Russian tourists are increasingly choosing for themselves all kinds of river cruises as a holiday. This option is becoming more and more popular every year, therefore it is of great interest to everyone who plans to spend their vacation not quite trivially. Unfortunately, the autumn season is not the best time to travel along the river. However, most travel agencies already offer their customers early bookings for river cruises. They confidently describe their advantages and are ready to offer a lot of different options for traveling by boat. If you do not know which tour to choose, then pay attention to river cruises from Kazan. Tours from this port city are becoming more and more popular. This is evidenced by the reviews of river cruises in 2017, left by our compatriots who managed to make an exciting trip in the summer season. For this purpose, comfortable multi-deck pleasure boats are used, on which it is pleasant to spend not only weekends, but also seven or even ten days of a 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 Kazan?
Initially, Russians, evaluating the attractiveness of river cruises, consider Kazan as a starting point with great surprise. For some reason, this city, famous for its historical monuments and modern infrastructure for tourists, is not associated with a port from which beautiful motor ships leave every day. However, in fact, this is an erroneous opinion, and Tatarstan may pleasantly surprise you. After all, the main specificity of its capital Kazan is river cruises. Travel agencies sell tickets daily for different routes, and with the end of the holiday season, tours for the next year begin to sell out almost immediately.
Such popularity of Kazan is due to 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 it offers tourists a wide variety of routes. Having gone 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 ownpreferences. However, do not forget that the longer the cruise lasts, the more new cities you will see and the more intense 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, and not for ten days.
A weekend river cruise from Kazan is no less popular than a long one. He has his admirers, who explain their preferences primarily by the low cost of such a tour. Indeed, such a trip costs much less than a seven-day cruise, for example. You will be able to see for yourself when you reach the section in which we will indicate the cost of some tours to the most popular destinations. Secondly, weekend cruises allow those who do not have the opportunity to take a full vacation to have a great rest. In addition, such a trip will be a great gift for any family date. It will be absolutely impossible to forget the celebration of, for example, a birthday on board a luxury ship.
Many tourists deliberately choose river cruises from Kazan only for the weekend to understand how this type of holiday is suitable for them. And only then they decide on a longer trip.
Who is boat cruises for?
For some reason, among the inhabitants there is a very widespread opinion that only pensioners are interested in relaxing on a ship. Kazan - Moscow, for example, is a very common route where you can meet people of completely differentage. At the same time, each of the tourists finds an interesting activity on board the liner.
Every new day on the cruise is fraught with many pleasant moments and is suitable for absolutely any holiday. Those who prefer peace and solitude will appreciate romantic evenings under the starry sky, swimming and celebrity concerts. And active tourists will be able to take part in master classes, competitions, quizzes daily, enjoy nightly shows and other events prepared specifically for vacationers.
Therefore, we can say with confidence that river cruises along the Volga from Kazan are ideal for people of different ages, social status and life positions. It is quite possible that next summer it will be you who will spend your vacation aboard a luxury liner.
River cruise benefits
Judging by the statistics of river cruises in 2017, much more tourists decided on such a trip last holiday season than in 2016. These facts allow us to consider that this direction is becoming more and more 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 present the main advantages of traveling on the river by boat:
- Combination of different types of recreation. Most of the tourists in their reviews say that during the cruise they were able to change different activities that made their vacation more fulfilling.
- No grueling journeys. Usually, when traveling through several cities, you have toconstantly moving on the roads, which is very tiring for tourists of any age. In addition, almost every day you have to disassemble and collect things, moving from one hotel to another. If you choose a river cruise for yourself, you will completely get rid of these problems.
- Magnificent nature.
- The opportunity to get acquainted with the sights of Kazan before departure, which will significantly enrich your vacation experience.
- Amazing holiday atmosphere that is preserved on the ship during the entire cruise.
- High level of service comparable to five-star hotels.
It's nice that for 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 have a great rest. We won’t be able to describe them all, but for example, let’s talk about one of these liners – the Ilya Muromets motor ship.
Brief description of the cruise ship
This ship runs on such a common route as Kazan - Moscow. The ship has a busy schedule for the next holiday season, so we decided to describe this ship to the reader.
"Ilya Muromets" was built in the late fifties of the last century in Germany. It has three decks that can accommodate one hundred and forty people. Twelve years ago, repairs were carried out on the ship, so now each of the cabins has an air conditioning system, a refrigerator, a TV and a bathroom with a toilet.
OnOn board, guests can relax in two restaurants and bars. Each of the restaurants can accommodate up to seventy people at the same 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 a souvenir shop where interesting little things are sold, which then will remind you of a pleasant time spent.
If vacationers need to put their clothes in order, they can use the ironing room. It has everything you need to look brilliant every night.
Tourists are accommodated in cabins on different decks. On the boathouse there are presidential suites, suites and junior suites. There are also single and double cabins. All rooms have panoramic windows and are furnished with the most modern furniture. Cabins can accommodate up to three people.
There are six categories of cabins on the middle deck:
- presidential suite;
- junior suite "A";
- junior suite "B";
- single;
- double large 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 and family cabins.
Most of the tourists with great enthusiasm speaks about the trip on the ship "Ilya Muromets". This is another reason for river cruises.
River cruise Kazan – Yelabuga – 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 choose the right option for their future vacation.
Most often, a cruise to Yelabuga is called a “weekend route” since it takes three days. During this time, vacationers will be able to visit the following cities:
- Kazan.
- Nizhnekamsk.
- Yelabuga.
- Tetyushi.
The ship departs from the capital of Tatarstan, where tourists return after three days.
On land, interesting excursion programs are prepared for vacationers. For example, in Yelabuga they will go to the Devil's Settlement, which is considered the main attraction of the city. In Nizhnekamsk, tourists will have a trip to the Holy Spring, 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. There has been absolutely nothing growing here for many years.
The cost of the cruise includes accommodation in a comfortable cabin, meals three times a day, excursions and entertainment programs.
River Cruise Kazan – Volgograd – Kazan
This route includes a large number of cities. The motor ship departs from the pier in Kazan and stops at the following settlements along the way:
- Samara.
- Khvalynsk.
- Saratov.
- Volgograd.
On the way back toKazan passengers once again sail past Samara.
It is proposed to make such a trip in eight days. The cruise includes not only entertainment activities on board, but also an excursion program.
Be aware 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 an opportunity to save money when placing tourists on additional places in cabins. Moreover, the amount of discounts varies depending on the cabin category.
Travel to Moscow
River cruise Kazan - Moscow, many tourists call the most popular. This route exists in two versions: one way and circular. In the first case, the journey will take about a week, and in the second, approximately thirteen days.
On the way, the ship berths at the pier in the following cities:
- Gorodets.
- Kozmodemyansk.
- Kostroma.
- Moscow.
- Myshkin.
- Plyos.
- 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.
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.
- Vinnovka.
- Volgograd.
- Nikolskoe.
- Samara.
- Saratov.
- Tie-down.
The average journey lasts ten days. This route is considered one of the longest river cruises on the Volga.
Cost of tours on the boat
If you are planning to spend your vacation interesting, then you should book tickets for a river cruise from Kazan. Prices for such a tour vary depending on the duration of the trip and the class of the cabin in which you will be accommodated.
For example, a cruise to Astrakhan next year will cost about seventy-six thousand rubles if you check into a presidential suite. The cheapest cabin will cost almost thirty-five thousand rubles.
A cruise to Volgograd pleases with a price of eighteen thousand rubles for seven days, subject to accommodation in the simplest cabin. The presidential suite in this case will cost about thirty-five thousand rubles.
Weekend cruises are more affordable. On average, the price starts from six and a half thousand rubles.
Tourists often talk about how you can choose a river cruise according to your financial capabilities. Some were able to have a great rest, paying ten thousand rubles for six days.
Keep in mind that it is best to book your cruise in advance. In all travel agencies you will be sure to get acquainted with the prices for the next year and the schedule of ships. Usually, by the beginning of summer, all the seats on the liners are alreadysold out, and additional ships on the route are not released. Therefore, if you are interested in a river cruise from Kazan or any other city, then you should take care of purchasing it now.
Reviews of trips along the river
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 treat that definitely needs to be repeated.
Since there are many ships on the river, we will not give a review on each of them, but simply summarize the information a little. In general, vacationers are delighted with the time spent on the liner. Almost every restaurant has excellent cuisine and service. Tourists write that not a single dish was repeated in the restaurant during the trip. Breakfasts usually consist of several courses and cuts, lunch and dinner are ordered from the menu. At the same time, portions in restaurants are very large and passengers do not remain hungry. The disadvantages include high prices for drinks in bars.
Almost all tourists note the cleanliness of bathrooms on ships. Many wrote that the cabins are cleaned and sanitized daily. Therefore, it is always surprisingly clean here, which cannot but please 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 buy cruise tickets for yourself, be careful, because inthe cost of not every tour includes an excursion program. Sometimes you need 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 every traveler should clearly understand what exactly he wants to get from his vacation 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 recreation can be safely recommended to pensioners who prefer to quietly enjoy the beauties of nature, couples who want to change the situation and see something new, as well as young people who want to have fun from the heart.
