How to travel from Moscow to Murmansk on the weekend. Notes from an experienced traveler

Hello everyone! This is a continuation of my travel notes, in which I talk about my travels to cities and towns in Russia and around the world.

Despite a certain amount of mountainous southern blood in my veins, I am a northern man. I am attracted by mountains and snow, I respect winter and autumn much more than summer and spring, and I feel much more comfortable in the cold than in 40-degree heat.

Many years ago, having returned from Arkhangelsk, I told my friends that the last romantics live in the northern port cities. And my close friend once showed me audio tapes of digitized cassettes of Maximilian Voloshin, which his geologist father sent from the polar region (Udachny settlement, to be exact) to his wife, his mother, respectively.

And here I unexpectedly went for such northern romance, to August, still favorable Murmansk. And I got magic as a result.

From Moscow to Murmansk and back: flyhacks and prices

At the time of traveling – I am a resident of Khimki near Moscow. Accordingly, the choice of airports for me is unambiguous – I get to the blessed Sheremetyevo in 15-20 minutes. It is important to know that now the security measures at airports are much more powerful than they were even last year. But the check-in and control procedures in the “balloon” are fast, and the boarding time for domestic flights is quite small. So calculate your departure normally – I usually lay 01:15-01:20 from the airport door to the airplane seat.

It takes about two hours to fly to Murmansk, so even I with my size (my height is 200 cm) use low-costers normally. Remember, a low-coster is the same as a bus, only it flies. You don’t expect to be served like AirEmirates on Mosgortrans’ M6 route, do you? Such airlines have only two tasks – to fly from point “A” to point “B” and to ensure your safety. That’s it. No more, no less.

Murmansk airport is like three thousand barracks-type buildings of the same kind all over Russia. I have seen an absolutely similar building, for example, in Gornoaltaisk. Well, but it’s fast. On the front side of the building there is an inscription – “Murmansk – the capital of the Arctic”. In general, when you get to the northern +10 from +35 in Moscow, you willingly believe it.

The airport is about 30 minutes away from the city. There are shuttle buses, but Uber/”I.Taxi” works steadily and well. The road costs about 500-600 rubles. In general, cab prices are higher than in other regions. Traffic in the city is stable, so, for example, drivers from big cities will not be surprised by anything. Except Teriberka, but about this separately.

Again, realizing that I was only going to spend the night in a hotel, a room for 1500 rubles without windows in the local Murmansk Discovery chain was an ideal solution.

Important! I flew out on Friday night, arrived, accordingly, early Saturday morning, and had to pay 700 rubles (half a day) extra for early entry. Keep in mind.

How much it costs

Total on movements (we exclude Teriberka from this calculation, as it is a separate story and not interesting for everyone):

• Moscow – Murmansk – Moscow – 12,943 rubles (with two extra charges for extra comfort seats);
• Murmansk Discovery Center hotel – 2200 rubles (with additional payment for early entry);
• cab in general – 2500 rubles (considering that I traveled around the city only by cab);

Total: 17,643 rubles for starting from home and in 4.5 hours to be on the northern sopka.

What to see in Murmansk

Sopkas

Murmansk in Moscow is sometimes affectionately called “Murik”. You will laugh, but there is as much tenderness in this city as there is northern masculinity. The first thing I sincerely advise you to do in the morning is to visit the sopki. It’s a great post-airplane walk, giving you some breath and strength.

There are quite a lot of guides in the city who take you to the heights, several buses depart from the city to the most unusual places.

Important! Remember, climbing a hill is still trekking, not a walk in the park. We’ll talk about equipment on such a trip later, but you should be ready for physical exertion. It’s about 350 meters up, with bogs, bushes, “walking” stones.

From the top you can see the port and the Kola Bay, the guides will treat you to local tea (tea is made of everything), and for those who like it – pick and eat blueberries, cranberries and blueberries. The nature here is quite open, you can even come across large animals. A bear, for example.

But coming back from the hills can be an adventure – buses go from the final stops fully loaded, so if you came without a car, get ready that you will have to call a cab. From a good route back to the city – about 1200 rubles.

On your return to the train station, it makes sense to eat. One of my goals was to visit the northernmost Irish pub – Russian Harat’s (I’ve been to all Moscow pubs and the very first one in Irkutsk), and it is conveniently located right near the bus station. I sincerely recommend you venison with lingonberries (if your stomach digests game), but fish in Murmansk restaurants is surprisingly not worth taking. The thing is that it is industrial fish, that is, there will be no difference between a local pub and, let’s say, “Dream Fish” in the capital. This is not Astrakhan, the volumes here are different.

I have set myself some obligatory points when visiting Murmansk, and my gods are happy that I was corrected on them by the locals. I’ll tell you.

Icebreaker Lenin

If you go to Murmansk in the same mode as yours truly, forget about it. No, not because it’s not interesting, but because the probability of you getting there tends to zero. There are three slots in total, when they open the passage to the icebreaker, in groups, once every 20 minutes or so and 15 people each. And then that’s it, they just shut it down. В 16:00.

The Navy Museum

For the fans. The museum is obviously poorly sponsored, some exhibits are printed in strange fonts on A4 sheets and glued to the wall, a number of models are made obviously hastily. But. Context. For people who are “sick” of the nautical business or simply fanatical about the navy, I highly recommend it. Yes, it’s fast. Yes, it’s not the Natural History Museum of Britain. But… there’s something about it.

The Waiting Monument

I drove to this monument on purpose, to be honest. And my guide Yulia, who was my guide to the hills, having learned that I was going there, advised me to come to the monument in the evening, at the junction of sunset and night. And so, just at the end of the sleeping area, you come out to a small round square, in the center of which stands a monument to a girl. I approached “from the face”: well the monument, well not badly made, but somehow not the emotion I was looking for. I decided to spin around, looked at the harbor from a small observation deck and decided to make a circle. And when I passed the monument from the back side, the sun was almost setting behind the horizon line, and at the last moment I managed to catch a shot of the monument to the wives of sailors waiting for them to come home.

From unclosed gestalts, probably, only “Alyosha” – a monument to the heroes of the defense of the North against the Third Reich, and a couple of people advised to get to the regional museum of local lore. But for me it is rather a reason to visit Murmansk again. After all, the next day, after a dense dinner and a pint of dark wine, Teriberka was waiting for me.

Teriberka

Let’s start with the main thing – I didn’t want to go to Teriberka. It seemed to me that after the release of “Leviathan” this unfortunate village has not been visited only by lazy people, and I am not a big fan of standard tourist routes and points (that’s why, for example, in Prague I prefer absentmindedness, Kafka’s museum and the quarter of women with low social responsibility to Charles Bridge and the bloody “clock tower” of the Old Town Hall). And my comrade from the beginning of the text (the one with the geologist father), together with his fiancée went there last winter to watch the Northern Lights. “Gods! – threw up his hands at the author of this article. – What more lewd thing could be invented!”.

But for some reason, when the cab driver who took me from the airport to the hotel, during the conversation told me about the road to Teriberka, and what happens there in general, and that he goes there, something pulled me to ask – how much it costs and how much to go. It turned out that three hours will be enough for Teriberka itself, but the road to it will take about two and a half hours. And the price tag, unlike the tours sold by various gentlemen – only 7 thousand tselkovye, even with delivery to the airport after the trip. And I agreed, having rearranged the plan and giving the whole Sunday for this trip.

Road to Teriberka

The nature of the Russian North isn’t just beautiful – it’s sometimes mesmerizing. I’m not a big visualist, and I’m not a connoisseur of tent and sunrise vacations, but in some moments I was hooked. No, this isn’t a “watch and enjoy” story, it’s seconds of joy grabbing you almost at the throat.

Your path will take you through such a thing as the “Graveyard of Windmills” – an unrealized initiative of the governor of the Murmansk region to partially convert the region to “green energy”. Unfortunately, recent events related to sanctions do not allow to launch these “colossi” – some of the largest in size in Europe. Therefore, as strange tin soldiers, absolutely immovable, they stand and, hopefully, wait for their time.

For drivers: the road, at least in summer, is quite fast and has sharp turns. It is comfortable and fun to drive on it. But when winter comes, everything changes. The thing is that the wind blowing from the hills never stops and at a certain point just begins to endlessly throw the highway. Furies overturn, cars get stuck. That’s why in the fall EMERCOM crews start to drive along the roads to help those who have suffered accidents. Be careful!

About 20 km before Teriberka the road ends. At the time of my stay there were repair works, the road was a broken dirt road, on which you can move quickly only on an off-road vehicle. That is why the road takes such a long time.

Old Teriberka

Teriberka itself is divided into two parts – Old and New. Old Teriberka is actually the places where Zvyagintsev filmed. There you are waiting for about… nothing. Ruined abandoned old fishermen’s houses, the beach of the Barents Sea and a half-rotten ship, also caught in the frame. If you drive a little further, you will find the skeleton of a whale, which also appeared in the movie. It’s a set, by the way. It was brought and assembled by the film crew. And the whole Old Teriberka, as far as I’m concerned, is an absolutely useless place. All the most interesting things begin further on.

The ship graveyard

This place is also for fans. Yes, indeed, there are five or six hulks of old fishing vessels there, and it will be interesting for people who are “burning” with marine theme. To get inside the “skeleton” of the ship, which is more than 100 years old, to feel the old wood, to try to catch the feelings of sailors who once sailed on them – all this is more like metaphysics than a really worthwhile place to visit. But the magic was there for me here too – when I was checking out the remaining ship’s nails, one of them stayed in my hand. Well, I decided, if it came by itself, I’ll take it – and this nail became the only souvenir I brought back to Moscow.

New Teriberka

Despite the obvious infrastructural growth, it is completely built around tourism and “Teriberka Nature Park” – a cluster of natural beauties and wonders. Dragon’s beach with unusually shaped stones that look like masonry of some monsters from sci-fi movies, an unreal beauty trail between hills that leads you to the Batareisky waterfall – a nine-meter high crevasse that flows into the Barents Sea. But my most important pleasure came from something else.

Barents Sea

I managed to bypass the rules and safety equipment to get as close to the Barents Sea as possible. I could feel the power of the North in my gut, while most people were walking along the trail and turning back.

And for those who think that there is no difference between the Black, Red, Mediterranean, Barents Sea and it is all the same, the sea and the sea – I advise you to go to the North.

Stupid habit of tourists did not bypass me – I left a tower of stones and wrote down its coordinates. I promise myself to return to this place.

What to take with you on a trip

The biggest mistake a person can make on a summer trip to Murmansk is to decide that it’s summer there. Friends, keep in mind, Murmansk is still above the Arctic Circle. At the time of my arrival, August 10, it was, I remind you, +10 degrees Celsius. And that’s northern +10.

Therefore, a short list of clothes and equipment that I took with me or forgot to take, but I advise you not to repeat my mistakes.

• Backpack. Considering that I was only going for a weekend, I didn’t want to take luggage. Accordingly, I coped with hand luggage. My choice – faithful and reliable, but already a bit old 5.11 Rush 24. This backpack has been with me a lot, it still serves me faithfully and faithfully and has been in places where no man has ever set foot.
• Membrane jacket. The weather in the North changes quite quickly, and the bright sun can turn into pouring rain in just 10 minutes. That’s why itinerary membrane jackets are a great choice. I walked in Norfin River – this jacket has generally become part of my everyday kit with the changeable Moscow weather.
• Pants. In general – it does not matter, the main thing is not jeans. I decided not to bother and put on just my old black slide. And I can recommend any trekking or comfortable cargos.
• Hoodie. Thin fleece or a regular sweatshirt – not so important, it’s more about comfort. But in a T-shirt and jacket sometimes I was a bit chilly.
• Buff. Throat Cover. Reminder, wind is not a toy here.
• Shoes. As a freelance ambassador I will continue to advise LOWA.RAX, which I talked about in one of the previous articles. I didn’t like them on the tundra landscape – you still need normal trekking boots or boots.
• Gloves. I stupidly forgot to take gloves with me, and my GRAB gloves would have come in handy. During the ascent to the hills sometimes it is necessary to get hold of a bush or a stone, a bare hand can slip or cut off, and during the ascent along the trail in Teriberka sometimes it was just cold for hands, even for such a seemingly cold-resistant comrade as me.
• Headgear. To taste. I managed without it, though I had to put on a hood at altitude – the wind was blowing my ears. An ordinary thin fleece hat would have solved all questions.
• Goggles. Obligatory. Let me remind inexperienced travelers: the sun at altitude is different, harder and brighter. I went in my old RayBan Warfarer – they were enough, but iON still seem more comfortable to me.
• Flashlight. Well, here you are still in urban conditions, but if your inner survivalist asks for one – don’t refuse him.
• Knife. For all my love and real confidence in the necessity of a knife, this trick may fail due to jet lag. My Victorinox Climber stayed in Murmansk, although they let me through at Sheremetyevo and according to all the rules it passes. So take some simple trinkets.
• Underpants, socks, T-shirts. To taste.

Yeah, that’s probably it. It’s not a difficult trip at all, which turned out to be a lot more emotional than I thought it would be. So now I recommend this trip to all my friends. And at the end, to remind you once again that Murmansk is a romantic city, another quote from Maximilian Voloshin:

Wind of naked plateaus,
Wind of tundras, polesias and pomorias,
Black wind of icy plains,
Wind of turmoil, massacres and pogroms,
Copper zoras, purple eyes,
Red clouds and fiery years.