Transsiberian by Private " Tsar's Gold" Train

Moscow-Kazan-Yekaterinburg-Novosibirsk-Irkutsk-Lake Baikal-Ulan Ude-Ulan Bator-Beijing

Day 1 Welcome to Moscow
After having arrived in Moscow, your tour guide welcomes you at the airport and accompanies you to your hotel. The Russian capital presents itself in wonderful illumination on your "Moscow by Night" city lights tour. Afterwards you can stroll across the famous Red Square with your tour guides and experience Moscow’s Metro stations in all their splendour and beauty. At night, the beds in your first class hotel spread comfort. (D)

Day 2 Sightseeing Moscow
Your grand city tour starts in the morning with the Kremlin, including one of the magnificent cathedrals still left from the time of the Tsars. Towards evening, your train departs from the Kazan Station. (B, L, D)

Day 3 Kazan
In the morning arrival in Kazan, ancient capital of the Tartars, where you visit the city’s Kremlin. A boat trip will make you familiar with Europe's greatest river, the Volga. Your Private Train resumes its journey in the evening. (B, L, D)

Day 4 Ekaterinburg
In the afternoon halt in Ekaterinburg and short tour of the city centre which was just restored in 2009. In the course of the city tour you will see the newly erected Cathedral-on-the-Blood, built in memorial of the tragic historical event - execution of the Romanov family. Back on the train your journey through the vast steppes of Western Siberia continues. (B, L, D)

Day 5 Novosibirsk
You reach Novosibirsk, heart of Siberia, where you will be welcomed in the traditional Russian manner with bread and salt. Your city tour includes a visit of the Transsiberian monument and the mighty Ob River. After dinner, the train continues its ride eastwards. (B, L, D)

Day 6 Across Siberia
Your Private Train, by now your second home, proceeds onward over the Yenisei River through Siberia. The on-board restaurant cooks once again demonstrate their skills with the speciality meal "Tsar’s Feast". Enjoy Russian hospitality during the vodka and caviar tasting while passing by impressive landscapes. (B, L, D)

Day 7 Irkutsk
Today the train reaches Irkutsk, capital of Eastern Siberia. During a city tour you will see beautiful Siberian wooden cottages, the new statue of Alexander III and the lively market hall. After lunch, you undertake an excursion to the open-air museum "Life and Work in the Time of the Tsars”. Spend the night in a centrally located hotel in Irkutsk. (B, L, D)

Day 8 Lake Baikal
Today you will visit a Siberian village by bus. A boat takes you across the deep waters to Port Baikal, where your Private Train awaits you. On ancient tracks it takes you directly along the shore of Lake Baikal for several hours. Dinner is served in typical local style as a picnic on the shores of the lake (weather permitting). (B, L, D)

Day 9 From Lake Baikal to Ulan Ude on to Mongolia
This day takes you along a different part of the shore of the mystical Lake Baikal, and then onwards through the magnificent valley of Selenga passing by wild and lonely mountain steppes of Eastern Siberia. On the way to the Mongolian border the train will stop in Ulan Ude, where you attend the city tour. Afterwards the train departs for Mongolia. (B, L, D)

Day 10 Ulan Bator and Gandan Monastry
In the morning you arrive in Ulan Bator. In the course of a city tour you will see the impressive Buddhist Gandan Monastery, the open air railway museum and the Lama Museum. In the evening, your tour guides show you the best beer garden in the city. You spend the night in a centrally located hotel in Ulan Bator. (B, L, D)

Day 11 Ulan Bator and the Mongolian Alps
Today you attend a tour to Mongolian Switzerland. After breakfast, a bus trip reveals the beautiful countryside. You take lunch within the typical tent settlements of nomadic herdsmen. A Mongolian horseback riding show will be performed especially for you. In the evening your Private Train will travel onward to the Chinese border. (B, L, D)

Day 12 Through the Gobi desert
In the early morning your train halts in the middle of the Gobi Desert, some time ago one of the favourite settlements of dinosaurs. Towards noontime, you reach the Chinese border, where due to the different Chinese track gauge your Chinese train is ready for departure. The Chinese train has no Nostalgic Comfort and Bolshoi cars, only two bed or 4 bed cabins. You will reach China’s capital Beijing in about 16 hours. (B, L, D)

Day 13 Welcome to Beijing
After observing impressive scenes of Chinese rural life from your compartment window, you arrive in Beijing in the morning, where you will spend three nights in a first class hotel. (B, L)

Day 14 Beijing––Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City
A four-hour city tour will show you the Temple of Heaven and its park as well as Tiananmen Square. A guided tour through the interior of the Forbidden City follows in the afternoon. (B, L)

Day 15 The Great Wall and Peking Duck
Today you enjoy a day trip to the Great Wall. Your programme also includes a tour of a pearl cultivation farm, the Ming Tombs and the avenue of the spirits. In the evening you enjoy a meal featuring the world-famous Chinese dish, Peking Duck. (B, L, D)

Day 16 Beijing and back home
Today a wonderful trip filled with unique and unforgettable experiences comes to its end and you start your return home. (B)