Smolensk (Russian: Смоленск) is a city inCentral Russia.
Smolensk is one of the oldest cities in Russia. The city has been taken over by different countries more times than any other city in Russia, so has its own cultural background. Therefore there are many monuments from different epochs: huge Kremlin, many buildings dated back to the 18th to 19th centuries. There are also 3 churches that were built before the Tatar-Mongol invasion, which is rare. Due to many wars some of these buildings have been destroyed. The city leaves different feelings, but it is hard to leave the city feeling indifferent.
The first recorded mention of the city is in 863 AD. It was the capital of Slavic Krivichs tribe in the ninth century. Smolensk is a city with great history. Since the XII century it was a capital of the princedom, but since 1522 it became a city of the Moscow kingdom. In 1596 the great fortress was built to protect people. Now this fortress is the most interesting sight of the city. It's bigger than Moscow's fortress (the Kremlin). The length of its walls is about 6.5 km.
Although there are two airports, they are used by military only and civil planes are not accepted. There are discussions to revert them to civil airports, but the projects are still on hold.
FromMoscow several trains from Belorusskiy train station reach Smolensk in 5-6 hours. Some of them reach into Europe as far as toParis andNice (in summer only). The same trains can be used to reach Smolensk fromBelarus. Daily express connects Smolensk withBryansk. Railway Station Inquiry Office: 27-15-20, 39-52-85
Several times a week there are buses connecting Smolensk with European towns, such asBerlin,Warsaw,Madrid,Riga and some others, the timetable is subject to change, though. Other buses run toMogilev,Kaluga,Velikiye Luki,Kursk andTver. Daily buses run toMstislavl,Belgorod,Bryansk,Moscow,Oryol,Saint Petersburg andTula. Bus Station Inquiry Office: 27-09-52
Smolensk is situated on the M1/E30 and A141 highways. Both are good for hitchhiking as well, though note, that M1 is about 6km from the town.
Centre of Smolensk is quite pedestrian friendly and you can access many sights on foot. Outside of it you need to mind which side of a street you are on as stretches of congested roads without crossing for a kilometer are the norm, also city is much hillier than you could expect.
You can go by car nearly everywhere in Smolensk and there are plenty of free parking spaces. Road conditions are quite good for Russian standards. It is worth noting that Smolensk is quite hilly.
It is common to use taxis as they are quite cheap - an average trip within the city should cost around 200 RUB. Russian ridehailing apps are also an option. Drivers are mostly Russians contrary to larger cities in the country.
Public transportation is cheap, unreliable and slow, mostly based onmarshrutka buses often in bad condition (damaged doors and windows, visible rust). Trams are in notoriously bad condition with significant amount of rust and on many routes move only little faster than on foot due to bad tracks. If you want to use public transit try to stick to buses and trolleybuses as these offer best quality of service. In all cases you need to pay either to driver or check-taker. All forms of public transport arrive whenever they want and timetable is only a suggestion. Signal that you want to ride as bus may not stop for you. In general it is much better to go on foot or by taxi.
(updated Nov 2020)(updated Nov 2020) In Smolensk Oblast:
Further afield:
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