How to Get to Nizhny Novgorod: Strigino Airport and Lastochka Trains

Located 420 kilometres east of Moscow along the main transport corridor linking central Russia with the Urals, Siberia, and the Volga river basin, Nizhny Novgorod is one of the easiest regional capitals in European Russia to reach by high-speed daytime rail, overnight sleeper trains, domestic flights, or summer Volga cruise ships.

High-Speed Lastochka and Overnight Trains to Moskovsky Station

For most travellers coming from Moscow, the fastest and most comfortable overland route is by high-speed Lastochka electric train along the 442-kilometre Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod railway line, which first opened to traffic on 2 August 1862 to serve the Nizhny Novgorod Fair. Multiple daily Lastochka services depart from Moscow's Kursky Terminal and cover the journey to Nizhny Novgorod-Moskovsky Railway Station on Revolution Square (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) in the Lower Town in about four hours, calling at Vladimir, Kovrov, and Dzerzhinsk along the route. Long-distance and overnight sleeper trains on the Trans-Siberian and northern main lines also link Nizhny Novgorod directly with Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Kirov, and Yekaterinburg. Inside the main concourse of Moskovsky Station, underground pedestrian passages lead straight into the four-track Moskovskaya Metro Station, where Line 1 crosses the Oka River on the Metro Bridge to Gorkovskaya in the Upper Town in a single stop, and Line 2 runs to Strelka.

Flying into Chkalov International Airport (Strigino, GOJ)

Nizhny Novgorod International Airport named after V. P. Chkalov (Strigino, IATA: GOJ) is located in Avtozavodsky District 18 kilometres southwest of the historic city centre. Nizhny Novgorod holds a special place in Russian civil aviation history: on 15 July 1923 one of the country's first regular passenger air routes, Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, opened. A modern glass-and-steel passenger terminal at Strigino handles daily flights from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport as well as regular direct services from Saint Petersburg, Sochi, and Kaliningrad. Municipal buses connect the terminal forecourt with Park Kultury Metro Station (the southern terminus of the Avtozavodskaya Red Line) and with Moskovsky Railway Station, while official airport taxis and ride-hailing apps reach hotels in the Upper Town or Lower Posad across the Oka bridges in roughly 30 to 40 minutes depending on river bridge traffic. Summer river cruise vessels and hydrofoils also dock below the Chkalov Stairs and Kremlin walls at the Nizhny Novgorod River Terminal on the Lower Volga Embankment.