The Volga region includes a number of regions and two republics located in the middle and lower reaches of the Volga. These places have always attracted tourists like a magnet. All conditions have been created here for an excellent winter holiday. In the Volga region there are ancient cities, where all time boundaries are erased by an ordinary blizzard, and modern ski centers, where the snowy slopes are no worse than the Swiss ones.
In Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, all the temptations of big cities await guests: New Year's fairs, huge skating rinks, wide avenues with restaurants, theaters, shops - and all this against the backdrop of the endless Volga, covered with ice and powdered with snow. Tatarstan offers tourists an extensive winter program, in which there will be a place and residence of the Tatar Santa Claus, and an island in the middle of the Volga, and winter resorts. Abzakovo meets visitors with a stable level of snow and well-prepared tracks. Choose where to go this winter!
Kazan
The capital of Tatarstan, the city of Kazan at any time of the year is in the center of tourists' attention. In winter, especially during the New Year holidays, there will be a lot of visitors in the city, despite the rather harsh climate: the air temperature in Kazan can even drop to 30 degrees. Such severe frosts are rather an exception. Usually thermometers in Kazan show from -8 to -16 degrees. Sometimes there are thaws accompanied by sleet.
What to do in Kazan in winter? Yes, just walk around the city, bumping into ice slides, Christmas trees, parks richly decorated with illumination, opening cozy cafes serving Tatar sweets, going into shops where souvenirs run up their eyes. Be sure to check out the local Kremlin, dating back to the mid-16th century and protected by UNESCO. On its territory there are the Annunciation Cathedral with blue onion domes, the ancient multi-level Syuyumbike tower, which is considered "falling", the new Kul-Sharif mosque, which has already become a symbol of Kazan. No money is charged for entering the Kazan Kremlin.
Another point of attraction for all guests of the city is the Kremlin embankment. In winter, a huge ice rink is flooded here, which is not longer than in all of Europe. On weekdays, they are allowed to visit it at 16:00, on weekends - at 12:00. You can ride until 10 pm. Nearby there is a town with the residence of Santa Claus. You can warm up with hot tea, which is sold on every corner.
Tatarstan
It would be a crime to stay in Kazan for the whole vacation without leaving, because in its vicinity there are interesting places where you can go on excursions for one day.
30 km from Kazan, in the place where the Sviyaga river flows into the Volga, there is the island of Sviyazhsk, built up with monasteries and churches. In the past, the fortress of Ivan the Terrible, a stronghold for his army during attacks on Kazan, now Sviyazhsk is a tourist mecca. There are 21 architectural monuments on its territory. To inspect them, you will need warm clothes and shoes - in winter Sviyazhsk is blown by all the winds.
If you come to Kazan with children, be sure to plan an excursion to visit Santa Claus, who is called Kysh Babai in Tatarstan. He lives with his daughter Kar Kyzy and a number of other fairy-tale characters in the village of Yana Kyrlay. It takes an hour and a half to get from Kazan to this settlement.
Fans of active sports will be glad to know that not far from Kazan there is the Sviyazhskiye Hills ski base. Both adults and children are welcome here. The latter are taught skiing by experienced instructors.
Sights of Tatarstan
Nizhny Novgorod
Above Kazan along the Volga is Nizhny Novgorod, where you can also go on a winter vacation. It is a stone's throw from the cities of the Golden Ring - Gorokhovets, Kholuy, Murom, so if you wish, you can make a sortie from the city in this direction. True, tourists are unlikely to want to leave such a cozy, snow-covered Nizhny Novgorod, where you can walk around the Kremlin for hours, admire the illumination on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, ski on the Shchelkovsky farm, and then test the ice on the city skating rinks until evening. A real tourist will never miss the opportunity to take beautiful pictures of the city, illuminated by lanterns, from the Chkalovskaya Stairs. In search of peace and quiet, it is better to go to the Switzerland park, from where a magnificent panorama of the Oka opens.
You can bask in numerous restaurants and cafes. An alternative to them will be museums, for example, the GAZ History Museum, where rare cars are collected.
Where to go in Nizhny Novgorod
Abzakovo
In the South Urals, an hour's drive from Magnitogorsk, on Mount Shaitan there is a skiing area belonging to the winter resort of Abzakovo. This ski resort is famous all over Russia for its excellent pistes, additional outdoor activities, good après ski, as well as the absence of queues for lifts on weekdays.
During the winter holidays in Abzakovo there is always a full house: it is stormed by alpine skiing lovers who have reached the blessed slopes for at least a couple of days, family tourists who brought their young offspring to the Urals, students looking for romance - in general, everyone who wants to get wonderful skiing for relatively little money.
The height of Mount Shaitan, on the slopes of which the ski slopes are equipped, is not high - 820 meters. The descents start almost at its top. There are more than a dozen of them in Abzakovo. There are no particularly difficult slopes here, but there are quite interesting ones for experienced skiers. Also in Abzakovo there is a 170 meter long slope designed for children. Beginners ride on a 340-meter track.
Some trails are illuminated in the evenings, so the fun on the slopes continues into the night.
Abzakovo is not only a ski resort, but also a center for winter entertainment. In addition to the ski slopes, the resort offers an ice rink, a biathlon track, a 10 km long trail for fans of cross-country skiing, and snowmobile rentals.
