Novosibirsk Oblast (Russian: Новосиби́рская о́бласть nuh-vuh-see-BEER-skuh-yuh OH-blust') is a region in Western Siberia, which borders Kazakhstan to the southwest, Omsk Oblast to the west, Tomsk Oblast to the north, Kemerovo Oblast to the east, and Altai Krai to the south.

Cities

• 1 Novosibirsk — the administrative capital of Siberia, Russia's third largest city, and home to more than half of Novosibirsk Oblast's residents.
• 2 Barabinsk — a Trans-Siberian Railway town.
• 3 Berdsk — an old city and the region's second largest.
• 4 Iskitim — a small, very unpretentious, industrial city with a museum of regional studies.
• 5 Karasuk — a town on the Karasuk River near the border with Altai Krai and Kazakhstan.
• 6 Suzun — a town in the south-east with nice churches and a museum with a Peter Simon Pallas book. It was a coining mint in the 18th century.
• 7 Koltsovo — a science-city, business incubator close to the capital.

Other destinations

A view of Iskitim

Talk

Russian is essential for extensive independent travel.

Get in

Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport (OVB ^IATA) receives flights from international destinations such as: Baku, Bangkok, Beijing, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Frankfurt, Hanover, Kyiv, Tashkent, and Urumqi, as well as many domestic flights from all over Russia.

The Trans-Siberian Railway also crosses Novosibirsk Oblast and stops at (from west to east): Kalachinsk, Tatarsk, Barabinsk, Ob, Novosibirsk, and Bolotnoye.

Get around

Google maps can navigate public transport, but locals recommend 2GIS.

See

• Kolyvansky Monastery (45 km north of Novosibirsk). (updated Sep 2018)
• Novosibirsk reservoir. Ob Sea and other large lakes. (updated Sep 2018)
• Wildflowers

Do

• Fishing tours to rivers.
• Pheasant hunting.
• Snowboarding.
• Skiing.
• Mushroom picking. Some mushrooms poisonous.

Eat

Cold soups, solyanka, salad "Herring under the coat" (Селёдка под шубой) and pelmeni. Many berry varieties. Pine nuts.

Drink

Beer "Siberian Crown" (Сибирская Корона). Local vodka Сибирь, Алмаз, Снегирь etc. and a variety of Balsams produced by OOO "Vita" .

Cope

• Excursions around Novosibirsk in English, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese, visa support, if needed.

Go next

The next major stops on the Trans-Siberian Railway are Omsk to the west and Anzhero-Sudzhensk to the east. You may also go to Barnaul and on to Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan via the Turkestani-Siberian Magistral line from Novosibirsk. Direct trains also run from Novosibirsk to Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk.