Travel along the Great Siberian Way: from Russia to Mongolia

Do you have “to do list” in life? If you are an avid traveler, then a voyage along the famous Trans-Siberian Railway is possibly one of the first points in it. You can plan this epic trip yourself and that will take a lot of effort. Or you can entrust everything to us and just enjoy your dream! After all, the Transsib is not trains and hotels, but a magic lamp that fulfills the cherished desires of any tourist without any restrictions. Would you like to visit the border of Europe and Asia? Try Tatar cuisine? Take a boat ride on Lake Baikal? Visit Mongolian nomads? Learn how to make dumplings? Or immerse yourself in meditation in an ancient Buddhist temple? Nothing could be easier, just choose this program and go on a journey along the Great Siberian Way!

DAY 1. SAINT PETERSBURG

• Arrival in St. Petersburg
• Meeting with your guide at the airport
• Transfer and city sightseeing tour
• Boat trip along the rivers and canals of the city
• Hotel accommodation ****

DAY 2. SAINT PETERSBURG

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Peter and Paul Fortress visit
• Lunch
• Visit to Peterhof (Upper and Lower parks, Grand Palace)
• Return to hotel
• Free time

DAY 3. SAINT PETERSBURG – MOSCOW

• Check-out from the hotel
• Transfer to Moskovsky railway station
• Departure to Moscow by Sapsan
• Arrival in Moscow
• Transfer to hotel
• Hotel accommodation ****

DAY 4. MOSCOW

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Sightseeing tour of the city
• Lunch
• Excursion to the Moscow Kremlin with Cathedrals visits
• Walking tour of Red Square
• Return to hotel
• Free time

DAY 5. MOSCOW – KAZAN BY TRAIN

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Check-out from the hotel
• Arbat walking tour
• Novodevichy Convent visit
• Lunch
• Visiting Izmailovo Kremlin and Vernissage
• Transfer to the train station
• Departure to Kazan by train (1st or 2nd class carriage, compartment for double occupancy)
• Night on the train

DAY 6. KAZAN

• Breakfast on the train
• Arrival in Kazan, meeting with the guide at the railway station
• Sightseeing tour of Kazan, walking along Bauman street
• Kazan Kremlin visit
• Lunch at a Tatar cuisine restaurant
• Visit to the Chak-chak Museum with a master class
• Hotel accommodation ****
• Free time
• Overnight at the hotel

DAY 7. EKATERINBURG BY TRAIN

• Early check-out from the hotel. Breakfast ( lunch boxes)
• Transfer to the train station
• Departure to Yekaterinburg by train (2nd class carriage, compartment for double occupancy)
• Day on the road
• Arrival in Yekaterinburg, transfer to the hotel
• Hotel accommodation ****
• Overnight at the hotel

DAY 8. EKATERINBURG

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Sightseeing tour of the city
• Excursion to the border of Europe and Asia (17 km from the city)
• Lunch
• Excursion "In the footsteps of the last Romanovs"
• Overnight at the hotel

DAY 9. NOVOSIBIRSK BY TRAIN

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Check-out from the hotel
• Transfer to the train station
• Departure to Novosibirsk by train (1st or 2nd class carriage, compartment for double occupancy)
• Lunch and dinner on the train
• Night on the train

DAY 10. NOVOSIBIRSK

• Arrival in Novosibirsk
• Sightseeing tour of the city
• Lunch
• Excursion to the Museum of Railway Technology
• Dinner with a dumpling making workshop
• Hotel accommodation ****
• Overnight at the hotel

DAY 11. NOVOSIBIRSK

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Free day
• Lunch at the hotel
• Late check-out
• Transfer to the train station

DAY 12. IRKUTSK BY TRAIN

• Departure to Irkutsk (2nd class carriage, compartment for double occupancy)
• A day on the train
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner on the train
• Night on the train

DAY 13. IRKUTSK

• Arrival in Irkutsk, meeting with the guide
• Breakfast at a local cafe
• Sightseeing tour of the city
• Museum of the Decembrists (House-museum of the Volkonskys) visit
• Culinary master class (grilling Baikal fish and fish soup)
• Lunch
• Free time
• Hotel accommodation ****

DAY 14. LAKE BAIKAL

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Full day in Listvyanka village
• Visit to the architectural and ethnographic museum "Taltsy"
• Sightseeing tour of Listvyanka
• Visit to the fish market
• Excursion to the observation deck at the top of Kamen Chersky
• Lunch
• Boat excursion on the lake
• Transfer to Irkutsk
• Overnight at the hotel

DAY 15. ROUND-BAIKAL RAILWAY

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Tour of Lake Baikal by train (full day, with lunch)
• Transfer to Irkutsk
• Overnight at the hotel

DAY 16. MOVING TO ULAN-BATOR

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Check-out from the hotel
• Transfer to the train station
• Departure to Ulaanbaatar by train (1st or 2nd class carriage, compartment for double occupancy)
• Day on the road
• The train is not equipped with a dining car, lunch and dinner - lunch boxes
• Night on the train

DAY 17. GORKHI-TERELZH NATIONAL PARK

• Arrival in Ulaanbaatar, meeting with the guide
• Breakfast in Ulan Bator, departure to Gorkhi-Terelzh National Park
• Full day at the nomad camp including:
• horse riding
• preparation of traditional dairy products
• visit to the Buddhist temple Aryabal
• Lunch and dinner at the nomad camp
• Overnight at the yurt camp (ger-camp)

DAY 18. YURT CAMP – ULAN-BATOR

• Breakfast at the yurt camp
• Free time / nomad family visit
• Lunch at the yurt camp
• Transfer to Ulaanbaatar
• Hotel accommodation ****
• Overnight at the hotel

DAY 19. ULAN-BATOR

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Check-out from the hotel
• Free day in Ulaanbaatar
• Transfer to the airport

DURING THE TOUR YOU WILL SEE:

• St. Petersburg is a city on the Neva, a cultural capital, Northern Palmyra, a city of white nights, a cradle of revolution. There are many names of a beautiful city, which, despite its youth, only 300 years old, has taken its special place in the history of Russia. The city is located on 42 islands connected by 360 bridges that cross the Neva, its 65 branches and natural canals. During a sightseeing tour on the first day, you will see all the main sights of the city: the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, Senate Square, the famous Nevsky Prospect and other monuments and architectural ensembles. An ideal addition to the sightseeing tour will be a boat trip along the rivers and canals where you will continue your acquaintance with the Venice of the North.
  The next day you will start with a visit to the Peter and Paul Fortress - the first bastion-type fortress, the burial place of Russian emperors and the oldest architectural monument of the city, founded on May 27, 1703 by Peter I. The day of the foundation of the fortress is considered the day of the foundation of the city. After lunch, you will go to Peterhof - the city of parks and fountains where 150 fountains and four sculptural cascades currently work. During your stay in Peterhof, you will visit the Great Palace, which stretches for almost 300 meters along the terrace, linking two parks (Upper and Lower) into a single artistic whole.


• Moscow is a modern metropolis and the capital of Russia, whose history begins in 1147, when Prince Yuri Dolgoruky founded a small outpost on the banks of the Moskva River. During the sightseeing tour you can admire the view of the city from University Square on Vorobyovy Hills and see all the main sights of the city: Red Square, the Moskva River embankment, the monument to Peter the Great and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. After lunch, you will go to the Moscow Kremlin, whose mighty walls and towers, golden-domed temples and ancient towers form one of the most famous architectural and artistic ensembles in the world. You will see the churches of Cathedral Square, the Patriarch's Chambers with the Church of the Twelve Apostles, the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell, the Senate building and the Arsenal. A visit to Moscow is impossible without a tour of Red Square - the main square of the country! Here every year they pay tribute to the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War and celebrate the most beloved Russian holiday - New Year! Here, the mausoleum of the first Soviet leader and one of the most famous Orthodox churches - St. Basil's Cathedral, whose masters, according to legend, were blinded so that such a masterpiece would not appear anywhere except in the Russian capital, coexist in historical harmony.
  The next day will begin with a walk along the Arbat, one of the most beautiful Moscow streets known since the 15th century. And then you will get acquainted with the famous Novodevichy Convent, which has repeatedly found itself at the center of the dramatic events of Russian history. Being one of the most beautiful architectural ensembles of the 17th century, this monastery during the first two centuries of its existence actually served as a place of imprisonment of female royal persons. After lunch, you will go to a real fair in the Izmailovsky Kremlin where you will choose the best souvenir in memory of the Russian capital!


• Kazan is a city with a thousand-year history, located on the left bank of the Volga River at the confluence of the Kazanka River. It is a large port, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, a city of two cultures, a tourist center, which is visited by more than 2 million tourists every year. You will begin your acquaintance with a sightseeing tour and a stroll along Bauman Street - one of the oldest streets in Kazan, which existed in the days of the Kazan Khanate. The ancient street will lead you to the pearl of the city, the Kazan Kremlin, a grandiose architectural complex founded in the X century. After the assault on Kazan in 1552 by the troops of Ivan the Terrible, the Kremlin was expanded, and the wooden defensive structures were replaced with stone ones. Currently, the Kazan Kremlin occupies an area of 1,500 hectares. As before, it is the center of political life - here is the residence of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan.
  After lunch, where you will taste Tatar cuisine, you will visit an unusual museum. This is the Chak-chak Museum, where you will learn everything about the history and recipes of your favorite national dessert, drink aromatic tea from a samovar, try chak-chak and learn how to cook this famous oriental sweet yourself.
• Yekaterinburg is the capital of the Urals, one of the first industrial cities in Russia, founded in 1723. Yekaterinburg is located on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains, where a natural border between Europe and Asia is located. A symbolic obelisk was erected 17 km from the city, at the base of which two stones were laid from the easternmost and westernmost points of Eurasia - Cape Dezhnev and Cape Roka.
  Sad pages of the city history are associated with the last days of the life of the royal family. During the tour, you will visit the Church on Blood, located on the site of the Ipatiev house, where on the night of July 16-17, 1918 the family of the last Russian emperor Nicholas II was shot. Then you will go to the abandoned mine of Ganina Yama, where the remains were buried. In 2000, the monastery of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers was founded here.


• Novosibirsk is the largest city in Siberia and the third largest city in Russia, located on both banks of the Ob River. It owes its birth to the Trans-Siberian Railway and up to this day it is the largest railway junction. Novosibirsk was built on a Siberian scale, which you can appreciate during a sightseeing tour: the central street Krasny Prospekt stretches for 7 km, the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater was nicknamed the Siberian Coliseum, and the length of the metro bridge across the Ob River is 2 km.
  After lunch, you will have a visit you cannot imagine a trip along the Trans-Siberian Railway without. This is, of course, the Museum of Railway Technology. On the territory of the museum real trains and wagons from the middle of the 19th century to the present day are exhibited. Moreover, visitors can inspect railway equipment not only from the outside, but also look into the operating carriage of the Great Patriotic War or visit the imperial compartment. In the evening you will learn how to cook one of the most beloved and famous Russian dishes - dumplings.


• Irkutsk – an ancient city located in the east of Siberia, in the valley of the Angara River. It is a starting point for a trip to Lake Baikal. The city is interesting not only for its close location to the famous lake. There are more than 680 monuments of history and culture, including churches, monasteries, merchant "lace" houses, stone and wooden estates. After a sightseeing tour of Irkutsk, you will visit the Museum of the Decembrists. House and estate of S.G. Volkonsky, where the prince's family settled after the end of the hard labor, is a unique phenomenon in the culture of Irkutsk, a vivid illustration of the tragic pages of the history of Russia in the 19th century. The traditions and life of the Volkonsky princely family are represented by the recreated historical interiors of the house, which contain the personal belongings of the prince and his wife, original furniture, books, musical instruments. At lunch you will continue your acquaintance with local culinary traditions and learn the secrets of cooking Baikal fish, the fame of which has gone far beyond Siberia.


• Lake Baikal is one of the most ancient reservoirs of our planet. It is also known for being the deepest lake on Earth and at the same time the largest natural reservoir of fresh water - 19% of all world reserves. This is the central point of the trip along the Trans-Siberian Railway, to which you will devote 2 days.
  The first day will begin with Taltsy Museum of Wooden Architecture visit, a unique ethnographic complex where four historical and cultural zones have been retrospectively recreated: Russian, Buryat, Evenk and Tofalar. And then you will head to Listvyanka - one of the oldest settlements on Lake Baikal. At the entrance to Listvyanka there is a shaman-stone - a symbol of Lake Baikal, which denotes the place where the Angara River flows out of the lake. During the excursion, you will climb to the observation deck Kamen Chersky, from where a unique view of Lake Baikal and Angara opens, and visit the local fish market for the tastiest keepsake. After lunch a boat trip along the great lake awaits you!
  The next day you will continue your acquaintance with Lake Baikal by going on one of the most popular excursions on the lake - a trip along the Circum-Baikal Railway. Numerous tunnels and galleries of the "golden buckle" of the Transsib, preserved from tsarist times, as well as amazingly beautiful rocky shores, endless expanses of the Baikal water surface, unique flora and fauna will make this trip unforgettable.


• Gorkhi-Terelzh National Park – the birthplace of Genghis Khan, one of the most picturesque national parks in Mongolia, located 60 km from Ulan Bator. Here you will get acquainted with the way of life of Mongolian nomads, learn how to prepare traditional milk drinks, ride horses (a Mongol without a horse is like a bird without wings), and not only spend the night in a real yurt, but also learn how to build it.


• The Aryabal Buddhist temple is also located in the Gorkhi-Terelzh mountains. 108 steps lead to the temple. Overcoming them you can plunge into meditation and comprehend your impressions of your journey along the Great Siberian Way!


• Ulan Bator is the capital of Mongolia, the nomadic residence of Bogdo-gegen, founded in 1639, but finally settled in the valley of the Tuul River only in 1778. Today Ulaanbaatar is a political and commercial center filled with skyscrapers that stand proudly against the backdrop of a beautiful mountain landscape. On the last day of your trip, you can take a leisurely stroll around the city, visit the ancient Gandan monastery or go to the Bogdo Gegen Palace.

Other tours

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Fabulous New Year Holidays in Saint Petersburg 5 days/4 nights

Two capitals & Golden Ring – 10 days

St. Petersburg – Velikiy Novgorod – Vladimir  – Suzdal – Rostov – Pereslavl'-Zalessky – Sergiev Posad – Moscow.