Multi-Region

Itinerary

• Days 1-2: Moscow (Russia)

  After arrival and a night in a five-star hotel, start the day with a visit to Moscow’s Red Square, taking in iconic St. Basil’s Cathedral and the massive Kremlin, where you can tour the Armory Museum, a storehouse of national treasures. If you’re intrigued by art, you may opt instead to tour the Tretyakov Gallery, which has a collection spanning a millennium of Russian works. In the afternoon depart Moscow aboard the luxury Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express private train.

  HIGHLIGHTS

  • Red Square, the heart of Moscow and a UNESCO World Heritage Site
  • The treasures of the Armory Museum, from Faberge eggs to the ivory throne of Ivan the Terrible
  • The Tretyakov Gallery, home to the world’s most extensive collection of Russian art
• Days 3-4: Kazan, Ekaterinburg

  Make a stop along the Volga in Kazan, the beautiful capital of Tatarstan, a Russian autonomous region. The city is noted for its centuries of religious harmony – here mosques, minarets, and Orthodox church domes share the skyline. The next stop marks the transition from Europe into Asia, on the eastern side of the Ural mountains in Ekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city. Visit the Church of the Blood, built on the spot where the last czar, Nicholas II, and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks in July of 1918.

  HIGHLIGHTS

  • The UNESCO-listed Kazan Kremlin, considered the only surviving Tatar fortress in Russia
  • Ekaterinburg’s Church on the Blood, consecrated in 2003 on the site where Bolsheviks executed Czar Nicholas II and his family
• Day 5: Novosibirsk

  Stop in Novosibirsk, which thanks to the influence of the Trans-Siberian railway grew into Siberia’s biggest city. Its opera house on Lenin Square is the largest in Russia. The town sits on the Ob River, 2,300 miles from its mouth in the Arctic.

  HIGHLIGHTS

  • The daunting scale of Lenin Square, with its domed opera house – nicknamed the Siberian Colosseum – and giant Soviet-era statues
• Days 6-7: Aboard Train, Irkutsk

  Arrive in Irkutsk, the cultural capital of eastern Siberia. A tour of this surprisingly sophisticated little city includes examples of the area’s classic wooden architecture and a visit to the Decembrist House Museum, honoring failed 19th century revolutionaries who settled here after completing their terms in Siberian labor camps.

  HIGHLIGHTS

  • Irkutsk’s ornate 19th century wooden buildings, many decorated with lacy wooden fretwork
  • A private classical music concert at Decembrist House Museum, one of the best preserved of Irkutsk’s historic houses
• Day 8: Lake Baikal

  Today the Golden Eagle hits a spectacular stretch of track, winding through tunnels and along cliffs above UNESCO-listed Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest and oldest freshwater lake. Stop en route for a barbecue along the shore and continue to the lakeside village of Listvyanka, where you can dip your toes in the water and learn about what makes the lake special at the Baikal Museum. 

  HIGHLIGHTS

  • The rail line along the water, arguably the most scenic stretch of the Trans-Siberian trip
  • Little Listvyanka village and its Baikal Museum, which includes aquariums displaying the lake’s unique marine life
• Day 9: Ulan Ude

  A stop in Ulan Ude, capital of Russia’s Buryat Republic, provides the opportunity to visit a village of Old Believers – a religious group that rebelled against changes to the Orthodox liturgy in 1652 and, as a result, were exiled to Siberia. In their isolated enclaves, they’ve preserved 17th century styles of clothing, architecture, and music. UNESCO includes this unique community on its List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

  HIGHLIGHTS

  • Lunch with a group of Old Believers, followed by a performance of their traditional choral music
• Day 10: Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia)

  Crossing the border onto the steppe of Mongolia, the train makes a stop in Ulaanbaatar, the country’s capital. Tour the Gandan Monastery and experience Mongolian cuisine in a nomadic ger (a traditional yurt).

  HIGHLIGHTS

  • Migjid Janraisig Sum, the main temple of the Gandan Monastery, which houses an 85-foot-tall, 20-ton, gold-gilded statue of Migjid Janraisig, a Buddhist bodhisattva
  • A Mongolian-style lunch served in a ger
• Days 11-13: Aboard Train

  Siberia at its most remote and mysterious unfolds before you as the train follows the Shilka and Amur rivers, eventually passing through the city of Khabarovsk.

  HIGHLIGHTS

  • The vast eastern Siberian taiga, a subarctic region of permafrost made up largely of dense coniferous forests.
• Days 14-15: Vladivostok (Russia)

  Disembark in Vladivostok, the Trans-Siberian line’s eastern terminus, and tour the city, which was once off limits to outside visitors. Transfer to a four-star hotel for a one-night stay and a farewell dinner.

  HIGHLIGHTS

  • Vladivostok’s 1912 train station, built in classic Russian style that closely resembles the station in Moscow, 5,771 miles away, where the Trans-Siberian journey began
  • The observation platform on Eagle’s Nest Hill, which provides an expansive view of Vladivostok and Golden Horn Bay 
  • A tour of the S-56, a Soviet submarine that saw extensive action in WWII, at the Pacific Navy Military History Museum