Moscow-Beijing (Peking) “The great tea road”

Departure from Moscow to Kazan on the train “Premium” from Kazan railway station at 20.48.

Compartment: from 5900 RUB

Arrival in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, at 08.00 a.m. Meeting and the beginning of the excursion: of course, we will visit the famous Kazan Kremlin, an observation platform with a panoramic view of the Volga, walk along the main pedestrian street of the city – Bauman Street.

Time for lunch. We will drive through the center of the city and see the most interesting historical buildings, cathedrals and mosques.

Transfer to the airport, departure to Yekaterinburg by train 378 at 20.08. Night we’ll spend in the train.

We move through the hilly Ural mountains and arrive in Yekaterinburg at 12.22.

Accommodation at the hotel, time for lunch and city tour. Yekaterinburg was founded in 1723 as a city-factory, and  for its history has played a role as a center of the Ural mountainous region, the capital of the Ural region, which united giant lands from the Arctic Ocean to Kazakhstan, a closed military city and even the capital of the virtual Ural Republic. In our tour we’ll see the dam of the XVIII century, the bizarre mansion of the merchant Sevastyanov, the famous Temple-on-the-Blood in the place of execution of the royal family.

On request – a mineralogical museum, where a representative collection of Ural gems is collected; visit the conventional border between Europe and Asia. In the evening you’ll have an opportunity to walk independently along the pedestrian center of the city, buy a souvenir and have dinner in some beautiful place.

Overnight at the hotel.

Transfer to the station; take the train number 100 at 11.52 to Novosibirsk (or another train). Outside the window, you can see woodlands and swamps of Western Siberia. Night in the train.

Compartment: from 4900 RUB.

Arrival to Novosibirsk at 11.32. Meeting, hotel accommodation, time for lunch. Excursion program in Akademgorodok, central streets and Krasny Prospekt, exploring the iconic buildings of the city: the opera house, the “apartment house” of the Stalin era – an architectural monument of federal importance, built at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, the mansions of Siberian merchants: stone and wooden – the beautiful architectural heritage of Novonikolayevsk. Optional: visit the evening performance in the most famous opera theater in Siberia. Overnight at the hotel.

Departure by a train “Novosibirsk-Vladivostok” number 100 at 12.32 to Irkutsk. It’s a good opportunity to trace how boggy birch woodlands of western Siberia are replacing by a real taiga.

Compartment: from 5100 RUB.

Day in the train, arrival in Irkutsk at 20.47. Meeting and moving to Lake Baikal, Listvyanka, one of the oldest Russian settlements on the shores of the great lake. Hotel accommodation.

It’s a free day on Lake Baikal. Separate walks. You should definitely try the smoked omul and grayling on the embankment of Lake Baikal.

If you wish (for additional payment) you can take a sightseeing program – a walking tour along the Baikal shore with several tunnels passing through. Transfer by ferry to Port Baikal at 11.30 and walking tour with a guide. Return by the ferry at 16.30-17.00 in Listvyanka.

Free day at Lake Baikal. Moving to Irkutsk and a short city tour: you’ll see one-storied Irkutsk, embankment of the Angara River, cathedrals. Boarding a train and departure to Ulan-Ude at 21.17.

In the morning – arrival in Ulan-Ude, the capital of Russian Buddhism, hotel accommodation. Sightseeing city tour and visiting the famous Ivolginsky datsan. Being in Buryatia you should taste “poses” – a local kind of large dumplings (pelmeni), a national Buryat dish.

Transfer to the bus station and departure at 07.30 am to Mongolia by bus. The road goes through the beautiful hills of the Trans-Baikal Territory, covered with larch and birch. We will cross the Mongolian border and in the evening we will arrive in Ulan-Bator, the capital of Mongolia.

Meeting and transfer to the hotel Chingiz Khan 4*.

In the morning we’ll have a walking tour through the city center. The largest and most significant center of Buddhism in Mongolia is the huge Gandan monastery. Then we’ll go to the Grand Chinggis Khaan Square  (Sükhbaatar Square) and the Genghis Khan Memorial Complex, Buddha Park and at the end – Observation platform near the memorial in memory of Soviet soldiers on the hill Zaisan.

Early in the morning – transfer to the railway station and departure to Beijing at 07.30 am by train number 24. We cross the Mongolian steppes and the desert south, pass the Chinese border and continue the way through the province of Inner Mongolia. Night on the train.

Compartment: from 12000 RUB.

We arrive in Beijing, the capital of the Celestial Empire, at 18.30. Meeting on the railway station and transfer to the Crown Plaza 5 * hotel, located in the city center on Wangfujing Street. Rest after a long journey. In the evening – farewell dinner at the restaurant of national cuisine. Finish of our grandiose journey. In the evening, you can walk along the colorful quarters around the Palace of Guogun – it is not far from the hotel.

Transfer to the airport, departure to Moscow at 11.40 by Aeroflot