How to Get to Kaliningrad and Get Around: Khrabrovo Airport, Trains and Trams

Because Kaliningrad Oblast is separated from the Russian mainland by Lithuania and Poland, most visitors arrive by air at Khrabrovo Airport or by long-distance train into Kaliningrad-Passazhirsky. Once in the city, two railway terminals and the earliest electric tram network in today's Russia (1895) make local and coastal travel straightforward.

Arriving at Khrabrovo Airport (KGD)

Located 24 kilometres northeast of central Kaliningrad near the village of Khrabrovo (on the site of the 1935 Powunden airfield), Khrabrovo Airport (IATA code KGD, officially named after Empress Elizabeth Petrovna on 31 May 2019) opened its expanded passenger terminal in July 2017 and a lengthened runway for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Express bus No. 244э and regional taxis connect the terminal directly with Victory Square, the Main Bus Station, and South Railway Station; check the official airport website for current bus departures.

South Station (Passazhirsky) vs North Station (Severny)

• Kaliningrad-Passazhirsky (South Station, Kalinina Square): Opened on 19 September 1929 as the Königsberg Hauptbahnhof after construction from 1920 to 1929, this Brick Expressionist terminal features a three-span steel-and-glass train shed measuring 178 metres long and 120 metres wide. It handles all long-distance trains as well as coastal Lastochka electric trains departing from platforms 1 and 2, with the Main Bus Station right next door.
• Kaliningrad-Severny (North Station, beside Victory Square): Opened in 1929 as the Nordbahnhof and reopened for suburban electric traffic in May 1964 (electrified to Zelenogradsk in 1976), Severny Station sits in the heart of the city centre and is the fastest boarding point for Lastochka trains and coastal buses to Zelenogradsk, Svetlogorsk, and Yantarny.

City Trams, Buses and Walking

Restored on 7 November 1946 on 1,000-millimetre metre-gauge tracks, the Kaliningrad tramway runs Line 3 (South Station to Central Park) and Line 5 (connecting Oktyabrskaya Street, Leninsky Prospekt, Victory Square, and Prospekt Mira in Amalienau) using Tatra KT4 and low-floor 71-921 Korsar trams.