Moscow Ulan-Bator and Beijing Trans-Siberian Railway Tour

Day 1: Moscow Zdrastvutye! Welcome to Russia. Meet your tour guide at Moscow International Airport then transfer to hotel. Take a good rest after long flight. If you are still energetic, you may take a self-guided walk in this capital city. Overnight in Moscow Day 2: Moscow After breakfast, your tour guide will meet you at your hotel. You will start the tour of Moscow on foot and try the underground metro stations in Moscow, known as the ‘Palaces of the People’ when they were first built. You will be amazed at the beautiful sculptures, bronzes, mosaics and crystal chandeliers. Later, by your private transfer, you will see some of the famous landmarks and places to which you may return at your leisure. The tour sights include Red Square, the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Bolshoi Theatre, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Victory Park, Novodevichy Convent, the White House and the famous Moscow streets. Overnight in Moscow Day 3: Moscow Today, you will go inside the most famous landmark of the city, the magnificent Kremlin. Within the territory is the fascinating Armoury Museum which you will visit, to see the spectacular collection of costumes, silver and arms amongst a vast treasure trove of exhibits. Return to the hotel at around 13.00 hrs or you may stay in the city for further exploration and make your own way back to the hotel. Overnight in Moscow Day 4: Moscow - Yekaterinburg You will be free at your leisure until your driver and guide come to pick you up to the railway station in the afternoon. Take your Trans-Siberian train towards Yekaterinburg. Overnight onboard Day 5:Yekaterinburg You will arrival in Yekaterinburg in the evening. Meet your guide and then transfer to the hotel. Overnight in Yekaterinburg Day 6: Yekaterinburg Today you'll have a sightseeing tour around Yekaterinburg and to the Romanov's monastery. Visit through central streets and city center to understand the old machinery on the Historical Square. Then continue on to visit splendid Church of Spilled Blood at the Romanovs’ Death Site and the Chapel of St. Elizabeth. You will observe beautiful views of Yekaterinburg and the City Pond from an embankment and from the Hill of Ascension. The Afghanistan memorial at the Square of Red Army, gorgeous villas of Urals “gold merchants” of 19th century and monumental buildings in “Stalin’s neoclassicism” style are to survey, too. The tour also includes a visit to one of the local museums. Excursion out of the city (15 km.) to The Monastery dedicated to the Romanov’s Tsar Family. On the way to the border-line you will see “The Memorial of Victims of GULAG”. Keep driving to The Main Obelisk “Between Europe & Asia”. You cross the borderline and get a Special Certificate. Overnight in Yekaterinburg Day 7: Yekaterinburg - Irkutsk Free at leisure until your guide come to escort you to the railway station at 3 o'clock in the morning to catch the train and head towards Irkutsk. Overnight onboard Day 8: Irkutsk You will spend a whole day on the train. Overnight onboard Day 9: Irkutsk - Listvyanka The train will arrival in Irkutsk in the morning. Meet your tour guide and drive at the railway station. You will be transferred to the village situated only 60km away from Irkutsk - Listvyanka. Check-in to the hotel. After your breakfast and freshen-up, you will be guided to visit to a local biological museum that has a set of aquariums. There is one with the only mammal representative, the Baikal Seal, in it. Walk up to a nearby view point. There you’ll get a chance to take panoramic pictures of Baikal from above. Enjoy your visit to a local 19th century wooden St.Nicolas church and a local fish market where you’ll see a great variety of fish and different ways of cooking it. Free time. Overnight in Listvyanka Day 10: Listvyanka Today, you will have a trip to an open-air wooden architecture museum “Taltsy” passing one of the highlights of Listvyanka, Shaman Rock. In the museum you’ll see the settlements of indigenous Siberian people. Most of the buildings presented in the museum were built in the 17th-20th centuries and were brought there from the villages that were flooded after building hydro-electric dams in Irkutsk region. Lunch at the local Siberian restaurant. Enjoy your banya (Russian sauna) in the evening. Overnight in Listvyanka Day 11: Listvyanka - Irkutsk You will travel back to Irkutsk this morning. Have a short city tour of Irkutsk, visit Epiphany Cathedral, the oldest stone-structure Church of our Saviour and the only Catholic Cathedral in Irkutsk, Polish Roman Catholic Church. The tour leads you through the Kirov Square and circus, taking you to the main street of Irkutsk, the Karl Marks Street. You’ll walk along the street to get to the Angara river embankment. Right there, where the monument to Alexander III is, all young people gather, so you’ll have a chance to see “the youth culture” of Irkutsk. Check-in to the hotel. You will take the train to Ulaan Baator in mid-night so early bed time is advised. Overnight in Irkutsk Day 12: Irkutsk - Ulaanbaatar Your guide will meet you at hotel at around 3:30 AM. Then transfer to the train station at about 4 o'clock in the morning. The following time of the day is on the train. Have a good sleep and enjoy the scenery along the railroad to Ulaan Baatord. Overnight onboard Day 13: Ulaanbaatar Arrival at Ulan-Bator in the morning. Transfer to hotel for the short refreshment break, shower and breakfast. Start the Ulaan Baator city tour at the Gandan monastery - the center of Mongolian Buddhism, and join the monks for the morning prayer. Visit the National History Museum, which holds a permanent exhibition on the different civilizations that have inhabited the territory of Mongolia from prehistoric times to the present. You will walk a little in the center of the city to get to know the life of this capital city of Mongolia. Explore the Black Market, a huge market containing everything in Mongolian daily life, for both nomads and urban apartment dwellers. Goods brought from all corners of Mongolia are here for sale. In the evening you will enjoy dinner, followed by a night visit to the Zaisan hill, where you will enjoy the view of the entire city at night. Overnight in Ulaan Baator Day 14: Ulaanbaatar - Gorki-Terelj National Park Breakfast. Free time until check-out. Departure to Gorki-Terelj National Park. The park features unique rock formations, scenic valleys, a winding river, and restful groves of trees. Many nomads live in the park where they find good grazing for their animals. We will have a little tour in the park and visit such rocks as “The Turtle rock" and “Monk reading a book“. We will visit the “Aryabal” meditation center located in the mountains to learn about Mongolian Buddhism. Overnight at the ger(a portable felt dwelling in Mongolian) Day 15: Ulaanbaatar Free time relaxing in the morning. After breakfast we will visit nomadic families and take the opportunity to learn about their unique way of life. Return to the ger camp. After lunch at the ger you'll be transferred back to Ulan-Bator. Overnight in Ulaan Baator Day 16: Ulaanbaatar In the afternoon we will see the 40 meters Chinggis Khan statue that has been completed in 2008 on the bank of the Tuul River. We will climb to the top of the statue, and will enjoy the marvelous landscape of the wide steppes surrounding it. Evening arrival to Ulaanbaatar and transfer to the hotel. Farewell dinner. Overnight in Ulaan Baator Day 17: Ulaanbaatar - Beijing In the morning, your guide and driver will escort you to the railway station of Ulaan Baator for your train to Beijing. Overnight onboard Day 18: Beijing Arrive in Beijing in the afternoon, your Beijing guide and driver will meet you at the railway station then transfer to hotel. Have a good rest after long train journey. Overnight in Beijing Day 19: Beijing Today, you will start your journey in Beijing. Visit the Tian’anmen Square. If you are interested in the daily flag-raising ceremony at sunrise, you can ask your guide to escort you. But you need prepare for early rising and possible crowded camera-toting tourists. Then visit the Forbidden City. You will have your lunch at a restaurant restored from a traditional quadrangle courtyard. In the afternoon, you will hop on a rickshaw to ride through the hutongs, the narrow alleys between rows of quadrangle dwellings. There you might come across children playing football or seniors playing Chinese chess by the sides. It is a nice way to get a snapshot of traditional Beijing people’s life. Pay a visit to a local family who is living in a traditional and original quadrangle welling. There you also can try your hand on painting operatic masks in a pattern of your choosing and learn the meaning of deferent masks. Have dinner before head back to hotel. Overnight in Beijing Day 20: Beijing In the morning you will visit the Temple of Heaven, the royal altar where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped heaven. Before you enter the Temple of Heaven, you will come across lots of local people doing their morning exercises, including playing tai chi, singing cage birds, writing calligraphies on the ground, and kicking shuttlecocks. You can join them to share the happiness with the local people. After that you will move on to the Great Wall at Mutianyu, which is about a 2-hour drive from the Temple of Heaven. The Great Wall at Mutianyu is a restored Great Wall section with fewer crowds, the most impressive scenery, and convenient cable car service. This section is about 2.2 kilometers long, with the steepest section part (at nearly 70 degrees) close to the end. Overnight in Beijing Day 21: Beijing In the morning after breakfast, your tour guide and driver will escort you to visit the exterior Bird Nest and Water Cube, the amazing architectures that built for Beijing Olympic Games. After that you will visit CCTV Headquarter (outside), outstanding for its brand-new appearance. After lunch, you will be taken to the wholesale market of Beijing Silk Street Market. This market is a five-storey building with an area of 30,000 square meters targeting the shopping groups including foreign visitors and local white-collar people. Overnight in Beijing Day 22: Beijing Today, you will fully explore Beijing by visiting the famous imperial garden — the Summer Palace. After having a Beijing-style lunch, you will have a bird’s-eye view of Beijing and the Forbidden City when you visit Jingshan Park. Later on you'll be transfer back to hotel. The rest time of today will be free at leisure. Overnight in Beijing Day 23: Beijing This is the last day of your Trans-Siberian Railway Tour. You will be escorted to Beijing international airport, from where you will take your flight onward. The whole team of Bravo Asia Tours welcomes your next trip to Asia with us again.