With some terrific road trip options available in the surrounding area, renting a car makes good sense. Without one, it’d be much harder to explore all that Cheboksary, 25 miles away, has to offer. Monument of Mother, Chuvash National Museum and Museum of V.I. Chapaev alone make the drive out here worthwhile. The locals will also probably point you toward Yoshkar-Ola, 55 miles away. If you can only find time for one attraction here, make sure it’s Museum of the History of the Gulag. (But we’d also highly recommend Sapaev Mari State Opera and Ballet Theatre and Mari El National Shketan Drama Theater.)