Arrival in Ulaanbaatar. You will be met at Ulaanbaatar airport and transferred to your hotel.

Accommodation in Ulaanbaatar

An unforgettable full-day excursion will take you to the Terelj National Park which is famous for its nature. A stone formation called the “turtle” and the beautiful mountainous scenery will fascinate you. In the parking area, you will have the chance to meet a herder family inside their yurt. A Naadam show specially arranged for the participants of the Grand Trans-Siberian Express demonstrates 3 disciplines of the Mongolian National Naadam festival: Wrestling, Archery, and Horseracing. In the evening you experience a traditional Mongolian Hot Pot dinner.

Accommodation in Ulaanbaatar

During a sightseeing tour, you will visit the famous Ghandan Monastery, the Bogd Khan Palace which used to be formerly the winter and sometimes also the summer palace of the Khan’s, as well as the Zaisan monument at a viewpoint high above the city. From there you will have an excellent view of the city which is surrounded by large areas of nomadic yurt settlements.
In the afternoon you board your private train which will be your home for the trans-continental journey to Moscow.

Accommodation onboard the Grand Trans-Siberian Express

In the night you reach the Mongolian border station Sukhbaatar and the Russian border station Naushki. The Mongolian and Russian immigration formalities will take place on the train. You may stay in your cabin and don’t have to leave the train.
In the afternoon the Grand Trans-Siberian Express arrives at Ulan Ude, the capital of the so-called “Buryat Autonomous Republic” of the Russian Federation. Buryats are an ethnic group close to Mongolians with an amazing mix of cultures. Ulan Ude is a meeting place between East and West. The city still has large areas with typical Siberian wooden houses.
Your sightseeing excursion goes to one of the villages of Orthodox “Old Believers” still practicing their life as people did it centuries ago. You will be hosted for a typical Russian homemade lunch.
In Ulan Ude, the Grand Trans-Siberian Express switches from the Trans Mongolian mainline to the traditional Trans-Siberian mainline on its way to Moscow.

Accommodation onboard the Grand Trans-Siberian Express

Today one of the top highlights of the tour with the Grand Trans-Siberian Express will amaze you for the rest of the day. Lake Baikal holds the biggest freshwater reserves in the world. It stretches up to 26 miles from east to west and more than 370 miles from north to south. Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, reaching 1.620 meters at its deepest part. The mountain ranges around Lake Baikal and the deep blue water of the lake, you will never forget.
In the morning the private train is running at low speed along the scenic Circum Baikal Railway line between Port Baikal and Sludyanka, which for many years is used only by a few of local trains and tourist trains. A photo stop will be arranged at a small village where you can get off the train, put your feet into the clear and cold water of Lake Baikal and also – with some luck - visit the typical wooden houses of local people. A Baikal barbecue is also a part of the program.
In the afternoon a boat takes you on a short cruise from Port Baikal to the small village of Listvyanka. A walk through the village shows you to St Nicholas church, a typical orthodox wooden build church beautiful renovated in the 1990s. On a great Siberian lunch in a restaurant on the shore of the lake, you can taste fresh fish from Lake Baikal. In the evening a one-hour bus drive takes you from Lake Baikal to your hotel in Irkutsk city.

Accommodation in Irkutsk

Irkutsk is famous for its trade with Mongolia and China and used to be called “Paris of Siberia” because of its colorful lifestyle during the time of the Tsars. You visit the old town with its large quarters still consisting of wooden houses only before invited to the cultural highlight of the tour, a private classical concert in a Mansion of historical background. In the evening you re-join the private train.

Accommodation onboard the Grand Trans-Siberian Express

Krasnoyarsk, like Yekaterinburg and Ulan-Ude, used to be a “closed city” during Soviet times – closed to foreigners and also to most Soviet citizens at that time. It is located along the Yenissei River which is the greatest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean.

Accommodation onboard the Northern Lights Express

A city sightseeing tour shows you some remarkable orthodox churches which have survived the Soviet period and see the famous Opera House which is the largest of Russia, situated in the center of the city at Lenin Square. Worth to see is also the local food market which is famous all over Siberia for its wide range of products. In the afternoon, an excursion takes you out of the city into the Taiga. About 30 km out of the city you have the opportunity of visiting the largest open-air railway museum of Russia, a collection of more than 60 showpieces of steam, diesel, and electric locomotives as well as several historical passenger cars – a perfect insight into the development of the trains on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Accommodation onboard the Northern Lights Express

Today the train arrives in Yekaterinburg, the capital of the Ural Mountains. The city was founded in 1723 by Czar Peter I as the center of the metallurgical industry. By the 20th century, it had become one of the largest and the most important financial, industrial and cultural centers of Russia. Yekaterinburg is located at the geographical border defined by scientists between Europe and Asia.
On your sightseeing tour, you visit a place of remarkable importance for Russian history: the “Cathedral on The Blood” which was built at the place where Czar Nicholas II and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. An excursion into the Ural forests takes you to Ganina Yama, which today is considered by Russians as a “holy place”. It is an assembly of small wooden chapels that were erected in the 1990s to honor the last Czar’s family of the Romanov dynasty who was then buried in Ganina Yama.

Accommodation in Yekaterinburg 

Today you leave Yekaterinburg in the morning and enjoy a typical day on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Your private train passes through the Ural Mountains and endless scenery of forests, lakes and small settlements. A day to relax, watch the landscape and listen to lectures about the country and its people.

Accommodation onboard the Northern Lights Express

Today the almost 8000 km long journey from Beijing to Moscow terminates. In the afternoon you visit Red Square and the Kremlin grounds. The sightseeing tour shows you all the many highlights of Moscow: the Bolshoi Theatre, the GUM department store, the Red Square, Moscow River, the Sparrow Hills, Novodevitchy Monastry (outside visit). You will forget old stories about Moscow being grey and dark. It has become a vibrant city, comparable to Paris or Rome and full of life.

Accommodation in Moscow

Airport transfers are provided by our service team to connect with your flight departing Moscow.