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Ivanovo

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Ivanovo is a big city in Russia's Golden Ring. It is the capital of Ivanovo Oblast and a former world capital of the textile industry. It was a hotbed of revolutionary and terrorist activity in the late 19th–early 20th centuries. For the hundreds of thousands of women who worked in the textile industry, Ivanovo is jokingly called "The City of Brides." Since the Russian economy opened up to competition from Asia, however, the textile industry has gone into decline along with the city.

If you visit Ivanovo, you will immediately see that this is a different sort of destination from most of the historic and pretty "Golden Ring" destinations. Ivanovo is a true Russian industrial city, with its Soviet heritage of pollution, dismal and blocky apartment buildings, and gloomy, dirty streets. Most likely, you will just want to pass through this city, but of course it might be interesting to overnight here and get a feel for such an archetypical gritty Russian city—to get a taste of what life is like for millions upon millions of Russians.

Travel to Ivanovo & Visa Requirements

A daily overnight train arrives early in the morning from Moscow's Yaroslavskaya Station.

Tours & Getting around Ivanovo

Ivanovo attractions and sightseeing

There is not much in particular to see in Ivanovo, and frankly, you could get a good idea of the city by just passing through on the bus to Kostroma. But the main street in the city center with restaurants and cafes is Lenina ulitsa.