Kingisepp

Kingisepp is a small town on the Luga River in the southwestern part of the West Leningrad Oblast, near the border with Estonia, a regional center with a turbulent military past and a quiet provincial present. Tourists rarely linger in Kingisepp, driving through it on the road from St. Petersburg towards Narva, although there are things to see in the city, and it’s worth devoting at least a few hours to exploring it.

Understand
Kingisepp is crossed from east to west by the 41K114 highway, which departs from the Narva highway on the eastern outskirts of the city, near the village of Tikopis, and within the city becomes the main street - Karl Marx Avenue and bends in a rather steep bend to the south. At the very bottom of this knee is the bus station. All historical buildings of the city are concentrated on Karl Marx Avenue and in the nearest quarters to the north and south. From the south, urban development is limited by a railway line, beyond which an almost continuous private sector begins, reaching the banks of the Luga River. In the western part of Kingisepp, where Karl Marx Avenue crosses Luga on a road bridge, there is the historical center of the city - the modern Nikolaev Square, near which are the Catherine's Cathedral, Summer Garden, broken on the site of the Yam fortress, local history museum, etc.

To the north and northeast of Karl Marx Avenue, traces of historical buildings can also be found throughout the block, up to Oktyabrskaya Street, above which the Soviet and post-Soviet residential part of Kingisepp begins, where there is almost nothing interesting. On the western (left) bank of the Luga, there is no urban development at all. In the same place, even to the west of Luga, the 41K114 highway intersects with the Narva highway, which bypasses the city from the north, and merges with it.

By train
There are a few daily commuter trains from Saint Petersburg. It is possible to get to Kingisepp by rail, but usually not very convenient. The station makes a stop once a day suburban train St. Petersburg - Ivangorod, departing from Ivangorod at about 06:00, and from St. Petersburg in the evening. From long-distance trains, the Moscow - Tallinn train stops here, following in a strictly opposite schedule: in the morning towards Ivangorod, in the evening towards St. Petersburg.



By car
From St. Petersburg, the most obvious way to Kingisepp is along the federal highway A180 (E20) "Narva" (aka Narva highway). Distance is about 130 km, exit through Krasnoe Selo. You can go through Peterhof or Strelna and further along the Ropshinsky highway with an exit to Narva, as well as through Gatchina and further through Volosovo, but these paths are longer and more ornate.

From Estonia, the path passes through Narva and Ivangorod, the distance from Ivangorod to Kingisepp along the same Narva highway is 23 km. From Moscow, it is most logical to go through Veliky Novgorod and Luga. From Pskov, through Gdov and Slantsy.

By bus
From St. Petersburg: bus number 841 once an hour (toward Kingisepp from 08:00 to 22:00, towards St. Petersburg - from 05:00 to 19:00), travel time is a little over two hours, but if the route free, you can get there in an hour and a half. The schedule states several intermediate stops, although in practice they are made only on demand, and the driver must be warned about the exit in advance. Sometimes, in order to avoid traffic jams, save time, or for some other unclear reason, drivers deviate from the route and follow various detours. In St. Petersburg, buses depart from Leninsky Prospekt metro station, the stop is at the southwestern exit from the metro (the first car from the center, turn right in the underpass), opposite house number 13 on Novatorov Boulevard. On the way back, the bus also stops at the metro station Prospekt Veteranov on Dachny Prospekt. In Kingisepp, the final station is the bus station. The cost of the trip is 400₽ (2020). Passing buses in the direction of Ivangorod and Gdov depart from the bus station on Obvodny, but they run so rarely that they do not make sense compared to the 841st.

From Ivangorod: suburban buses No. 51 and 51A, on average every hour, 40-50 minutes on the way, cost is 110-120₽ (2020). Minibuses Ivangorod-St. Petersburg pass Kingisepp along the bypass, where passengers are picked up and dropped off on demand.

From the Pskov region: a direct bus St. Petersburg- Gdov via Kingisepp runs only once a day. At other times, you can get to Slantsy, where minibuses from Pskov go several times a day , and then get to Kingisepp by suburban bus number 104 (every 1-2 hours, 1 hour 20 minutes on the way). Bus number 851 Slantsy-St. Petersburg passes Kingisepp along the bypass.

Karl Marx Avenue
Although in the 20th century Kingisepp was twice on the front line, the historical buildings of the city have been preserved quite well. The vast majority of them is concentrated on Karl Marx Avenue and in the neighborhoods adjacent to it. The avenue is lined with mostly 19th-century and (partially) Soviet-era two-story buildings, uniformly painted a pale yellow, with some nondescript modern five-story buildings. The most sympathetic of the historical buildings: It is worth paying attention to the shabby one-story building in the courtyard of In addition, on the avenue you can find several monuments of different times - from the early Soviet to the latest, including the lapidary bust of Viktor Kingisepp, as well as the monument to Peter I installed in the summer of 2020 in front of the administration building.
 * (No. 21) and
 * (No. 25).
 * - this is the former Yamburg prison.