Cheboksary, the capital city of the Chuvash republic, has a very favourable economic and geographical position. It is situated in the centre of the European part of Russia, in the middle flow of the Volga River, 650km to the east of Moscow.
Cheboksary possesses many tourist resources including natural resources (climate, water resources, forests, mineral springs, and animals), historical and cultural resources (museums, churches, Chuvash culture, natural history, theatres) and social economic resources which determine the tourist potential of the city.
The city is a big transport juncture: the main railway, water way and automobile roads cross it. The Volga River connects the city and the republic with the international network of water ways (to Volgograd, Astrakhan, and the Caspian, Azov and Black seas). There is also an international airport in Cheboksary.
The city and its suburbs are a beneficial territory for treatment and recreation. The climate is temperate continental. The territory is rich in water resources; pine and oak forests surround it. The depths of Chuvash land are rich in mineral waters and sapropel medical mud. These and many other health improving opportunities have predetermined the construction of such health centres, holiday camps, tourist complexes, spas, resorts and camps as Chuvashia, Ilyinka, Kuvshinka, Volzhanka, Volzhskiye Zori, Rosinka and a lot of others.
Besides treatment, a wide range of entertaining and sport activities are offered here: horse riding, mountain skiing, swimming, hiking, and cross-county skiing; there are tennis courts, restaurants and bars there.
Tourists visiting Cheboksary have an opportunity to do yachting, para gliding, sky-diving as well as canoeing, rowing, riding, fishing and hunting.
Cheboksary is a host to many sporting events such as All-Russia competitions, championships in judo, art of self-defence, boxing, bow shooting, wrestling. Cheboksary also hosted the V European Cup and World Cup in race walking in May 2003 and became an international sports centre thus attracting a lot of tourists from Russia as well as from abroad.
Cheboksary has also all necessary facilities to hold events of such level: modern and well equipped hotels with efficient service, a developed banking system, good transportation. The best hotels of Cheboksary are Rossia, DIS, Irina, Chuvashia, Kurortnaya and some others - all of them meet international requirements.
Cultural tourism is highly developed in Cheboksary. Cheboksary today is a unique city where the ancient and the modern, Russian and Chuvash cultures are combined in a most peculiar way. There are more than 10 museums in Cheboksary, the largest of which are the Art Museum, the Chuvash National Museum, Chapayev Museum, the Literary Museum and others, art galleries, exhibition halls. There are more than 5 theatres, a philharmonic society in the city. All this makes Cheboksary attractive for tourists. Besides, the city holds a lot of festivals such as the annual international ballet and opera festival. Cheboksary is often the host to contests of the Volga region. In 2003 Cheboksary was declared the cultural capital of the Volga region. The IV marathon of cultural events took place in the city. International festivals, concerts, performances, seminars were held.
Excursion tourism is also well developed.Tourists willingly get acquainted with historical and architectural monuments of Cheboksary: the Presentation Cathedral, the Holy Trinity Monastery, the Dormition Church, the Archangel Michael Church, mansions of merchants Yefremovs and many others.
Chuvash culture is very rich and the Chuvash land is not by chance called "the laid of 100 000 songs, 100000 embroideries..." The Chuvash folk art is varied and is always developing. The major kinds of art are embroidery, tracery, weaving, wood carving, and ceramics. The decorative works of the Pakha Tere Factory have become widely known in the whole world.
Nowadays there are more than 30 tourist companies and agencies in Chuvashia and most of them are situated in Cheboksary. The tourist companies Inturist, Sputnik, Intour-Lux are considered leaders among tourist companies of the Chuvash Republic. They offer a wide range of tours in Russia as well as abroad. On the initiative of the Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports of the Chuvash Republic the Chuvash Tourism and Hospitality Association was created in Cheboksary. The basis for training specialists in the field of tourism in Cheboksary and Chuvashia has become a branch of St Petersburg State University for Engineering and Economics in Cheboksary, ENGECON, which was founded in 1996.
In conclusion we can say that there are all necessary facilities in Cheboksary for its further development as a tourist destination. Modem infrastructure, one of the best network of roads in Russia, the international sector of the airport, modern hotels, developed banking system, political stability create excellent conditions for comfortable rest for tourists and guests of Cheboksary.