Day 1. Welcome to Moscow

You are greeted at the airport by your friendly tour director and accompanied to your hotel. Our City of Lights tour shows you around the exquisitely illuminated Russian capital. You notice that Moscow is clearly on a par with Europe’s other great metropolitan cities such as Madrid and Paris. You stroll across the famous Red Square with your travel director and take a short trip on the subway to view several of Moscow’s particularly majestic metro stations.

Overnight: InterContinental Tverskaya (or similar)/Radisson Royal Ukraina (or similar). Meals included: Dinner (D)

Day 2. Moscow from Its Most Beautiful Side

In the morning, you take an informative tour of Moscow, including the imposing Kremlin grounds and its magnificent cathedral from tsarist times. In the evening, you are greeted aboard your private train. A relaxed get-together in the dining car offers the chance to meet your fellow travellers and learn more about your private train.

Overnight on board. Meals included: Breakfast (B), lunch (L) and dinner (D)

Day 3. Kazan

In the morning, you arrive in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. You take a tour of the Kazan Kremlin, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with its wonderful panoramic view over the Volga River, where you learn about the turbulent history of conflicts between the Tatars, the Cossacks, and the Russians. Your train resumes its journey east in the evening.

Overnight on board (BLD)

Day 4. Yekaterinburg

Your train stops around noon in Yekaterinburg, the historical capital of the Urals. The city is remembered as the place where Russian tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered in 1918. During a brief tour, you see the Church on Blood, built in 2003 in commemoration of that tragic historic event, and the city centre, beautifully restored in 2009. Back on board, you continue your journey through the vast steppes of Western Siberia.

Overnight on board (BLD)

Day 5. Novosibirsk

You arrive in Novosibirsk, the heart of Siberia, where you are welcomed in the traditional Russian way, with bread and salt. During a short city tour, you experience the most Soviet of all cities during your journey. You see the enormous Trans-Siberian Monument and the mighty Ob River.

Overnight on board (BLD)

Day 6. Across Siberia

Your train crosses the wide Yenisei River and rolls on through Siberia. The train’s chefs once again demonstrate their skills as they serve Russian specialties—a Tsar’s Feast. A vodka tasting accompanied by Russian snacks and clever toasts offers an enjoyable experience, combining culinary enjoyment and local hospitality. Your train passes by Siberian villages with their typical wooden houses and rolls through birch forests set against a background of impressive mountainscapes and, hopefully, ample sunshine.

Overnight on board (BLD)

Day 7. Irkutsk

Today, your train reaches Irkutsk, the capital of Eastern Siberia in tsarist times. During a city tour you see, among other things, picturesque Siberian wooden houses, and a memorial to Tsar Alexander III (the initiator of the Tran-Siberian Railroad), erected in 2003 where the Trans-Siberian Obelisk previously stood. After lunch you take an excursion to an informative open-air museum of life and work in historical Siberia.

Overnight: Hotel Irkutsk (or similar) (BLD)

Day 8. Lake Baikal

Today, a bus takes you to Listvyanka, a Siberian village on the shores of Lake Baikal, the largest reservoir of freshwater in the world. From the village, a boat brings you across the lake’s deep waters to Port Baikal, where your private train is waiting. You then travel for a few hours directly alongside Lake Baikal on the original route of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Your train halts for several hours at a particularly scenic spot, for you to truly enjoy the majestic calm of this unique natural wonder. Dinner is served as a picnic on the shores of Lake Baikal (weather permitting).

Overnight on board (BLD)

Day 9. From Lake Baikal to Ulan-Ude and on to Mongolia

The journey continues along the banks of seemingly endless Lake Baikal and then through the splendid Selenga Valley and the wild solitude of Eastern Siberia’s mountainous steppes. You take a tour of Ulan-Ude during an intermediate stop there. Border formalities at the Russian–Mongolian border take place on board.

Overnight on board (BLD)

Day 10. Ulan Bator

Today, early risers are treated to central Mongolia’s spectacular scenery, set in a mountain landscape dotted with colourful yurt camps and inhabited by solitary riders on horseback. In the morning, you arrive in Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia. On a city tour, you see the impressive Gandan Buddhist Monastery and the eccentric Choijin Lama Temple. Afterward, you have the unique chance to attend a performance of traditional Mongolian folk arts, which includes throat singing, the horsehead fiddle, national costumes, and dances—tickets are €14/$15, to be paid on site.

Overnight: Ramada Hotel (or similar) (BLD)

On request, we can organize alternative lodging in a yurt in the beautiful landscape of the Mongolian Alps for a supplement of €35/US$40—please let us know upon booking. This is a rare experience and a dream come true for nature lovers.

Day 11. Ulan Bator and the Mongolian Alps

After breakfast, a bus brings you to Terelj National Park, east of Ulan Bator, where you see the nomadic herdsmen’s exotic settlements of traditional tents, horse herds, and scraggly yaks, a type of wild Tibetan cattle. A small Mongolian archery demonstration is put on especially for you, and you enjoy a picnic lunch served in these splendid surroundings. Afterward, you transfer to your hotel in Ulan Bator.

Overnight: Ramada Hotel (or similar) (BL)

Day 12. Departure from Ulan Bator for Home

Breakfast and transfer to the airport for your return flight. (B)