Murmansk Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Bus

From Murmansk's bus station(454 884; ul Kominterna 16) buses go to Monchegorsk (R149, 3½ hours, seven daily), Apatity (R221, five hours, four daily), Kirovsk (R238, 5½ hours, four daily), Kandalaksha (R270, 6½ hours, 5.15pm daily except Sunday) and Ivalo, Finland (R1850, 6½ hours, 8.30am Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Buses leave from the yard between the bus ticket building and the train station.

At least two daily minibus services run to Kirkenes, Norway (five to seven hours). Sputnik Murmansk(440 045; sputnikmur@an.ru; ul Polyarnye Zori 12), in cooperation with Kirkenes' Grenseland travel agency, leaves from the Russlandia Polyarnye Zori Hotel at 8am Monday to Saturday and noon on Sunday, also picking up passengers at the Hotel Arktika. You can get tickets (R600 one-way) on the bus if places are available, or in advance at Flait travel agency. Gulliverrus(453 000, 459 000; www.gulliverrus.ru; ul Sofyi Perovskoy 17A; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 1-5pm Sat & Sun), in cooperation with Kirkenes' Pasvikturist, has a minibus leaving from the Norwegian consulate(ul Sofyi Perovskoy 5) at 7am daily, charging R650.

Train

From the train station (484 600; ul Kominterna 14) at least six trains daily run to Apatity (R250 to R390, four to five hours), Kandalaksha (R300 to R480, six hours), Kem (R650 to R800, 12 hours) and Petrozavodsk (R925 to R1235, 20 to 24 hours), with two or three each continuing to St Petersburg (R1325 to R1620, 28 to 29 hours) and Moscow (R1615 to R2160, 36 to 40 hours). A train leaves for Vologda (R1290 to R1580, 37 hours) on even dates (daily during some summer periods), with some coaches bound for Arkhangelsk (R1000 to R1225, 31 hours).

The main ticket windows (8am-6pm Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm Sat) are in a separate building across the street from the station. You can also buy tickets at Kola TAVS(256 043; www.kolatavs.ru; pr Lenina 19; 8am-noon & 1-3.30pm Mon-Fri, closed last day of month) and at a counter(8am-6pm)in the Hotel Arktika.

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Air

Flights from Murmansk's airport (MMK; 583 254, 583 331) go to Moscow Sheremetyevo daily by Aeroflot-Don (R5600), and five days a week by Aeroflot Russian Airlines (R4000); to Moscow Domodedovo (R4000, 2¼ hours) five days a week by Siberia Airlines. Pulkovo goes to St Petersburg (R5750, 1¾ hours), and Arkhangelsk (R3950, two hours) can be reached by Aeroflot-Nord six days a week. Aeroflot-Nord also goes to the Solovetsky Islands (R2600, 1¼ hours) on Tuesday and Thursday, early June to early September, and to Tromsø, Norway (US$185, 2½ hours) three days a week.

You can buy tickets at Kola TAVS (256 043; www.kolatavs.ru; pr Lenina 19; 8am-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun & holidays) and the Hotel Arktika's aviakassa (pr Lenina 82; 9am-4pm Mon-Sat). Airlines' own ticket offices include Pulkovo (289 564; Russlandia Polyarnye Zori Hotel, ul Knipovicha 17; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat) and Siberia Airlines(685 520; Torgovy Tsentr Rus, ul Knipovicha 5; 11am-7pm Mon-Fri).

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