Once I went to Starbucks (I had to write a blog post before the thought went away) and suddenly a traveling mood swept over me. Without thinking twice, I decided to go to Nizhny Novgorod. I returned home from the cafe, quickly analyzed all the options on how to get from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, packed up and hit the road to walk there one day. It turns out that you can go for a budget trip without spending any special funds. I mean the usual and rather comfortable ways, not hitchhiking. Just in case, I'll write, well, what if someone doesn't know.
Be sure to check out my post - A selection of budget hotels in Nizhny Novgorod, there are hostels and good hotels. Picked with the best reviews and ratings.
The content of the article
By bus
One of the easiest and most obvious ways to get to Nizhny Novgorod is by bus. Buses depart every hour almost every hour from the metro station Schelkovskaya / Chkalovskaya / Krasnogvardeyskaya, from the Kursk railway station, from the Vnukovo / Domodedovo / Sheremetyevo airports. The fare starts from 700-800 rubles, the travel time is 6-8 hours. In Nizhniy, buses usually arrive in the area of the railway station (Revolutsii square, 5a).
I recommend the large company Busfor, where you can buy a bus ticket online by paying with a credit card. Very comfortably! It's like with plane tickets 🙂
Get there by train
It will be more expensive to get to Nizhny Novgorod by train than by bus, but not always. It all depends on the specific train and the place you choose. To check this method, as well as to get enough sleep and be cheerful the next morning (there were business in Moscow immediately upon arrival), I returned back by train. What I like about night trains is that you sleep, and at this time the train takes you where you need to, saving time and money for an overnight stay at the hotel.
If you got a buggy Russian Railways website, then you can buy train tickets through the verified Tutu.
A one-way trip by train # 36 cost me 2,110 rubles and I rode in a compartment with the appropriate comfort. You just had to find an icon in the train list «DC» (dynamic pricing) and book the top shelf because the bottom ones were more expensive. Thus, the journey came out almost at the price of a reserved seat (it cost about 1900 rubles on this train).
In fact, there are quite a lot of trains running between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, there are plenty to choose from and prices also vary. If the night train is not essential, then the day train can be used in a seated carriage, since the train takes only 3.5-4 hours, and the price starts from 500-1000 rubles (Swallow trains - they have sedentary trains for 500 rubles). There is also a reserved seat (1000-1800 rubles) and a compartment (1400-2400 rubles), but such trains have been running for about 6 hours..
Compartment of the train Nizhny Novgorod - Moscow
Dry rations and linen are included in the price
By plane
The most expensive way, especially if you don't buy tickets in advance. For a spontaneous trip, like mine, a train or a bus will be much cheaper. The ticket price is about 2000-4000 rubles for a one-way flight, and about 4000-8000 rubles for a round-trip flight, that is, quite budget flights.
It would seem that this should be the fastest way, but the problem is that the road can take quite a lot of time in total: first you need to get to the airport in Moscow, then wait 1-2 hours at the airport (after all, it is better to go in advance), and then get from the airport of Nizhny Novgorod to the city center. The flight itself is only an hour and a half, but the total time spent is such that it is faster to get by express train from the center of Moscow directly to the center of Nizhny.
I always look for tickets at Aviasales and Skyscanner, but for this trip I did not consider such an option at all.
Get to BlaBlaCar
The exotic way is not for everyone. And, to be honest, this was generally my first experience of using this service. I have known about him for a long time, I came across him in Europe when he was not yet in Russia, but there was still no opportunity to use it. Since I had too little time to prepare, I could not have time for a train with a convenient arrival time, only the BlaBlaCar service remained (applications: Android, iOS).
Having entered the service at 10 pm and having driven in the parameters I needed (Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod), I received a list of drivers. Surprisingly, cars drove from Moscow almost every half hour or hour. It was possible to leave even in an hour. But I chose a morning car near my area to catch the metro (I had to take the first train). In general, Nizhny is a very popular destination, you can leave without any problems. Conversely, the same situation.
The cost of the trip is on average 500-600 rubles! For me, this is a very budget option and comfortable if you are satisfied with moving by car. And it’s even cheaper than if I was driving my own car, and there’s less hassle - I wanted to go back on the night train to save time and get enough sleep at the same time..
By car to Nizhny Novgorod (BlaBlaCar)
P.S. And I wrote about my walk around the city in a post - Impressions from Nizhny Novgorod.
