Ulyanovsk Oblast

Bridge over the Volga outside Ulyanovsk

Ulyanovsk Oblast (Russian: Улья́новская о́бласть ool-YAHN-uhf-skuh-yuh OH-bluhst') is a region in the Middle Volga, which borders Penza Oblast to the west, Mordovia to the northwest, Chuvashia to the north, Tatarstan to the northeast, Samara Oblast to the east, and Saratov Oblast to the south.

Cities

• 1 Ulyanovsk — the capital, principal city, and hometown of one very famous Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin
• 2 Dimitrovgrad — a mid-sized industrial city on the Melekes River

Understand

More than half of Ulyanovsk Oblast's residents live in the two industrial cities of Ulyanovsk and Dmitrovgrad; the rest of the region is largely agricultural steppe.

Get in

It is fairly easy to get to Ulyanovsk via Moscow on the daily overnight train (16 hours) or by plane (1.5 hours).