Been to Novosibirsk? Gimme some tips!

[TwoBitBandit]

Interesting about the registration of Visa's in Novosirbirsk.  I wasn't going to stay in a hotel but that may be the easiest way around it.

You may or may not be successful doing that.  Last summer, the Hotel Sibir said that they won't register a business visa even if you stay there.  (Tourist visas are OK.)  I've been damn near everywhere in Russia and never had any problems registering visas except in Novosibirsk.  I had a business visa and I just had a colleague register me in Moscow (even though I wasn't really staying in Moscow) since I couldn't get registration in Novosibirsk.


The inviting organization also plays a role.  If your inviting organization is actually in Novosibirsk then you probably won't have a problem with any type of visa.  That's the reason the officials gave me for not registering my visa: that my inviting organization was in Moscow and therefore I was in Novosibirsk "illegally."


One of the things I will never understand about Russia is why Russians love bureaucracy so much.

[Anotherkiwi]

You may or may not be successful doing that.  Last summer, the Hotel Sibir said that they won't register a business visa even if you stay there.  (Tourist visas are OK.)  I've been damn near everywhere in Russia and never had any problems registering visas except in Novosibirsk.  I had a business visa and I just had a colleague register me in Moscow (even though I wasn't really staying in Moscow) since I couldn't get registration in Novosibirsk.


The inviting organization also plays a role.  If your inviting organization is actually in Novosibirsk then you probably won't have a problem with any type of visa.  That's the reason the officials gave me for not registering my visa: that my inviting organization was in Moscow and therefore I was in Novosibirsk "illegally."


One of the things I will never understand about Russia is why Russians love bureaucracy so much.

And yet I had the opposite experience on my trip last year.  My third stop after flying into Moscow was Krasnodar (after Rostov-na-Donu and Sochi), and the hotel staff took one look at my business visa and asked if I would like them to register me until my departure date from Russia (four weeks down the track)!  Who would turn down such an offer? 
 
I wasn't asked to show my registration papers anywhere on the trip until I was heading through emigration at DME, but it was nice to know that I had one less bit of paperwork to organise in my other Russian stops.
 
Maybe it's just the better climate, but I found the people in the south just that little bit friendlier overall than those in Moscow and St Petersburg.

[I/O]

From what I've seen flying from one of the hubs in Asia on S7 seems like the best way to get there anyway.

From here, yes. BTW, years back and I've no reason to think things have changed, a lazy 50 would get you registered at most hotels as long as you wanted regardless of how long you actually stayed there.

[GoodOlBoy]

...a lazy 50 would get you registered at most hotels as long as you wanted regardless of how long you actually stayed there.

Also worked for GOB in St. Petersburg 7 years ago.
 
GOB

[TwoBitBandit]

I just got back from Novosibirsk.  My God, it is a lot of flyin' to get there from the States.


I have good news on the visa front.  I was able to successfully register my visa in Novosibirsk.  I had an interesting conversation with the person that helped me register my visa.  He told me that there was some kind of new law in Russia that became effective on February 11 of this year.  Under the old law, the agency that issued the invitation for your visa had to also register you.  The local authorities in Novosibirsk were very strict about this, so if your inviting agency didn't have representation in Novosibirsk then you couldn't register.  Apparently the new law relaxed this, so now anyone can sponsor the registration of a visa.  So, Kuna, I'm optimistic that you'll be able to register and I retract my earlier pessimism.


I'd put these things on the "A" list for Novosibirsk:
1.  The Zoo. (I know it sounds odd but the zoo in Novo is really well done.)
2.  The Краеведческий музей (sp?) Krasny Prospekt 23... right near the Lenin Square metro station.
3.  The art museum Krasny Prospekt 5.  It was much larger than I expected.
4.  Walking along the river front (go to the River Station metro station).  It's friggin' hot during the day in the summer... best to do this in the evening.
5.  Whatever is playing that the Theater of Opera and Drama.  I saw two great performances while I was there: the opera Karmen and the ballet La Bayadère.  Both were great.
6.  The Novosibirsk Philharmonic was out of season while I was there, but my girlfriend in Novosibirsk says it's great.
7.  Taking the boat tour on the river.  There are two versions of it: one for an hour, and one for one hour and forty minutes.  They go in opposite directions on the river: the one-hour goes upstream first, and the 1:40 one goes downstream first.  The 1:40 one is really only 1:20 because it makes a twenty-minute stop at the end.


Here's my "B" list:
1.  There is a theater in the middle of Central Park.  I saw one performance there.  It was worth doing but the quality was a little less than the main theater.
2.  There's a train museum near Academgorodok.  I found it interesting because I'm an engineer and mechanical things fascinate me.  It's just a place where the have a bunch of Soviet-era locomotives and cars parked.  The only bummer is that you can only actually enter a few of the cars and locomotives.  Most of them are locked and closed.  It's hard to find: you have to take a marshrutka to Academgorodok and then got off at some odd stop about 80% of the way to the end.  You'll probably need a native to help you get there if you want to see it.
3. The park with the Soviet-era tanks and vehicles that I mentioned in an earlier post.  You can get there from the Karl Marks Square in about 15 minutes on foot if you have a map or draw yourself one.


Have fun in Novosibirsk and don't drink the samogon.

[Kuna]

Thanks TBB...  if/when I get there I'll work through your A list for sure.

Right now I'm trying to fit many things in before September as I have a few personal engagements on Set / Oct and I'm figuring November onwards in Novosibirsk could be "limiting".

If things go well in the next few weeks I'll be there early August otherwise I might end up in Ukraine later in the year.

Kuna