Komsomolsk-on-Amur travel guide

Komsomolsk-on-Amur is the second-largest city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the west bank of the Amur River in the Russian Far East. It is located on the Baikal-Amur Mainline, 356 kilometers (221 mi) northeast of Khabarovsk.

First settled by indigenous people, then by settlers from the Perm region, but the history of this BAM town in the far flung reaches of the union come federation, doesn't kick of until the communist hey-ho fervour in the early honeymoon days of the Soviet union, when patriotic fresh-faced members of the Komsomol - the Soviet youth league - landed on the Amurs shores in the 1930'ties, to build a "model city" with wide tree lined avenues, modern trams and large factories - a new future, carrying the Soviet dream to the far east.

Getting in

Owing to its aircraft industry (the Sukhoi Superjet 100 is produced here) and its strategic importance, the city actually has two airports, but unless you find yourself unwittingly recruited by the Russian army, your interest will mainly be in Khurba airbase.

Getting around

While the River terminal and the Bus Station are just a few hundred meters apart on the river front, the Railway Station is about 4km away; tram line number 2 or bus number 17 will do the work for you.

Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.