Travel to Salekhard
- sights : Salekhard is a very rich city thanks to the big gas resorces that have been found in the area. In comparasing with Vorkuta there is here a lot more of the wooden houses to be seen inbetween the newbuilt plastic isolated ones. There seems to be a lot of building activity. On clear days you can get a nice view over the water on to the Oeral with the wooden houses from an old city part in front. Because of the richness and the far away position of the city everything is at least half more expensive than in the rest of Russia.- hotel - hotels : hotels are quite expensive in this rather wealthy city, the telephone code to Salekhard is 34591.
* Hotel Ob : next to the airport building. 501 Rubel/single; 434 Rubel/bed in double, 334 Rubel/bed in triple; overprized but simple and clean rooms with proper shower and toilet in the hall. The rooms lack curtains which can be annoying during bright polar nights. The beds consist of bad matrasses that you have to put the sheets on to yourself. The staff is not always very friendly. (Telephone number: 74558).
* Hotel Sibir : 350 Rubel/double, a lot more value for money here than in the Hotel Ob. The rooms have colour tv, airco and handbasin, toilet and shower are in the hall. City bus no 1 passes nearby (the stop is at monument Salekhard). Hotel Sibir lies just outside the one kilometer long ???toegangsweg from the airport. The hotel is a white building situated in the curv of the mainroad. (Telephone number: 74696).
* Hotel Geolog : probably also cheap, on the left hand side along the bus no 1 route between the airport and the city centre. (Telephone number: 9-48442).
* Hotel Polyarny Krug : along bus number 1 busroute. (Telephone number: 9-48686).
* Hotel Kombinat : (telephone number: 9-40363).
* Hotel Teremok : (telephone number: 9-44632).
* Hotel Arktika : three star hotel, situated right in the center of town - expensive. (Telephone number: 9-40777).
* Hotel Yamal : expensive; 2000 Rubel/room. (Telephone number 46333 or 9-10888).
- money, cash point/cash machines, ATM : I found three cash points in Salekhard with VISA/Cirrus connection (1. in the airport 2. in Polaris center, 3. in the new covered part of the Rynok-markt), but non of them worked during my visit. Inside the airport there is an exchange office that is open during bankhours.
- rynok-market : you can by a head net against the mosquitoes for 50 Rubel which is not a bad idea during the warm season. Thick leader jackets are on offer for 4000 Rubel. All the products have little tickets on with "fixed price" which is just a trick. The actual prices are about 30% lower so don't forget to bargain !
- Yamal Peninsula : in Yamal Peninsula lives the original ethnical peoples of the area, the Nentsy. The Nentsy are traditionally reindeer herders and this is still their main means of survival. They are semi nomadic and live in tents which they move between the summer and winter location in sledges pulled by the reindeers. During the winter a group of Nentsy people stay close to Salekhard and if you're lucky you might run into them along the way between Salekhard - Aksara (the only road in the region, 65km). In de summer, june-september, they move to the border of the Kara Sea where the cold wind keeps the mosquitos away. In Yar-Sale is a reindeer meat factory. On photos I have seen that there are also reindeers in the Schoeroeshkarsky and Krasnoselkoepsky areas. The closest to the reindeers you probably get by taking the ferry to Antipajoeta, 4x in July, 6x in August and 5x in september. It leaves at 18:00 from Salekhard, stops at 22:00 in Novy Port after 458km and at 11 am in Antipajoeta after 718km. Novy Port is situated about halfway along the Yamal peninsula. Antipajoeta lies on the upper side of the river.
- city transport : city bus number 1 drives every 10 minutes between the airport, the Polaris center, the city center and the Retsjnoy Port (passenger port).
- internet : in the new Polaris center (a kind of lunapark-disco-hamburgertent center reachible by bus number 1 and 3) there is an internetcafe, 50 Rubel/hour.
- restaurants : * Restoan Oxata, situated near Retchnoei Port, behind the park next to the church, is a good choice. It's an eyecatching woodhut with cosy interiour, fast service, cheap - and good tasting!
*Restoran Paris (in een boot in de passagiershaven)
- by car : two roads lead out of Salekhard; to Aksarka (66km) and to Kharp (53km), the rest you must get to by boat or train.
- travel by train in North Russia :
* Vorkuta - Labytnangi : one train daily at 7.40am, 277km. Arrival at 6.08/7.47pm (oneven/even date; according to Moscow time of course! Local time in Labytnangi and Salekhard is two hours behind). The cost for the travel is 260 Rubel/kupe, 85 Rubel/platskartny. Places of interest during the trip; 14:00; Ural in sight), 15:00; border between Europe/Asia, 18:00; the most beautiful moment, drive through the highest point of Ural, 6:30; arrival in the Kharp station, the final stop. From here you may be able to catch a minibus to Salekhard. A film made about this trainride over the Arctic Ural called " Polarkreis 3. Klasse" can be purchased at www.globrailer.de/shop.htm, apparently it gives a lot of information about this most northen trainline from Europe to Asia.
* Moskou - Labytnangi : daily fasttrains leave from Moscow Jaroslavlskaja at 21:50, arrival at 20:28 two days later.
* Labytnangi - Salekhard : only a distance of 10km, but there is a river in the way. The mini-taxibusjes live from the naivity of the guestworkers who unknowingly arrive with the train and gets charged 50 Rubel/seat for being driven the three km to the ferry. From the ferry the drivers ask 150 Rubel/seat for the remaining 10 kilometers to Salekhard. I got fooled the first time believing that the 50 Rubel would take me all the way to Salekhard, arriving at the ferry and realizing that it was not the case I decided to continue by foot. The ferry costs 20 Rubel per person and takes about 10 minutes. On the other side of the river passes the citybus around midnight that will take you back to the Salekhard city center for 30 Rubel and to the airport (which is close to Hotel Ob and Sibir) for 15 Rubel. Because of the local time difference with Moscow the train arrives at 22:00 local time so you better hurry up a little to be able the bus because it is the last one until next morning.
- airport : the airport of Salekhard is brandnew and very modern (a huge difference with the run down airport in Vorkuta). There is a bank with a cashpoint that exchanges Euro and $ but it's open only 10-17:00 and closed on saturday and sunday. The cashpoint has the same opening hours as the bank. There is also a bar with microwave prepared snacks. From the Salekhard airport flights leave for Novosibirsk, Novy Urgeng, Omsk, Tyumen and Yekaterinburg.
- river ferries and boats in general : from the Retsjport (reachible by bus 1 and 3, walk down the wooden steps and there you find the timetable) ferries leave for Omsk and Antipajoeta and hydrofoils to Yam-Sale, Noeda, Berezovo, Muzji and Obgort. The ships are run by Rosrechflot, (contact telephone numbers; Omsk : 398521, Tara : 22770, Bolsjeretsje : 91438 en Ust-Isjim : 21284). Rosrechflot also gave me the contact numbers for Salekhard; (haven : 44215, kassa : 34622). The ferries are cosy with a big open deck and little personal cabins. For the hydrofoils (a kind of closed speedboat easily doing 70km/hour) you must contact (telephone number 39467) in Salekhard. The main harbour of the Rosrechflot line lijn is Omsk. From Omsk there are hydrofoils to Tevriz, Ust Ishim and Ust Shish.
