya Naberezhnaya d17. 
• Museum of Fine Arts, Volzhskaya Naberezhnaya 23. RUB450. 
• 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
• Alexander Nevskiy Chapel
• Transfiguration Cathedral
• St. John the Baptist Church
• 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, ☎ [phone]. Ancient Russian cuisine. 
• DudkiBar, 33 Sobinova St, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. European, Japanese and grill menus. 

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 located 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 now 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 , email: [e-mail].

Read

• Nikolay Nekrasov

His mansion in Yaroslavl Oblast is a museum 15 km off the city.

Sleep

Budget

• Tourist (Турист), 2 Lenina st (from railway station by trolleybus #3 to the stop Hotel Tourist), ☎ [phone]. Close to the Volga promenade. from RUB900 for single, RUB1400 for double. 
• Parus (Парус), 4 Volzhskaya naberezhnaya (Volga Promenade), ☎ [phone]. For those who can rough it. double from RUB800, single RUB1100. 
• Good Luck Hostel, 11 prospekt Oktyabrya, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Check-in: 13:00, check-out: 12:00. The first hostel in Yaroslavl. It is very hard to find, since it has no signs outside. Choose the door, where there is also a tourist agency, and press number 2. 10/8/4 bed dorm - RUB450/RUB500/RUB550 per bed. 

Mid-range

• Hotel Kotorosl (Которосль), 87 B. Oktyabrskaya st (City center), ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 
• Hotel Yubileynaya (Юбилейная), 26 Kotoroslnaya Naberezhnaya (City center), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 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. 
• Volga Pearl (Волжская жемчужина), Central Volga Promenade, ☎ [phone], [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Hotel on water 700 m from the city center with 38 rooms, Wi-Fi. RUB2500 for a single room, RUB4200 for a double up to RUB7600 for penthouse. 
• Zvezdniy mini-hotel (Звездный мини-отель), 37 Pobedy st, ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. The hotel in the city center with 18 rooms ranging from economy to splurge. Romantic room. from RUB2800 for single room to RUB5000 for double. 

Splurge

• Ring Premier Hotel, 55 Svodody st (City center), ☎ [phone], [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 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.

Routes through Yaroslavl

Moscow ← Alexandrov ←

W  E

→ Kirov → Yekaterinburg