Russian tourists are increasingly choosing all kinds of river cruises for themselves as a vacation. This option is becoming more and more popular every year, so it is of great interest to everyone who plans to spend their vacations not quite trivially. Unfortunately, the fall season is not the best time to travel along the river. However, most travel agencies already offer their customers early booking for river cruises. They confidently paint their advantages and are ready to offer a lot of different travel options on the ship. If you do not know which tour to choose, then pay attention to river cruises from Kazan. Tours from this port city are becoming increasingly popular. This is evidenced by the reviews of river cruises of 2017 left by our compatriots who managed to make an exciting journey in the summer season. For this purpose, comfortable multi-deck pleasure boats are used, on which it is pleasant to spend not only the weekend, but also seven, or even ten days of the long-awaited vacation. Today we will tell you in detail about river cruises from Kazan and describe several routes that were in demand in the past season.
Why exactly Kazan?
Initially, Russians, evaluating the attractiveness of river cruises, consider Kazan as a departure point with great surprise. For some reason, this city, famous for its historical monuments and modern infrastructure for tourists, is not associated with the port, where beautiful motor ships leave daily. However, in fact, this is a mistaken opinion and Tatarstan may pleasantly surprise you. After all, the main specifics of its capital, Kazan, are river cruises. Travel agencies daily sell tickets on various routes, and with the end of the holiday season, tours for the next year begin to be bought up almost immediately.
Such popularity of Kazan is caused by the fact that from here you can go on a trip along two rivers - the Volga and the Kama. The city itself is located almost in the center of the Volga, therefore offers tourists a wide variety of routes. Going on a trip, you can visit cities such as Astrakhan, St. Petersburg, Volgograd and others. Excursions will be interspersed with various entertainment programs, swimming and fishing. Each tourist can choose for himself not only a suitable route, but a travel option. We will tell you about this now.
Categories of River Cruises
River cruises on the ship from Kazan in travel agencies are represented by two types. The first involves a full trip for several nights. You can choose, for example, six, seven or ten nights, depending on your own preferences. However, do not forget that the longer the cruise lasts, the more new cities you will see and the more eventful your vacation will be. Usually long trips have an interesting program that will give tourists of any age a lot of positive emotions. Sometimes travelers even regret that they bought tickets for seven, not ten days.
A weekend river cruise from Kazan is no less popular than a long one. He has his admirers who explain their preferences in the first place by the low cost of such a tour. Indeed, such a trip costs much less than a seven-day cruise, for example. You yourself will be able to verify this when you get to the section in which we indicate the cost of some tours to the most popular destinations. Secondly, weekend cruises allow you to have a great rest for those who do not have the opportunity to take a full vacation. In addition, such a trip will be a great gift for any family date. Forgetting the celebration of, for example, a birthday aboard a luxury ship will be absolutely impossible.
Many tourists intentionally choose river cruises from Kazan only for the weekend, in order to understand how this type of vacation is suitable for them. And only then they decide on a longer trip.
Who needs a boat cruise?
For some reason, among the townsfolk there is a very widespread opinion that only pensioners are interested in relaxing on the boat. Kazan - Moscow, for example, is a very common route where you can meet people of completely different ages. At the same time, each of the tourists finds an interesting occupation for himself on board the liner.
Each new day on the cruise is fraught with many pleasant moments and is suitable for absolutely any vacation. Those who prefer peace and solitude will appreciate romantic evenings under the starry sky, bathing and celebrity concerts. And active tourists will be able to take part in master classes, contests, quizzes daily, enjoy nightly show programs and other events specially prepared for vacationers.
Therefore, it is safe to say that river cruises along the Volga from Kazan are ideal for people of different ages, social status and life position. It is possible that next summer you will spend your vacation aboard a luxury liner.
Benefits of River Cruises
Judging by the statistics of river cruises in 2017, in the past vacation season, much more tourists decided on such a trip than in 2016. These facts suggest that this area is becoming increasingly popular. That is why many of our compatriots are becoming interested in the advantages of this pastime over other types of recreation. We are ready to give the main advantages of traveling on the river on the ship:
- Combination of different types of recreation. Most of the tourists in their reviews talk about the fact that during the cruise they were able to change different types of activities that made their vacation more eventful.
- Lack of grueling moves. Usually when traveling through several cities you have to constantly move along the roads, which is very tiresome for tourists of any age. In addition, you have to disassemble and collect things almost every day, moving from one hotel to another. If you choose a river cruise for yourself, then completely get rid of these problems.
- Great nature.
- The opportunity before sailing to get acquainted with the sights of Kazan, which will significantly enrich your vacation experience.
- Amazing holiday atmosphere, which is preserved on the ship during the entire cruise.
- High level of service, comparable to the service in five-star hotels.
It's nice that with any chosen route you will find yourself on board a comfortable ship. For river cruises, only multi-deck vessels are used, on which you can relax perfectly. We will not be able to describe them all, but for an example we’ll talk about one of such airliners - the ship “Ilya Muromets”.
Brief description of the cruise ship
This ship runs along such a common route as Kazan - Moscow. The ship has a tight schedule for the next holiday season, so we decided to describe to the reader exactly this ship.
"Ilya Muromets" was built in the late fifties of the last century in Germany. It has three decks, which can accommodate one hundred and forty people. Twelve years ago, the ship was renovated, so now each of the cabins has an air conditioning system, a refrigerator, a TV and a bathroom with a toilet.
On board, guests can relax in two restaurants and bars. Each of the restaurants seats up to seventy people at a time. One of the bars has karaoke, so song lovers will have something to do in the evenings.
For vacationers there is a conference room and a medical center. If desired, tourists can look into the gift shop, which sells interesting gizmos, which then will remind you of a pleasant time.
If vacationers need to put their clothes in order, they will be able to use the ironing room. It has everything you need to look brilliant every night.
Tourists are accommodated in cabins on different decks. The presidential suite, suites and junior suites are located on the boat. There are also single and double cabins. All rooms have panoramic windows and are equipped with the most modern furniture. Cabins can accommodate up to three people.
Cabins of six categories are located on the middle deck:
- Presidential Suite
- Junior Suite "A";
- Junior Suite "B";
- single;
- double increased area;
- double "A2";
- double "A2k".
On the main deck there are only double one-room cabins of two categories, and on the lower deck there are double larger cabins and family ones.
Most of the tourists with great enthusiasm respond about the trip on the ship "Ilya Muromets." This is another argument in favor of river cruises.
River cruise Kazan - Elabuga - Kazan
We cannot tell readers about all the popular routes along the Volga and Kama. But the most interesting of them are simply impossible to ignore, moreover, our description will help tourists to choose for themselves a suitable option for a future vacation.
Most often, the cruise to Yelabuga is called the “weekend route” as it takes three days. During this time, vacationers will be able to visit the following cities:
- Kazan.
- Nizhnekamsk
- Elabuga.
- Aunts.
The motor ship leaves from the capital of Tatarstan, there, after three days, tourists return.
On land for vacationers prepared interesting excursion programs. For example, in Elabuga they will go to the Devil's hillfort, which is considered the main attraction of the city. In Nizhnekamsk, tourists will have to travel to the Holy Key, and in Tetyushi everyone will have a real adventure. Vacationers will go to the anomalous zone. Until now, none of the scientists knows why there is not a single plant within its borders. For many years, absolutely nothing has been growing here.
The cost of the cruise includes accommodation in a comfortable cabin, meals three times a day, excursions and entertainment.
River cruise Kazan - Volgograd - Kazan
A similar route includes a large number of cities. The motor ship departs from the pier in Kazan and stops along the way in the following settlements:
- Samara
- Khvalynsk.
- Saratov.
- Volgograd.
On the way back to Kazan, passengers once again pass by Samara.
It is proposed to make such a trip in eight days. Cruise involves not only recreational activities on board, but also an excursion program.
Keep in mind that travel agencies often offer their customers various discounts on river cruises. Pensioners, students and newlyweds often fall into the preferential category. There is also the opportunity to save money when placing tourists on additional places in cabins. Moreover, the amount of discounts varies depending on the category of cabin.
Travel to Moscow
Many tourists call the Kazan - Moscow river cruise the most popular. This route exists in two versions: one way and circular. In the first case, the trip will take about a week, and in the second - about thirteen days.
On the way, the ship approaches the pier in the following cities:
- Gorodets.
- Kozmodemyansk.
- Kostroma.
- Moscow.
- Myshkin.
- Ples.
- Cheboksary.
Also quite often, tourists choose a cruise from Moscow to Kazan. This route is circular and lasts for a week. The number of cities that tourists will visit in this case will be slightly less than in the previous version.
The route to Astrakhan
River cruises Kazan - Astrakhan - Kazan can also be attributed to the most popular. Tourists will be able to see the sights of eight cities:
- Kazan.
- Astrakhan.
- Winnivka.
- Volgograd.
- Nikolskoye.
- Samara
- Saratov.
- Matching.
On average, a trip lasts ten days. This route is considered one of the longest among river cruises on the Volga.
The cost of tours to the ship
If you plan to spend your vacation interestingly, then you should book tickets for a river cruise from Kazan for yourself. Prices for such a tour vary from the duration of the trip and the class of cabin in which you will be accommodated.
For example, a cruise to Astrakhan next year when checking into a presidential suite will cost about seventy-six thousand rubles. The cheapest cabin will cost almost thirty-five thousand rubles.
A cruise to Volgograd pleases with a price of eighteen thousand rubles in seven days, subject to placement in the simplest cabin. The presidential suite in this case will cost about thirty-five thousand rubles.
Weekend cruises have more affordable prices. On average, the price starts from six and a half thousand rubles.
Tourists often talk about the fact that a river cruise can be chosen according to their financial capabilities. Some were able to relax perfectly, paying ten thousand rubles in six days.
Keep in mind that purchasing a cruise is best in advance. In all travel agencies you are sure to get acquainted with the prices for the next year and the schedule of motor ships. Usually, by the beginning of the summer, all places on the liners have already been sold out, and additional vessels are not issued for the route. Therefore, if you are interested in a river cruise from Kazan or any other city, then you should take care of purchasing it now.
River Travel Reviews
On the Internet you can find a lot of reviews left by experienced travelers. They all agree on one thing - a river cruise is difficult to compare with any other vacation. This is an absolutely special pleasure that necessarily requires repetition.
Since many motor ships go along the river, we will not give feedback on each of them, but simply summarize the information a little. In general, vacationers are delighted with the time spent on the ship. Almost everyone has excellent cuisine and service. Tourists write that during the trip in the restaurant not a single dish was repeated. Breakfast usually consists of several dishes and slices, lunch and dinner are ordered on the menu. At the same time, the portions in restaurants are very large and passengers do not remain hungry. By cons include high prices for drinks in bars.
Almost all tourists note the cleanliness of bathrooms on ships. Many wrote about the fact that daily cabins are cleaned and sanitized. Therefore, it is always surprisingly clean here, which cannot but please the vacationers. It is noteworthy that even in cases where the toilets are located on the deck and are accessible to all passengers, they are perfectly clean.
When planning to purchase tickets for a cruise, be careful, because the price of not every tour includes an excursion program. Sometimes it is necessary to pay extra for it, but usually the price remains quite reasonable. On average, it does not exceed six hundred rubles.
In some reviews, vacationers note that they were a little bored during the cruise. However, it depends on the ship you are traveling on. After all, other tourists enthusiastically share stories about activities that did not let them get bored throughout the journey.
In the reviews left, tourists often give advice on choosing a cruise. They write that each traveler must clearly understand what exactly he wants to get from the rest and in accordance with these preferences choose a ship. After all, there are economy class liners, while others, on the contrary, are ready to provide the highest level of service. Therefore, always carefully study the cruise program, the layout of decks and cabins, and be sure to view their photos. In this case, your vacation will definitely be successful.
In conclusion, I would like to say that river cruises cause only positive emotions. Therefore, this type of vacation can be safely recommended to retirees who prefer to enjoy the beauty of nature, couples who want to change the atmosphere and see something new, as well as young people who seek to have fun from the heart.