Our Trips

Mammoth Trans-Siberian

Moscow to Beijing

The idea of this one is to combine the “top stops” into one astonishing itinerary. It’s a nice balance between three “Russian” stops (Moscow, Ekaterinburg and Irkutsk) and three “Asian” stops (Ulan-Uday, Ulaanbaatar, Beijing). This one’s highly customisable – your stops include one set of options that feature the active outdoors, or another set profiling local culture and tradition. Like most of what Russia Experience does, the only herds you’ll see are sheep or goats – these are side-trips that couldn’t work for big groups even if we wanted to (which we don’t)… we springboard you into the remoter locations away from the railway which have “what you came to see”.

Map

Trip overview

DAY 01 – Arrival in Moscow

Arrival in Moscow. Your driver will meet on arrival and transfer you by private car to the hotel.

DAY 02 – Around Moscow

After breakfast one of our local experts will meet you at your hotel in the lobby for a three hour walking and familiarisation tour, to introduce the city (and its public transport system) and to get your sightseeing off to a flying start. The rest of the day's your own.

DAY 03 – Departing Moscow

A full day to continue your sightseeing. Afternoon transfer to Kazansky Station where you will board the Ekaterinburg bound train.

DAY 04 – Arrival in Ekaterinburg

Arrival late evening in Ekaterinburg, transfer to hotel by private car.

DAY 05 – Around Ekaterinburg

Walking and familiarisation tour with local expert this morning. Balance of day free to explore.

DAY 06 – Your choice of Ekaterinburg activities

Please make a choice of one of the day trip options it's all included in the trip price.

(A) Romanov Graves & Europe Asia Border (B) Siberian countryside and historic village (C) Siberian wilderness adventure
Check out of your room around 9pm Private car to the station, where you will board the Irkutsk bound train.

DAY 07 – On board The Trans-Sib

Travelling eastwards via Novosibirsk.

DAY 08 – On board The Trans-Sib

Across the River Yenisei at Krasnoyarsk.

DAY 09 – 11 Baikal programmes

Here we give you the option to make a choice of either Siberian Village which is staying in Listvyanka Village on the shores of Lake Baikal. OR Bolshoe Goloustnoye, which is available for two or more passengers travelling together, for arrivals between 1st June until 1st September.

Option 1 – Siberian Village

DAY 09 – Arrival in Irkutsk

Arrival in Irkutsk, transfer to Listvyanka Village on the shore of Lake Baikal.

DAY 10 – Choose one activity from the list

It's all included in the trip price.

(A) Siberian trek (B) Circum Baikal picnic

(C) Taltsy wooden museum (D) Do your own thing

DAY 11 – Return to Irkutsk

Transfer from Listvyanka Village back to Irkutsk, free time before your evening transfer to the station, where you will board the Ulan-Uday bound train.

Option 2 – Bolshoe Goloustnoye

DAY 09 – Arrival in Irkutsk

Arrival in Irkutsk. Transfer by car to Bolshoe Goloustnoye village, on the shores of Lake Baikal. The village is made up almost entirely of wooden-built traditional Siberian izba solid log houses.

DAY 10 – Trekking along the Baikal shore (20 km)

After breakfast we get ready to set off on foot along the shores of Baikal! There are a few upward hauls – but it’s all on paths, with no scrambling! The astounding views across the world’s greatest lake make it all worth while. The afternoon is more downhill, heading into Kodilnaya – where there’s a log cabin for our overnight accommodation, and a warm fire burning in the hearth. Our staff will be busy making a hot supper for you, while you ease-off your walk in the sauna before suppertime. Today’s total route is twenty kilometres, or around twelve miles.

DAY 11 – Departing Irkutsk

fter breakfast we repack our day-packs and continue our shoreline saunter towards Bolshie Koty – the Baikal village whose name means “Big Cats” in Russian. We cover ten kilometres (six miles) today – but some of it is a bit steep, so we take a steady pace! On arrival at Bolshie Koty we’ll take the local timetabled hydrofoil service across the waters of Lake Baikal, back to the city boat terminal in Irkutsk. There is a chance to have some free time (we’ll watch your bags!) in Irkutsk before this evening transfer to the station for the Ulan-Uday bound train.

DAY 12 – Arrival in Ulan-Uday

Transfer to home-stay. Guided trip to Atsagatsky Buddhist Lamasery. After the monastery, try cuisine of Buryatia lunch with a village family.

DAY 13 – Visit to the Ivolginsky Datsan

Excursion to Tarbagatay a village with traditional brightly painted house. Home to the "old believers" some have called them "Russia's Amish".

DAY 14 – Departing Ulan-Uday

Early morning transfer to the station where you will board the Ulaanbaatar bound train.

DAY 15 – Arrival in Ulaanbaatar

Transfer from the station, shower and breakfast. Depart for city tour to include the Gandan Monastery ceremony. Depart Ulaanbaatar for the Bayangobi region. Evening arrival at the encampment. Tonight you are the guests of the herdsmen, and you’ll stay in a nomadic ger tent.

A SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT NOMAD STAYS: When we say "nomad stay" it means exactly that - you are sharing the lives of herdsmen who live on the Mongolian Steppe. There's often no electricity, they don't speak English, and there isn't any plumbing!

DAY 16 – Onwards to Harhorin

Depart after breakfast for a day trip through the countryside of Övörkhangai Province in the direction of Harhorin. Our route takes us into the Orkhon Valley, a World Heritage Site. This afternoon we arrive at modern Harhorin – the settlement Genghis Khan would have known as Karakorum. Nothing is left of the ancient settlement, but on its site is the (rather later) monastery of Erdene Zuu, one of the most important Buddhist centres in Mongolia. Returning back to our nomad host family.

DAY 17 – Morning spent with the Nomads

Free time to explore the Bayangobi area. This evening you stay with your nomad host family and learn traditional Mongolian games.

DAY 18 – Elstei Ger Lodge

Evening arrival at Elstei Ger Lodge. This is a different experience from staying with nomads, as Elstei is purposely set up for foreign visitors. This evening, chill out and relax after the long journey.

DAY 19 – Elstei Ger Lodge

Free time at Elstei Ger Lodge. Throughout the day you will have the opportunity to partake in optional activities.

DAY 20 – Return to Ulaanbaatar

After breakfast transfer back to Ulaanbaatar and check into the Bayangol Hotel. The balance of the day is your own to explore this city of contrasts. Culture, shopping, food? This capital city won’t disappoint.

DAY 21 – Departing Ulaanbaatar

Early morning transfer to the station where you will board the Beijing bound train.

DAY 22 – Arrival in Beijing

Arriving into Beijing Central Station at the end of your Trans-Siberian journey.

Extras

The journey you have chosen has some “extras” that are necessary and then “extras" that will enhance your trip. We cannot re-iterate too much that at Russia Experience we pride ourselves on making the trip you have chosen the best it can be – so if we don’t mention something you want, ask us and we’ll try our best to make it happen! In return, we try to inform you about any great “extras” along the way, so that you have the chance to try them if you want! Visas are a necessary extra and needed for all the countries you travel through and the current costs and what is needed can be found under Visas.

Upgrading to 2- berth compartment

Upgrading to 2- berth compartment on the train is also an option, you will see under Prices. This service is becoming more popular every year and not helped by the train operators only confirming this request 30 days or less prior to your departure. We have however devised a workaround for this that’s proving very reliable. We request a 2-berth at the time of booking but if this comes back not possible we block out a 4-berth compartment for 2 person occupancy. The standard of these cabins remains the same, and you get the extra space and privacy one way or the other.

Upgrading to a Hotel stay in Ulan- Uday

Upgrading to a Hotel stay in Ulan-Uday is an option instead of a home-stay. Again you will find this under Prices. At Russia Experience we pride ourselves on sourcing all types of accommodation for our clients, however we understand that for some people a hotel would be more suitable and therefore we offer this option in these areas, as well as the standard homestay. The difference is more a question of ethos and genre than “quality” – it’s a different approach, so perhaps “upgrade” isn’t exactly the right word… but it does cost a little more, so we retain the term “upgrade” for this kind of swap-out. Also we have additional night prices if you would like to arrive prior to the official start date of your trip or extend your stay at the end of the journey. Make sure you have decided this at the time of booking though, so your visas application reflects your length of stay. Although we will always look at requests to extend the stops along the way (or add new ones) these can very often result in a mismatch that make your connections further along the trip fail (since some services operate once-weekly, or on even more unusual timetabling “rules”). If they are possible at all, the usual result of mid-trip extra nights is that your start-date moves earlier to “make room” for them. If you are interested in this kind of alteration please let us know before firming-up your booking, so that your visas can be issued to match the new itinerary. Our expert staff have fourteen years in setting-up complex itineraries, utilising all operating services to achieve your desired result, whilst keeping you advised of undesirable outcomes (ie services known to be poor or unreliable, that we ordinarily never utilise) that might arise from making extreme alterations.

Starting or ending in China

We have a range of services for passengers wanting to stay or continue their journey into China at the start or end of their journey.

Association of Independent Tour Operators

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	1 person	2 people	3-9 people
Full On
22 days full on	£4105	£3000	£2850
23 days full on	£4190	£3055	£2905
Extra night Moscow midweek	£110	£75	£75
Extra night Moscow weekend	£90	£65	£65
Hotel upgrade Ulan-Uday	£130	£65	£65
2-berth upgrade Moscow-Beijing	£625	£625	£625