Trans-siberian Express. West meets East

• Check out from the hotel
• Meeting with a guide at the hotel to start your full day private guided tour (6-7 hours).
• The walking tour will include the most iconic sights such as Red Square, St. Basil’s cathedral, Lenin’s Tomb ,the Bolshoi theatre and the fascinating stories related to them.
• Then you will proceed via Aleksandrs’s gardens to the Kremlin entrance to explore the medieval citadel with its 15-16th century cathedrals (inside visit), impressive landmarks like Tsar Cannon and Tsar Bell. Walk to Christ the Saviour cathedral and see the panoramic view of the Kremlin.
• After a coffee break or lunch (not included) you will go underground to see the most stunning metro stations decorated with mosaics, stained glass and sculptures. Finish the tour at the hotel or the city center.
• Free time to explore the city on your own, have dinner  and do some grocery shopping before  you start your Trans-Siberian trip.
• Evening transfer to  Yaroslavsky train station to take your night train.

• This day you will start getting accustomed to the train life and enjoy the scenery of the European part of Russia.  
• You will have a number of stops: Yaroslavl, one of the Golden Ring towns, Kirov,  the northernmost point of your whole Trans-Siberian journey, Perm,the inspiration for Pasternak’s Yuryatin in Dr. Zhivago as well as the sight for the only surviving Gulag Camp.

• At about midday the train arrives in Yekaterinburg where you meet your guide  and driver at the train station who  will be holding a sign “Bridge to Russia”.
• The guide will take you for the city tour to reveal the story of the last days of the  Romanov’s family.
•  You will ponder  on  Russian history at Romanovs execution site where the church on the Spilled Blood  stands and at the Ganina’s Pit located on the outskirts of the city where the monastery of the Holy Martyrs attracts pilgrims.
• Then you continue to  the continental border - the Europe and Asia monument to celebrate that crossing with a  glass of sparkling wine.
• On the way you will have a stop at the memorial of victims of Gulag  and finish the tour in the hotel.
• Dinner is on your own. Overnight in the hotel

• Free morning  and check out
• Meeting with the driver for the midday train departure to Irkutsk
• Get settled in your compartment for a few days on the train. Read a book,  treat yourself with a restaurant meal, socialize with locals, take pictures of the train stations and stretch your legs at the platforms.

• On this leg of your trip you  start going through Siberia with its mighty rivers, taiga forests. 
• Watch out for the crossing of the Irtysh river on six-span bridge and the Ob’ river (the world’s longest river) on seven-span 870-m bridge. The route  passes small and large towns including Omsk  where Dostoevsky spent 4 years of his life in prison, Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia, Krasnoyarsk,  which is situated on the Yenisei river amid low hills and rock formations which make Stolby Nature Reserve.
• Evening arrival in Irkutsk, the city located 70 km from the legendary Lake Baikal.
• Transfer to the hotel

Breakfast at the hotel and check out.

Meet  the guide and the driver at the hotel and proceed to the  city tour  of Irkutsk, the cultural capital of Siberia.  See its main sights including Znamensky (of the Holy Sign) convent  where some decemberists are buried, Epiphany cathedral, one of the oldest stone buildings in Siberia and beautiful wooden houses scattered around the city.

Lunch in the city in one of the cafes of  your choice.

Transfer to Listvyanka ( 70 km), the village located  on Baikal. On the way you will have a stop at Taltsy Open-Air Ethnographic Museum,  where a grand collection of  old Siberian  wooden  houses are carefully preserved.

Then you continue to take a chair-lift to Chersky Peak where you can find  a great view on the Angara river flowing from Baikal, visit the Limnological museum in Listvyanka to learn some scientific facts about the deepest  Lake. The museum also has a small aquarium where  the cutest fresh-water seals, known as nerpas can be seen.

Finish at the hotel in Listvyanka.

• Breakfast at the hotel. Free day and  time for optional tours.
• Lystvanka village is a very busy tourist spot, from where you can take some boat tours of the lake or do hiking to find the most stunning views of the lake.
• Make sure you get local specialties at the market.
• Overnight at the hotel in Listvyanka

• Early morning transfer from the hotel to the train station in Irkutsk for the morning departure by Premium train to Vladivostok
• Once you get on the train, get closer to your window since soon the road will be going along the Baikal coastline.  You will also pass through Buryat Republic and its capital Ulan- Ude, the center of Buddhism in Russia.
• Then the train crosses Zabaykalye (Beyond Baikal ) area where steppe and small  hills will be  your typical  window view. This part of the Trans-siberian route is the less inhabited  so that you will be able to enjoy.
• Once the train reaches the Far East you will pass through Birobidzhan – the interesting centre of the Jewish Autonomous District which became the homeland of  the world's Jews relocated here from all over the Soviet Union and the USA in 1928.  However, there are only 6% of Jews living there nowadays.
• Next up is Khabarovsk which gets you 20 km close tp Chinese border. Here the train crosses the Amur river on the longest bridge on the Trans-siberian route. Soon you will see the Pacific Ocean as the train goes along the coastline.

• Morning  Arrival in  Vladivostok  and transfer to the hotel
• Meet the guide and the driver for the city tour of the  Far Eastern capital.
• Feel the spirit and  learn the history of the city on the Pacific ocean.  The highlights of the tour include Vladivostok Railway station ( teaser- compare it with the one you depart from Moscow), Tokarevsky lighthouse. Walk along pedestrian street and explore one of the oldest and autentic quarters - Millionka and continue to  Sportivnaya seafront. Take the best photos from Eagle’s Nest viewpoint over  Zolotoy Rog Bay and the Golden Bridge, one of the largest in the world and a modern symbol of the city.
• Have lunch in the city and continue to Russkiy island over the Russky bridge to explore  Vladivostok fortress including  Novosiltsevskaya battery and other fortification structures.
• Overnight in the hotel

• Free day  and time for optional tours
• Transfer to the airport