Varvarskaya Street is one of the better central walks in Nizhny Novgorod, running through a part of the city where older merchant houses, civic buildings, and institutional facades still set the tone. It is less theatrical than the Kremlin slopes, but it helps fill in the everyday architecture of the old city.
Use it as a slow route between bigger stops rather than a destination in itself. The pleasure is in details: balconies, plasterwork, courtyards, and the way the street connects Nizhny's administrative centre with quieter historic blocks.