Ulyanovsk was founded in 1648 as the fortress of Sin-birsk to protect the eastern borders of the Russian Empire from raids by nomadic tribes. In 1780 the city became known Simbirsk. In 1924, Simbirsk as the native city of Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) was renamed Ulyanovsk. The current population of the city is approximately 630,000. Neighbouring cities in the Volga region, including Samara, Saransk, Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, have been chosen to host World Cup matches. Ulyanovsk will serve as a key transportation link and lodging hub between Saransk (the distance between the cities is 230 km), Samara (240 km) and Kazan (210 km).

FIFA HAS AN APPROVED LIST OF 60 BASES FOR TEAMS PARTICIPATING IN THE WORLD CUP, INCLUDING THE HILTON GARDEN INN ULYANOVSK.

Hilton Garden Inn Ulyanovsk: 25 Goncharova Street, Ulyanovsk, Russia 432071

Tel: +78422250055 Fax: +78422466200

E-mail: ulygs-salesadm@hilton.com www.ulyanovsk.hgi.com

Where to stay

FIFA has an approved list of 60 bases for teams participating in the World Cup, including the Hilton Garden Inn Ulyanovsk. This is the first Hilton hotel in the city. Its thoughtful design, innovative restaurant concepts, genuine hospitality and dedication to meeting guests’ needs, helped to secure the hotel’s place on the FIFA list.

Hilton Garden Inn Ulyanovsk offers 176 spacious modern rooms, ranging from standard to deluxe categories. Specially equipped rooms are available for the disabled.

The hotel restaurant serves a buffet breakfast. In the summer courtyard of the hotel, fans can enjoy watching matches with delicious food and refreshing drinks.

Evening meals and drinks are available via room-service. A free fitness centre equipped with modern facilities, a 24-hour business centre, onsite convenience store, laundry and dry cleaning services, and underground parking, are all amenities available for the comfort of hotel guests.

For fans accompanying World Cup teams, the Hilton Honors promotion programme is in place. Through
the programme, guests of the Hilton Garden Inn Ulyanovsk hotel are recognized as guests of Hilton Interna tional. The Hilton Honors promotion programme allows guests to accumulate bonus points that can be spent on accommodation at any hotel in the Hilton network, the purchase of flights, or ordering gifts from Hilton in special stores.

What to see

Ulyanovsk can rightly be called a “city-museum”. There are more than 40 museums here, all organically intertwined in the culture and architecture of the city. Ulyanovsk attracts tourists for its ancient buildings connected in one way or another with the life and work of those great Russians Goncharov, Lenin, Karamzin and Pushkin. The main tourist attraction of the city is the Lenin memorial – a striking complex of buildings and structures created to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Vladimir Lenin.

The Stadium

In 2017, in preparation for the World Cup, a massive reconstruction of the Central City Stadium
“Trud” began. Field heating, natural grass, a complex automatic watering system, drainage, maintenance equipment, gates, and corner flags – everything to make it a world-class FIFA-standard stadium. New pavilions will be two-storey, and each building section will be approximately 250 sq. meters. Changing rooms will occupy 100-120 sq. meters, and each pavilion will have 11 shower rooms, bathrooms, and warm-up areas for athletes. Four lighting masts have already been installed, and video surveillance and speaker systems have been completely replaced. Today, the illumination of the stadium is 1600 lux, which allows video broadcasts in any format.

The stadium is located in the heart of the city, within walking distance from the main host hotel – Hilton Garden Inn Ulyanovsk. It is approximately 8 km from the railway station to the stadium.

Where to eat

The best restaurants in the city are located near the stadium and hotel Hilton Garden Inn Ulyanovsk. These include MATRESHKI, which specializes in modern Russian cuisine, Records Music Pub, Gonzo Bar and the Georgian restaurant “Antresol”. The Russian restaurant “Oblomov” is also an interesting choice. Guests at “Oblomov” can dine in the surroundings of traditional interior decor, based on the novel by Ivan Goncharov of the same name.

To Russia without a visa

Tickets

If you plan to attend World Cup games, buying tickets for matches is recommended only on the official FIFA website – www.fifa.com. The first stage of sales will start on December 1, 2017.

However, those who have VISA bank cards will be able to purchase tickets from November 8-17.

According to the Organizational Committee of Russia-2018, 500,000 applications for tickets were submitted in one day, 25% of them were by overseas fans.

In total, up to three million tickets for all matches are expected to be sold. For fans from outside Russia there are three price categories.

Tickets for the opening match will be available for $550 (Category 1), $390 (Category 2) and $220 (Category 3).

Tickets for the group stage will be sold for $210, $165 and $105, for the respective categories. Tickets for the 1/8 finals are $245, $185 and $115, and for the semifinals $750, $480 and $285. Tickets for the final are priced at $1,100, $710 and $455.

Some of the tickets will go on sale through the official FIFA ticket centres.

Visa-free entry for fans

In preparation for the World Cup, the Russian government has approved visa-free entry to Russia for fans.

During the period of the sporting events, they can enter Russia as spectators of sports competitions without visas. In order to obtain such visa-free entry, it is necessary to apply for and receive a FAN ID. In addition to the FAN ID, travellers will need to provide an identity document recognized by Russia, and an entrance ticket to a match or a document entitling you to receive one.

To apply for a FAN ID, please visit fan-id. ru. The addresses of centres issuing FAN ID and ticket sales will be announced later.

How to get there

Dozens of airlines fly from all over the world to the host cities. Airports are usually quite far from the cities, but buses, taxis and sometimes suburban trains
connect them with the town centres. If you plan to travel from the airport to the hotel by taxi, it’s better to book a car at the airport or use mobile applications.

Do not use the services offered by private drivers at the airport, since they may name a greatly inflated price for the trip. With a ticket, fans can get free travel to the city where the match will take place by train, as happened with the Confederations Cup-2017. Russian Railways has allocated 500 trains for such purposes, which will run between the cities concerned.

Text: Boris Titov