There are 2 main ways of getting to Stavropol, these are by train or by plane. There are direct train routes between Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and Stavropol. If you prefer to take a plane, you will need to fly from Saint Petersburg or Moscow to Mineralnye Vody and take a bus/minivan to Stavropol from there. There is also a small airport 15 km away from Stavropol. It has recently been served by KMV Avia only, a Mineralnye Vody based airline, and both the ticket fares and the service provided aboard and in the airport used to leave much to be desired. But in 2010, the situation has improved. The Stavropol Airport was taken away from KMV Avia, and other airlines got the access to the airport. Now, the Yamal Airline (http://www.yamal-airlines.ru/) and Utair company (http://www.utair.ru/ru/) also fly from Moscow directly to Stavropol. The return economy-class ticket at all three companies costs around 10,000 rubles as of June 2010. In July 2011 Avianova, the major Russian low-cost carrier, opens direct flights from Moscow to Stavropol twice a week, so the tickets become 5 times cheaper.
There is another option to fly to the region from Moscow. Low-cost airlines, like Avianova (http://www.avianova.ru/in...) and SkyExpress (http://www.skyexpress.ru/) perform flights from Moscow to Krasnodar. The return tickets start at around 1,500-2,000 rubles. Krasnodar is about 300 km from Stavropol, and it takes on average 5 hours to drive from there by bus or a minivan.
By train
There are direct train routes between Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and Stavropol.
Trains from/to Moscow leave everyday.
Trains from/to Elista, Adler, Vorkuta, Arkhangelsk and Novorossiysk leave every 2 days.
WARNING! Trains from/to Moscow have 2 routes. The first route is through the Russian territory only, but the second one covers the Russian and Ukrainian territories i.e., Russia-Ukraine-Russia. If you fail to have a Ukrainian visa citizens of many countries don't need it, you have to take the first route trains.