Trans-Siberian Railway: Beijing to Moscow

Trans-Siberian Railway: Beijing to Moscow

Day 1: Beijing

Welcome to Beijing! We'll wait for you at Beijing Airport and take you to your hotel. After dropping off your luggage, we'll meet again at your hotel lobby to start a guided tour of Beijing.

We'll tour the hutongs or traditional neighborhoods, made up of narrow alleyways. We'll then take a rickshaw, a traditional guided tricycle, which will take us through the heart of Beijing, around Shichahai Lake and the Drum Tower. The rest of the day is at leisure to continue exploring the Chinese capital.

Day 2: Beijing

After enjoying a delicious breakfast, we'll drive to the Forbidden City, the residence of the emperors of the ancient Ming and Qing dynasties. We'll also see Tiananmen Square, one of the most famous squares in the world due to the revolt that took place there in 1989.

Then, we'll go to the Summer Palace, located in an environment of great beauty, and finally arrive at the Great Wall, one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. We'll explore one of its sections while listening to the incredible story behind its construction. On the way back, we'll stop at the Beijing Olympic Park.

Day 3: Beijing- Ulaanbaatar

We'll have breakfast at the hotel and head to Beijing train station, where you'll board a train that'll take you on a journey to Mongolia. The train journey takes one day, so make yourself comfortable and enjoy the facilities and the incredible views.

Day 4: Ulaanbaatar

We'll arrive in the morning in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. We'll be waiting for you at the station to take you to a hotel in the city where you can rest from the trip, as you'll have the rest of the day free.

Day 5: Gorkhi-Terelj National Park

After breakfast, we'll pick you up to take you to Terelj National Park, famous for its landscapes and rock formations. On the way, we'll stop to see the statue of Genghis Khan, the largest equestrian sculpture in the world.

Then once we get to Terelj, we'll take a walk to explore the iconic Turtle Rock and the Aryabal Monastery. In addition, we'll visit a nomadic family who will show us their traditional way of life.

We'll spend the night in a ger, also called yurts, circular tents covered with felt. If the weather is cold, we will stay in a wooden hut.

Day 6: Ulaanbaatar

In the morning, we'll enjoy breakfast at the camp and then go back to Ulaanbaatar. We'll visit the Gandan Khiid Monastery, the largest in the country, Sukhbaatar Square, and the Natural History Museum, which exhibits archaeological finds found in the Gobi Desert. We'll end the day's sightseeing at the National History Museum, where we'll learn more about Mongolia's rich cultural heritage.

Day 7: Ulaanbaatar - Irkutsk

You'll also have the morning of the seventh day free. Afterward, we'll pick you up at your hotel and take you to Ulaanbaatar station. You'll take the Trans-Siberian train to Russia, departing in the afternoon. We'll arrive in Irkutsk the following day at around 3 pm. 

Day 8: Listvyanka

You'll arrive in the morning and we'll be waiting for you at the station to take you to Listvyanka. In this beautiful town on the shores of Lake Baikal. You'll have the rest of the day to explore the town and ride a boat around the lake at your own leisure.

Day 9: Listvyanka

You'll have free time this day as well to keep discovering the area, explore the St. Nicholas Church and the museum dedicated to Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, at your own leisure. And of course, sample the delicious local cuisine.

Day 10: Irkutsk

After breakfast, we'll go to Irkutsk, stopping first at the Taltsy Museum of Wooden Architecture - a real open-air museum! We'll then continue the tour to Irkutsk, also known as the Paris of Siberia.

When we get there, we'll enjoy a panoramic tour so that you don't miss any of the city's attractions- its wooden houses are definitely worth the visit. In the evening we'll drive you to the train station to board the Trans-Siberian Railway again.

Day 11 & 12: Irkutsk - Yekaterinburg

The trip will last two days, during which you can enjoy the sights of the Siberian steppe and relax in the comfortable compartments of the Trans-Siberian. You'll arrive in Yekaterinburg on the evening of the 12th day, and we'll be waiting to take you to a hotel where you can rest until the next day.

Day 13: Yekaterinburg

After having breakfast at the hotel, we'll dive into the history of Russia visiting the city where the Romanov family spent their last days. We'll follow in the footsteps of Tsar Nicholas II to the Church of the Spilled Blood, built on the very spot where he and his family were assassinated. We'll continue to Ganina Yama, the place where their remains were laid to rest, and we'll stop at the monolith marking the border between Europe and Asia.

Day 14: Yekaterinburg- Moscow

After breakfast, we'll drive you to Yekaterinburg station, where you'll take the train to Moscow, arriving there the next day.

Day 15: Moscow

You'll be taken to your hotel after your arrival in the Russian capital. Once you're settled in, we'll take a walking tour of the center of Moscow, visiting its most emblematic places: the KGB headquarters, Lubyanka Square, the Bolshoi Theater, and, of course, the Red Square. You'll be impressed by the polychrome domes of St. Basil's Cathedral, and then we'll visit the GUM department store, Lenin's Mausoleum, and the Kazan Cathedral.

Day 16: Moscow

On the second to last day, we'll visit the Kremlin, where the country's power decisions are made. We'll see the four cathedrals, as well as the Armory Museum and its treasures: war objects, sacred chalices, and even the very valuable Fabergé eggs. 

In the afternoon we'll take a tour of the Moscow Metro, a real subway museum where we'll find stations decorated with mosaics, polychrome crystals, and marble.

Day 17: Moscow

On the last day of your journey, you can regain your strength with breakfast at the hotel, and then we'll take you to the Moscow airport in time to catch your flight back home.

Accommodation

The tour includes 8 nights accommodation with breakfast at the following hotels:

• Beijing: Quianmen Jianguo Hotel 4*.
• Ulaanbaatar: Platinum Hotel 4*.
• Terelj: Yurt Camp.
• Listvyanka: Mayak Hotel 4*.
• Yekaterinburg: Novotel Center 4*.
• Moscow: Ibis Center Bakhrushina 3*.

The nights that you don't stay in the hotels listed above will be spent traveling on a night train. In this means of transport, you'll have a compartment for 4 people with two bunk beds. In addition, each train car has two toilets and hot water for making tea, and you will be provided with clean bed linen and cups. The train also has a restaurant car for lunch and dinner during the trip.

When making your reservation, you'll only have to indicate the kind of room you wish to stay in at the hotels, as you'll always travel in 4-people compartments on the trains.

If you don't want to share the train compartment with other people, you can pay a supplement. To do so, please indicate it in the comments when making your reservation and we'll send you the request to pay the supplement.

Guided visits

The guided tours are only included while in the cities, whereas on the train you'll travel on your own, enjoying the tour at your own pace.