Where the bus stops in Kostroma
Kostroma Bus Station (Автовокзал Кострома) is on Kineshemskoye Shosse, 21, about 3 km north of the historic centre. The terminal shares a small square with several city bus lines: routes 2, 9 and 14 reach Susanin Square in 10 to 15 minutes. A taxi to the Volga embankment is around seven minutes outside rush hour. The famous Ipatiev Monastery is on the opposite, western bank of the Kostroma river — a separate 4 km journey by bus 14 or taxi.
Inside the terminal there are ticket windows, a heated waiting hall, a kiosk, paid restrooms, lockers and an ATM. The station was modernised in the 2010s and is in solid condition. LED screens above the counters show departures; if you don't read Cyrillic, ask staff to point at your bus.
Routes to/from Kostroma
- Yaroslavl → Kostroma — 85 km along the Volga, about 1.5 hours. Departures every one to two hours. This is the most common arrival.
- Moscow → Kostroma — 350 km along the M8 via Yaroslavl. About 7 hours by direct coach; an overnight service is also offered. Many travellers prefer to take the train to Yaroslavl and switch.
- Kostroma → Ivanovo — 105 km south, around 2 hours. The standard onward leg into the southern half of the ring.
- Kostroma → Plyos — 70 km south-east along the Volga, around 1.5 hours, with several departures a day. This is the gateway to Levitan's painterly Volga.
- Kostroma → Vologda — 200 km north, around 4 hours, the gateway to the Russian North.
- Kostroma → Nerekhta — 50 km south-west, around an hour. Quiet provincial town with a beautifully restored centre.
How to buy tickets
Buy at the station window in cash or by Russian bank card, or use the English search widget at the top of this page to book online through our aggregator partner. The aggregator interface is in Russian, but the form is simple. International payment cards are not currently accepted; bring roubles. E-tickets arrive by email; the driver scans the QR code at boarding. Standard refund rules apply: about 95% returned for cancellations more than 24 hours out, less closer to departure.
Tourist tips — what to see in one day
Start in Susanin Square, the spoked centre of Catherine the Great's 1781 plan. The shopping rows (Krasniye Ryady, "Red Rows") frame the square in low-rise arcades that still house cafés and shops. Walk south down Pavlovskaya to the Volga embankment; the riverside boulevard runs past the Officers' Club and the granite monument to Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden, whose folk legend Kostroma claims as its own.
Cross the bridge or take bus 14 to the Ipatiev Monastery, founded in the 14th century — the white-walled compound on the river spit was where the Romanov dynasty began. The Trinity Cathedral inside has spectacular 17th-century frescoes. Next door is Kostroma Sloboda, the open-air museum of wooden architecture: peasant houses, churches and a wooden bath-house relocated from across the oblast and reassembled on the riverbank.
For lunch, try shchi and Volga pike at the rebuilt fire tower's café, or one of the restaurants in the Red Rows. Kostroma is famous for its dairy — black bread with local Kostroma cheese is the easy take-home souvenir. If you stay overnight, the small hotels around Susanin Square are walkable; the Snegurochka Resort on the Volga is a quirky out-of-town stay. A full ring trip usually budgets one night for Kostroma; two if you want to add a Plyos excursion.
Practical info
- Bus terminal address: Kineshemskoye Shosse, 21, Kostroma, Kostroma Oblast, 156005.
- Walking distance to Susanin Square: about 3 km — take city bus 2, 9 or 14.
- Distance to Ipatiev Monastery: about 4 km via the bridge — bus 14 or taxi.
- Opening hours: ticket office daily, roughly 05:30 to 22:00.
- Railway: Kostroma-Novaya station — limited overnight train to Moscow, more services via Yaroslavl.
- Best months: May–September; the Volga embankment really opens up in summer.
The canonical Russian version of this page is /avtovokzaly/kostroma/.