BEIJING TO ST PETERSBURG MONGOLIAN DISCOVERY

21 DAYS FROM £1,594

Beijing (3 nights), Train (1 night), Ulaanbaster (1 night), Traditional Ger (2 nights), Train (2 nights), Irkutsk (2 nights), Train (3 nights), Moscow (3 nights), Train (1 night), St Petersburg (2 nights).

If you want more than just a train journey, than experience this incredible journey from Beijing, China’s ‘Imperial City’ aboard the Trans Mongolian Express, beyond the Great Wall and across the fringes of the Gobi Desert to the grasslands of Mongolia. Continue to Lake Baikal and abroad the great Trans-Siberian Railway to Moscow and St Petersburg, Russia’s two most exciting cities. Explore Red Square, St Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin in addition to the palaces of St Petersburg. A fantastic adventure spanning Asia in just three weeks!

ITINERARY

DAYS 1 –3 - BEIJING SIGHTSEEING

Start this incredible journey in Chain’s capital, Beijing. After meeting your tour leader and the rest of your group your busy sightseeing programme includes the unforgettable highlights of this fascinating city.

Stroll around Tian’anmen Square, the world’s largest public square, and on to the 183 acre site of the Forbidden City. No less inspiring is the Temple of Heaven which has come to symbolise Beijing and also he Great Wall. (B) Accommodation: Rainbow Hotel (or similar)

DAY 4 – TRANS MONGOLIAN RAILWAY

After breakfast you will be transferred to Beijing Railway Station to board the first of the trains that will carry you across Asia. Following the Great Wall northwest towards Mongolia settle in to your comfortable compartments and watch from the window as the towns and villages and the scenes of local life of Inner Mongolia go by.

In the evening enjoy your first night aboard as the train crosses the Gobi Desert. If you would rather share a twin berth sleeper please ask for details of the applicable supplement. (B) Accommodation: comfortable 4 berth sleepers.

DAY 5 – ULAANBAATAR

Bounded by Lake Baikal to the north and the Great Wall to the south is the Mongolian Plateau and Gobi Desert.

At daybreak, classic scenes of traditional nomadic life greet you as the train winds impressively across the Mongolian Steppe and into the capital – Ulaanbaatar.

Ulaanbaaatar is a contradiction – a metropolis amid endless grass steppes, with donkeys and motorbikes, concrete apartment blocks and traditional gers but all the more fascinating for it.

(B). Accommodation: Michelle Hotel (or similar).

DAYS 6 – 8 – ULAABAATAR AND THE MONGOLIAN STEPPE

After breakfast visit the Zaisan Memorial. Continue on to the country’s largest remaining monastery, Gandan Hild, where you can mingle with Buddhist monks.

In the afternoon travel out across the grasslands and countryside to spend two nights in a traditional Mongolian Ger set amongst spectacular rolling hills.

Stay among nomadic families and their grazing livestock and enjoy the chance to ride a horse into nearby valleys or just relax and wander the area.

Return to Ulaabaatar and visit the fascinating National History Museum to gain a further insight into this isolated region before joining the train north to Siberia.

(B). Accommodation: traditional Mongolian Ger (2 nights), comfortable 4 berth sleeper (2 nights).

DAY 9 ABOARD THE TRANS MONGOLIAN RAILWAY

Spend the day on board the train and continue towards Russia, leaving Mongolia at Sukhe Bator and travelling beyond the Russian border town to Ulan Ude, then west along the southern shore of the world’s deepest freshwater lake – Baikal. (B).

DAY 10 IRKUTSK (SIBERIA)

Arrive into Irkutsk, almost in the dead centre of Asia. 18th century churches, bright painted shutters and log houses decorated with wooden lacework are typical sights.

Modern administrative blocks and soaring bridges reach out across the Angara River in this town also known as the Paris of Siberia.

(B). Accommodation: Siberian Guesthouse.

DAY 11 LAKE BAIKAL (SIBERIA)

After breakfast enjoy a full day at Lake Baikal with time to visit the village of Listvyanka with its traditional houses and beautiful wooden church. Proceed on to nearby Limnological Museum and to gain an insight into the traditional lives of Siberian people, visit the Museum of Wooden Architecture. (B).

DAYS 12 – 14 ABOARD THE TRANS SIBERIAN RAILWAY

Re-join the Trans Siberian Railway and travel via Novosibirsk, Omsk and Ekaterinburg across the impressive steel bridges that span Siberia’s nerve system of 5,000 rivers. Travel through the Ural Mountains. Continue on past city suburbs and into the heart of Moscow.

(B). Accommodation: comfortable 4 berth sleepers (3 nights).

DAYS 15 – 81 MOSCOW

Visit Moscow’s palaces and public buildings restored to their former glory, the echoing vastness of Red Square, the splendid twirled cupolas of St Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin itself. During your city sightseeing you will have the opportunity to ride the palatial underground rail system, adorned with chandeliers, mosaics and baroque bas-relief and perhaps take a rive cruise or a magical evening at one of Moscow’s great theatres of State Circus. Your last rail journey is aboard the overnight express to St Petersburg. (B). Accommodation: Izmailovo Hotel (or similar) plus comfortable 4 berth sleepers (one night).

DAYS 19 – 20 ST PETERSBURG

St Petersburg is a city set on water, the Venice of the North, standing resplendent on the delta of the Neva River. Your guide will escort you round St Isaac’s Cathedral, richly filled palaces and museums, wide boulevards and canals and the gilded halls of the Hermitage Museum hung with the works of Da Vinci, Rembrandt and many other great masters. (B). Accommodation: Shelfort Hotel (or similar).

PRICES INCLUDE: meals and accommodation as specified(B = breakfast). Seven nights on board the train. Sightseeing and transfers as specified accompanied by an English-speaking guide and including entrance fees.

PRICES EXCLUDE: Visas for China, Mongolia and Russia. International flights.

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