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Wednesday
Just Starting
Joined: 26 Mar 2005
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2005 10:44 pm Post subject: Train between Moscow and Almaty, Kazakhstan |
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My boyfriend and I are planning to take the train between Moscow and Almaty (Alma Ata) this summer. We would like to stop off somewhere in Russia overnight as I have never been to Russia and I want some experience of smalltown Russia, not just Moscow.
Does anyone know if it is possible to get a train ticket which allows you to break up your journey in this way? And does anyone have recommendations as to which Russian town(s) along the route we should stay overnight in?
Any and all advice appreciated  |
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wavetossed
WayToRussified
Joined: 27 Jun 2004
Posts: 339
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| Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 1:55 am Post subject: |
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If you want to travel from A to B, then from B to C, you simply buy two tickets. For instance, you could travel from Almaty to Suleya in Chelyabinsk oblast, spend a couple of days at Porogi and then continue onward. While there, go on a day trip to Mezhevoy to see the new Orthodox church built entirely of wood with no nails. And also have a look at the cliffs along the river Ay near Mezehvoy. You can drive near the edge of the cliffs overlooking an area where the locals have dachas and gardens. Then, go to Satka and look at some of the older log houses along the town reservoir. On another day, go on a trip past Satka up into Zyuratkul national park and have a picnic by the lake.
If this appeals to you, you could either contact the people at Porogi http://www.porogi.ru or at Satka Travel http://www.s-travel.ru/
In order to do this you will need to have them provide a car to meet you at the station and take you to the various places. But since this is a remote mountain area, the prices should be quite reasonable. I know that I rented a furnished apartment in Satka for 2 weeks for 4,000 rubles. That's about $145. Don't worry about train schedules. For instance if your train arrives or leaves in the middle of the night, you will have no problems finding a driver to meet it. This is Russia, where people don't have a concept of five 8-hour days and 2 day weekends. If someone will pay for a service, then it is available.
Basically, just contact them with the dates that you are thinking of and tell them what you want to see. Emphasize that you want to see nature, wilderness and old historic buildings in the old region (Stariy Rayon) of Satka. You probably should have a look at the historic hydro-electric damns and factories beside the hotel at Porogi. They are all museums now because this was the first hydro-electric site in Russia back in the 19th century.
To check train schedules look at http://www.poezda.net
You probably want to take the train from Almaty (Alma-Ata) to Karaganda Pass and from Karaganda Pass to Moscow (Moskva Kazanskaia). You would break this last trip into two legs at Suleya (Suleia). I provide alternate spellings because the train schedules use the spellings in parentheses. This is a good break in the trip to Moscow because it is roughly a day and a half each way.
If you want to see this on a map, you can sometimes find Satka marked in the middle of the south Urals. If not, get a map with the borders of the oblasts. Chelyabinsk oblast has a finger shape that extends into the mountains westward into Bashkortostan. Satka is roughly half way along this finger. |
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Ainsa
Just Starting
Joined: 29 Jan 2007
Posts: 6
Location: Kazakhsatn
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overseas_expat
VIP
Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 691
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:55 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, wavetossed I remember him. Wonder where he went?
I can never get into older posts, how in the world did Ainsa dig this up from four years ago?
And it always disappoints me that people come here asking bizarre Russian travel questions then we never hear from them again. I wish they'd check back in to tell us how things went. |
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Ainsa
Just Starting
Joined: 29 Jan 2007
Posts: 6
Location: Kazakhsatn
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| Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:12 pm Post subject: Train Moscow - Almaty |
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This topic is in Google's top 10 while searching with key words "train Moscow Almaty". It is the main reason why I'm here. Tried to get Moscow-Almaty schedule following the link to poezda.net given above and find out that it is quite difficult to exract something looking like Moscow-Almaty train schedule for 2009 from that.
Besides it sometimes it shows "no trains" when for sure there is the train.
I've noticed that in their timetables for 2009 are mentioned days of week related for 2008. 1 January was Tuesday in 2008. It makes their schedules completely wrong sometimes when departyre days are for example Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. In this case their program would show wrong dates related to Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of 2008.
the schedule given on
http://www.geocities.com/almaty_tours/almaty_moscow.html
is less sophisticated from all points of view and is 100% in accordance with commomh CIS Railways ASU Expess-3 system's schedules. |
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wavetossed
WayToRussified
Joined: 27 Jun 2004
Posts: 339
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| Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:53 pm Post subject: Wavetossed is gone |
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| overseas_expat wrote: | Wow, wavetossed I remember him. Wonder where he went?
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Wavetossed went to Ukraine, met a girl, took her back to England, got married and had a baby daughter who is now two and a half years old. All that Russian language experience that I got traveling in Russia came in very handy when I met my Russian-speaking wife in Ukraine. |
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overseas_expat
VIP
Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 691
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Wonderful! Congratulations on your family. Many happy wishes to you all, wavetossed. |
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