In this article, discover five essential locations selected from our Urbex Russia Map, which features over 500 abandoned places across Russia, carefully documented for unique and immersive explorations.

Urbex Russia in Novosibirsk offers a uniquely Siberian exploration experience. Russia's third largest city grew from a railway bridgehead in 1893 to a Soviet industrial and scientific powerhouse in a matter of decades — and the speed of that transformation left behind an extraordinary density of abandoned infrastructure. Derelict Soviet factories, the crumbling edges of the world's most ambitious science city, and forgotten Trans-Siberian Railway infrastructure all await explorers in and around the "Chicago of Siberia."

Why Novosibirsk Is One of the Best Urbex Destinations in Russia

Novosibirsk was built by the Trans-Siberian Railway and industrialised by Stalin — and the post-Soviet collapse hit both its factory districts and its scientific community hard. The city's unique combination of heavy industrial heritage and Cold War scientific infrastructure produces an urbex landscape unlike anywhere else in Russia. Added to this, the Siberian birch forest has been slowly reclaiming abandoned structures on the city's periphery for three decades — with photographic results that no other Russian city can match.

📍 All locations below are referenced on our Urbex Russia Map — GPS coordinates, access notes, condition ratings, and explorer reports included.

1. Akademgorodok – The Abandoned Edges of the Soviet Science City (Known Location)

The most extraordinary scientific urbex destination in Russia. Akademgorodok — "Academic Town" — was carved from the Siberian birch forest 30 kilometres south of Novosibirsk in 1957, designed to house the best scientific minds in the USSR in a community insulated from bureaucracy. At its peak it contained over 40 research institutes. When Soviet funding collapsed after 1991, several institutes were partially or fully abandoned — their laboratories, experimental equipment, and Cold War-era research infrastructure left intact in the forest. The contrast between the active university campus and the decaying institutes just metres away is one of the most striking in Russian urbex.

👉 Story: Founded 1957 on Khrushchev's orders as a utopian science city in Siberia. At its peak employed over 65,000 scientists and researchers. Post-1991 funding cuts forced the closure or partial abandonment of several institutes. The "brain drain" of the 1990s left laboratories mid-experiment.

🔗 More on Akademgorodok: Wikipedia – Akademgorodok

2. The 1910 Flour Mill – Novosibirsk's Oldest Industrial Ruin (Known Location)

The oldest surviving industrial building in Novosibirsk — and for decades one of its most atmospheric abandoned structures. The 1910 flour mill on the banks of the Ob was the first five-storey brick building in the city, built when Novosibirsk was still called Novo-Nikolayevsk and had fewer than 100,000 inhabitants. It produced pasta, bread rings, and bagels for the Trans-Siberian Railway workers. After decades of abandonment, parts of the building have been repurposed — but the original brick shell and derelict sections remain, standing as the most tangible link between modern Novosibirsk and its industrial origins.

👉 Story: Built in 1910 as the first brick building in Novo-Nikolayevsk to serve the Trans-Siberian Railway workforce. Operated for most of the 20th century before falling into disuse. The original brick structure was partially preserved as a design centre — but derelict sections remain a reference point for Novosibirsk's industrial urbex community.

🔗 More on Novosibirsk's industrial heritage: Russia Beyond – What Happens With Abandoned Factories in Russia

3. The Abandoned Soviet Military Factory – Novosibirsk Industrial District (Exclusive on our Map)

Vast production halls where Soviet military hardware was manufactured, rusting machinery still on assembly lines, and propaganda murals fading on workshop walls — a WWII-era military plant that never found a peacetime purpose.

👉 Story: Novosibirsk was a major centre of Soviet WWII military production — factories relocated east from the front lines in 1941. When state contracts dried up after 1991, several facilities became unviable overnight. Some were privatised; others simply locked and left.

📍 Exact location available on our Urbex Russia Map.

4. The Abandoned Trans-Siberian Station – Novosibirsk Region (Exclusive on our Map)

A decommissioned station on the Trans-Siberian Railway — the longest railway in the world — where the original Imperial-era waiting rooms, platform canopies, and stationmaster's office stand silent in the Siberian forest.

👉 Story: The Trans-Siberian Railway created Novosibirsk and shaped every town in its path. As the network was modernised and consolidated, dozens of original Imperial-era stations were bypassed and abandoned — frozen railway architecture in the Siberian landscape.

📍 Exact location available on our Urbex Russia Map.

5. The Abandoned Soviet Pioneer Camp – Ob River Forest (Exclusive on our Map)

Dormitories still furnished for summer camps that ended in 1991, a parade ground where Soviet children pledged their loyalty every morning, and a dining hall whose kitchen still contains the pots and pans of the last meal ever served.

👉 Story: The Novosibirsk region's forest and riverside setting made it ideal for the Soviet pioneer camp network. When state funding collapsed, dozens of camps were closed simultaneously — the birch and pine forest of the Ob valley has been slowly reclaiming them ever since.

📍 Exact location available on our Urbex Russia Map.

Urbex Russia – Safety & Legal Reminder

Urban exploration in Russia carries specific risks. Trespassing is illegal, and penalties vary significantly by location. Always:

• Research each site thoroughly before visiting
• Explore with at least one other person
• Wear protective gear — mask, gloves, and sturdy boots
• In Siberia: prepare for extreme cold from October to April
• Never force access or cause damage to any structure
• Respect the spaces and leave no trace

The urbex code applies everywhere: "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints."

❓ FAQ – Urbex Novosibirsk

What is the most famous abandoned place in Novosibirsk?
Akademgorodok's derelict research institutes are the most internationally recognised — abandoned edges of the Soviet Union's most ambitious science city, hidden among the birch trees 30 kilometres south of the city centre.

How do I get to Akademgorodok from central Novosibirsk?
Take bus route 8 or marshrutka from the city centre — the journey takes approximately 40–50 minutes. The active university campus and the derelict institute district are both accessible on foot from the central zone of Akademgorodok.

What makes Novosibirsk unique for urbex compared to Moscow and Saint Petersburg?
Novosibirsk offers a specifically Siberian category of abandonment — Soviet science infrastructure decaying in birch forest, Trans-Siberian Railway relics, and WWII military factories frozen mid-production. The Siberian climate and the forest setting give every abandoned structure here a quality of isolation impossible to find in European Russia.

🎯 Conclusion

Novosibirsk offers one of the most distinctively Siberian urbex Russia experiences — a city built by a railway and industrialised by war, now scattered with abandoned Soviet science institutes, derelict factories, and Trans-Siberian infrastructure slowly being reclaimed by the birch forest. Every abandoned place here is shaped by the same forces: the isolation of Siberia, the ambition of the Soviet state, and the abruptness of its collapse.

Thanks to our Urbex Russia Map, you get access to over 500 unique locations for a safe and immersive exploration experience — with GPS coordinates, access ratings, photos, and explorer reports for every spot.

🗺️ Explore the full Urbex Russia Map →