Kazan 3-Day Itinerary: Kremlin, Old Tatar Quarter and Volga Heritage

Three full days in Kazan give travellers enough time to explore the UNESCO-listed citadel and upper Russian merchant streets on Day 1, immerse themselves in the mosques, wooden mansions, and theatres of the Old Tatar Quarter and Lake Kaban on Day 2, and dedicate Day 3 to the Volga River's island monasteries and the eclectic Temple of All Religions.

Day 1: The Kazan Kremlin, Kul Sharif Mosque, Bauman Street and the Kazanka

• Morning (Kazan Kremlin, Kul Sharif and Annunciation Cathedral): Ride the metro to Kremlyovskaya Station (pausing to admire the winged Zilant dragon mosaic on the vaulted ceiling) and enter the Kazan Kremlin through the sixteenth-century Spasskaya Tower. Visit the upper viewing galleries and basement Islamic museum of the 2005 Kul Sharif Mosque, walk past the seven-tiered Söyembikä Tower and Konstantin Thon's 1840s Governor's Palace to the northern viewpoint, and tour Postnik Yakovlev's 1562 Annunciation Cathedral and the Hermitage-Kazan Exhibition Center.
• Midday (Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral and Bauman Street): Exit the Kremlin and walk along Kremlyovskaya and Musa Cälil streets to see the polychrome Naryshkin Baroque facades of the 1722 Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral. Descend to pedestrian Bauman Street for lunch of hot öçpoçmaq turnovers and noodle soup (toqmaç), then photograph the bronze Cat of Kazan, Catherine the Great's carriage, and the Fyodor Chaliapin statue before climbing the 74-metre red-brick Epiphany Bell Tower to Tukay Square.
• Late Afternoon and Evening (Palace of Farmers and Family Center): Stroll through Chernoye Ozero Park and down to Palace Square to photograph the 20-metre bronze tree inside the portal of the 2010 Palace of Farmers. Walk the Kremlin Embankment along the Kazanka River and cross to the cauldron-shaped Kazan Family Center for sunset views from its 32-metre rooftop observation deck.

Day 2: The Old Tatar Quarter, Märcani Mosque, Lake Kaban and Tatar Theatre

• Morning (Bolaq Channel to Kayum Nasyri Street and Märcani Mosque): Walk south along the Bolaq channel to the Old Tatar Quarter (İske Tatar Bistäse). Explore pedestrian Kayum Nasyri Street, visiting the 1766 to 1770 Märcani Mosque (the oldest active mosque in Tatarstan), the neighbouring red-brick 1768 to 1771 Apanayevskaya Mosque, and the nineteenth-century timber house-museums of Qayum Nasıyri and Şihabetdin Märcani.
• Midday (Chak-Chak Tasting and Southern Merchant Mosques): Stop for a traditional Tatar tea ceremony with honeyed çäkçäk, bawırsaq, and layered göbädiä pie at the Chak-Chak Museum or a historic tea room, then walk down Gabdulla Tukay Street past the Shamil House to photograph the 1872 Bornay Mosque and the 51-metre minaret of the 1890 Äcem Mosque.
• Afternoon and Evening (Lower Kaban Lake, Ekiyat and Kamal Theatre): Follow the wooden eco-boardwalks around Lower Kaban Lake past Millennium Park to the fairy-tale turrets of the Ekiyat Tatar State Puppet Theatre and Tugan Avylym village, then return to the lakeside Galiaskar Kamal Tatar Academic Theatre for an evening play with English translation headsets.

Day 3: Temple of All Religions and UNESCO Sviyazhsk Island (or Bolgar)

• Morning (Temple of All Religions and Raifa Forest Lake): Take a 15-minute suburban train from Kazan-Passazhirskaya Station (or drive west along the Volga) to Staroye Arakchino to tour the multicoloured domes and cultural halls of Ildar Khanov's Temple of All Religions, then continue into the Volga-Kama pine forest to visit the lakeside seventeenth-century Raifa Bogoroditsky Monastery.
• Afternoon (UNESCO Island Town of Sviyazhsk or Ancient Bolgar): Spend the afternoon on the island town of Sviyazhsk (founded in four weeks in 1551), touring the sixteenth-century frescoes inside the UNESCO-listed Assumption Cathedral and the nail-free 1551 wooden Trinity Church before returning to Kazan by evening river boat or road (or dedicate the full day to the high-speed Volga boat trip south to the tenth- to fourteenth-century Bulgar ruins and White Mosque at Bolgar).