Practical information about Barnaul: business travel, internet, mobile networks, health, safety.

Practical information, contacts, and addresses: A to Z list.

Business Travelers.
A useful internet resource where you can find address and contacts of any company in Barnaul and search the business directory: Orientir Info
The best hotel for businessmen is Tsentralnaya hotel, as it offers basic business services and is very centrally located.


Internet Resources & Web Access.
There are three internet cafes in Barnaul center, two of them are opened 24 hours. If you need dial-up access, then you can use the local ISP Barnaul.Ru. They provide dial-up as well as ADSL access.


Internet Cafe. Opened 24 hours, fast connection, print-out, scanning, copy services, and mobile phone shop. You can also buy an IP telephone card there, batteries, and photo films. One hour costs 15R ($0.5) plus 5R ($0.2) for 1 Mb, so total is about $1 - $2 per hour. Light drinks and snacks on sale.
Address: Sotsialistichesky Prospekt, #64 (on the corner of Chkalova street, behind Rus hotel)

Internet Cafe and Bar. Situated in the same building as Rus hotel, opened 24 hours. Can be loud sometimes, as there are a lot of kids playing computer games over the network. One hour 30R ($1). There's a bar next door, so you can buy drinks (light and beer) and snacks.
Address: Chkalova st., #57a (behind Lenina Prospekt)

Amitel Internet Cafe. Located just near Tsentralnaya hotel, on Lenina Prospekt, but the connection is quite slow. One hour costs $1.
Address: Lenina Prospekt, #53, tel.: (3852) 25-30-58


Recommended web resources about Barnaul:

Barnaul City Portal. One of the most popular Barnaul web sites, features latest news, city guide, dating service, web catalogue, photogallery, forum and chat. All in Russian.
http://my.barnaul.ru

Orientir Address Directory. Business directory, useful addresses, bus, train and flights schedule, detailed city map. They also sell pocket print version in Barnaul. All in Russian.
http://www.orientir.info

 
Mobile Netwoks:
The two major operators in Barnaul are MTS and BeeLine. A minute of local calls costs about $0.20, but if you are on roaming, it will be $1-$2. It's best to take a SIM of one of the operators in the beginning of your trip, so the conversations will be cheaper. MTS has better coverage at Altay region, but BeeLine seems to be less expensive and more popular among locals (so, if you will be contacting locals it'll be cheaper).
A comment from Alexander Yukamaev (April 2004): "Bee-Line was the first major GSM operator to come to the local market, so it has much better coverage than the others, however, the prices are higher, they remained high since the time of thier monopoly.
MTS offers better prices, but the coverage is still poorer at this stage (Spring 2004), although they are agressively working on covering the area."
You can rent a mobile phone, buy a sim card, and read more about cellular network in Russia at Travel Services / Mobile Rental
 

Health & Safety:
Barnaul is a safe city, majority of inhabitants are well-behaved and there are many young people in the city who are getting higher education. So it feels safe to walk outside even in the night. Just practice normal travelers safety and you will be ok.
Please note, that during the summer months (May to 1st half of July) there's a danger of getting encephalitis from a bite of a tick in Altay region (only the beginning - not if you go to higher mountains). If you were bitten, you should carefully remove the tick (making sure no part of him is left in your body) and contact the local immunisation center, keep the tick for analysis - only about 1% of them have the desease, so the doctors will check if it was actually infected before giving you an injection of immunoglobin against encephalitis.

Altay Government Hospital: Chekhova st., #12, telephone (3852) 24-86-12

There are many pharmacies situated in the city center, especially on Prospekt Lenina. Most of them are opened 8.00 to 21.00.

Unifarm pharmacy: Lenina Prospekt, #20a (in courtyards) sells rare medicines and natural products (oils, sea buckthorn). Telephone: (3852) 23-23-25, Internet: http://www.ab.ru/~yunifarm/ 

Central pharmacy: located just next to Aviaflot airline tickets, on Lenina, #53. Sells a good choice of medicines, products for diabetics, and diet food.
Opened: 10.00 to 20.00
 

Shopping
Good supermarkets are located throughout the city center, among them is a 24-hour shop near hotel Tsentralnaya on Lenina Prospekt (recently shut down).
Also, there's a good clubwear shop "Depo" on Prospekt Lenina, #58 (you can always get flyers for the most interesting events in Barnaul there).