Ulyanovsk (Ульяновск) Ulyanovsk (Ульяновск) was founded as the settlement of
Симбирск, Simbirsk, but in 1924 was renamed for the most famous person born there, Vladimir Lenin. Lenin wasn't his real family name and instead was a code and pen name given to him during the period leading up to the Bolshevik revolution. His real name was Vladimir Ulyanov (Ульянов), and thus the reason for the town being renamed as Ulyanovsk. Lenin studied (before being expelled) at the University in Kazan which is north, around 171 km from Ulyanovsk to Kazan.
The change in name is not a point of pride these days and modern residents often refer to the city as
Simbirsk. Even the annual beauty contest is the
"Miss Simbirsk" pageant.
City English language website:
http://welcometoulyanovsk.com/index.php?section=22. Today the Russian language city portal uses the old pre-Soviet name of Simbirsk and the new(er) .рф (ru stands for Russian Federation) url. That site is: http://симбирск.рф
Even the Oblast (region) government's cartoon introducing Ulyanovsk refers to
Simbirsk.
https://www.youtube.com/v/htKmc0rxgN0If you are traveling to Ulyanovsk to meet someone you have several options, including train, car or by air. The most common way to reach Ulyanovsk is likely via train or flight but this is a beautiful area of Russia and worth a car trip in our humble opinion.
Train travelers would begin at Moscow's Kazansky Train station and travel to southeastern Russia for a trip to Ulyanovsk lasting 15 hours and 45 minutes at an average ticket cost of $50 to $200 depending on compartment class. Russian Railways has announced that high speed rail service will be in Ulyanovsk in time for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Ulyanovsk will be an accommodation host city for games held in the regional cities of Samara and Saransk, Russia. Both are about 3 hours from Ulyanovsk by car.
Rail travel in Russia is converting to a paperless ticket system for travelers with smart phones. Just show the conductor your e-ticket and board the train.
Depending on time of year the trip by car takes around 12 hours (summer travel) from Moscow to Ulyanovsk.
Flying to Ulyanovsk also makes sense as it is home to UAZ Aviation and a flight from Moscow's Domodedovo (DME) airport to
Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport (ULY) takes just under 2 hours and costs around $200 (Feb 2014 prices). You can also fly from Moscow's Vnukovo airport using Volga Dnepr Airlines and the cost is approximately the same. AviaNova airline files four times weekly to/from Moscow's Sheremetyevo (SVO) on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
(photo: yapet.LiveJournal)
ULY is 28 kilometers from the city of Ulyanovsk and the airport website is:
http://ulvost.ru/rus/airport/.
There is a smaller airport known as Ulyanovsk Central or also called Barataevka airport, ULV. It has limited commercial traffic and used more for civilian private traffic. From Barataevka (ULV) there is a daily afternoon flight to/from Moscow via Yekaterinburg on the small regional carrier, RusLine. RusLine also offers a morning flight on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from ULV. UTair, another small regional airline, offers two flights daily, one in mid-morning and one at late evening.
Speaking of Ulyanovsk airports, there is one that most Russians prefer not to acknowledge: a NATO air transit base. For all the Russian rhetoric about the evils of NATO, the Putin government has rented a large military air base at Ulyanovsk (ULY) to NATO for transit of materials and troops to and from Afghanistan. As the Afghan war winds down it is expected that NATO will close the base.