Kemerovo

Kemerovo (Russian: Ке́мерово KYEHM-eer-uh-vuh) is a city in Kemerovo Oblast, Western Siberia. Kemerovo is the capital of Kemerovo region or Kuzbass. It is a city with over half a million of population — big enough for Siberia. Rivers Tom and Iskitimka run through the city.

Kemerovo railway station

Get in

By plane

• 1 Kemerovo International Airport (KEJ  ^IATA). serves flights from Moscow, Vladivostok etc. and charters from Bangkok, Sanya, Hurghada etc. The bus #101 goes from the airport to the railway station.  

By train

Direct trains arrive from

• Moscow (55 hours), #29, firmenniy train Kuzbass.
• Tashtagol (16 hours), #680/679.
• Novosibirsk (5 hours), #853/854

Get around

By bus, trams, trolleybus, taxi. Prices are fair enough: 14 руб for public transport and around 200-300 руб for a taxi, depending on how far you want to go.

See

Kemerovo City Counsel

There are many museums and art galleries in Kemerovo, most of which are located in the city center. The grand Lenin's Square with the Lenin`s monument is a symbol of past Soviet times. Also you can find here a monument dedicated to miners who gave their lives working the region's mines.

• 1 Kemerovo Regional Museum, Sovetskiy Prospekt, 55, ☏ +7 384 275-22-45. 10:00-19:00, closed M. Lots of zoonotic exhibits (e.g. dino skeletons, stuffed bears, butterfly collections) if you're into that. (updated Jan 2021)
• 2 Archeology Ethnography and Ecology Museum of Siberia, Sovetskiy Prospekt, 77 (located on the Kemerovskiy Gosudarstvennyy University campus), ☏ +7 384 258-43-18. M-Th 10:00-18:00. Another museum with emphasis on archaeology, ethnography, and ecology. (updated Jan 2021)
• 3 Krasnaya Gorka (Red Hill Museum Reserve), Ulitsa Krasnaya Gorka, 17, ☏ +7 384 245-46-46. Miners' museum. (updated Jan 2021)
• 4 Monument "In memory of the miners of Kuzbass" (Монумент «Память шахтёрам Кузбасса») (between the miners' museum and the Prospekt Kuznetskiy bridge). This solemn miner looks out over the Tom River at the Kemerovo skyline and rather glum coal plant that has probably not done too many favors for Kemerovans' lungs. (updated Jan 2021)
• 5 Wonderland Park. Some little rides and monuments and greenery (if it's not blanketed in snow) in front of the Tom River. (updated Jan 2021)
• 6 Kemerovo Botanical Garden (Муниципальное предприятие г.Кемерово "Кемеровский ботанический сад") (out a ways northeast of Kemerovo), ☏ +7 384 228-42-21. daily 08:00-19:00. If you are hungering for some tropical or desert life, this might be your best bet with this enclosed ecosphere shielded from the throes of Siberian fury. (updated Jan 2021)

• 7 Pamyatnik Leninu (Памятник Ленину). City center with the obligatory Lenin statue. If you come in winter, you may also get to see ice skaters or at least some snow on Lenin's moustache. (updated Jan 2021)

8 Monument to the Warrior Liberator (Мемориал воину-освободителю).   Also the city is surrounded by beautiful forest — taiga, where you can almost feel the wildness and greatness of lands untouched by civilization.

• 'Khimik' Stadium, one of the largest hockey arena in the world where Russian hockey teams play.

• Znamenskiy Kafedral'nyy Sobor, Ulitsa Lunacharskogo, 4. Prominent city church.

Vicinity

• 1 Tomskaya Pisanitsa Museum (Томская писаница) (50 km north-west of Kemerovo). An open-air museum famous for its 280 petroglyphs dating from 4000–1000 BC.Also includes reconstructions of ancient dwellings and artefacts pertaining to the Shors people.  

Do

Skiing, snowboarding, bowling, pool, hiking, hunting, fishing. Also Disco and night clubs.

Take a tour of the massive strip mine just outside Kemerovo, which fueled Russia's industrial revolution under Stalin's 5-year plan.

• 1 Kemerovskiy Oblastnoy Teatr Dramy (Lunacharsky Drama Theatre), Vesennyaya Ulitsa, 11, ☏ +7 384 236 36 47. Kemerov's performing arts theater. Come inside out of the cold and see some genuine Russian productions. (updated Jan 2021)
• 2 Park Pobedy Im. G.k.zhukova, Ulitsa Michurina, 15. A park that may be of interest if you like walking around looking at relics of Russian military grandeur. (updated Jan 2021)
• 3 Angels' Park (Парк ангелов).  

Buy

Most common Russian souvenirs. Matryoshka, lapti, beresta. Different types of wood-carved hand-made souvenirs.

Eat

There are a great number of restaurants. Russian, sushi, European and others. Fast-food meal for 2 people will be around 300 руб. A restaurant meal for 2 people with beer or wine will be as much as 1000 руб.

Drink

Vodka! The nearby town of Mariinsk is considered a somewhat adequate manufacturer of vodka.

Sleep

Plenty of hotels. Centrally located hotels include: Hotel Kuzbass, Tom River Plaza Hotel, Azimut Hotel Kristall. Outside the city in the taiga you can stay at the Park Hotel Graal (http://park-hotel-graal.ru) or the hotel Tsarskiye Palaty.

Go next

Gornaya Shoriya and a ski-resort Sheregesh.