Volgograd

Photo © TeflonCDN

Travel Guide Europe Russia Southern Russia Volgograd

Introduction

War Memorial in Volgograd

Volgograd is a longstreched city on the bank of the river Volga in Southern Russia. Volgograd originated with the foundation in 1589 of the fortress of Tsaritsyn at the confluence of the Tsaritsa and Volga Rivers. The name Tsaritsyn itself implies "czarin", thus the name would sound in English as "Czarina's City".
In 1925 - 1961 the city was called Stalingrad in honor of Joseph Stalin. The city has always been one of the most important cities on the Volga. Now the city has over two million inhabitants. Volgograd is famous for the Stalingrad battle of 1942-43 that ended in a total defeat of the German invaders' army. The city was almost totally destroyed and then rebuilt. Afterwards the war the city became a Hero City of the Soviet Union. Volgograd and Coventry, Great Britain, became the world's first twin-cities soon after the war as cities that suffered a lot during the last war.

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Sights and Activities

Rodina-Mat Zovyot!

Mamayev Kurgan

Rodina-Mat Zovyot! (translated: The Motherland Calls!), a statue built by Yevgeny Vuchetich is a symbol of Volgograd. The statue was erected at the height of Mamayev Kurgan, as a monument dedicated to the victims of the battle of Stalingrad. The figure of the woman stands 52 metres high, and the sword that she holds is 33 metres. A native of the city, Valentina Izotova, posed for the statue. The statue stands on a platform that has 200 steps leading up to the actual statue. The 200 steps are symbolic for the 200 days that the siege lasted. As Hedrick Smith wrote in his book "The Russians" in 1976, it's

"the towering World War II monument, a 52-metre tall Mother Russia on a hillcrest, sword raised against the foe, her dead prayerfully buried around her feet."

At the time of its erection, it was the tallest statue in the world. The statue is held in place by its weight and not fixed to its foundations. Over the years, changes to groundwater level had caused movements to the foundations and the statue is currently leaning at a precarious angle with a tilt of an estimated 20 centimetres. If the tilt continues by just a few more centimetres before corrective measures can be put in place, it will most likely collapse.

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Weather

Many travelers to Volgograd note the unsuitability of the city's housing to its climate. Summer in the city is unbelievably hot, and in times of rain the streets run with dirt from parked cars. After it dries, it becomes a dust that can turn into a dust storm given enough wind. During the Soviet era and its period of associated development, these concerns were raised, and officials planned a systematic "airing out" of the streets by Volga breezes, as well as massive environmental development to halt the spread of dust. Gradually, this system is falling into decline, the "green ring" around Volgograd is being ruined, and forests are being cut down for housing. Therefore, between the snowfall and appearance of leaves (in the first half of April), the city is very dusty. From the end of May, it can also be very hot. Comfortable weather ceases around the end of August, but extreme temperatures are less assured starting mid-October. From sometime around November to March, pleasant weather for a stroll becomes altogether rare in Volgograd.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Avg Max	-4.5 °C	-4.3 °C	2.6 °C	15.4 °C	22.7 °C	26.9 °C	29.3 °C	27.9 °C	21.6 °C	12.2 °C	4 °C	-1.9 °C
Avg Min	-10.7 °C	-10.7 °C	-4.5 °C	5.1 °C	12 °C	16.1 °C	18.4 °C	17.1 °C	11.6 °C	4 °C	-1.3 °C	-7 °C
Rainfall	37 mm	29 mm	26 mm	25 mm	37 mm	37 mm	36 mm	37 mm	26 mm	24 mm	43 mm	46 mm
Rain Days	8	6	6	5	6	6	5	4	4	5	8	10

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Getting There

By Plane

Volgograd International Airport (website in Russian only) (IATA: VOG, ICAO: URWW) is an airport located 15 kilometres northwest of the city. There are flights to Moscow, St Petersburg, Surgut, Yekaterinburg and Yerevan, the latter being the only international connection.

By Train

Volgograd is a major railway junction with good connections from Moscow (20 h), Saint Petersburg (34 hours) and most other large cities in western Russia, tickets cost between 3-5,000 RUB for a second class sleeper. In the other direction, trains come all the way from Irkutsk (92 h) in Siberia. International connections are limited but several central Asian cities such as Bishkek (77 hours), Baku (30 hours) Dushanbe (72 hours), Tashkent (60 hours) as well as the two major cities in Kazakhstan, Almaty (68 hours) and Astana (52 hours) have departures at least once a week. Directs routes from European countries is scarce, the usual route involves a change of trains in Moscow however there is a few trains from Brest (45 h) via Minsk (40 hours), Kiev (29 hours) and from Sofia (61 hours) via Bucharest (49 hours) and Chişinău (36 hours) that does not require a change. These trains usually departs 3-4 times a week.

By Car

European route E40, the longest European route connecting Calais, France with Ridder, Kazakhstan, passes through Volgograd.

A trip from Moscow by car is a bit under 1,000 km and takes around 13 hours with short stops. The roads are generally in good condition, although roadworks are plenty.

By Boat

The city stands at the east end of the Volga-Don Canal, opened in 1952 to link the two great rivers of Southern Russia. River cruises down the Volga operate during the summer months (early May to late September). Dozens of boats operated by different companies run from Moscow to Astrakhan passing by Volgograd. One way or return cruises may be reserved to/from practically any city along the Volga. Turflot and Infoflot offer tours. Prices starts a RUR 8,000 without meals and RUR 15,000 with meals.

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Getting Around

By Public Transport

Volgograd has a metrosystem, that runs parallel to the river.

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Eat

Trattoria Rimini, Gagarina St, 9, ☎ +7 844 224-09-08, e-mail: [email protected]. Homely Italian with a decent range of pasta, pizzas and wines.

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Sleep

Intourist, ul. Mira 14, ☎ +7 8442 30-23-01, +7 8442 30-23-02, fax: +7 8442 38-60-00, e-mail: [email protected]. Single/double apartment US$290 and up, deluxe US$220-290/290-320, 1-st category room US$160-220/190-290, category “E” room US$160/190
Volgograd, ul. Mira 12, ☎ +7 8442 40-80-30, +7 8442 40-80-31, +7 8442 40-80-20, fax: +7 8442 40-80-33, e-mail: [email protected]. single US$82-220, double US$100-245.
Yuzhnaya, ul. Raboche-Krestyanskaya 18, ☎ +7 8442 97-50-57, +7 8442 97-55-46, +7 8442 97-54-40, fax: +7 8442 97-54-00, e-mail: [email protected]. From US$150.
Kristina, bul. 30 Let Pobedy, 39a, ☎ +7 8442 31-60-37, fax: +7 8442 31-60-37, e-mail: [email protected]. From US$100.
Tourist, ulitsa Marshala Chuykova, 73, ☎ +7 8442 23-12-43, +7 8442 23-97-00, fax: +7 8442 23-98-94, e-mail: [email protected]. 346 rooms. economy room: double US$40. Standard single/double: US$40/60. Superior: US$40/70. Suite: US$100. Breakfast extra US$4. US$40-100.
Hotel Bank, ul. Kommunisticheskaya, 40, ☎ +7 8442 74-21-74, fax: +7 8442 96-53-37, e-mail: [email protected].
Oktyabrskaya, ul. Kommunisticheskaya, 3, ☎ +7 8442 33-18-41, +7 8442 33-18-36, fax: +7 8442 33-18-41. 240 rooms.
Start Hotel (Гостиница Старт).Gramshi ulitsa.4 phone=+7 8442 70-77-77. Studio 3500 RUB, Suite 2600 RUB, Premium 2200 RUB, Standard 850 RUB -from railway station take trolleybus #8, minibus #30A or #123 to the stop Spartanovka “Universam”.
Park Inn by Radisson, Mikhaila Balonina Str. 7, ☎ +7 844 226-81-25. The hotel is modern.

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Keep Connected

Internet

Russia is a huge country, and excess to the internet varies a lot. The main cities and tourist places have (free) wifi excess at lots of places, like restaurants and cafes (McDonald's is always a safe bet). Internet cafes are present in larger places as well. Rural areas and especially if you venture into remote and/or mountainous areas have little excess at all. Most travellers will find connections though when using their phone or tablet.

Phone

Post

Russian Post is the national postal service of Russia. It's English version is currently under construction, but mainly involves the track&trace system. The domestic post is reasonably reliable, and sending international mail is fairly reliable but slow, taking at least a few weeks to European countries, longer to the USA or Australia for example. The delivery of mail sent from abroad to Russia is highly unreliable, and people or companies tend to use foreign adresses, from where a private carrier sends it to Russia. Alternatives like poste restante are non-existent with Russian Post. Most cities and large towns in Russia have a Central Post Office (Glavpochtamt), which also sells stamps and envelopes, and usually has fax services and Internet availability, though the latter mostly not in smaller places. Also, many hotels have postal services, including mail boxes. Post offices tend to keep long hours, usually from 8:00am or 9:00am until 8:00pm or 9:00pm Monday to Friday, and closing earlier during weekends. The main central post offices in the biggest cities keep even longer hours. For sending parcels, you can also try services by DHL Russia and FedEx Russia. For all mail you can use the regular alphabet, though maybe include the country's name in Cyrillic. For sending post to Russia (or trying to receive it) note that addresses should be in reverse order: Russia, postal code, city, street address, name.

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