Although you can now find it on maps of Krasnoyarsk Krai, you cannot just drive there without authorization. Visitors are only permitted by screened invitation. Before you will be permitted to visit, your hosts must submit a request to the Ministry of Atomic Energy and to Russian national security agencies for authorization, which can take up to two months. If approved, you'll receive a letter of invitation, which will be required for your visa application, which can take anywhere from a week to a month.
Travel to Zheleznogorsk is done by way of Krasnoyarsk. There are four-hour red-eye flights daily from Moscow's Domodedova airport to Krasnoyarsk's Yemelyanovo. As of late 1999, tickets were RR3740 roughly US$148. The more scenic route is to take the near-three-day train from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk: The "Yenesei" No. 56 departs Kazan train station every other day and winds its way eastward through the vast countryside reaching the Krasnoyarsk train station at early on the third day of travel. The cost of a sleeping car for this trip is RR2000 ~US$81.
From Krasnoyarsk, bus route #521 links Yemelyanovo airport to Zheleznogorsk. The Icarus Company provides a daily shuttle on this route from the airport at a cost of RR30. The departing time is 8:30AM and arrives in Zheleznogorsk at approximately 11AM. Taxi service from the airport to Zheleznogorsk costs about RR500 ~US$20. Public buses traveling between the cities of Krasnoyarsk and Zheleznogorsk provide daily service at half-hour intervals from 6AM to 9:30PM. Buses No. 502 and 503 also depart the train station for Zheleznogorsk about every 30 minutes. This 90-minute trip costs RR18. Taxi service between the rail station and the city costs up to RR500.
