Get in

By plane

Kazan International Airport (IATA: KZN) is 30km to the southeast of the city center. Aeroflot, S7, Transaero and UTAir fly between Kazan and Moscow, and Rossiya Airlines also flies to Kazan from Saint Petersburg. Finnair, Flydubai and Turkish Airlines are the three international carriers which currently have scheduled flights to Kazan.

Flight information: +7(843)267-88-07.

To make you arrival more comfortable, there is Tourist Information Office near domestic flights arrival zone. English-speaking friendly personnel will help you to get a taxi, to book a hotel and provide you all the necessary for your trip information completely for free. 

The airport is southeast of the city and quite far from the city center. It is served by Aeroexpress trains that depart from the main station (Kazan-1) with a 2 h interval. Travel time is 20 min, the 2nd class ticket costs 200 rubles (2013). A taxi from the   train station to the airport takes about 60–90 minutes and starts from 600 rubles (when ordered in advance), although it may run well above 1000 rubles when you hail a random cab at the terminal and refrain from bargaining. To avoid traffic jams that are common during rush hours, there is an Aeroexpress train which between Kazan train station and airport for 200 RUB in 20 minutesit. You can also take taxi to the nearest metro station (Prospekt Pobedy), which is only 15 min from the city center, and continue by public transport. Alternatively, reach this metro station in about 40 min with bus 97 that runs on a somewhat irregular schedule between 5:30 and 18:00 with 30-40 min intervals.

By train

Kazan has two major train stations:

•   Kazan-1 (Old Station, Zheleznodorozhnyy Vokzal Stantsii Kazan', Kazan Passazhirsky,Казань-1), Plosch. Pryvokzalnaya / Ulitsa Said Galiyeva (Привокзальная пл., 1/ул. Саид-Галиева, 5) (in the city center), ☎ +7 843 294-03-00. This huge complex provides all necessary amenities (ticket offices, ATMs, left luggage, waiting halls, cafes, etc.). Note that the ticketing office is not in the main (historic red-brick) building, but in the more modern building with a clock tower next door; as one faces the main building from the street, the ticket office is to the left.

Moscow (2-3 overnight trains, 11–13 hours) and Saint-Petersburg (daily train, 22 hours). One of the Moscow trains is firmenniy, dubbed Tatarstan, with fancy new cars and Tatar-style on-board restaurant. From Moscow, you can also take long-haul trains to Ekaterinburg and Siberian destinations, although check that they pass through Kazan. Many of these trains follow the northern route via Kirov. Short-distance connections are less frequent. Cities like Izhevsk and Ulyanovsk are served at least twice daily (5–6 hours), and there is a suburban train to Yoshkar-Ola (3.5 hours).

• Central bus station (Kazan Bus Terminal, Казанский автовокзал,Автовокзал Столичный, Центральный автовокзал), 15 Devyataeva St.(ул. Девятаева) (Not very central, but close to the river terminal. You can reach it by trolleybuses 20 and 21 or buses 1, 31, 54 and 83 from : Ploschad Tukaya metro station, as well as by bus 53 from the train station. You can also walk here in about 30 min.), ☎ +7 843 2930400. The terminal building is very old, and does not have anything but a ticket office and a small waiting hall. Central bus station is the terminus of most "official" buses. Private (unofficial) buses and minibuses are not using this bus station. 
•   Southern bus station (Автовокзал «Южный»), Orenburgskiy lane (Оренбургский пер.) 207 (is in the southern suburbs of Kazan and basically in the middle of nowhere, 10 min bus ride from : Prospekt Pobedy (Проспект Победы) metro station (take buses 37, 85, 97 and get off at the stop RKB, which means Republican Clinical Hospital; oddly enough, city buses do not stop directly at the intercity bus station).), ☎ +7 843 2373323. It is a brand-new bus terminal aimed at removing long-haul buses from the city center. While the bus terminal is there, in the middle of nowhere, and long-distance buses do stop at this terminal, they still continue to the central bus station. Bottom line, don't go here unless you really need it. 

By boat

Kazan has a riverboat terminal on the Volga River and can be reached by river cruise as well.

•   Riverboat terminal (Казанский речной порт), Ulitsa Portovaya (Портовая ул.) (On the Volga River. The river terminal is close to the central bus terminal, so you can use same city transport.). 

River cruises down the Volga operate during the summer months (early May to end of September). Dozens of boats operated by different companies run from Moscow to Astrakhan. One way or return cruises may be reserved to/from practically any city along the Volga. Navigation starts beginning of May and ends in late September or early October.

Turflot.ru and infoflot.ru are several sites that offer tours.