Blagoveshchensk

Blagoveshchensk (Russian: Благове́щенск, blah-guh-VYEH-schyensk) is the capital city of Russia's Amur Oblast, located on the border with China. It is one of the oldest cities in the Russian Far East.

By direct train from Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Tynda or Moscow, all of them pass through Belogorsk, the town on Trans Siberian Railway. Riding any other train will need connection in Belogorsk, from where you can also take a bus.

• 50.2877127.54231 Blagoveshchensk railway station.  (updated Dec 2020)

• 50.425127.4133332 International airport Ignatyevo (BQS  ^IATA). serves flights to Moscow, Khabarovsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Yekaterinburg, Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk. Bus number 8 goes downtown every 30 minutes. Price is 29 rub, same price for each bag. Can be bought onboard, even with credit card. Time to the city is around 30-45 minutes.  

Opposite the city, on the other bank of the Amur River is the Chinese city of Heihe. A ferry boat operates in warm seasons. In the winter, the border is crossed by bus.

• 50.258889127.5247221 Amur Regional Museum of Local History and Nature (Амурский областной краеведческий музей), Lenina str, 165, ☏ +7 4162 424086.  
• Lotus lake (City's suburbs). Blossoms of the lotus in the middle of July. 
• Cemetery of Dinosaurs. Archeological site in Raichikhinsky rayon. 

Annual festival "Amur Autumn" hosts art films and spectacles from Russia. One of the festivals was honoured by visit of Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida.Official site.

• Balsam. Local liquor. 
• Chinese vodka with snake

Chinese and Russian food.

• Hotel Yubileinaya (Гостиница «Юбилейная»), Ulitsa Lenina, 1, ☏ +7 416 237-97-97. Business class 
• Sauna Churin (Чуринъ), Ulitsa Shevchenko, 11, ☏ +7 965 671-14-11. Very spa-like. 
• Strannik (Странник), Teatralnaya str., 23 (Downtown), ☏ +7 416 249-04-67. Economy class. 

• Heihe, a Chinese border city on the opposite side of Amur River

Irkutsk ← Skovorodino ←

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→ Birobidzhan → Khabarovsk