| HIGHLIGHTS: St Petersburg, Moscow, China and Mongolia.
Our adventure begins in St.Petersburg a treasure house of 18th century architecture, it is the city on the water, the "Venice of the North", standing
resplendent on the Neva River yet for all this it remains one of Europe's best kept secrets. Joining the overnight express to Moscow, our epic journey is underway. Enter Moscow's Kremlin and you are also about to deal with events of world importance spanning the 20th century; a stroll away is ballet's number one
address, the Bolshoi, and everywhere there is easy access to the amazingly palatial metro rail system draped in chandeliers, mosaics and baroque bass reliefs.
The Trans Siberian Railway to Siberia We join the train and travel East passing over the Ural Mountains which divide Europe and Asia, and cross the Irtysh and Ob rivers enroute to Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. Siberia was a place of exile and on a walking tour of the city we visit the homes of the Decembrists, the St.Petersburg
radicals dispatched here in 1825. We also enjoy two nights at our guesthouse in the village of Listvyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal and have time to visit its beautiful wooden church and nearby Limnological Museum.
We settle into life on board, enjoying the company of our fellow passengers. At Naushki, the Russian border town formalities are completed and then continue across no-man's land to Sukhbaatar where Mongolian officials board the train for visa formalities before moving on to 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. Ulaanbaatar today is a contradiction, a metropolis amid endless grass steppes, with donkeys and motorbikes, concrete apartment blocks and traditional gers. We visit the Zaisan Memorial and also the country's largest remaining monastery, Gandan Hiid.
In the afternoon we travel out across the grasslands through the countryside where we spend a night in a traditional Mongolian nomad ger. We return to Ulaanbaatar for the final night in the capital before a morning departure aboard the Beijing Express. Finally we reach China's "Imperial City' where there is much to see and do. Explore the famous Tiananmen Square and Temple of Heaven and of course the Great Wall stretching 10,000 Li across the distant hills.
View our great airfares, travel insurance, hotels and car hire.
Experience Trans Mongolia journey 21 Day Tour departing St Petersburg.9 nights accommodation in Hotels twin share, 1 night in a Mongolian Ger shared, 2 nights in a Siberian Guesthouse twin share, 8 nights onboard trains in a 4 berth.13 Breakfast.Tour Leader.Tour Dossier.Group Size 15 maximumConditions Valid for sale until 4 June 2012.Price is per person twin share with some multi share.Airfare not included.Additional conditions may apply, please enquire for further details.Prices shown are fully inclusive of taxes. Additional levies, government charges and other applicable fees may apply and are beyond our control.Seasonal surcharges and blackout dates may apply depending on date of travel.Payments made by credit card will incur a surcharge. Prices shown are for payments made by cash in store or Bpay.These prices are a guide to the best price and are subject to change without notice.Prices are subject to change without notice, due to matters outside our control, such as adverse currency fluctuations, fuel surcharges, taxes and airfare increases, please enquire for further details. |
