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Express to Russia » Tours to Russia » Trans-Siberian Express » 5 stars - East to West, 15 days/ 14 nights
5 stars - East to West, 15 days/ 14 nightsBeijing - Ulaanbaatar - Irkutsk - Yekaterinburg - Moscow
This tour covers the highlights of the Trans-Siberian railway – the 5 main cities along the route. The railway itself is one of the most exciting journeys in the world. It begins in China, the starting point of the famed silk and tea road. Its capital Beijing will impress you with such cultural masterpieces as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. Mongolia will greet you with its endless deserts and steppes, gers and nomadic life. In Irkutsk, you will visit Lake Baikal – one of the world’s premier natural landmarks. In Yekaterinburg, the first Siberian city, you will visit places associated with the tragic Fate of the first Tsar. Moscow will be the final point on your itinerary. Here you will spend just 2 days but fall in love in this beautiful and dynamic city.
| Day 1 Beijing |
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On arrival to Beijing you will be met at the airport by our Chinese representatives and transfer to your hotel by car or minibus. At the hotel you will have some rest be ready for the sightseeing city tour. This tour is the best way to see the main highlights of Beijing which include the Forbidden City. It lies in the very heart of Beijing. Built between 1406 and 1420, this palace served as the home of China´s emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for five centuries - from 1406 until 1908. The palace consists of 9000 halls and rooms, containing many precious relics. The palace is considered to be the largest palace in the world and one of mankind’s major cultural heritage sites.
In the evening you will have free time for walking along the city streets and admiring the surroundings.
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| Day 2 |
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After breakfast at the hotel, we will head off to one of the most powerful symbols of ancient Chinese civilization – the Great Wall, stretching 6,350 km. The Great Wall was built as a defensive structure. Construction began during a very unstable time of Chinese history, the warring period of 476 - 221 B.C. In the beginning, walls were built at strategic points by different kingdoms to protect their own territories. After the first Emperor Qin Shihuang of the Qin Dynasty unified China in 221 B.C., he decided to have the individual walls joined together in order to create one Great Wall. It took more than 1 million people and more than 10 years to finish the work. In 1987, the Great Wall was adding to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
After time at the wall, we will stop for lunch at a local restaurant (optional).
The second part of the excursion will take you to the Ming Tombs. The Ming Tombs are a group of mausoleums built for 13 Ming emperors, their empresses and their concubines. The tombs are located about 31 miles north of Beijing over an area of 25 square miles. Two of the tombs, Changling and the most famous, Dingling, an underground palace, are open to the public.
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| Day 3 |
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This morning is a breakfast, check out and transfer to train station. Departure from Beijing to Ulan-Bataar.
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| Day 4 Ulaanbaatar |
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On arrival in Ulaanbaatar around at noon, you will be greeted by our representatives and the Mongolian part of your journey will begin. You will transfer to Dugana Had resort (110km) which is situated in a picturesque mountain valley.
On arrival, you will have lunch.
The resort offers a wide range of optional activities (paid separately on the spot) including; archery, horse cart riding and trekking. Dinner will be served in a ger-café and you will spend the night in a ger (the traditional Mongolian nomadic house) in the middle of the endless step.
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| Day 5 |
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After breakfast, we will head back towards Ulaanbaatar, stopping to visit a nomadic family along the way.
Once back in the capital, you will start off on a city tour. We will visit the heart of Ulaanbaator - Sukhbaatar square with its statue of Sukhbaatar, the national hero in the center. We will then leave the square and drive to Gandan Monastery, which was destroyed during Stalin’s rule, but has since been rebuilt.
We will then have a nice lunch and then continue the tour program to the National history museum, the oldest public museum in Mongolia. The museum includes geological, geographical, biographical, pale ontological and anthropological sections. The most impressive exhibits are the huge skeletons of two dinosaurs found in the Gobi desert and also the nests of dinosaurs’ eggs. The museum also includes examples of the snow leopard, Gobi bear, red wolf and others species of Mongolia.
After the museum, you will have some free time to shop in a real, Mongolian Department store.
Dinner is at a local restaurant. You will spend this night in a hotel.
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| Day 6-7 |
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After breakfast, you will have free time to walk around the city.
Check out before 12:00. You will transfer to the railway station to take train to Irkutsk in the evening.
The next day be spent on the train, admiring the scenery of valleys and mountains.
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| Day 8 Irkutsk |
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Your train arrives in Irkutsk where our representatives will meet and take you to a hotel.
Our guide will come and take you on a city tour to the historical center and Znamenskiy monastery where the leaders of the Decembrists and G. Shelikhov – the Russian Columbus are buried. You will pass along Karl Max Prospect with its many buildings dating from the 19th century. You will see the Angara river embankment and see a monument to Alexander III, and continue onto the immense GES (hydro-electro station) and the ice-breaker ANGARA.
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| Day 9 |
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After breakfast and check out, our representatives will take you to Lake Baikal, the largest body of fresh water in the world. On the way from Irkutsk, we will make a stop at the Ethnographical museum “Taltsy” consisting of examples of Siberian wooden houses from the past centuries.
On the way to Baikal we will make a stop to see the Lake from an observation point “Pick of Cherskiy”. On arrival to a hotel we will have lunch (optional). This is not the end of the day; we will also visit the Limnological museum, where exhibits of the unique fauna and flora that surround the lake are displayed. There is also an aquarium where you can see different species of local fish and the Baikal nerpa – the earth’s only fresh water seal. Return to the hotel.
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| Day 10-11 |
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After breakfast, free time and check out from hotel in noon. Than you will be transferred to the train station. The train leaves in the afternoon.
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Day 12
Yekaterinburg |
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On arrival in the afternoon in Yekaterinburg our friendly representatives will meet you at the train station and bring you by car or mini bus to your hotel.
Later you will start your first excursion which explores the Last days of the Romanov’s and is combined with a city tour.
The excursion will acquaint you with the history of the Romanov family in Yekaterinburg and detail their tragic death. You will visit the Monastery dedicated to the family of the last Tsar. The Monastery is located on the spot where the Bolsheviks tried to hide the Romanov’s corpses in a secret grave. Today, this area is a well-known Russian Orthodox pilgrimage site.
After viewing the Monastery and the neighboring wooden churches, you will go on to see the main historical sites of Yekaterinburg: The Historical skver (park), the wooden dam of the city’s first plant, the old city embankment and a monument of Lenin, leader of Soviet Russia. The tour will also take you to places connected to the first President of Russia – Boris Yeltsin who originates from Yekaterinburg. After the excursion, you will be taken back to the hotel and have free time to walk around the city.
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| Day 13 |
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After a good breakfast, you will be taken to the railway station to continue your journey to Moscow. Departure is in the morning.
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| Day 14 Moscow |
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Moscow, the capital of Russian Federation, is the ending point of your Tran Siberian journey.
In Moscow you will be met by our representatives at the train station and taken to your hotel. On the way to your hotel or apartment you will get your first glimpse of Moscow.
In the afternoon, you will check into hotel and meet with your guide. Your excursion program starts with a city tour by car or minibus. City tour is the best way to get acquainted with many of the city’s major highlights. Our professional guide will escort you on a route that includes Vorobyevi Hills where you will get an incredible view of the city from an observation point, you will proceed to Moscow State University which is an example of architecture from the time of Stalin, then on to Novodevichiy Convent, the Diplomatic Village, Victory Park, the Triumphal Arch, Kutuzovsky Prospect. You will proceed to Red Square, meaning “beautiful”, “best” with the famous St. Basil´s Cathedral and visit Kremlin the former ancient tower, military fortification, a palace, an armory, the sovereign treasury and now the workplace of Russian President. Among the sights you will see are the Mausoleum of Lenin, the Upper Trading Rows (including the State Department Store (GUM), the clock at the Savior (Spasskaya) Tower – showing the most correct Moscow time.
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| Day 15 |
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After breakfast at the hotel you will have some free. After you will be transferred to airport to return home.
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