The Volga region is located in the European part of Russia. The
boundaries of the Volga region are defined by the boundaries of the
regions located in the middle and lower reaches of the Volga. In the
north it borders on the North-Western Region, in the east on the
Urals, in the south on Kazakhstan and the Southern Federal District,
in the west on Central Russia and the Central Black Earth Region.
The Volga region is very diverse. In the north, the region is
covered with impenetrable and uninhabited forests, in the south, the
traveler is met by steppe and deserts. Since the 13th century,
Nizhny Novgorod has been part of North-Eastern Russia, monuments of
the Golden Horde have been preserved in Tatarstan, and the steppes
of the Saratov and Volgograd regions were settled only in the
18th-19th centuries - before they were part of the Great Steppe.
Unless you are sailing along the Volga on a cruise ship, you are
unlikely to be going to see the entire region at once. It is more
likely that you will watch it in parts, each time discovering
completely different sides of the Volga region.
There are not
very many old Russian cities in the region - the best preserved ones
are Nizhny Novgorod and its environs (Gorodets, Balakhna, Arzamas),
Sviyazhsk, Astrakhan, and partly Kirov, and Lalsk lost in the
northern forests. Kazan stands apart here, which has everything in
general - the Russian Kremlin, Tatar mosques, and monuments of the
provincial city, because Kazan was among the first provincial cities
in Russia. But still, the most typical settlements of the Volga
region are rich merchant cities along the banks of the Volga and the
Lower Kama. The Volga was used as a trade route until the end of the
19th century. Then came the railways, then the Soviet government,
and not all urban centers were able to survive it, but quite a few
remained, primarily Kozmodemyansk, Cheboksary, Alatyr, Yelabuga,
Sarapul, Ulyanovsk, Penza, Saransk, Samara, Syzran, Volsk and
Saratov . In the Saratov and Volgograd regions, there are small
reminders of the Volga Germans who once lived here, who made the
steppes south of Samara habitable. Izhevsk and other cities and
towns in the north of Udmurtia remind us of the industrial
development of Russia in the 18th century, when ironworks and
weapons factories were built in the Urals.
The Volga region
is one of the regions of Russia where the proportion of non-Russian
population is large. There are five national republics here:
Tatarstan, Udmurtia, Chuvashia, Mari El and Mordovia. All these
peoples have their own culture, which is noticeably different from
Russian, and you can get to know it both in big cities where there
are museums, and in villages where this culture really exists.
Tatarstan is one of the few fragments of the Golden Horde that have
come down to us, as evidenced by the monuments of Bolgar, and
Chertovo Gorodishche in Yelabuga is apparently the only monument of
Volga Bulgaria that has come down to us.
The nature of the
northern part of the Volga region is large-scale, but nothing more.
The Volga and Kama along the entire Volga region from Nizhny
Novgorod to Volgograd are dammed and turned into reservoirs, and the
most interesting features of the relief are the mountains along the
banks, primarily the Zhiguli and Samarskaya Luka. Forests consisting
of huge trees are wonderful, and in the Kirov region they completely
turn into a real taiga. But the best landscapes begin where there is
a good view - the forest-steppe and steppes south of Samara.
At first glance, the Lower Volga region - the Volgograd and
Astrakhan regions - is by no means the most interesting region of
Russia for a traveler. The distances here are large, and the
population is concentrated in a small number of cities. This is the
Russian part of the Great Steppe, the oldest settlements of which
date back to the 16th century, and everything that was before has
long gone down in history and has not even left behind full-fledged
archaeological monuments. The Russian heritage of the last three
centuries could have been quite numerous, but not much care was
taken about its preservation either. However, all this does not mean
that there is nothing to do in the Lower Volga region. If you take a
closer look, it turns out that there are more than enough cultural
and natural attractions on the Lower Volga. Landscapes are much more
diverse than it seems: the lower reaches of the Volga and Don, chalk
mountains and canyons, steppe, deserts, salt lakes Elton and
Baskunchak, and, finally, the Volga delta - an ecological system
that is generally unlike anything in European Russia. Astrakhan has
preserved evidence that for many years it was the only Russian city
on the Lower Volga, maintaining trade and diplomatic ties with Asian
states. Volgograd today is basically a reminder of the events of the
Battle of Stalingrad, the point of the furthest advance of German
troops to the east. In general, you will not find in the Lower Volga
region - except, perhaps, Astrakhan - whole preserved
pre-revolutionary areas, at best separate streets. The Lower Volga
region is a region where attention to detail is important. There
have never been many architectural and historical monuments, and the
more valuable preserved.
Regional centers
Astrakhan is the oldest southern Russian city
with the Kremlin and a preserved, albeit very neglected, historical
center.
Volgograd, a city almost completely destroyed during the war,
is interesting for its war memorials, as well as the former German
colony of Staraya Sarepta.
Kazan is good for everyone: monuments of
Russian history, and Tatar, and, moreover, just a lively modern dynamic
city.
Nizhny Novgorod
Samara
Saratov is a large merchant city
with a well-preserved center
Ufa
Ulyanovsk is the birthplace of V.
I. Lenin. In the center of the city there is a nature reserve
"Motherland of V. I. Lenin", which represents a quarter that has
preserved the appearance of the second half -19th - early 20th century.
Cheboksary
Lalsk
Kozmodemyansk
Alatyr
Yelabuga
Sarapul
Bulgarian
Sizran
Volsk
Gorodets
Bor
Bilyar Museum-Reserve
Salt mining on lakes Baskunchak and Elton
Samarskaya Luka National Park and Zhigulevsky Nature Reserve
Serafimo-Diveevsky Monastery
Sviyazhsk
Russian, Bashkir, Tatar, Chuvash, Udmurt, Mari: Mountain Mari and meadow Mari, Mordovian: Erzya and Moksha.
By plane
There are major international airports in Nizhny Novgorod,
Kazan, Samara and
Volgograd. Often it will be cheaper to fly
to one of these cities, and then go to the place. All other regional
centers have local airports, mainly serving flights to
Moscow. Since
2019, Saratov has also acquired a new international airport.
On
the ship
Interregional scheduled flights along the Volga have long
been discontinued. Only local and cruise lines remain.