The Central Kingdom Express
By private train on the Trans-Siberian railway between Moscow and Beijing
In Brief
| Moscow - 1 night. Train - 5 nights. Irkutsk - 1 night. Train - 2 nights. Ulan Bator - 1 night. Train - 2 nights. Beijing - 3 nights. |
Eastbound Itinerary
Day 1Fly from London Heathrow to Moscow and transfer to a 4-star hotel for overnight. Moscow by night tour.
Day 2 Sightseeing in Moscow includes the Kremlin. Evening embarkation on your private train.
Day 3 Arrive at Kazan, ancient capital of the Tartars, between the Volga and Ural Mountains. Enjoy a city tour including the Kremlin and cruise on the Volga River.
Day 4 Arrive at Yekaterinburg, site of the tragedy of the Romanovs. A city tour includes the newly erected Church of the Ascension.
Day 5 Arrive in Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia, where you will be welcomed in the traditional Russian manner with bread and salt. City tour. Continue across Siberia.
Day 6 Travel through Siberia past wooden villages and forests. Enjoy a ‘Tsar’s Feast’ and caviar and vodka tasting on board.
Day 7 Reach Irkutsk, capital of Eastern Siberia and an archbishopric of the Orthodox Church. City tour includes the statue of Alexander III and open-air museum. Overnight at an Irkutsk hotel.
Day 8 Travel through beautiful mountain scenery and on the ancient train tracks along the south shore of Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest lake. Take a boat ride to Port Baikal and a lakeside picnic dinner (weather permitting).
Day 9 Cross the Selenga River to the frontier town of Ulan Ude, capital of Buryat Republic, for a tour. Travel on the trans-Mongolian line into Mongolia.
Day 10 Arrive Ulan Bator for a tour including the Buddhist monastery of Ghandan, open-air railway museum and Lama Museum. Overnight in a 3-star hotel.
Day 11 An excursion to the ‘Valley of the Nomads’ and a Mongolian horseback riding show. Travel towards the Chinese border.
Day 12 An early stop in the Gobi Desert before reaching the Chinese frontier at Erlian, where the Russian broad gauge track ends. Transfer to the Chinese private train.
Day 13 Disembark at Beijing. Stay three nights at a 4-star hotel.
Day 14 Visit the Temple of Heaven, Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City.
Day 15 Visit the Great Wall and Ming Tombs. Peking Duck dinner.
Day 16 Return flight reaches Heathrow later the same day.
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