Omsk Oblast

Omsk Oblast (Russian: О́мская о́бласть OHM-skuh-yuh OH-blust&apos;) is a region in Western Siberia, which borders Tyumen Oblast to the northwest, Tomsk Oblast to the northeast, Novosibirsk Oblast to the east, and Kazakhstan to the south.

Cities

 * — One of Siberia's most important cities and one of Russia's largest, an excellent stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway
 * — one of Siberia's first cities in the 16th century and the "mother" to many of Siberia's most important cities as it was an expeditionary base; it is a sleepy town home to a number of historical churches
 * — a historic old Siberian fortress town (1627), which contains a huge zoo; its hippopotamuses made the news by turning up in a nearby lake and giving a couple drunk fishermen a real scare!

Talk
Expect that some knowledge of Russian will greatly assist you in your travels here.

Get in
Omsk is a major stop (and indeed, one of the best stops) on the Trans-Siberian Railway. This capital city is also the "terminus" for the Trans-Siberian Railway's South Ural branch.

Omsk Tsentralny Airport, serviced by flights from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, and Andijan, Uzbekistan.

Do

 * Cruising, whitewater rafting, and canoeing along the Irtysh, Tara, and Shish rivers
 * Hunting

Go next
The next major stops on the Trans-Siberian Railway are Tyumen to the west and Novosibirsk to the east. The first major stop to the west along the South Ural Branch of the Trans-Siberian Railway is Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan.