Ufa, Russia

Ufa

Description of Ufa

Ufa is located in Bashkiria

Today it is a large, interesting and rapidly developing city. Ufa is extremely interesting for travelers, the city combines several styles at once, develops under the influence of several cultures and religions. The city is located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, which determined its multinationality and multi-confessionalism.

In Ufa you will see the intersection of major highways and quiet streets, rich nightlife and rich cultural life. Ufa can be interesting for its cultural and sports life; the city regularly hosts major international competitions and events.

Ufa is one of the shortest toponyms in Russia. As the locals say: "If you were sent to three letters, come to us." In the Bashkir language, this principle also applies, and for the special form of the three letters that make up the name - ӨФӨ - Ufa received the stable nickname "the city of three screws". It is located to the west of the Ural Mountains on the Belaya (Agidel) River at the confluence of the Ufa River, which apparently gave the city its name. The toponym itself can mean "river" or "water": there are different opinions on this matter.

In general, Ufa can be one of the oldest cities in the Urals. Excavations fix the cultural layer of the 4th century AD, and if the Bashkirs had permanent cities in the Middle Ages, then one of them was located here. Written sources from the time of the existence of the Golden Horde report the city of Bashkort on the Belaya River - perhaps this is the current Ufa - but no visible traces of it have been preserved. Under its modern three-letter name, Ufa arose in 1574, when, at the direction of the Russian authorities, a prison was founded on the Belaya River, and later a small Kremlin was built. Nothing more ancient than the buildings of the end of the 18th century, however, remained in Ufa, and at that time the city was still more like a fortress, which was attacked from time to time by rebellious Bashkirs. After the Pugachev uprising (1774), Ufa began to live a peaceful life, the Kremlin burned down, and stone construction began in the city - however, not very active, because, with the exception of a short period at the end of the 18th century, Ufa remained a county town for a long time. The formation of the Ufa province in 1865 and the construction in 1890 of the Samara-Zlatoust railway (that is, the old, historical course of the Trans-Siberian Railway) contributed a lot to the growth of Ufa. The status of the capital of Russian Islam granted by Catherine II played a big role in the life of the city: there are fewer old mosques in Ufa than in Kazan, but there is a rare thing for Russia - old madrasahs.

Being the center of the province before and the capital of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic after the revolution, Ufa until the Great Patriotic War itself remained a relatively modest Ural city with light industry like woodworking and food. Metallurgy has never been in Ufa, and the city owes its rapid growth in the post-war years to the oil and chemical industries. The modern look of Ufa is formed by not the prettiest buildings of the late Soviet period, behind which (if you, for example, go to the city for work) you can simply not notice the historical center - by no means small, but displaced, due to the features of the relief, to the south, into the bend of the river White. In general, the river and the relief had a great influence on the city: its length from north to south is more than 50 km, while from west to east it is less than five. In this sense, Ufa is similar to Volgograd, with the only difference that there is no high-speed tram and the relief is more pronounced.

 

Orientation

The old part of the city is bounded from the west by Aksakov Street, from the north by Chernyshevsky Street, from the east by Tsyurupa Street, and in the south it reaches (albeit intermittently) to the very cliff above the Belaya River. The station is located much to the north, almost on the outskirts. In the west, the old city passes into very colorful one-story suburbs, stretching along the slope to the railway itself and beyond it (the Nizhny Novgorod settlement area). In the east, a similar suburb is gradually giving way to modern buildings. In the north, along Lenin Street, a smooth change of eras is visible: from pre-revolutionary houses to provincial steel and panel houses from the times of stagnation. To the north goes a traffic-free highway - Salavat Yulaev Avenue - and the Oktyabrya Avenue parallel to it, at the end of which is the Chernikovka district with the main Ufa mosque. Oil refineries are further away. Except for Chernikovka, with its mosque and solid Soviet architecture (once there was a separate city), for most travelers, only the historical center will be of interest, although hard luck (and, in particular, the search for a cheap lodging for the night) can throw you into a variety of corners cities.

There are at least two centers in Ufa. Old - Upper Trading Square next to Gostiny Dvor - is located in the southern part of the city. The new center more or less coincides with the geographic one: this is the middle part of October Avenue in the area of the Park of Culture named after. Gafuri, Russian Drama Theater and Circus.

 

Getting in

By plane
Ufa is one of the air traffic centers in the Urals. In addition to planes from Moscow (more than 10 times a day), there are direct flights from St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and many cities in Western Siberia (Surgut, Novy Urengoy, etc.) Tiny propeller-driven planes fly almost every day to Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don , Kazan, Perm, Orenburg and Samara - in the latter, however, it is not difficult to leave by train. International traffic: Vienna, Prague, Istanbul (Turkish Airlines), Dushanbe, Tashkent, many charter flights.

Ufa International Airport (IATA:UFA). ☎ +7 (347) 229-52-95. Ufa Airport has recently been reconstructed and looks quite modern: it even has teleports, although the width of the corridors and the design of the halls sometimes leave much to be desired. The airport has two terminals - domestic and international. Entering the internal terminal from the street, you will find a kiosk with honey and Bashkir souvenirs, as well as the Bashkir Goose kiosk, which performs approximately the same function. To the right, at the end of the corridor, there is a 24-hour Moskva cafe, where Bashkir pastries, salads and warmed-up hot meals are offered at low prices. Also in the terminal there is a "Chocolate Girl" and a stand with freshly squeezed juice. A small waiting room is located on the second floor. There is also a shop and post office (Mon–Fri 8:00–20:00, Sat 9:00–18:00) with a single computer supposedly providing Internet access. 24-hour luggage storage on the minus ground floor: 200 rubles for the first day and 50 rubles for each subsequent day.

After the screening area, there is one large hall, in the center of which is again a souvenir shop, on the right is a shop called duty-free (which is absurd on domestic flights, but nonetheless), on the left is a stand with brewed coffee and tea (expensive). At the end of the hall there are a couple of cafeterias indistinguishable from each other, where prices are fundamentally lower, but tea is also only from bags. There is no real hot food here. There is good free Wi-Fi throughout the terminal, while there is also a paid one from Ufanet.

There is a large square in front of the terminal building. The city bus leaves on the right, intercity transport leaves from an inconspicuous auto pavilion located to the left and obliquely from the exit from the domestic terminal. City minibuses collect passengers here, intercity buses stop. Inside the auto pavilion there is a round-the-clock bus ticket office and a pleasant aroma of coffee, since the local cafeteria has a coffee machine, which is rare for Bashkiria. There is no separate waiting room here - it simply has nowhere to fit - but you can sit at the cafeteria table.

Food outlets outside the airport leave a lot to be desired. The 24-hour cafe "Letnoe" on the square (from the exit from the domestic terminal forward and slightly to the right) serves as a dining room. The rest of the time, they serve warm food of rather poor quality. A 24-hour restaurant should be in the hotel building: perhaps it is better there. The hotel itself has recently been renovated and, apparently, is not bad, but the prices there are high: from 2400 rubles for a single room (2015), tel. +7 (347) 229-55-84

How to get there: city buses 101 (bus + railway station), 110 (DOK / northern suburb) go to the airport, they pass through the historical center and the main avenue (2022). Minibuses stop running at 22-23 hours, Bashavtotrans buses - earlier. The fare on the municipal bus is 39 rubles. on a transport card (luggage is free), in a commercial minibus - 40 rubles, drivers sometimes ask for additional payments for bulky luggage. Taxi is very common in Ufa, the choice of taxi service is up to you. The fare to the center of Ufa: 350-500 rubles. (2018), remote areas like Chernikovka are more expensive. If you do not need to go to Ufa itself, keep in mind that some intercity buses call at the airport, heading south towards Salavat, Sterlitamak and Orenburg.

By train
Ufa stands on the Samara-Chelyabinsk main line, but there are not very many trains here. 7-8 times a day you can go to Samara (8 hours) and Chelyabinsk (9 hours), and all these are passing trains, then heading to Moscow, Siberia, Kazakhstan. Several trains a day to Ulyanovsk (13 hours). In the direction of Orenburg, after a long absence, diesel trains have been resumed. It is impossible to leave by train to Kazan or Izhevsk at all. Suburban communication is concentrated around Ufa - directions: Kandra, Priyutovo, Asha. It does not reach large Bashkir cities, except for Sterlitamak.

Railway station, Vokzalnaya st. 1. ☎ +7 (347) 251-40-00. The station is a large new building, the dome of which looks like a mosque. It seems to be located not far from the center, but it’s about two kilometers to go from here to the central streets, and you won’t immediately understand which way. This is due to the complex urban terrain: the railway passes under the mountain, along the Belaya shore, and the city is mainly located on the hills. Leaving the station building (moreover, from the third floor) and climbing another staircase, you will find yourself at a public transport stop, from which numerous minibuses (No. 74, No. 3, No. 251, No. 252) will take you to different parts of the city. Tram routes to the Ufa railway station have been canceled for some time.
Inside, the station is clean, spacious and fully equipped with escalators. The first floor was given over to the ticket office, the second floor to the waiting room, and the third floor to a wide concourse with access to the platforms. In the basement there is a left-luggage office (120 rubles per day, 2013). The waiting room of enhanced comfort is divided into two classes - Comfort (70 rubles per hour) and Suite (100 rubles per hour), at least one of which is a fenced-off compartment in the common room on the second floor. Somewhere nearby there should be rest rooms. The food situation is rather bleak: you will not find anything here except cafeterias with dried-up Bashkir pastries. There is no food in the vicinity of the station either.

By car
Ufa stands on the M5 highway at a distance of 460 km from Samara and 380 km from Chelyabinsk. The M7 highway from Moscow (1350 km) and Kazan (500 km) also ends here. The road to Orenburg (350 km) goes south. It is 400 km to Izhevsk, about 500 km to Perm and Yekaterinburg.

By bus
The most frequent connection is with Orenburg: about 10 times a day, travel time 7.5 hours. Several times a day, buses run to Yekaterinburg (13-14 hours), Perm (11 hours), Naberezhnye Chelny (6 hours) and Kazan (10 -11 h). In all these directions, private express minibuses also go, reaching the destination 1.5-2 times faster than regular buses. It is more convenient to travel to Samara and Chelyabinsk by train. Finally, there are direct buses and minibuses to Izhevsk, but travel times can vary greatly depending on the operation of the ferry across the Kama. Another option is to cross the Kama by train from Sarapul and then go to Ufa by bus from the city of Yanaul or from Neftekamsk, which is easily accessible from the Amzya station.

South bus station, st. Richard Sorge, 13. ☎ +7 (347) 223-06-01. Contrary to its name, the bus station is not exactly in the south of the city, but rather in the geographical center of the city. The railway station is relatively close. The center and both stations are connected by bus and fixed-route taxi No. 101, No. 251.
The Soviet-era building has been renovated, but is just as dotted with kiosks and eateries. Inside is a small waiting room.

Theoretically, there is also a northern bus station in Ufa (Kemerovskaya St., 82: Chernikovka), but since 2013 it has been closed for repairs, which has every chance of never ending, since the main flow of buses still comes from the southern bus station. Those of them that follow north, towards Birsk, make a stop at the former northern bus station. There is also a cash register.

On the ship
There has been no regular communication on Belaya for a long time and never will be again. From time to time there are cruise ships of the Bashkir River Shipping Company from Ufa somewhere to the Volga, and a couple of times a year there are cruises from Moscow or Nizhny Novgorod to Ufa and / or Perm. Prices for Moscow cruises are excessively high.

Berth at the Friendship Monument, st. Embankment. The main city pier, from which pleasure boats depart. Ideally, cruise ships should also moor here, but often, due to low water levels, they stop at Safronovskaya pier, downstream.
Safronovskaya pier (near the railway station), Safronovskiy pr. 4. The pier is near the cargo port.

 

Around the city

Public transport
Ufa's transport is represented by trams, trolleybuses, buses, as well as small buses. During the day and in the evenings, all this transport runs very often, so in some places you will see queues of cars at major stops. However, it is not easy for a non-local person to figure out the routes, so a special free mobile application "Ufa Public Transport" with a route tracking function has been developed. Transport, in general, stops running after 22:00: there are only a few minibuses that operate until 00:40.

The tram and trolleybus in Ufa are hardly noticeable. The tram network is divided into two independent parts - northern and southern. Unlike most Russian cities, trams and trolleybuses carry out local transportation along the outskirts, and buses are the main transport. Some buses belong to the municipal enterprise "Bashavtotrans", but more often they are minibuses. Trolleybuses do not make sense for tourist trips, because they don’t go to the center at all, but work normally only on the northern outskirts (2022).

Fare payment: to the driver or conductor by bank card or in cash. Fare: for cash - 22 rubles. (tram, trolleybus), 33 rubles. (bus) (August 2022). In minibuses, the price varies from 20 to 40 rubles, depending on the length of the route and the time of day (the price rises in the evening).

Taxi
In Ufa, a system of taxi services with a call by phone is very developed. The cost of the trip is indicated by the operator depending on the distance (2-900-900 "Motor-Service", taxi "Leader", "2-901-901" and others) or payment is made by taximeter (Taxi "24"). Recently, Yandex.Taxi, Uber, Gett, Maxim have started working in the city, ordering which may turn out to be cheaper than ordering by phone. In all major taxi services, you can get the appropriate check or receipt, notifying the operator in advance when ordering a taxi. The average waiting time for a taxi is 4 minutes from the moment of order. Catching a taxi on the street is problematic, since all services work mainly with orders by phone or via the Internet. In addition, this method of transportation may be more expensive than the "official" taxi order.

By car
Like any major city, Ufa is not the best place to travel by car, as the roads are congested during peak hours and parking spaces are scarce. In the center, paid parking is available at Gostiny Dvor from the side of Communist Street. On most streets, parking is free, if allowed at all.

 

Sights

The question of Ufa sights can confuse even the residents of the city. On the one hand, it is easy to spend more than one day in Ufa, especially if you visit Chernikovka and other areas outside the center. On the other hand, there are no well-known sights in the city. The monument to Salavat Yulaev can be considered the main one, although for a person from the outside it is just a monument in a beautiful place above the river. It is worth visiting the National Museum, the Monument of Friendship, the Fountain of the Seven Girls. There are many Orthodox churches in Ufa, but the oldest and most interesting of them were destroyed during the Soviet era. With mosques, the situation is even worse, and almost all of them are replicas. Stone buildings in the city center suffered less, although it was noticeably thinned out in the 2000s under the motto “city development”, which is popular not only here, but from the very beginning it was inferior to larger cities like Kazan or Yekaterinburg. In particular, on the streets of Aksakov, Krupskaya or Mustai Karim, historical houses have been almost completely demolished. Also, an unpleasant phenomenon flourishes in Ufa, denoted by the speaking term “facadeism”: this is when only the facade wall is left from the old building, and a multi-storey glass-concrete monster of an office, hotel or shopping mall is built around it. The result looks about the same as the mustache painted on the Gioconda, that is, it is ridiculous and pathetic.

Nevertheless, Ufa is an interesting city, and you will not regret at all if you walk along each of the central streets, and then look into the settlements adjacent to them. The value of Ufa is in the details, whether it is an extraordinary monument to Lenin or a fence that looks like an old madrasah in an ordinary red-brick house. Carved wooden houses, found even in the very center, deserve special attention: Gogol Street is the richest in them. The settlements adjacent to the center are dominated by private houses, usually of no interest in themselves, but forming invariably colorful areas: especially good are those that are located on steep slopes above the river, like the Nizhny Novgorod or Trunilovskaya settlements. Finally, modern Bashkir architecture is curious, using elements of the national style. Its best examples are the building of the national theater, the adjacent Dynamo stadium and the Lyalya-Tulpan mosque.

 

Central streets

There are hundreds of architectural monuments in Ufa. Almost all of them are concentrated on several streets in the city center.

1 Monument to Lenin, Lenin Square (corner of Lenin and Kommunisticheskaya streets, next to Gostiny Dvor). The first monument to Lenin was erected in Ufa in the autumn of 1924. Like all early monuments to the leader of the world proletariat, the project was non-standard and emphasized that the ideas of the revolution were about to become global. Lenin stood against the backdrop of a marble stele crowned with a globe entangled in the chains of imperialism (see also Nizhny Tagil, where Lenin simply stands on the globe). In the late 1930s, the condition of the monument was recognized as emergency, so the figure of the leader was replaced with a typical sitting one, which, together with the stele, began to look funny (Lenin seemed to be crushed by thoughts about the fate of the revolution) and gave rise to a cruel joke “In 1937, even Lenin was imprisoned.” By the end of the 1980s, the sitting monument also required repair, it was removed, and a new one was not erected due to lack of money and a change in the political regime. For a long time there was no Lenin at all in Lenin Square, and the stele with the globe (freed by that time from the chains of imperialism, and without any revolution) stood by itself. Finally, in 2011, the city was presented with a new sculpture of the leader. They installed it, which is typical, exactly on Halloween, and opened it on a grand scale as perhaps the first monument to Lenin of the 21st century.
2  Gostiny Dvor, Upper Trading Square. One of the largest shopping centers in Ufa is also an architectural monument. It was built in the first half of the 19th century on the site of the market square. The square was surrounded by merchants' mansions, some of which have survived to this day, even if they turned into McDonald's: for example, three two-story buildings with corner turrets from Lenin Street. In the post-Soviet period, the building was restored almost from the ruins.
3  The building of the noble assembly, st. Lenina, 14. The three-story mansion of the middle of the 19th century is interesting because Fyodor Chaliapin, who lived in Ufa in 1890-1891, began his career here. The young singer, constrained by means, rented rooms in wooden houses on the outskirts - first in Trunilovskaya, and then in the Bishop's settlement (none of these houses, apparently, have survived). Young Chaliapin is immortalized by a monument opened in 2007: it is claimed that this is the only monument depicting the singer at such a young age. Across the road is an interesting building of the early 20th century - the Aksakov People's House (now the Opera and Ballet Theatre).
4 House of Cooperation (Bashpotrebsoyuz), st. Lenina, 26. A massive corner building with a seven-story tower was built in 1935-1936, it is one of the best monuments of Soviet architecture in Ufa. The first elevator in the city was launched here. Among the people, the House of Cooperation is associated with the saying “There is money - Ufa we are walking, there is no money - we are sitting Chishma”, which comes from the Ufa restaurant that once existed here (now this room is occupied by the Fork-Spoon bistro) and the eatery located next to it “Chishma” (if you still don’t understand the humor, visit the village of Chishmy, which is only an hour away, but is very much inferior to Ufa in neatness and color, although it also has its own sights).
5 Savior Church, st. October Revolution, 37. A reduced copy of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg in a one-story Ufa suburb looks somewhat unexpected and even awkward. The temple was built in 1824, in Soviet times it was pretty much destroyed, now it is slowly being restored.
6 Demidov house, st. October Revolution, 57/1. A small one-story mansion, once owned by the Demidov mining workers, impresses with luxurious stucco work and is considered the oldest building in the city. It was built no later than the beginning of the 1770s, since in 1774 the commander Suvorov, who was sent to Ufa to suppress the Pugachev rebellion, had already stopped here. A lot of tales are connected with Suvorov's visit about how the future field marshal secretly entered the city in order to avoid a solemn meeting, and then bribed sentries at night and secretly inspected the stables.
7  Church of the Nativity of the Virgin (Kazansko-Bogorodsky), st. Kirova, 102. The largest, brightest and most visible Orthodox church in Ufa received the status of a cathedral only in the 1990s. It was built from 1903 to 1909 according to a non-trivial project, the main role in which is assigned not to the temple itself, but to the high tiered bell tower that adorns the perspective of Kirov Street. An interesting view of the church opens up through the ravine from the side of October Revolution Street.
8 Mayakovsky Square. Quiet square at the intersection of Tsyurupa and Communist streets. At the intersection of two large streets, it is especially pleasant to sit in a quiet green place. The square is rich in flower beds, there is also a monument to V. Mayakovsky.
9  Real school , st. Communist, 23. The largest educational institution of pre-revolutionary Ufa was located in a huge three-story building at the corner of Kommunisticheskaya Street and Aksakov Street. Opposite is a very nice corner wooden house of Bukhartovsky (48 Aksakov St.). There are several other interesting wooden houses with carved architraves on Aksakov Street. House 46, located at the same crossroads, is especially beautiful, where the architraves painted in blue stand out sharply against the background of white walls.

 

Trunilovskaya Sloboda and Tukaev Street

The eastern part of Tukaev Street is the place where an ordinary provincial town suddenly merges with an area of private one-story buildings. It is even more curious that here, right on this border, there is the oldest city mosque. Trunilovskaya Sloboda itself occupies a quarter bounded by Salavat Yulaev Avenue, Tsyurupa, Tukaev and Zainulla Rasulev streets. In the 19th century, the poor settled here and lawlessness was created. They say that one of the muftis was tired of watching this disgrace from his windows, and he began to buy up the houses of the Trunilov settlement in order to populate them with a noble audience. Whether he succeeded or not is not known for certain, and one can certainly say that no houses worthy of a noble public were built, but solid wooden houses from the beginning of the last century have been preserved, which is why this area (in addition to excellent views of the river) is interesting.

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

10  The First Cathedral Mosque (Tukaevskaya Mosque), st. Tukaeva, 52. The history of the oldest surviving mosque in Ufa is poorly known. Meanwhile, for many years this mosque was the main one in Russia, since the central administration of Muslims created by Catherine II was located in Ufa. The honorary role of the center of Russian Islam went to Ufa (and, for example, not Kazan) because of its location on the border between Europe and Asia, but there was no proper infrastructure in the city (and the share of Muslims barely reached 30%), so the first years The Mufti performed the rites almost at home. Finally, in 1830, a simple classicist mosque was built, expanded and reconstructed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The author of the original project is unknown, and, in general, the oldest mosque in Ufa is more modest than any Kazan one taken at random, but it is surrounded by the graves of muftis with inscriptions on tombstones in Arabic script, which is already unusual for Russia. The neighboring building (50 Tukaev St.) housed the Muslim Central Administration (1860-1863), and the red-brick building across the road (39 Tukaev St.) belonged to the Usmaniya Madrasah (1906).
11 Garden of Salavat Yulaev, st. Salavat. The city garden was laid out on this site in 1900. During the 20th century, he managed to change four names, until he finally received the name of Salavat Yulaev. The gazebos in the garden are exact copies of the original wooden ones, and the cast-iron gates have been preserved from the moment the garden was opened. The beautiful suspension bridge, known as the bridge of lovers, was built in the 1950s.
12 House of the Republic (Government House), st. Tukaev. 46. The gray concrete building (1979), known in Ufa as the "White House", is difficult to confuse with something - this is an example of an administrative building of the Soviet period, and there is not even a faint national connotation in it. In addition to the observation deck behind the building, a wall with high reliefs is of interest, designed to give the House of the Republic a national flavor, but in fact located noticeably lower along Tukaev Street. High reliefs in a touchingly naive form depict the daily life of the Bashkir people. Separate wooden houses down the slope are the remains of the Bishop's Settlement, named after the Bishop's House, which once stood above the river on the site of the House of the Republic.
13 Park Lenin (near the House of the Republic). In a large square square between Tukaev and Zaki Validi streets, one can easily guess the former Cathedral Square, where the Resurrection Cathedral, blown up in 1932, stood. In its place, a park of culture and recreation was created, named after Alexander Matrosov in 1943. You will still see the monument to the hero in the park, along with almost a dozen other monuments (about the awarding of the Republic of Bashkortostan with the Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, and the like). Also in the park is the grave of the famous writer Mazhit Gafuri. It is curious, however, that official historiography generally does not recognize the Bashkir origin of Matrosov. The corner building from Tukaev Street (23 Tukaev Street) is the former governor's house (1849-1850), one of the best monuments of classicism in Ufa.

Do not miss the Aksakov and Tyulkin house museums. The first is a wooden house of the 18th century, rare for Ufa, and the second is unremarkable in itself, but comfortably located above the ravine away from residential development. Adjacent to the park. Lenin Bashkir Drama Theatre. Gafuri is an excellent example of modern national architecture.

 

Trinity Hill and Old Ufa

The area to the east of the center of Ufa is not the most famous, but colorful in its own way. It was here, on Trinity Hill at the mouth of the Sutoloka River, that the Ufa Kremlin stood, and the area behind it is known as Staraya Ufa, where the first settlements were located. However, time did not spare either the Kremlin itself or most of the buildings surrounding it.

14  Monument of Friendship, st. Zaki Validi / October Revolution. The granite obelisk stands on the top of Trinity Hill, where the Kremlin once stood, and later the oldest Trinity Church in Ufa. The temple was blown up in 1956, the monument was laid a year later, on the 400th anniversary of the voluntary entry of Bashkiria into Russia (1557-1957), but was opened only 8 years later, in 1965. This is a good example of Soviet monumental art. Granite steles are connected by gray staples, demonstrating unity and friendship. At the foot of the monument, two female figures symbolize Bashkiria and Russia. The monument offers a beautiful view of the river and the city center, and right in front of you you will see a road junction at the beginning of Salavat Yulaev Avenue.
15 St. Sergius Cathedral, st. Bekhtereva, 2. In the past, the main temple of the Streltsy settlement, and now - a wooden church built in 1868. It has the status of a cathedral, since in Soviet times the church remained active. Down the hillside are private wooden houses, not yet touched by modern construction.
16 Intercession Church, st. Mingazheva, 4. Built in 1817-1823. in the spirit of classicism, this is one of the very stylish and at the same time laconic churches in Ufa. It stands among private houses, but in a rather unusual environment: multi-storey residential buildings begin behind the Sutoloka River, and a new Salavat Yulaev mosque is being built from the center.
17 Ikhlas Mosque, Sochinskaya st., 43. The mosque was converted from a typical Soviet cinema and, in general, does not look like a mosque at all. In front of her stands a huge crescent moon.

 

Ufa slope

The hill on which the city center is located is sometimes called the Ufa slope. Its highest part is located to the west of the main streets and is partly occupied by modern buildings, and partly by the old Muslim cemetery. There is also a monument to Salavat Yulaev - the most famous landmark of Ufa.

18  Monument to Salavat Yulaev, st. Gafuri (next to the TV center). A participant in the Pugachev uprising, Salavat Yulaev, is considered the main national hero of Bashkiria. The monument to him was opened in 1967 and still does not have a single sarcastic folklore name, which can be considered a sign of universal respect for both the monument and its hero. Salavat, with his hand raised up, froze on a horse at a cliff above the Belaya River. They say that in the first version of the monument, the hero was made in the image of a young Bashkir, as in all surviving images, but later, under pressure from the public, the sculptor added solidity to the character. The monument is equipped with an observation deck with an excellent view of the river (the city is practically invisible from here, since it is located strictly behind the monument). The alley leading to the monument is the most touristic place in Ufa. Improvised yurts sell Muslim literature and souvenirs, and there is also a simple cafe with Bashkir pastries and tea from a thermos.
19 Telecentre, st. Gafuri, 9/1. The ultimate urban transport and a key landmark in the southern part of the city. The television center stands at the beginning of Zaki Validi Street and is a three-story building (1959), behind which there is an openwork tower 192 m high. From the outside, it seems as if the tower is growing directly from the building. In fact, this is not so, but such a combination makes the Ufa television center very recognizable.
20  Old Water Tower, Malaya Vodoprovodnaya Street. The semicircular dome on the pre-revolutionary water tower (1899-1900) denotes not a mosque, but an observatory built here in 1957. Now the tower is abandoned and collapsing, there are plans to create a museum of plumbing in it.
21 Muslim cemetery and mosque "Ghufran" Wikidata element, st. Altai. One of the oldest city cemeteries is located behind the television center, at the highest point of the Ufa slope. It appeared presumably in the second half of the 19th century. Burials of different periods have been preserved, including very historical pre-revolutionary ones. It is also curious that the cemetery is a natural monument with vegetation characteristic of the Bashkir forest-steppe, since it was not customary to clear graves, plant flowers and generally change the landscape here. Cemetery mosque "Gufran" - modern (1994). It stands on the site of the wooden Fifth Cathedral Mosque, destroyed by fire in 1960.

 

Low city/ Nizhegorod Sloboda

Located to the west of the center, Nizhegorodskaya Sloboda does not contain any single sights, but at the same time it is perhaps the most colorful district of Ufa. Not in every Russian millionaire, private wooden houses come close to the center, and very rarely they are located on a hillside, which offers wonderful views of the Belaya bend and the dense forests beyond the river. It is especially beautiful here in chilly weather, when the fog merges with the smoke from the chimneys, and time seems to shift a hundred years ago, as if there were no asphalt, no high-rise buildings, or other achievements of the 20th century. The main street of the district - Traktovaya-Uritsky - is paved with cobblestones just like 100 years ago. If you turn into the side streets, then soon you will inevitably find yourself on paths that stretch along the hillside or, conversely, climb steeply uphill. The settlement was named after people from Nizhny Novgorod, and besides, it is really lower in relation to the center of Ufa.

22 Holy Cross Church, st. Sawmill, 2. The wooden five-domed temple (1892-93) is comfortably located under the mountain near the railway itself. Next to it are several old brick buildings - a school for the deaf and mute and the rector's house.
23 Galia Madrasah, st. Chernyshevsky, 5. One of the numerous Ufa madrasahs practically hangs over the Nizhny Novgorod settlement. This is quite a typical brick-style building, but the religious character of the institution is immediately guessed in the patterns of the fence. Nearby is an observation deck, which offers the best view of the chaotic private buildings.

 

North of center

24  Sculpture "The House of the Marten" (in front of the entrance to Yakutov Park from Lenin Street). The marten is depicted on the coat of arms of Ufa, since in the 17th century they collected taxes from the Siberian provinces with skins and paid with the same skins at the bazaar, from where even a special monetary unit, the kuna, came from. The sculptural composition consists of two martens near their house. One looks inquiringly at the other from the house, hence the popular name of the monument “Where is the salary?”. The plot is based on a legend according to which some mythical characters who played an important role in the founding of the city turned into martens. The sculpture was opened in the summer of 2010 near Gostiny Dvor, and in 2014 it was moved to its current location.
25 Park of Culture and Leisure named after Yakutov, between st. Lenin and Karl Marx. The city garden to the north of the city was laid out in 1904 and was called the "sobriety society garden" before the revolution. The park owes its current name to the local revolutionary Yakutov. In a small area there is everything you need for entertainment and recreation - attractions, Soldier's Lake with a boat station and even a children's railway 1.8 km long. Before entering the park from Lenin Street, you will surely notice an old red-brick tower left from the 2nd fire station (67 Lenina Street; 1904-07).
26 Lutheran Church, Belyakova Street, 2 (entrance to the territory from Belyakova Street). ✉ Opened at the beginning of 1910 for the Germans living in Ufa - immigrants from the Baltic States, from the 1930s until 2000 it was used as a warehouse. In 2016, an organ was installed in the church.
27  Monument to the heroes of the October Revolution and the Civil War, st. 50th anniversary of October / st. March 8. A blacksmith, a Red Army soldier and a horseman rushing forward serve as a convenient guide: in this place you need to turn towards the railway station, otherwise the tram will take you to the southern bus station and further to the sleeping areas of the city. The monument is popularly known as “Five to seven” because of the store located directly opposite the monument, which closed at seven in the evening.
28 Country house P.I. Kosterina, st. Richard Sorge, 15 (next to the South Bus Station). The most beautiful wooden mansion in Ufa is worth a stroll to the bus station. The corner two-story building with a large octagonal tower was built around 1890. It was the best fit for the first Ufa airport, located in this area until the mid-1960s.
29  Monument to the janitor.

 

Chernikovka

A large area of ​​stalinok and Khrushchev built for petrochemical workers. Today's Chernikovka has all the hallmarks of a separate city - for example, a historical center and its own tram network, not connected to the tram lines in the southern part of the city - but is considered (not without reason) a dysfunctional working outskirts. The name Chernikovka, which comes from the name of the first settler of the Ufa fortress, Ivan Chernikov, and not at all from the lack of blueberries in this area, is the same age as Ufa, but the city appeared here only in the 1930s. in connection with the construction of motor and boiler-turbine plants. It is curious that these territories were initially included in Ufa, in 1944 they were separated into a separate city of Chernikovsk and, finally, since 1956 they were again united with Ufa, and at that time the two cities were comparable in population (215 and 265 thousand people, respectively). ).

How to get there: the easiest way is by buses following Lenina Street - look for the words “VAZ” or “Chernikovka” itself on them. You need to get off in the area of ​​the Lyalya-Tulpan mosque and Victory Park or on Ordzhonikidze Square. The journey from the center will take at least 40 minutes. You can go by train, which is faster (20 minutes), but trains rarely run, and you still have to walk from the station (it’s better to get off at Parkovaya, since Chernikovka station is quite far from all the interesting points of the area).

30  Mosque Lyalya-Tyulpan, st. Komarova, 5. The main Ufa mosque was built in 1989-98. Two 53 m high minarets really resemble opening tulip buds, while the building itself has a rather cunning shape and sharp triangular roofs. Unfortunately, from the side of the city, the view of the mosque is blocked by trees, but both the idea of the building and its solution are wonderful. When there is no service in the mosque, everyone is allowed to go there - it is enough to ask permission from the caretaker at the entrance. However, the decoration is quite standard and is hardly of interest.
31 Monument "Grieving Mother" (Monument to Soldiers' Mothers) Wikidata element, st. Komarova / beginning of st. Cosmonauts. Monument to soldiers who died in local conflicts. Opened in 2003, it is part of the Victory Park located to the north.
32 Park Pobedy Wikidata element, st. Komarova / beginning of st. Pervomaiskaya. The city of Chernikovsk needed its own park of culture and recreation, and it was laid out on the high bank of the Belaya in 1947, calling it the park of oilmen. Later, the park was given an ideological function, placing in it a museum of military glory, a collection of military equipment and a rather expressive monument to the Heroes of the Soviet Union A. Matrosov and M. Gubaidullin (both rushed to the embrasures during the war). The sculpture at the foot of the stele depicts the moment of the throw. From the monument there is a great view of the river.
33 DK im. Ordzhonikidze, st. Pervomaiskaya, 14. The luxurious monument of the Stalinist style has three porticoes - one in the center and two on the sides. On the square in front of the recreation center there is a monument to Ordzhonikidze (1955). Pervomaiskaya Street continues further towards the river, but only to the east of the Palace of Culture building begins its front part with majestic post-war buildings.
34  Eight-story buildings, st. Pervomayskaya, 26 and 27. The composition of the “gate”, standard for post-war architecture, is located at the intersection with Ulyanov Street, one block from the DK im. Ordzhonikidze. For Ufa, these buildings are special, because at the time of construction (1955) they were the tallest in the city: even the pre-war building of the House of Cooperation is one floor lower. From the eight-story buildings, the front building stretches for another couple of blocks, and then a quite visible struggle with excesses in architecture begins. Approximately on this border of the "historical center" of Chernikovsk is the Pobeda cinema (1948) - another good example of Stalinist architecture.

 

Green Grove/ Zelenaya Rosha

35 Botanical Garden, st. Mendeleeva, 195. 🕑 10:00–18:00. Entrance to the territory, including the greenhouse: 200 rubles. Good flower beds, trees and shrubs, as well as tropical plants in greenhouses.
36 Ufa Lemonary, st. Mendeleev, 152/2. ☎ +7 (347) 256-64-04. 🕑 Tours: 10:20, 11:00, 12:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00 except Mon. 80 rub. A nursery where not only lemons are grown, but also many other tropical plants: bananas, kiwis, avocados, not to mention grapefruits and tangerines. The total area of greenhouses is 1 hectare, this is the first place in Russia where lemons are grown indoors (and, presumably, the first place in Russia where they are grown effectively in general). The tour takes 20-30 minutes, after which you can buy seedlings. They say that it is especially good here in February, when the lemon trees are in bloom, but it should be good at other times as well.

 

What to do

Museums

1 National Museum of the Republic of Bashkortostan, st. Soviet, 14 (center). ☎ +7 (347) 273-03-63. 🕑 Tue–Fri 11:00–18:00, Sat 13:00–21:00, Sun 11:00–18:00. 150 rub. The main museum of the republic is located in the former building of the Peasant Land Bank (1905), which is interesting in itself as the best modern monument in Ufa. A full inspection of the museum will take at least two hours, since each of the obligatory departments of the local history museum (history, archeology, nature, ethnography) is represented here by several halls: for example, in the ethnographic one they will tell about the Bashkirs and other peoples inhabiting the republic - Tatars, Chuvashs, Mari. One of the interesting exhibits is a model of the Kapova cave with rock paintings.
2 Nesterov Art Museum, st. Gogol, 27 (center). ☎ +7 (347) 273-42-36. Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00. An art museum typical of a Russian regional center, the collection of which for the most part includes Russian and Soviet art and is stored in storerooms, since the exhibition space is completely insufficient. It differs from others in that there is a fairly large collection of works by Mikhail Nesterov, who lived in Ufa and donated his collection to the state. In addition to Nesterov, a small collection of paintings from the beginning of the 20th century is exhibited, everything else can be viewed only in the form of temporary exhibitions. The museum building is an architectural monument, the mansion of the merchant Laptev, built in 1913 according to the project of the architect Shcherbachev. A new building is under construction, but due to the crisis, it is not known when it will be ready.
3 Museum of Archeology and Ethnography, st. Karl Marx, 6 (center). ☎ +7 (347) 272-29-79. Only on weekdays by appointment. Entrance from 100 rubles, separate fee for the exhibition "Gold of the Sarmatians". The museum is organized at the academic Institute of Ethnological Research, which imposes serious restrictions on visits, especially individual ones. Nevertheless, it is worth getting here, because the collection is incomparably richer than in the national museum, and the tours are conducted by professionals - the institute's researchers. They show archeology, separately Sarmatian gold (here is the richest collection of Sarmatian objects in Russia) and a large exposition dedicated to ethnography. Excursions are held for groups of 10 people, you can order on the website, you can also see already scheduled excursions for the next week (you can try to join). The museum building is an architectural monument, the Ponosova-Mollo mansion built in 1910.
4 Museum of Geology and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Bashkortostan, st. Lenina, 47 (center). Mon–Fri 10:00–17:00, break 12:30–13:30. For free. Three halls contain a good collection of Ural minerals and samples of minerals. If you like it, then be sure to look here - there is no such a large exposition in the national museum.
5   House Museum of S.T. Aksakov, st. Rasuleva, 4 (Trunilovskaya Sloboda). ☎ +7 (347) 276-83-52. 10:00–18:00 except Mon, Sat 13:00–21:00. A native of Ufa, the writer Sergei Aksakov (1791-1859) is known for his story "The Childhood Years of Bagrov the Grandson", which for a long time was part of the compulsory school curriculum and contains the famous fairy tale "The Scarlet Flower" as an appendix. The museum tells about the biography of Aksakov, whose grandfather was the deputy governor-general of the Ufa viceroy, and his son was the governor of Ufa and Samara. Most of the exposition is devoted to the life of the nobility and Ufa in general at the beginning of the 19th century. The wooden house of the end of the 18th century is also interesting - one of the oldest in Ufa.
6 House-Museum of V.I. Lenina, st. Dostoevsky, 78 (north of the center). Tue–Sat 10:00–18:00. In Ufa in 1900-01. Krupskaya was in exile, and Lenin only came to visit her. They lived in another house (also wooden), but in the late 1930s, this one was chosen for the memorial museum as it was more spacious. Then a corner of old Ufa was even reconstructed around it, but in the early 2000s the area was given over to residential development, all the buildings were destroyed, but for some reason the Lenin Museum itself was not touched. Now the gray wooden house stands alone among the high-rise buildings, still delighting visitors with a naive and sometimes touching exposition with paintings like “Lenin on a steamboat going to Ufa” and numerous sculptures of the leader with and without Krupskaya.
7  A.E. Tyulkina, st. Volnovaya, 21 (Trunilovskaya Sloboda). 10:00–18:00 except Mon. In his youth, the artist A.E. Tyulkin (1888-1980) talked a lot with Burliuk, who lived near Ufa during the First World War. After the revolution, Tyulkin, however, gave up on Futurism and began to paint Bashkir nature, arguing that the view of the Belaya River from the windows of his own house was enough for him to inspire. The view is really good, it is worth enjoying while walking along Trunilovskaya Sloboda. At the same time, pay attention to the authentic wooden gates, which are almost gone in Ufa. Inside the house-museum there is a simple atmosphere and several paintings by the artist.
8  Museum of Mazhit Gafuri , st. Gogol, 28 (center). 10:00–18:00 except Sun, Mon. Mazhit Gafuri (1880-1934), who wrote in Tatar, is nevertheless considered the first major Bashkir poet. The wooden house on Gogol Street was donated to Gafuri in 1923. Inside, the living environment has been completely reconstructed, as well as a good exposition telling about the life and work of the poet. The house itself, with modest but very stylish carvings, is one of the best examples of pre-revolutionary Ufa's wooden buildings.
9 Museum of the History of USPTU, st. Ring, 3/1 (Chernikovka). ☎ +7 (347) 243-12-50. Mon–Fri 9:00–17:00. An interesting industrial museum that tells about the history of Bashkir oil production. In one of the halls, the furnishings of a student dormitory of the 1960s were reconstructed.
10 Museum of Military Glory of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Victory Park (Chernikovka). The main part of the exposition is devoted to the participation of Bashkiria and the Bashkirs in the Great Patriotic War, both at the front and in the rear. Many interesting, large-scale exhibits, military equipment, weapons, uniforms. Nearby is an open-air museum - an exhibition of military weapons from the time of the War. Entrance 35-65 rubles.

 

With kids

11 Planetarium, Oktyabrya Ave., 79/2 (Gafuri Park, on the way to Chernikovka). ☎ +7 (347) 235-70-23, +7 (347) 244-72-06. 150-250 rub. The third largest planetarium in Russia. Very interesting programs designed for children of different ages, and for adults too. Every day, several programs - from simple educational to full-dome films. On weekends, shows start every 1.5-2 hours.
12 Museum of entertaining sciences "Intellectus", st. Mendeleeva, 205a (TC "Bashkortostan"). ☎ +7 (347) 246-34-34. Mon–Fri 10:00–19:00, Sat–Sun 11:00–20:00. 250-300 rub. A selection of simple experiments on mechanics, electricity and optics: you can play with pendulums, go inside a soap bubble or study the operation of levers and blocks. The spherical cinema (where the 3D effect is said to be achieved without any glasses) shows educational films on astronomy. The ticket price includes an excursion, and besides them several times a day they arrange a Tesla show with a lightning generator or demonstrate chemical experiments.
13 Postal Museum, st. Lenina, 28. ☎ +7 (347) 272-79-15. Mon–Fri 9:00–17:00. For free. The exposition dedicated to the postal service is located inside the main Ufa post office - one of the pre-war buildings (1935-38) in the central part of Lenin Street. Among other things, they show a model of an old post station and cute models of vehicles that transported soil. At the corner of Lenina and Kommunisticheskaya streets, a symbolic sign “kilometer zero” is embedded in the asphalt, from which distances are counted in Bashkiria.
14 Museum of Communications, st. Lenina, 32. Mon–Fri 8:30–17:30. For free. Thematically close to the previous Museum of Communications, it contains an order of magnitude more interactive: here you can not only see telegraph devices, but also transmit something with their help, switch switches on old automatic telephone exchanges or trace the evolution of radio receivers. The museum is departmental, to visit it you need to go through security, but everyone is allowed in.

 

Theaters

Ufa has a very rich theatrical life: it is unlikely that you will be able to visit all the city theaters in one trip, especially when you consider that in most theaters, in addition to the main stage, there is also a chamber one. The most popular are Russian Drama, Youth, Opera and Ballet Theatre. Prices are quite democratic (from 200 rubles). Tickets, especially for premieres, must be booked in advance.

15 Russian Drama Theatre, 79 Oktyabrya Ave. (next to Gafuri Culture Park). ☎ +7 (347) 233-00-73. Ticket offices: 10:00–20:00. The most popular theater in the city, several performances a day (there is also a chamber stage). The inside has recently been refurbished and is impressive. There is a buffet, prices are affordable. Perhaps the most popular production is The Blue Cameo. Tickets for this production are much more expensive, you need to buy them at least a few days in advance.
16 Opera and Ballet Theatre, st. Lenina, 5/1 (center). ☎ +7 (347) 272-77-12. The main opera and ballet theater of the republic occupies the former Aksakov people's house, built in 1909-14. to the 50th anniversary of the death of the writer S.T. Aksakov. The eclectic building is left unpainted and flaunts the texture of red brick, which, combined with many decorative elements, looks unusual. From the side of the Gostiny Dvor, a square with a monument to the Bashkir composer Zagir Ismagilov and the Seven Girls Fountain adjoin the theater. If you go along Pushkin Street, you will find yourself on the cozy Pushkin Alley, where there is a bust of Aksakov.
17  Youth Theater Mustai Karim, st. Lenina, 62 (north of the center, not far from the park named after Yakutov). ☎ +7 (347) 272-13-52. Ticket offices: 10:30–19:30. Performances for children and adults in Russian and Bashkir languages (of course, not at the same time). A comfortable auditorium, a very unusual winter garden, an Italian patio, aquariums with exotic fish.
18 Bashkir Academic Drama Theatre. Majita Gafuri, st. Zaki Validi, 34. The oldest Bashkir theater was founded in Sterlitamak in 1919. In the late 1950s a new building was built for him on the site of the Resurrection Cathedral destroyed before the war. After the reconstruction of the late 1990s, the theater became one of the most prominent buildings in the center of Ufa and an excellent example of modern national architecture. The performances are in Bashkir, but the texts are translated into Russian.
19  Tatar theater "Nur" , st. 50 years of the USSR, 36 (along Salavat Yulaev Ave. to the north, among the sleeping areas). ☎ +7 (347) 248-95-33. The Tatar theater appeared in Ufa in 1912, i.e. even earlier than the Bashkir, but did not survive the civil war. The current theater dates back to 1989. The building, not devoid of national style, was built in the mid-1990s. Performances in Tatar with simultaneous translation into Russian.

Athletic facilities
Hockey is the number one sport in the country. The main sports pride of the republic is HC Salavat Yulaev. KHL matches are held several times a week in the Ufa Arena. Tickets for hockey must be bought in advance, the cost is from 100 rubles. In addition, other hockey competitions are held in Ufa, for example, the Cup of the Republic of Bashkortostan. MHC "Tolpar" pleases Ufa residents and guests of the capital in the MHL. The club performs at the Sports Palace, admission is free. ZhHK "Agidel" is one of the leaders of the women's hockey championship. You can also admire the Ufa hockey players several times a week. At the Russian and international level, volleyball is represented by the Ufa "Ural" and the women's volleyball team - "Ufimochka-UGNTU". "Ural" performs on the volleyball court of the stadium "Dynamo". If we talk about football, then FC Ufa plays in the Premier League, matches are held at the Neftyanik stadium about once a week. Tickets from 50 rubles, you can buy right before the match. A more exotic, but no less popular sport is motorcycle racing on ice, the stages of the championships of Russia, Europe and the world are regularly held in winter in Ufa at the Stroitel stadium.

20  Ufa-Arena, Lenina, 114.
21  Dynamo Stadium.
22  Palace of Sports.
23   GLC "Ak-Yort", st. Mendeleeva, 160 (trolleybuses No. 12,14,16,20; buses: No. 69, 110s to the Tramplin stop). ✉ ☎ (3472) 28-38-30. Tue-Sun 11:00-23:00. A sports complex on the eastern outskirts of the city (on the banks of the Ufimka River) with 2 ski slopes of medium difficulty (450 m each), one training route and a springboard.

 

Shopping

Ufa has a very rich theatrical life: it is unlikely that you will be able to visit all the city theaters in one trip, especially when you consider that in most theaters, in addition to the main stage, there is also a chamber one. The most popular are Russian Drama, Youth, Opera and Ballet Theatre. Prices are quite democratic (from 200 rubles). Tickets, especially for premieres, must be booked in advance.

15 Russian Drama Theatre, 79 Oktyabrya Ave. (next to Gafuri Culture Park). ☎ +7 (347) 233-00-73. Ticket offices: 10:00–20:00. The most popular theater in the city, several performances a day (there is also a chamber stage). The inside has recently been refurbished and is impressive. There is a buffet, prices are affordable. Perhaps the most popular production is The Blue Cameo. Tickets for this production are much more expensive, you need to buy them at least a few days in advance.
16 Opera and Ballet Theatre, st. Lenina, 5/1 (center). ☎ +7 (347) 272-77-12. The main opera and ballet theater of the republic occupies the former Aksakov people's house, built in 1909-14. to the 50th anniversary of the death of the writer S.T. Aksakov. The eclectic building is left unpainted and flaunts the texture of red brick, which, combined with many decorative elements, looks unusual. From the side of the Gostiny Dvor, a square with a monument to the Bashkir composer Zagir Ismagilov and the Seven Girls Fountain adjoin the theater. If you go along Pushkin Street, you will find yourself on the cozy Pushkin Alley, where there is a bust of Aksakov.
17  Youth Theater Mustai Karim, st. Lenina, 62 (north of the center, not far from the park named after Yakutov). ☎ +7 (347) 272-13-52. Ticket offices: 10:30–19:30. Performances for children and adults in Russian and Bashkir languages (of course, not at the same time). A comfortable auditorium, a very unusual winter garden, an Italian patio, aquariums with exotic fish.
18 Bashkir Academic Drama Theatre. Majita Gafuri, st. Zaki Validi, 34. The oldest Bashkir theater was founded in Sterlitamak in 1919. In the late 1950s a new building was built for him on the site of the Resurrection Cathedral destroyed before the war. After the reconstruction of the late 1990s, the theater became one of the most prominent buildings in the center of Ufa and an excellent example of modern national architecture. The performances are in Bashkir, but the texts are translated into Russian.
19  Tatar theater "Nur" , st. 50 years of the USSR, 36 (along Salavat Yulaev Ave. to the north, among the sleeping areas). ☎ +7 (347) 248-95-33. The Tatar theater appeared in Ufa in 1912, i.e. even earlier than the Bashkir, but did not survive the civil war. The current theater dates back to 1989. The building, not devoid of national style, was built in the mid-1990s. Performances in Tatar with simultaneous translation into Russian.

Athletic facilities
Hockey is the number one sport in the country. The main sports pride of the republic is HC Salavat Yulaev. KHL matches are held several times a week in the Ufa Arena. Tickets for hockey must be bought in advance, the cost is from 100 rubles. In addition, other hockey competitions are held in Ufa, for example, the Cup of the Republic of Bashkortostan. MHC "Tolpar" pleases Ufa residents and guests of the capital in the MHL. The club performs at the Sports Palace, admission is free. ZhHK "Agidel" is one of the leaders of the women's hockey championship. You can also admire the Ufa hockey players several times a week. At the Russian and international level, volleyball is represented by the Ufa "Ural" and the women's volleyball team - "Ufimochka-UGNTU". "Ural" performs on the volleyball court of the stadium "Dynamo". If we talk about football, then FC Ufa plays in the Premier League, matches are held at the Neftyanik stadium about once a week. Tickets from 50 rubles, you can buy right before the match. A more exotic, but no less popular sport is motorcycle racing on ice, the stages of the championships of Russia, Europe and the world are regularly held in winter in Ufa at the Stroitel stadium.

20  Ufa-Arena, Lenina, 114.
21  Dynamo Stadium.
22  Palace of Sports.
23   GLC "Ak-Yort", st. Mendeleeva, 160 (trolleybuses No. 12,14,16,20; buses: No. 69, 110s to the Tramplin stop). ✉ ☎ (3472) 28-38-30. Tue-Sun 11:00-23:00. A sports complex on the eastern outskirts of the city (on the banks of the Ufimka River) with 2 ski slopes of medium difficulty (450 m each), one training route and a springboard.

 

Eat

There are hundreds of cafes, canteens and restaurants of all kinds and price categories in Ufa. In the center of catering points, most of all are in the Gostiny Dvor area, Lenin, Chernyshevsky and Communist streets. There are many establishments with their own style, there are several round-the-clock cafes, and there are halal cafes. The price level is slightly higher than in the Russian provinces, but noticeably lower than in the capitals.

There are few restaurants of national cuisine in the city. On the other hand, the fast and cheap food market is represented by cafeterias with a distinct national flavor: the leader here is the Pyshka chain, but even without it there are quite similar establishments that call themselves bakeries or “patties”. All these are hybrids of cafeteria and culinary. They offer a wide range of national pastries, ready-made salads, cakes, instant coffee and tea from a bag (at the same time, you need to take hot water from the samovar yourself). Sometimes hot food is reheated or even pizza is fried. Unfortunately, all this is arranged extremely sloppy: sometimes tea is served in plastic glasses, and pastries are heated in the microwave, and they will be served on the table without removing them from the plastic bag. However, in terms of speed and cheapness, such establishments have no equal.

Bashkir pastries are, in essence, Tatar pies, made a little rougher and devoid of some seasonings. Uch-pochmak (Tatar echpochmak), gubadia, peremyach and other pies fried in oil are a common assortment of Ufa cafeterias.

Cheap
Fast foods like McDonalds, KFC, Subway are in every major shopping center. Throughout the city there are cafeterias like the already mentioned "Pyshka": they usually open at 9 am and work until 8-9 pm.

1 House of Bashkir Cuisine, st. Revolutionary, 32 (north of the center). Mon–Fri 9:00–21:00, Sat–Sun 9:00–20:00. The largest of the Pyshka restaurants is a large canteen with a moderate influence of Bashkir cuisine and an abundance of such "traditional" dishes as sausage in dough or okroshka. The perfect place to eat cheap and fast.
2 Cafe "Evren", st. Lenina, 16 (opposite Gostiny Dvor). 9:00–23:00. Hot dishes: 100–150 rubles A simple Turkish-style cafe where, in addition to shawarma, they serve a variety of kebabs and oriental sweets along with quite traditional Russian salads and soups. Food must be selected in the window and ordered at the checkout, then it will be cooked / heated and brought.
3  Fork-Spoon, Lenin street, 26 (entrance from at the intersection of Lenin and Communist streets). 09:00–22:00. Dining room with designer interior. Every day from 11 am to 5 pm a three-course business lunch and salad is offered for 119 rubles. Jun 2016 edit
4 Restaurant complex "Kukhni Mira", Oktyabrya Ave., 4/1 (SEC "Mir", 4th floor, to the north of the center). 10:00–23:00. Self-service restaurant expanded to the scale of a hypermarket. There are about two thousand dishes from around the world to choose from. WiFi.

Average cost
5  Teahouse "Rakhat", st. Mustai Karima, 3. ☎ +7 (347) 294-44-93. 12:00–23:00. Hot dishes: 250–400 rubles A rare halal cafe in Ufa. Oriental cuisine (pilaf, kebabs, kebabs, pasties), as well as Bashkir dishes and pastries. Good selection of herbal teas, oriental sweets.
6  LIDO on Pushkin, st. Pushkina, 94. 8:00–23:00. On the first floor there is a self-service dining room, on the second floor there is an inexpensive restaurant. The local pancakes are especially praised.
7  Gastrobar Nesterov, st. Communist 46. ☎ +7 (347) 266-13-46. 12:00 - 02:00. It looks like a hipster cafe, but the food is tasty and imaginative.
8 Mac Highlander St. Karl Marx, 24/1. ☎ +7 347 272-83-83. The atmosphere of antiquity begins with the first glance at this one-story house, and inside (if you can open the heavy front door) a real gloomy Middle Ages reigns. Dishes with an English and Scottish accent, and most importantly - beer from a local brewery.
9 "Shchepka" restaurant, st. Richard Sorge, 64. Positions itself as a "restaurant of Russian cuisine", but the chef's view of Russian cuisine, let's say, is strongly authorial.

Expensive
10 Del Mare, st. Kirova, 5. 11:00–24:00. The first and only fish restaurant in the city.
11  La Ruche Cafe, st. Karl Marx, 20. ☎ +7 (347) 292-65-35. 12:00–3:00. Hot: from 1000 rubles. The most expensive restaurant in Ufa specializes in French cuisine: there is foie gras, snails, oysters and other culinary delights. At the same time, it is surprising that karaoke is based in the next hall, where all the same can be used to the accompaniment of the discordant singing of the local elite.
12   Ben Cotta, st. Karl Marx, 40. ☎ +7 (347) 251-85-55. 12:00–23:00. Pasta: from 300 rubles, hot: from 450 rubles. The menu includes traditional Italian dishes from an Italian chef. WiFi.
13 Teahouse "Duslyk", st. Krupskaya, 9. ☎ +7 (347) 216-34-80. 12:00–2:00, Fri and Sat until 4:00. Hot: from 400 rubles. Restaurant of oriental and Bashkir cuisine. You can try elesh soup, beshbarmak, Bashkir pilaf and, of course, national pastries. A lot of Turkish-Azerbaijani dishes.
14 Wine and Cheese, st. Chernyshevsky, 88. ☎ +7 347 293-06-93. Cozy gourmet restaurant. For those who are not yet quite a gourmet, there are tasting sets.

Coffee houses
15 Coffee Time, st. October Revolution, 3. ☎ +7 (347) 272-04-35. around the clock. There is something European in the small round tables and chairs with striped upholstery. The menu and presentation of dishes are impeccable, but the prices are slightly above average, the simplest dessert costs at least 150 rubles, a cup of coffee - almost the same. For those who are hungry, there are soups, hot dishes and even sushi. WiFi.
16  KofeIN  , st. Sovetskaya, 11. Around the clock. The upholstery of the sofas is a bit like carriage shelves in a reserved seat, but otherwise this coffee shop is unrivaled in terms of prices and assortment and is well-deservedly popular with students of the Pedagogical University located across the road. WiFi.
✦   Kumpan cafe. Espresso: 80 rub. A network of small cafes that rely on high-quality coffee of their own roasting - in the past they even used the name “espresso bar”, which is unusual for Russia, but then they changed their name. They also offer desserts, pastries, pizzas and pasta.
17   st. Mustaya Karima, 2 / st. Communist, 49 (opposite Gostiny Dvor). ☎ +7 (347) 272-72-07. Mon–Fri 8:00–23:00, Sat 8:00–24:00, Sun 10:00–23:00.
18   st. Lenina, 84 (near the park named after Yakutov). ☎ +7 (347) 276-74-76. Mon–Fri 8:00–23:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–23:00.
19 Gelateria, st. Lenina, 65/4 (Shopping Center Equator, 3rd floor; next to the park named after Yakutov). ☎ +7 (347) 292-21-74. 10:00–21:00. Desserts: from 150 rubles. The name suggests that this cafe serves ice cream, and not just balls, but in the form of delicious desserts. Another highlight of the institution is almost a dozen varieties of hot chocolate. Of course, with the choice of tea, coffee, pancakes, waffles, everything is also in order here, and there are also savory dishes. WiFi.

 

Night life

Nightlife in Ufa is very provincial. The most popular nightclubs are Skazka, Paradox (gay-friendly), Pravda (located in the transport center of the city) and Teatro (in Zelenaya Roshcha).

1  The Bar, st. Chernyshevsky, 88. Dancing and alcohol until 4 am
2  Jagger bar, st. Communist, 47.

 

Hotels

Hotels in Ufa are designed mainly for business travelers and are evenly distributed throughout the city. There are only a few large hotels in the center, but very respectable establishments can be found in the area of the Southern Bus Station and further north towards Chernikovka. For a traveler, this is not very convenient, since almost everything of interest is located in the center, city transport stops running quite early, and a taxi, taking into account the considerable Ufa distances, will result in additional costs.

The Ufa hotel market is well represented on the Internet and, in particular, on online booking sites, where you can compare more than a hundred options from different price categories. In addition to the usual hotels and hostels, there are rented apartments (often this option is more profitable than a hotel) and a variety of “apartment-type hotels”, where amenities are likely to be shared in the corridor.

Cheap
1  Afrika Hostel  , st. Zapototsky, 10 (next to the park named after Yakutov, not far from the railway station). ☎ +7 (347) 266-20-99, +7 (347) 299-15-51. 600 rub/person, double room: 1250 rub. European-style hostel with a comfortable kitchen. The numbers are named after African animals, no other signs of the southern continent were noticed. Guests praise. WiFi.
2  Hostel "Britaniya"  , st. Komsomolskaya, 28/1. ☎ +7 (917) 046-59-84, +7 (937) 476-20-05. 500 rub/person, double room: 1450 rub. Conflicting reviews.
3  Like Hostel , st. Lenina, 99 and 150 (next to the park named after Yakutov). ☎ +7 (917) 369-29-59, +7 (937) 316-29-69. From 450 rubles/person, double room: 1800 rubles. Mostly good reviews.

Average cost
4  Agidel Hotel, st. Lenina, 16. ☎ +7 (347) 272-56-80. From 2000 rub. A Soviet-era hotel that has not completely got rid of its past. Cheap unrenovated rooms have already disappeared from it, but breakfasts without coffee, but with a wide range of meat dishes, apparently still remain. Guests do not recommend. Wi-Fi is available, but the signal quality leaves much to be desired. The only indisputable advantage is the location in the very center of the city.
5 Hotel "Eurasia", st. Zlatoustovskaya, 20 (at the end of Lenina street, north of the railway station). ☎ +7 (347) 292-09-02. Double room: from 2000 rubles. Everyone who comes to Ufa visits the beginning of Lenin Street, but few people know where its end is. Having settled in Eurasia, you will be able to see the area of the city where this central street ends. The cheapest rooms are deprived, apparently, of any comfort. For a little more money they offer something quite decent. You can, theoretically, walk to the center, although it is not a fact that you will enjoy the walk.
6  Tan Hotel, st. Richard Sorge, 63 (near the park of culture named after Gafuri). ☎ +7 (347) 246-38-93. Double room: 3900 rub. A sanatorium-preventorium converted into a hotel. Good reviews, but guests complain about poor food in the restaurant. WiFi. The hotel is located near the final tram, from where you can get to the center in 20-25 minutes.
7  Atola Hotel, st. Gogol, 72. A modern hotel with a sufficient level of comfort, but no frills. Located closer to the historical center, on a quiet street.
8  Amax-tourist-hotel, st. Richard Sorge, 17 (next to the South Bus Station). 3500 rub. Noisy hotel in the business center of the city.
9  Azimuth, 81 Oktyabrya Ave. A four-star hotel without any frills. Located in the business part of the city, ie. far from the historical center, halfway to Chernikovka.
10  Hotel "Posadskaya"   , st. Posadskaya, 28. ☎ +7(347) 256-75-41. around the clock. Hotel in the southern part of Ufa, 20-25 minutes from the airport, about 15 minutes from the railway station. 22 rooms, categories "Standard", "Studio" and "Lux". Prices from 2295 rubles. The hotel provides breakfast, Wi-Fi and free parking.

Expensive
11 Hotel "Ufa-Astoria", st. Karl Marx, 25 (center). ☎ +7 (347) 273-35-51. Single rooms: from 3200 rubles, double rooms: from 6100 rubles. Claiming to be a high class and even elite hotel, the hotel steadily collects negative reviews due to the small size of the rooms, poor soundproofing and poor breakfasts. For the dirt in the rooms was "not recommended" by the program "Revizorro" of one of the Moscow TV channels.
12 Mini-hotel "Amulet", st. Chernyshevsky, 71/1 (center). ☎ +7 (347) 248-80-03. Double room: 5700 rub. 5 rooms on the 10th floor of a residential building. Everything is new and tidy, very good reviews.
13  President Hotel   , st. Avrora, 2 (in the south-eastern part of the city (5 km from the center)). ☎ +7 (347) 2798008. Double room: 3710 with breakfast for two. A large four-star hotel on the outskirts of the city in a pine grove, but with a view of the gray high-rise buildings. Conferences are often held here, but the value of the hotel for the average traveler is minimal. Judging by the reviews, the price hardly matches the quality.
14 Holiday Inn Ufa, Upper Trading Square, 2 (center). ☎ +7 (347) 216-47-56. 193 modern rooms, 5 conference venues and as many as 8 banquet halls. The rooms have air conditioning, satellite TV, free Wi-Fi.
15 Sheraton-Ufa, st. Tsyurupy, 7. from 5600 RUB The only five-star hotel in Ufa is located close to historical sights and museums. The hotel has a spa. Pets are allowed.
16 Hilton Garden Inn Ufa Riverside, st. Aksakova, 4. Honest four stars. You can rent a room with a view of the monument to Salavat Yulaev, or you can look at the buildings of the Bashkir University. In any case, it's pricey.
17 Hampton by Hilton Ufa, st. 50 years of October, 17. Three-star hotel for business travelers who love comfort. There is parking. By Ufa standards in the city center.

 

Connection

All major Russian mobile operators operate in Ufa. Wi-Fi is available in almost every cafe, but many of them are connected through the local Ufanet provider, which is paid in places.

 

Precautionary measures

Ufa is a fairly quiet city, with its pronounced working-class neighborhoods and other "unfortunate" areas far from the center. Nevertheless, at night you need to be careful walking outside the center, if only because small streets are poorly lit - this is especially true for areas of one-story private buildings.

In Ufa, the ban on drinking beer and alcoholic products in public places is taken seriously. Fines are issued for drinking beer on the street.

 

Name

There are several versions of the origin of the city's name:
In the “Topography of the Orenburg Province” (1755), Rychkov P. I. wrote that “One can guess about the title of the city of Ufa that it was not given to it again, but rather the former was renewed, and the being that which ... the khans, from time immemorial, has been living in in these places, they named their city, for there is no reason for a city built over the Belaya River itself, which is twice as large as Ufa, to be named after the Ufa River, which flows into the Belaya River from the right side along its course, about three versts above the city, where there is no city building. In addition, over the Ufa River itself, about five versts from the city, in a very high and beautiful place, one can still see ... the settlement, where, as they say, ... the khans lived. And so it could be that this ancient settlement along the river Ufa, which flows near it, before the present city of Ufa, was named Ufa, and after that the city of Ufa was named after the Russian construction. The Bashkirs call the Ufa river Ufa-Idel, which means Ufa-river, and the Belaya - Ak-Idel, that is, the white river.
Mikhail Somov in Orenburg Gubernskiye Vedomosti (1864) wrote: “... it is most likely to accept the opinion of one of our Orientalists, who suggests that it came from ... - upe - elevation, which changed over time into the word Ufa. This is very plausible, if we take into account that the camp of the khan, as mentioned above, was on the elevated bank of the Ufa River, which itself could later receive the same name; before, this river was probably called (as it is still sometimes called by the Bashkirs) Kara-Idel - the Dark River, in contrast to the color of the Belaya River. The name of Ufa, perhaps, was previously given to one khan's dwelling, while the city itself could be called Turatav ... ".
In the "Memorial book of the Orenburg province for 1865" the following version is given: "On the right elevated banks of the Belaya - the city of Ufa (the word is Bashkir, it means "dark water"), so named by the Bashkirs for a long time."
Kuzeev R. G., referring to Kamalov A. A., indicates that the name comes from the word “upe” - a river found in the Baltic languages.
According to A. K. Matveev, the name of the river is of Iranian origin, from "ap" - water.
According to the linguist-Turkologist N.K. Dmitriev and local historian A.N. Sergeev, the name of the city comes from the word "Uba", which in the Bashkir language means "hill", "barrow".
D. G. Kiekbaev raised the name Ufa through the intermediate form Ova or Uva to the word va "river" in the Komi language.
There is also a version of the origin of the name from the ethnonym of the Bashkir tribe Upey (Bashk. өpәy), which are settled along the Ufa River.
T. M. Garipov explains the name Ufa as a combination of the Hungarian o "ancient, ancient" (or, alternatively, uy "new") and foyo "river".

 

History of Ufa

The history of Ufa begins in 1574 (according to other sources - from 1586) with the construction of the Ufa Kremlin. The founder of the fortress is governor Ivan Nagoi, the first city governor is Mikhail Nagoi. Since the end of the 16th century, Ufa has been used as a place of political exile. Ufa withstood many raids and sieges in the 17th-18th centuries, but was never taken; including, she withstood a four-month blockade and assaults during the Peasants' War of 1773-1775. During the evacuation during the Great Patriotic War, industrial enterprises, scientific and educational institutions, and people were evacuated to Ufa.

A number of settlements, such as Ufa II, with an area of about 2 hectares and finds of the 4th/5th-14th centuries, and elite burials of the 5th-7th centuries of the Turbasly culture, are correlated with the settlements preceding Ufa. A number of researchers associate the medieval city with the settlement of Ufa II, designated as Pascherti (Pascherti) on the map of 1337 by the Pizzigani brothers, in the Catalan atlas of 1375, and later also on the map of 1554 by G. Mercator. Also, the city of Bashgird (Bashkort), mentioned by the Arab author of the XIV century Ibn Khaldun, and others, is identified with the settlement, among the largest cities of the Golden Horde. The French orientalist A. Cordier connects the position of this city on the map with the location of modern Ufa, and Western European cartographers of the 14th-16th centuries placed it near the mouth of the Ufa River.

In the 16th century, on the site of modern Ufa, there was the headquarters of the governor of the biys of the Nogai Horde, Imen-kala (“Oak City”). P. I. Rychkov, who had at his disposal handwritten documents on the history of the Ufa province of the 15th - early 16th centuries and the historical traditions of the Bashkir people that have come down to us, wrote that on the territory of the city of Ufa before the arrival of the Russians there was a large city that stretched along the high bank of the Belaya River from the mouth of the Ufa River "about ten miles", in which the headquarters of Tura-Khan was located. M. Somov wrote: “The place occupied by Ufa, as mentioned above, had long been inhabited by the Bashkirs ..., whose khan had his camp here ... The buildings of the Bashkirs and even the camp of the khan were wooden, which is why there were no traces of their existence, except for mounds ... The Khan's camp was located on the elevated and picturesque bank of the Ufa River, which is currently called the Devil's Settlement ... The Bashkirs lived in Ufa only in winter; in the summer, they went to roam in places convenient for the pastures of their cattle ... The city itself was founded on the same place where the Bashkir one was before, only closer to the Sutoloka and Belaya rivers.

After the entry of Bashkortostan into the Moscow kingdom in 1557, the Bashkirs turned to Ivan IV with a petition about building a city on their land. P. I. Rychkov wrote about this event: “According to reliable corrections, it was found that the Bashkirs about the construction of this city had their petition in 7081 (1573) not only for the sole purpose of giving them the yasak laid on them here, as inside their dwellings, it was more preferential to pay, but they would also have shelter and protection from enemies here. The shezher of the Bashkirs of the Yurmaty tribe says: “It was difficult to carry yasak to the city of Kazan, which was far away: they asked the great king to build the city of Ufa on their land.” The shezher of the southeastern Bashkirs tells that "the Bashkirs began to ask the king to repel raids ... and for the convenience of paying yasak, it was allowed to build a city on their land."

In 1560, the Duma nobleman I. A. Artemiev, on the orders of Ivan IV, came to the Bashkir region to “delineate” a place for the construction of a fortress on the Belaya Volozhka River and draw a district boundary.

On Trinity Day, May 30, 1574, a detachment of Moscow archers landed at the mouth of the Sutoloka and Nogayka rivers. Here, on the shore, the first city building of Ufa was erected - a small ordinary church, named after the feast of the Trinity. In 1574, the Ufa Kremlin was erected on Trinity Hill by a detachment of archers led by the governor Ivan Nagy.

In 1586, Ufa received the status of a city and became the administrative center of the Ufa district. With the advent of the Ufa district, a voivodeship form of government was established in the region. According to historians, Mikhail Nagoi, sent by Moscow, became the first governor. The governor headed the main administrative institution of the city - the Ufa order hut. A garrison army of 150-200 archers was subordinate to him. With the construction of the city walls and the advent of the settlement (commercial and industrial part adjacent to the fortress), the prison located in the center began to be called the Kremlin. The Kremlin was surrounded by a palisade of logs with a total length of 440 meters, oak towers towered over its southern and northern parts.