Yoshkar-Ola

Capital of the Mari El republic in Russia's Volga region, Yoshkar-Ola sits along the river and has built a reputation for a dense café and restaurant scene in its centre. Founded in 1584 as a fortress during the Russian conquest of the Kazan Khanate, the city has carried three different names across its history and remains one of the cultural centres of the Mari people, a Finno-Ugric group of the Volga region.

• Population268,272
• Nearest water from center 0.9 km0.5 mi