Kazan

Where Kazan is and how to get there

Kazan spreads at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka. It is one of the oldest cities in the region and the political and cultural centre of Tatarstan, a republic of the Russian Federation where Tatar and Russian are both official languages.

An international airport serves the city, and a rail line connects it to Moscow, with comfortable overnight trains that let you sleep through the journey and arrive in the morning.

A city where Muslim heritage is visible

The Kazan Kremlin is a World Heritage site, and it houses the Qol Sharif Mosque, one of the largest in Europe. This is not a tourist detail: it says something about the identity of the city.

For a Tunisian, Moroccan or Algerian student, that changes daily life. The Muslim population is large and long established, halal food is everywhere, and prayer spaces are not something you search for but something you take for granted. By the account of the students concerned, it is the city in the network where cultural adaptation is gentlest.

A markedly lower cost of living

Kazan combines the facilities of a major city — metro, a large university, cultural life — with housing and living costs noticeably below those of Moscow. The table above gives the exact figures.

It is that ratio that makes Kazan a frequent choice: you get metropolitan-level services without paying the metropolitan price, and the annual budget reflects it across the whole course.

• The Kazan metro is recent, clean and simple to use
• The Volga shapes the city and offers real walks in the warmer months
• Winter is decisive here, in line with the continental climate of the region

Student life day to day

Kazan is a leading university city and the student population is very visible. Sporting and cultural infrastructure, developed for major international events, directly benefits students.

The city is human-scale compared with Moscow: daily journeys are shorter, which frees up time and reduces fatigue across a year.

Kazan for a Maghrebi student

This is the strength of the city. Between the long-standing Muslim presence, the natural halal offering and an international student community used to welcoming newcomers, the first months are often less harsh than elsewhere.

That obviously does not exempt you from learning Russian: it is the language of the university, the administration and everyday life. But the cultural dislocation is less brutal, and that is a factor worth taking seriously when you are leaving for five or six years.