Mongolia and Beyond

19 days - from $3940

Itinerary:

  This journey is one of our ‘Experience’ tours offering you an alternative to conventional touring. It includes local guides in each city but no appointed ‘Tour Leader’ and no Local Payment. The sightseeing program will also include a range of alternate activities and sights not found on other tours, and is designed to give you greater contact with local people and their daily lives while still allowing for time to visit other highlights in each city.
Days 1-2. Beijing 
 Beijing will prove unforgettable, all senses assailed - colour and sound, smell and taste - leaving indelible memories of continual contrast, history and tradition alongside 20th century technology. Over our three days here the 'Scheduled Sightseeing' will include visits to local markets, morning Taichi, a family visit and an insight into the art of kite making from the experts. In our spare time we can visit some of the city's more well known highlights: the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square and of course 'The Wall' stretching 10,000 Li across the distant hills.& & & & &
Day 3. Trans Mongolian Railway 
 North through border formalities where the bogies are changed and onto to Ulaanbaatar across the Gobi desert and over the steppe-lands of Mongolia.&
 Day 4. Ulaanbaatar
 Bounded by Lake Baikal to the north and the Great Wall to the south is the Mongolian Plateau and Gobi Desert. This was the homeland of the brilliant, tough, well-drilled horsemen who, for over 500 years from the 13th century, plundered and occupied lands and cities from the Yellow River to the Danube. At daybreak, classic scenes of traditional nomadic life greet us as the train winds impressively across the Mongolian Steppe and into the capital. Ulaanbaatar is a contradiction - a metropolis amid endless grass steppes, with donkeys and motorbikes, concrete apartment blocks and traditional gers.
Days 5-9. Ulaanbaatar & the Mongolian Steppe 
 The Mongolia of Genghis Khan lies beyond the city, in the land of the nomad. In the afternoon we travel out across the grasslands through the countryside where we spend two nights in a traditional Mongolian nomad tent or ger set amongst spectacular rock formations and wild rolling hills. Among nomadic families and their grazing livestock we can explore nearby valleys or just relax and enjoy the area. We return to Ulaanbaatar and depart aboard the Trans Mongolian Express to Siberia.
Days 10-12. Irkutsk & Lake Baikal 
 Almost in the centre of Asia, Irkutsk - 18th century churches, bright painted shutters and log houses decorated with wooden lacework. Modern administrative blocks and soaring bridges reach out across the Angara River in this beautiful town known as the "Paris of Siberia". Then aboard the train to Moscow. & & &
Days 13-15. Trans Siberian Railway  
 Booming over the steel bridges spanning Siberia's nerve system of 5,000 rivers we travel through Ekaterinburg, well known for the execution of the Romanov family.
Days 16-17. Moscow 
 Moscow will amaze you, its palaces and public buildings restored to their former glory. The echoing vastness of Red Square, the splendid twirled cupolas of St.Basil's across the cobblestones, and the Kremlin itself - that fabled palace-fort. We visit the popular Cosmonaut Museum and learn from the masters how to make the iconic Matryoshka dolls. In our spare time we have time to visit the underground metro with chandeliers, mosaics and baroque bas-relief and perhaps a river cruise or a magical evening at one of Moscow's great theatres or State Circus. Our last rail journey is aboard the overnight express to St. Petersburg.
Days 18-19. St.Petersburg 
 Richly filled palaces and museums, wide boulevards and canals. The gilded halls of the Hermitage Museum hung with the works of Da Vinci, Rembrandt and many other great masters, and beyond the city lie the incomparable summer palaces of the Tsars at Petrodvorets.
 

Details:

• Group Size 15 maximum
• Accommodation Hotels - 7 nights (twin share) Mongolian Ger - 2 nights (shared) Siberian Guesthouse - 2 nights (twin share) Trains - 7 nights (4 berth) Meals Breakfast (12), Dinner (1)
• Travel by Train: Comfortable 4 berth sleepers
• There are 4 rail sectors on this journey - Beijing to Ulaanbaatar (1 night) - Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsk (2 nights) - Irkutsk to Moscow (3 nights) - Moscow to St.Petersburg (1 night) Other: For 'Scheduled Sightseeing' we generally use a small minibus. 2 Berth Rail (Optional) Available for a supplementary price only when two people book and travel together
• Available on all rail sectors between Beijing and St.Petersburg
• Sightseeing Scheduled Sightseeing is part of the itinerary and includes all transport, entrance fees and English speaking local guide and may change according to group demands and availability
• Below is a sample of the planned activities for this journey.  Beijing: Local markets, morning Taichi, kite making, cultural family visit
• Ulaanbaatar:  Zaisan Memorial, National History Museum, Gandan Hiid Monastery, Terelj National Park
• Irkutsk (Siberia): City tour, Museum of Wooden Architecture, Limnological Museum
• Moscow: Matryoshka factory with master class and Cosmonaut Museum.St.Petersburg: Dinner with artist Yury Petrochenkov and his wife, Russian Museum of Ethnography, Russian Banya.  Visas Required for China, Mongolia & Russia
• Adventure Center will provide all required invitation letters and full visa support including detailed visa guidelines.