Stravropol (Ставрополь) is a city in Russia.

Understand

The city was founded in 1777. It was first a fortress to defend the Southern borders of Russia. The city's name is of Greek descent and translated as "the city of a cross". Currently, Stavropol is the capital of the Stavropol Krai (one of Russia's territorial districts). Its current population is around 350,000 people, it is a strategic city both geographically and economically.

Get in

By plane

There is a small airport 15 km away from Stavropol - Stavropol Shpakovskoye Airport (STW  ^IATA) [1]. Several airlines fly to Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Yerevan.

You can also fly from Saint Petersburg or Moscow to Mineralnye Vody and take a bus/minivan to Stavropol from there.

Or to Krasnodar with Low-cost airlines, like Avianova [2] and SkyExpress [3]. The return tickets start at around 1,500-2,000 rubles. Krasnodar is about 300 km from Stavropol, and it takes on average 5 hours to drive from there by bus or a minivan.

By train

There are direct train routes between Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and Stavropol.

Trains from/to Moscow leave everyday.

Trains from/to Elista, Adler, Vorkuta, Arkhangelsk and Novorossiysk leave every 2 days.

• WARNING! Trains from/to Moscow have 2 routes. The first route is through the Russian territory only, but the second one covers the Russian and Ukrainian territories (i.e., Russia-Ukraine-Russia). If you fail to have a Ukrainian visa (citizens of many countries don't need it), you have to take the first route trains.

Eat

• "Novyj Rim" — a restaurant in the south-west district of the city, prices are in the upper medium range;
• "Akropol" — a mainly Greek cuisine restaurant;
• "Piramida" — a new restaurant;
• "Skif" — a restaurant in the north-west district of the city;
• "Teatral'noye" — a cafe just opposite the Stavropol Drama Theater, prices are in the upper medium range, a rather pleasant environment;
• "Shokoladnyj Pushkin" — (or Chocolate Pushkin) - it's a small club-like cafe almost in the city's center, prices are very affordable, witty interior, usually visited by the city's youth;
• Bar "Kazachok" — traditional Russian and Ukrainian cuisine;
• "Goodness" — a fast-food cafe just opposite the Salute cinema in the south-west district;
• "Flora Burger" — a fast-food cafe in the center, very convenient location, the owners are Turkish, so there is some oriental touch about the American-like burgers and fries.

Drink

Night clubs and Discos

• "Tovarisch" — house-cafe club;
• "Amal'gama";
• "Frash";
• "Ermitage";
• "Novyj Rim".
• molinari****

Sleep

"Novyj Rim";

"Kontinent";

"Turist".

Wireless internet

There was the WiFi-Anet commercial network in Stavropol. As of October 2008, the maximum price for individual users was 1.5 ruble per 1 MB of bandwidth.