Stavropol Krai is a region in Southern Russia, which borders Krasnodar Krai to the west, Rostov Oblast to the north, Kalmykia to the east, and all the republics of the North Caucasus to the south.

Cities

• 1 Stavropol — this capital city is located in a particularly mountainous area of the region and was one of Russia's most important bases during the Russian conquest of the Caucasus; former home to Mikhail Gorbachev and it has a particularly nice urban park
• 2 Yessentuki — yet another Caucasian health spa resort with mineral waters, hot springs, sulphide mud baths, and a small, pretty wooden church
• 3 Kislovodsk — meaning "Sour Waters," home to Alexander Solzhenitsyn
• 4 Lysogorskaya Stanitsa — a small Cossack village not far from the health spa cities with a beautiful 19th century wooden church
• 5 Mineralnye Vody — a health spa city named for its "Mineral Waters" at the edge of the; a common flight destination for visitors to the North Caucasus
• 6 Pyatigorsk — major Russian health spa destination surrounded by the five peaks of Beshtau made famous by Mikhail Lermontov's writings

Understand

Stavropol Krai contains a large number of Caucasian health spas/sanatoria, which Russians have visited for over 200 years to treat various ailments (and just to escape the northern climate of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. As such, the region has been home to many of Russia's most prominent figures, including writers such as A.S. Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov, whose works have embedded the Pyatigorsk region into the national consciousness. A great read for anyone visiting the region is Lermontov's short novel, A Hero of Our Time, which is set in various areas in the south of the Krai.

Stavropol Krai is also notable for its exceptionally diverse climactic and topographic diversity. The environments range from sand deserts, to mud flats, to steppe, to forest, to mountains, to permafrost!

Talk

Russian is the soup of the day.

Get in

By rail, most visitors will arrive at the regional transit hub of Stavropol.

Domestic flights to Stavropol (STW ^IATA)and to Mineralnye Vody (MRV ^IATA) (which is closer to Mount Elbrus, the North Caucasus, and the health spas) are common around Russia.

See

• Mountain Beshtau Uranium Mines (RU). 238 kilometers of mines inside Mount Beshtau 7 km from Pyatigorsk city. Closed in ~ 1971, but explored by diggers today. The site guides offers adventure descend into the mines with ropes and equipment. (updated Mar 2019)

Do

• Mountain climbing
• Quail hunting
• Sulphur baths

Stay safe

Because of its proximity to the conflict in Chechnya, the security situation is very poor in Stavropol Krai. While kidnappings are unlikely, there have been fairly regular bombings of public areas and official facilities in the southern cities and in Stavropol over the years. While a visitor is fairly unlikely to be victim to such terroristic attacks, the resulting crackdown has led to strict and unfortunately corrupt policing of the area — a visitor is quite likely to be harassed for bribes.

Stavropol Krai is the nearest “island of freedom” (in every sense) for residents of neighboring Chechnya and Ingushetia, who often visit this region for entertainment purposes (alcohol, nightclubs), therefore, it is not uncommon to run into them in entertainment establishments and at night on the streets. They are often armed with knives and pistols. To prevent conflicts, it is better to refrain from reacting to possible provocations on their part and simply walk away from them.

Learn

• Stavropol State University — located in Stavropol, owned in 1996

• North Caucasus Gumanitarium Technological University — main located in Stavropol, but have own filials in Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk and Ingushetia

• North Caucasus Gumanitarium Technological Institute;
• Stavropol State Medical Academy

• Stavropol State Agrarium University — one of the best agrarium university in Russia;
• Pyatigorsk State Linguistic University — one of the best linguistic university in Russia.Located in Pyatigorsk;
• Pyatigorsk State Technological University — located in Pyatigorsk

• Kislovodsk State Technological University — located in Kislovodsk

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Mobile

In Stavropol krai there are three GSM operators (MTS, Beeline, Megafon), one 3G-UMTS operator (Beeline) and one CDMA operator on 800 MHz frequency (RusSDO) and they often have offers that give you a SIM card for free or at least very cheap. If you are planning to stay a while and to keep in touch with Stavropolean and other North-Caucasus, South-Russians people, then you should consider buying a local SIM card instead of going on roaming. If you buy a SIM card from a shop you'll need your passport for identification. It only takes five minutes to do the paperwork and it will cost less than $10.

Go next

Stavropol Krai is a common jumping off point for tourists venturing into the North Caucasus. Basically any city in the region can be reached via minibus or taxi from Mineralnye Vody.