Ufa

Ufa (Russian: Уфа́ oo-FAH, Bashkirː ӨФӨ oe-FOE), the capital of Bashkortostan, is a large, interesting, and rapidly developing city, with a population of over 1.1 million in 2018. Ufa is exceptionally interesting for a traveler. The city is diverse architecturally and demographically, with influences from multiple distinct cultures and religions. Quite appropriate for a city at the junction of Europe and Asiaǃ

Life in Ufa swings from major highways to quiet streets, modern nightlife to rich cultural traditions. It also regularly hosts major international competitions and events.

Understand


Ufa is one of the shortest place names in Russia. As the locals say, "If you get only three letters, come visit usǃ" It is only three letters in the Bashkir language as well, ӨФӨ, the unusual appearance of which has given the city one of its odder nicknamesː City of Three Screws. Ufa is situated west of the Ural Mountains on the Belaya River (in Bashkir, Agidel River) at its confluence with the Ufa River. The toponym itself may mean “river” or simply “water”: opinions differ on this matter.

In a loose sense, Ufa may be one of the oldest cities in the Ural Region. Excavations indicate a permanent presence here back to the 4th century AD and, if the Bashkirs did in fact have medieval cities, archaeologists say it was either here or somewhere close by. Written sources from the time of the Golden Horde report a city on the Belaya River named Bashkort, which perhaps corresponds to the location of modern day Ufa, but there are no visible traces of it.

Under its modern three-letter incarnation, Ufa dates back to 1574 when Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of a prison on the Belaya River, and later a small kremlin (however, nothing older than late 18th century buildings survived to the present). In its early history, Ufa more resembled a fortress than a city, occasionally assailed by rebellious Bashkirs. After the Pugachev Uprising in 1774, Ufa entered a long period of peace. The kremlin did burn down, after which stone construction began in earnest; however, construction was not very active, as Ufa had the lowly status of "county town" under the Orenburg Governate. In 1865, however, the Ufa Governate was formed, with the titular city made its capital. Around the same time the Samara-Zlatoust railway was completed (the old, historical Trans-Siberian route), which contributed significantly to the city's growth. Additionally, Catherine II gave the city's upward trajectory a major boost by naming it the capital of Russian Islam. In Ufa there are fewer old mosques than in Kazan, but there are old madrassas, which are exceedingly rare in Russia.

Despite being the capital of the Ufa Governate and later the Bashkir ASSR, Ufa was until World War II a relatively modest Ural city with light industry along the lines of lumber and food production. In the post-war years the population boomed along with the growth of the region's oil and chemical industries. The face of modern-day Ufa is marred by unattractive Soviet buildings, and you could accidentally miss the rather large historic center if you went there for work, as the city center has shifted north along the riverbank over the years — the Belaya River and the steep topography of its bank have had a great influence on the city. Its length from north to south is over 50 km, while west to east it is less than 5 km.

Orientation
The Old City is bounded in the west by ul. Aksakov, in the north by ul. Chernyshevsky, in the east by ul. Tsyurupa, and in the south reaches (intermittently) to the cliff over the Belaya River. The train station is north, almost on the outskirts. In the west, the old city turns into a very colorful one-story suburban area, stretching along the slope to the railway itself and beyond. In the east, a similar suburb is gradually giving way to modern buildings. In the north, along Lenin St, a gradual path through history is visible: from pre-revolutionary houses to provincial Stalinism and on to the concrete block-style housing from the time of Brezhnevian Stagnation. A highway, Prospekt Salavat Yulayev, leads to the north of the city; running parallel to it is Prospekt Oktyabrya, at the end of which is the Chernikovka district with Ufa's main mosque. Further on are the oil refineries. Apart from Chernikovka with its mosque and sound Soviet architecture (it was once a separate city), most travelers will be interested only in the historical center, although bad luck and especially the hunt for cheap lodgings can thrust you into odd corners of the city.

There are at least two modern centers. The older of the two, Verkhnetorgovaya square near Gostiny Dvor, is located in the southern part of the city. The newer center is along the middle portion of Prospekt Oktyabrya by the Park of Culture im. Gafuri, the Russian Dramatic Theater, and the circus.

By plane


The airport of Ufa has been renovated is quite modern, with jet bridges, although the width of the corridors and the design of the halls sometimes leave much to be desired. There are two terminals at the airport - domestic and international. Coming in from the entrance, you'll see a kiosk with honey and Bashkir souvenirs, as well as a "Bashkir goose" («Башкирский гусь») kiosk that serves essentially the same function. To the right at the end of the corridor is a 24-hour Cafe Moskva, where you can sample Bashkir pastries at low prices, as well as salads and hot food. Also in the terminal are Shokoladnitsa for chocolate and a fresh-squeezed juice counter. On the second floor there is a small shop and post "office," which has the only computer with (supposedly) internet access. A round-the-clock left-luggage office on the lower level: ₽200 for the first day and ₽50 for each subsequent.

After security, there is one large hall with another souvenir shop and a "duty-free" store (which is absurd for domestic flights...). There is a counter on the left with coffee and tea (expensive). At the end of the hall there are a couple of cheaper cafeterias, indistinguishable from one another. There is no hot food. Throughout the terminal there is decent free Wi-Fi, with also a paid option, Ufanet.

There is a large area in front of the terminal building. Public transport leaves from the inconspicuous pavilion (автопавильона), located diagonally to the left from the terminal exit. Local minibuses as well as intercity buses collect passengers here. Inside the pavilion there is a 24-hour ticket office and the pleasant aroma of coffee from the machine in the cafeteria here, which is rare in Bashkortostan. There is no separate waiting room - it wouldn't fit - but you can sit at the cafeteria table.

Food options outside the airport are poor. 24-hour Cafe Flight in the square (diagonally to the right from the terminal exit) serves as a cafeteria with warm food of rather poor quality. A 24-hour restaurant should be in the hotel, perhaps it is better there. The airport hotel has been renovated and apparently not bad, but the prices are high: from ₽2400 for a single room (2015),.

City buses and minibuses (marshrutki) go to the airport from the city center. Coming from the center, find a bus/minibus with a sign for «по Ленина» or «Гостиный двор» (for example, routes 101 and 110). Minibus service stops after 22:00 or so, while Bashavtotrans buses stop service even earlier. The fare on the municipal bus is ₽39. Via commercial minibus it's ₽40, although drivers sometimes will add a surcharge for bulky baggage. Taxis are very common in Ufa, and the fare to the center of Ufa is about ₽350-500 (2018) and takes about 25-35 minutes, although farther-out destinations like Chernikovka are more expensive. There are also intercity buses heading south to Salavat, Sterlitamak, and Orenburg.

By train
Ufa is on the trunk line Samara-Chelyabinsk, but there are fewer trains than you might expect. Trains leave 7-8 times per day for Samara (8 hours) and Chelyabinsk (9 hours). Trains in both directions will continue on - west to Moscow and east to Siberia and Kazakhstan. A few trains per day go to Ulyanovsk (13 hours). There are no passenger routes to Orenburg, except for an irregular and quite uncomfortable service, Ufa-Tashkent. There are no direct trains to Kazan or Izhevsk. Suburban/commuter trains only serve nearby small towns. Of Bashkortostan's larger cities, they only go to Sterlitamak.



By car
Ufa is on the M5 Hwy, 460 km from Samara and 380 km from Chelyabinsk. Ufa is also the terminus of the M7 from Moscow (1350 km) via Kazan (500 km). The road south heads to Orenburg (350 km). North, it's 400 km to Izhevsk and about 500 km to Perm and Yekaterinburg.

By bus
The most frequent bus connection is with Orenburg, about 10 times per day, 7½ hours. A few times per day buses go to Yekaterinburg (13-14 hr), Perm (11 hr), Naberezhnye Chelny (6 hrs), and Kazan (10-11 hr). In all directions there are also private, express "marshrutki," which are generally 1½-2 times faster. To Samara and Chelyabinsk, it's more convenient to take a train. Lastly, there are buses and marshrutki to Izhevsk, but the time to get there varies widely, depending on the ferry across the Kama River. Another option is to cross the Kama by elektrichka from Sarapul and then catch a bus to Ufa, which is easy to do from Yanaul or Neftekamsk.



Theoretically, in Ufa there is also a North Bus Station (Kemerovskaya St., 82: Chernikovka), but in 2013 it closed for repairs (there is a joke in Russian about the phrase, "temporarily closed for repairs"). But since the buses are all still running from the South Bus Station, there's a chance it will never reopen. Buses heading north toward Birsk still make a stop at the former North Bus Station. There is also a ticket office in operation.

By boat
There has been no regular passenger service along the Belaya Rover for a long time and there never will be. From time to time there are cruise ships of the Bashkir River Shipping Company from Ufa to the Volga somewhere, and a couple of times a year cruises from Moscow or Nizhny Novgorod to Ufa and/or Perm. Prices for Moscow cruises are extraordinarily high.

By public transport
Marshrutkas and buses go all over the city and run very frequently. These can be hard to figure out if you can't read Russian so look up the route on Yandex before heading out. Pay right before getting off, not as you get on. The drivers will make change for 50- or 100-ruble notes. Transit essentially shuts down after 22:00. Only a few minibuses continue to operate, until 00:40. There are trams and trolleybuses here as well, but they offer far more limited service than the buses and minibuses.

Fares are paid to the driver or conductor. Cash fares are ₽22 on trams and trolleybuses, ₽29 for buses (June 2021). On the minibuses, the price varies from ₽20-40, depending on the length of the route and time of day (in the evening the price rises).

By taxi
Taxis are a very efficient method of getting around Ufa and are easily summoned by phone. Lider Taxi and Motor-Servis  provide the price over the phone, based on trip distance. Yandex. Taxi, Uber, Gett, and Maxim cars can all be ordered by smartphone app and may be cheaper than taxis. The average taxi waiting time is just 4 minutes from the time of order. Catching a taxi on the street is problematic, since all local services are designed for phone or internet dispatch. Hailing off the street can also be more expensive than by calling.

By car
Ufa suffers from traffic congestion and a lack of parking. In the center, paid parking is available at Gostiny Dvor on the ul. Kommunisticheskoy side. On most streets, parking is free, but check signs to make sure it's permitted.

See


What to see in Ufa is a tricky question. On one hand, it is easy to spend more a day here, especially if you visit Chernikovka and other areas outside the center. On the other hand, there no one well-known attraction in the city. Perhaps the best known sight is the Monument to Salavat Yulaev, but for the average traveler, it's just another monument, albeit one with a beautiful setting overlooking the river. It's also worth visiting the National Museum, Friendship Monument, and the Fountain of Seven Girls. There are many Orthodox churches, but the oldest and most interesting ones were destroyed during Soviet times. The situation is even more dire with regards to Ufa's mosques — almost all of them are rebuilt. Older stone architecture in the center fared better under the Soviets, but thinned out in the 2000s courtesy of "urban development," and anyway was inferior to larger cities like Kazan or Yekaterinburg. Historic houses along Aksakova, Krupskaya, and Mustaya Karim were almost all demolished. There is another architectural travesty flourishing locally, known as “facadeism”: when only the front wall of the building is preserved, and a multi-story, glass-concrete monster of an office, hotel, or shopping center is built around it. The result looks about the same as the mustache painted on the Mona Lisa, ridiculous and sad.

Nonetheless, Ufa is an interesting city, and walking around it is well worth your time. Ufa's main attraction is in the details, whether a small, but exceptional monument, or an elaborate fence revealing an ordinary red-brick house as a historic madrasa. Of particular interest are the ornate wooden houses found even in the very center of the city. There is a good concentration of these along ul. Gogol. Other particularly colorful areas for a walk are the residential areas on the steep parts of the slope over the river, like the Niznhy Novgorod and Trunilov settlements.

Private houses adjoining the center of the  Sloboda  dominate, usually not of interest in themselves, but composing in constantly colorful areas: those that are located on the steep slopes above the river, like Nizhny Novgorod or Trunilov settlements. Finally, modern Bashkir architecture, using elements of Bashkortostan's national style, is of interest. Its best examples are the National Theater Building, the Dynamo stadium adjacent to it and the Lyalya-Tyulpan Mosque.


 * Statue of Salavat Yulaev - In the summer there are beautiful gardens around the statue and in the winter there are huge ice slides.
 * Victory Park - Park dedicated to the Great Patriotic War located in the Chorney Kofka part of Ufa. It has many monuments, artillery guns and a tank.
 * The House Museum of Lenin - Dostoevsky, 78 - Entry: ₽25.

Trunilovskaya Sloboda and ul. Tukayev


The eastern part of Tukayev Street is where the standard provincial city layout suddenly shifts to private one-story buildings. The oldest mosque in the city stands right on this border. Trunilovskaya Sloboda (sloboda translates very loosely to suburban settlement) is bounded by Salavat Yulaev Avenue, Tsyurupa, Tukayev, and Zaynulla Rasuleva Streets. In the 19th century it was known for poverty and lawlessness. One of the muftis, tired of observing this disgraceful state from his window, supposedly set out to buy up property throughout Trunilov Sloboda in order to repopulate it with more honorable residents. His success is hard to measure, and the buildings here were clearly not for noblemen, but lots of attractive wooden houses from the beginning of the last century are preserved, which makes this area nice for a stroll (it also has good views over the river).

The boulevard on Tukayev Street is known as Sofyushkina Alley, named after Sofya Aksakova, the wife of the former Ufa governor.



Also, don't overlook the and. The first is an 18th century wooden house (quite old for Ufa), and the second itself would be unremarkable, but for its pretty setting above the ravine, away from residential development.

Trinity Hill & Old Ufa


The area east of Ufa is a little off the beaten path, but colorful in its own way. It was here, on Trinity Hill at the mouth of the Sutoloka River, that the Ufa Kremlin once stood, and the area behind it is known as Old Ufa, where the first settlements were located. However, neither the Kremlin itself its surrounding buildings have survived the passage of time.



Ufa Slope


The hill on which the city center is located is sometimes called the Ufa Slope (Уфимский косогор). Its highest part is located to the west of the central streets and is covered partly by modern buildings and partly by the old Muslim cemetery. The most famous landmark of Ufa, the Salavat Yulayev Monument, is located here.



Nizhny Novgorod Sloboda


West of Ufa's center, the Nizhny Novgorod Sloboda doesn't have any particularly notable attractions, but it is perhaps the most picturesque part of Ufa, with pretty wooden houses along the slope and wonderful views over the Belaya River and the dense forests beyond. It is especially beautiful here in the winter, when the frosty fog merges with the smoke from the chimneys, and time seems to shift a hundred years back, as though there was no asphalt, no high-rise buildings, or other signs of modernity. Just like 100 years ago, the main street of the district - Traktovaya-Uritskaya - is paved with cobblestones. If you turn onto the side streets, you will inevitably find yourself on paths that either stretch along the slope or climb uphill steeply. The sloboda was named after people from Nizhny Novgorod, but it also could be noted that it really is lower in relation to the center of Ufa (nizhny = lower).



Chernikovka
The name Chernikovka, from the name of the founder of the Ufa fortress, Ivan Chernikova, has no relationship whatsoever to blueberries (черники cherniki), which are nowhere to be found around here. This section of the city was built in the 1930s, along with a motor and boiler-turbine plant. The area was first included in Ufa, then in 1944 became the separate city of Chernikovsk, but again rejoined the city in 1956, at that time with the same population (215,000 and 265,000 people, respectively). Modern-day Chernikovka is by all appearances a separate city, with a historic center and separate tram network, but it is with some justification regarded as a somewhat run-down, working-class outskirts to the city proper.

The easiest way to get to Chernikovka is to take one of the minibuses on ul. Lenina. Look for ones signed "Первомайская улица" or "Черниковка." You'll need to get off near Lyalya-Tulpan Mosque and Victory Park or Ordzhonikidze Square. From the center of Ufa, you'll need at least 40 minutes. You can get to Chernikovka more quickly via elektrichka (commuter rail), but trips are few and far between, and you'll still have a walk from the station (get off at Parkovaya, as the Chernikovka is actually far from anything interesting in the district.



Zelyonaya Roshcha
Zelyonaya Roshcha (Зелёная Роща) is the historical name for the southeast part of the city, often referred to as "Zelyonkoi."



Museums




Buy
Mega is a huge mall outside of the city with an Ikea, Ashan Hypermarket, H&M, and many other stores.

Budget


In the summer, there are good places for shashlik everywhere, usually in squares or outside of malls. ~₽300 per person.

Sleep
There are several nice hotels in Ufa: President Hotel, Bashkiria Hotel, Amaks-Tourist Hotel and Azimut, but the best are Eurasia Hotel, President Hotel and Bashkortostan Hotel as they are the most comfortable. President Hotel is in the forest zone of the city. Bashkiria Hotel is in the historical part of the city on Lenina Street.

Lime Ufa offers short term apartments.

Stay safe
Ufa is a fairly tranquil city, and "disadvantaged" neighborhoods are located far from the center. Nevertheless, it pays to be prudent after dark while walking outside the center, if only because small streets are poorly lit, especially in one-story, residential neighborhoods.

In Ufa, the ban on consumption of alcoholic beverages in public places is taken seriously, and you risk a fine.

Go next
Almost all Bashkir sights are in the Ural Mountains in the eastern part of the republic. Although the way there lies through Ufa, the distance to the most interesting attractions, such as the Shulgan-Tash Nature Reserve, Iremel Natural Park, and resorts in the vicinity of Beloretsk, are all more than 200 km away, so day trips are tough. Sterlitamak the one-time capital and second largest city of Bashkiria, is probably the most reasonable place for a day trip. It has moderately interesting architecture (including some very colorful wooden buildings), interesting mosques, and distinctive shikhan chalk hills nearby on the steppe. Another option would be Chishmy, a small village, which has two medieval mausoleums, which are themselves the oldest architectural monuments in the whole of Bashkiria.

By overnight train, you can go to Samara - one of the most interesting cities in the Volga Region - or to Zlatoust, a city picturesquely set in the mountains, from which it is not far to severe, industrial Chelyabinsk.