Sviyazhsk is a small wooded island in the Volga an hour's drive west of Kazan, occupied entirely by a fortified monastery town that Ivan the Terrible founded in 1551 as a staging base for his conquest of Kazan. The original wooden buildings have gone, but a sprinkling of 16th- and 17th-century stone churches, a working monastery, an icon museum, and a handful of restaurants make it one of the most rewarding day trips from the city.
The whole island can be walked in three hours. Boat services run from Kazan's river terminal in summer — a slow, scenic four-hour journey down the Volga, with a faster return by minibus from the island over the new causeway. Inscribed by UNESCO in 2017.