Moscow is the capital of our country. All paths, roads and directions converge here. Now it is much more convenient and faster to get from one big city to another through Moscow. Even if you have to make some detour to do this, the gain in time is usually obvious. Federal highways, branching from the capital in all directions, delight with the quality of the road surface, developed infrastructure, and in fact they are also safer than their regional counterparts. Let's try to trace the route along the route Moscow - Ulan-Ude.
The capital of Buryatia
The capital of the Republic of Buryatia, the city of Ulan-Ude, is located on the eastern side of Lake Baikal, a hundred kilometers from it, at the intersection of the Selenga and Uda rivers. The history of the city dates back to 1666, when Russian Cossacks founded the Udinsky winter hut in this place. The metropolis acquired its modern name in the summer of 1934, after the name of the local river ("Ulaan Ude" in translation from the Buryat dialect means "Red Uda"). The population of the regional capital has been growing steadily over the past few years, and as of March 2016, there were more than 430 thousand inhabitants. It is connected with the capital of Russia by regular flights."Moscow - Ulan-Ude" both by rail and by air. Baikal International Airport is located just fifteen kilometers from the city center. Owners of personal vehicles have the opportunity to make such a move by car without any problems. If we do not consider the mileage of the route Moscow - Ulan-Ude as a special difficulty. The distance between these cities, which the traveler needs to overcome by car, is 5620 kilometers. However, the quality of the road surface, the lack of unpaved sections of the route, and the developed infrastructure (gas stations, hotels, cafes, shops) make a long journey comfortable for the driver and passengers.
A/d "Volga"
We start our journey from the capital, leaving for the Moscow Ring Road or getting to the direction we need by the departure routes of Moscow. We will move east, so from the city center you can immediately go to the Enthusiasts Highway, which will lead us to Gorkovskoye Highway (M7 highway). The starting point of the route Moscow - Ulan-Ude can be considered Balashikha, a satellite town of our capital. Then we go straight all the time, along the M7, bypassing Noginsk, Pokrov, bypassing the new district city of Vladimir. After that, we take the direction to Nizhny Novgorod and, having passed through Vyazniki and Gorokhovets, we get to the Moscow highway of the city, which stands at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga. Nizhny Novgorod can also be bypassed along the ring road and, standing parallel to the Volga, in whose honor the M7 highway is named, head to Kazan. Cheboksary will remain with us on the left, and in the Tatar capital itself we will cross the Volga along a widebridge and move towards Ufa, bypassing Nizhnekamsk and Naberezhnye Chelny.
Beyond the Urals
The Volga highway leads only to Ufa. Therefore, continuing to move along the route Moscow - Ulan-Ude, we go out onto the Ural highway in the direction of Chelyabinsk. Further along the E30 we go to Kurgan and do not forget to go left in the village of Makushino, taking a little to the north, to Omsk, through Ishim. If we don’t turn off and go straight, then the route will lead us to Kazakhstan and through Petropavlovsk will lead us back to Russia. However, choosing this path, the traveler risks losing more time by crossing state borders twice. After Omsk, not the most pleasant section of the path begins along the single-track and sometimes battered R-254, right up to Novosibirsk. And this is neither more nor less - almost 650 kilometers. The federal highway R-255 stretches to Kemerovo. It is a little fresher, but in some places the quality of the asph alt also leaves much to be desired. Then we go to Krasnoyarsk, then to Irkutsk and by R-258 "Baikal" we get to the final destination.
A matter of time
Travel along the route Moscow - Ulan-Ude by car takes from four to six days. It all depends on the chosen pace and speed of movement, traffic congestion and weather conditions. And if for someone to spend six days in a car turns out to be an insurmountable obstacle, then for others it is freedom of movement, new places, amazing changes in natural landscapes, and just romance.