Trans Siberian Train for the Busy Executive in a week or two

From Genghis Khan to Kremlin (Itinerary attached below)

Never thought I would have made it for this once-in-a-lifetime trip. This idea of this journey has been on my mind for several years, but getting it started was difficult even with some online research and the Trans-Siberian book. 

I prepared for the worse having seen a couple of online videos of backpackers traveling from one end of Russia to the other. Being particularly mindful about cleanliness, I paid close attention to the food, safety, and personal hygiene. To be truthful, the thought of not showering for days was a big dampener. I expected a half smelly train with unbearable toilets (except unless you're willing to pay USD15k-25k for the Golden Eagle train experience). 

Boy were we so wrong! On the longest leg of our journey between Novosibirsk and Kazan, a 37-hour journey, it was not only comfortable on the class of cabin we took, but it also created ample time for us to reflect on life in general. Opportunities to forge new friendships and strengthen existing ones were treasured too. The food was nothing short of fabulous outside the train (I'm a picky eater and I've traveled around 75 countries always looking for good food), nonetheless, the train food was more than edible. You could supplement this with some supermarket groceries before you head off. We had ample supply of Maggie noodles, chocolates, bread, jams and vodka (of course!)

As with most corporate road warriors, many of us have been pampered with business class travels and good hotels. Our group was mentally prepared for the worse even though it was one of the must-dos in life (for us anyway). I still remember some of us looking so worried till the very last minute, but trust me, it's was much better than we thought. Some of the trains with first class seats had a shower facility in the same carriage (look for trains with numbers smaller than a 100, train 1 being the best). Nonetheless spending a night or two on the train is very doable and you could easily use one of those body wipes to get a comfortable sleep on the flatbed. My cabin partner is a sensitive sleeper and had no difficulties getting some rest as well. I had great slumbers with the rocking of the train as it channeled through the vast land of Russia. 

Some Tips from Our Experience

1. Determine your stops. Everything depends on this. The hotels to book, the tours to take, the next train to book and most importantly the itinerary needed to get your Russian VISA. 

- We chose to visit Ulan-Ude, Irkutsk, Lake Baikal, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Kazan, St Petersburg and Moscow. 

- Some of the key areas which we would have liked to see but didn't. The Lake Baikal lake train (which differs from the Trans Siberian train), Yekaterinburg, Vladivostok, and much more time in St Petersburg. However, we have no regrets on what we have done, as it was more than sufficient to get a feel of Russia and experience the Trans-Siberian with the days we had. 

- Optimise time. We flew from Kazan to St Petersburg before taking another high-speed train to Moscow. We could have also squeezed in a Yekaterinburg city tour if we knew that there were flights from Novosibirsk to Yekaterinburg. (Most flights from local cities goes back mainly to Moscow).

- travel from East to West as St Petersburg and Moscow are huge cities unless your final stop is Beijing. 

2. Who could help with the tours at the stops

Once you've sorted out your pit stops, the next step is getting a trust-worthy agent (we are busy executives who don't have time to book our own connecting train tickets, hotels, and individual local city tours and figure out who could assist with the vouchers for our VISA). We wanted someone to coordinate this for us getting us from Ulaanbaatar towards Moscow (we did not require the Chinese part of the journey having been to Beijing many times). Two agents were considered and we chose LetsTravel, our agent Khishgee was pretty responsive and served as well before the tour begun. This agency relied on their Russian partners to do most of the Russian related bookings and for the issuance of the vouchers for our VISAs into Russia. The one thing I noticed about the Russian people who served us during our journey is that they were diligent and honest with the way they handled work (specifically for this tour, getting SIM cards for the mobile phone, hotel reception, local guides and drivers). We could have saved money if we knew who the local guides were, however, convenience comes with a higher price. No regrets as they did a good job getting us very knowledgeable local guides, professional drivers, great restaurants. For those who would not mind saving some cost with some work on coordination, I have listed the names of some of the guides that took us around. You could try to go direct with them to manage the middle man coordination cost. 

3. The itinerary 

I have attached my itinerary of the trip below as a sample for your reference. customization. Do personalise it to your comfort and liking!

Day 1 07.07.2017

14.00 Meet the travelers from the hotel lobby and transfer to the train station for international departure to Ulan-Ude.

15.20 Catch the train

Day 2 08.07.2017

7.00 Arrival in Ulan Ude

Meet with local ESG and transfer to the hotel Mergen Bator *****, accommodation at Singl, Twin standard rooms

2.00 Ulan-Ude City Tour

Dinner at restaurant Tengis (Buryat meal: presentation and degustation)

Day 3 09.07.2017

Breakfast

09.00 City tour of Ulan Ude

11.00 Visit of Ivolginsky Datsan located 30 km from Ulan Ude (3 hours)

Lunch at local café

15.00 Excursion to the village of Old Believers with Russian folklore, visit of local Russian house and dinner. On the way to the Old Believers village stop at the observation point to see the valley of beautiful Selenga river

21.00 Arrival at the train station

22.21 Departure by train # 361 to Irkutsk

Day 4 10.07.2017 Monday

07.15 Arrival in Irkutsk

Meet with local ESG

Transfer to the hotel Courtyard Marriott Irkutsk City center hotel **** for the breakfast

07.30 Breakfast

09.00 Departure for full day excursion to the lake Baikal, at the village Listvyanka, 70 km, 1 hour

10.00 On the way visit to the museum of wooden architecture Taltsy in the open air

12.00 Excursion to the Baikal museum to see the flora and fauna of the lake

13.00 Lunch at local restaurant to taste some fish of lake Baikal

14.30 Visit by cable car to the mountain Chersky where the beautiful view opens at lake Baikal south part and source of Angara river

16.00 Walking tour to the village Krestovka with visit to the Saint Nicolas church

17.00 Visit of souvenir and fish market

18.00 Return to Irkutsk

19.00 Check in at hotel Courtyard Marriott Irkutsk City Center **** at Deluxe Singl, Twin rooms

19.30 Dinner at hotel restaurant (Siberian meal)

Day 5 11.07.2017 Tuesday

Breakfast

10.00 City tour of Irkutsk with visit to the museum of Decembrist

13.30 Lunch at city restaurant Trapeznikov (Russian meal)

15.00 Transfer to the Irkutsk railway station

16.15 Departure by train # 1 Rossia to Krasnoyarsk

Day 6 12.07.2017 Wednesday

08.07 Arrival in Krasnoyarsk

Meet with ESG

Transfer for a breakfast

09.30 City tour of Krasnoyarsk

12.30 Visit of local Regional museum

13.30 Lunch at city restaurant

14.30 Excursion to Divnogork to see the Hydroelectric Power station

Visit of Fun Park Bobrovy Log

Dinner at city restaurant

18.50 Transfer to the train station

19.50 Departure by train # 85 to Novosibirsk

Day 7 13.07.2017 Thursday

07.50 Arrival in Novosibirsk

Meet with local ESG and transfer to the hotel Marriott *****

Check in standard rooms, breakfast, rest

12.00 City tour of Novosibirsk

Lunch at restaurant

Excursion to Akademgorodok

Dinner at hotel restaurant

Day 8 14.07.2017 Friday

05.40 Early breakfast

06.30 Transfer to the Novosibirsk railway

07.37 Departure by train # 55 to Kazan

Day 9 15.07.2017 Saturday

16.25 Arrival to Kazan

Meeting with ESG and transfer to hotel

Accommodation at hotel Mirage ***** in Singl and Twin standard rooms

Dinner at hotel restaurant

Day 10 16.07.2017 Sunday

Breakfast

09.00 - 21.00 Full day excursions

City tour around Kazan with visiting all the main attractions of the city: white stone walls o Kazan Kremlin; the Old Tatar settlement with the first stone mosque – the Al Mardjani Mosque; the legendary lake Kaban, the Tatar State Academic Theater, Kremlevskaya Street with the main building of the Kazan Federal University and the Aleksandrovsky Passage, the Peter and Paul Cathedral,; the Liberty Square with the Opera and Ballet theater and Concert hall, the church of the Exaltation of the Cross, where you can see the miracle-working Kazan Icon of Our Lady.

During the city tour you’ll also visit Kazan Kremlin – a heart of the city.

Walking along the Bauman Street

Bauman street is the oldest street of the city. It’s a beautiful place, the pride of Kazan, where you can fully experience the diversity of the city. Here you can have a cup of coffee, as well as to update your wardrobe. Your attention is also can brought to many monuments of architecture, as well as some surprising sights. Bauman street called recently the Kazan Arbat. Walking on Bauman Street you will see the church and the bell tower of the Epiphany, Chaliapin monument, the building of the National Bank, the Drama Theatre, the royal carriage, a monument to a cat, charming fountains, alley of national stars and more.

Lunch at city restaurant

Bus Tour to Sviyazhsk Island-city

Sviyazhsk is located at the confluence of the Volga and Sviyaga Rivers. The distance from Kazan is just over 30 km up to the Volga. Sviyazhsk was founded in 1551 as a fortress which was built within 4 weeks. It became a military base of the Russian army during the siege of Kazan in 1552. Now it’s historical and cultural gem of the Republic of Tatartan. The complex of city buildings includes the works of Ivan Shiryaj and Postnik Yakovlev, who is well known as one of the builders of Saint Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow. Picturesque nature, surrounding shallow, waters of bays attracted people since the ancient times. Somebody said that Sviyazhsk became a prototype of the mysterious Buyan island-city mentioned in the Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan written by Alexander Pushkin.

19.00 Dinner at city or hotel restaurant

Day 11 17.07.2017 Monday

Early breakfast

Transfer to the airport

10.35 Departure by SU 1269 to Moscow

12.10 Arrival in Moscow

15.30 Arrival in St Petersburg

Transfer to the city

19.00 Concert: folklore show at Nikolaevsky Theater with dinner (supplement payment 3300 rubles per person)

22.00 Accommodation at hotel Crown Plaza 4 **** (or similar) at standard Single, Twin rooms

Day 12 18.07.2017 Tuesday

Meet with local ESG

07.30 Breakfast at city restaurant

08.30 City tour of Saint Petersburg with visit of Saint Isaac`s Cathedral

11.30 Excursion to the Peter and Paul fortress

13.30 Excursion to Ermitage museum

16.30 Time for lunch (lunch is not included)

17.30 Transfer to the Moscow railway

19.00 Departure to Moscow by train # 777A

22.58 Arrival in Moscow

Meet with local ESG assistance and transfer to the hotel Marriott Tverskaya 4 **** (or similar)

Day 13 19.07.2017 Wednesday

Breakfast at hotel

08.30 City tour of Moscow

12.00 Excursion to the Moscow Kremlin

Time for a lunch (supplement payment)

15.00 Excursion to the Gallery Tretyakov

18.00 Return to the hotel

Day 14 20.07.2017 Thursday

Free and Easy

12.00 Transfer with ESG to the airport

15.05 Departure from Moscow

Hope the information I have shared will help those of you contemplating a similar Trans-Siberian trip experience. It's one big tick on my bucket list!