If you have a spare day or two and you’re happy to travel 19 miles, take a look at Yoshkar-Ola. This popular place has plenty of things to keep you busy. Among the first stops you make here ought to be Museum of the History of the Gulag, Sapaev Mari State Opera and Ballet Theatre and Mari El National Shketan Drama Theater. The locals will also likely point you toward Cheboksary, 60 miles away. If you only have time for one attraction here, make sure it’s Monument of Mother. (But we’d also highly recommend Chuvash National Museum and Museum of V.I. Chapaev.)