Orenburg Oblast (Russian: Оренбу́ргская о́бласть uhr-yeen-BOORK-skuh-yuh OH-blust') is a region in the foothills of the Ural Mountains, on the border with Kazakhstan. In addition the region borders Samara Oblast to the west, Tatarstan to the northwest, Bashkortostan to the north, and Chelyabinsk Oblast to the northeast.

Cities

• 1 Orenburg (Оренбург) — the capital and principal city is famous for its down shawls
• 2 Gay (Гай) — a small industrial city in the region's Gaysky District, perhaps of interest to a novelty seeker due to its name
• 3 Novotroitsk (Новотро́ицк) — a mid-sized industrial city
• 4 Orsk (Орск) — the region's second largest city, which straddles the Urals River, placing it in both Europe and Asia; notable for its Orsk Jasper and many Bronze Age grave sites

Other destinations

Burtunskaya step, Orenburgsky Nature Reserve

• 1 Orenburgsky Nature Reserve

Understand

Orenburg Oblast is a big industrial and agricultural producer famous for it watermelons in Russia, covered with steppes and hills having its fair share of historical and natural sights. It is a home to Orenburg Cossacks and former nomade peoples. The Ural River, considered the boundary between Europe and Asia, cuts through its territory.

Get in

Orenburg's main airport services flights to/from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Dushanbe

There are two trains from Moscow to Orenburg. One of them departs every odd day around 19:00 and takes 26 hours. And the second one departs every day per week around 15:00 and takes 30 hours.

Trains goes through Ryazan, Samara.

There is one train goes every day from and to Samara.

Go next

Trains head south to Kazakhstan (train "Moscow — Astana" and others), and on to Uzbekistan (train "Moscow — Tashkent", "Moscow — Andijan"), Kyrgyzstan (train "Moscow — Bishkek") and Tajikistan (train "Moscow — Dushanbe") from Orenburg and Orsk.