The Samara embankment is one of the longest promenades on the Volga — five kilometres of pedestrianized riverfront that is the unambiguous heart of the city's social life. In summer, locals swim directly in the Volga from the sandy beach sections, barbecue on the banks, and walk the entire length until late in the evening. In winter, the frozen river makes for a different spectacle entirely.
The embankment backs onto the old merchant quarter, where Art Nouveau mansions from the pre-Revolutionary commercial elite have been steadily restored. Walking the embankment and then turning up into the wooden-house streets behind it gives the best sense of Samara's pre-Soviet character.