Itinerary

Days 1
You will clear customs, meet your local guide, and transfer to the President Hotel1 in downtown Moscow (with a 20-minute walk to Red Square and the Kremlin). After check-in, you will be free to relax or explore the city on your own. Lunches and dinners in Moscow are not included in the trip price, but your local guide will point you toward any number of sumptuous alternatives, at the hotel or elsewhere. In the evening you will experience the famous Bolshoi Theater (7:00P).

Days 2
After breakfast at the hotel, there will be a tour of the City of Moscow, one of the ancient capitals of the world, dating back to at least the 12th century. Though Moscow lost many of its historical monuments during the Bolshevik reign, it remains a great and extraordinary capital. Sites to be visited on the city tour include, but are not limited to, Red Square, St. Basils Cathedral, the Moscow Kremlin, Sophiyskaya Embankment, Cathedral of Christ the Savior Moscow University, Novodevichy Convent, and Victory Park on Poklonnaya Gora. You will be free for the afternoon and evening. At roughly 9:00P, your local guide and driver will meet you at the hotel for transfer to the train station. Your train (#002) for St. Petersburg departs at 11:55P (1st class accommodation on the train/2 people per compartment).

Day 3
Arriving in St. Petersburg at 8:25A, you will be met at the train station by your local guide and transferred to the Astoria Hotel,2 located in the historical city center near St. Isaac’s Cathedral. After hotel check-in, you will undertake a guided tour of St. Petersburg lasting most of the day. Lunch at a local restaurant is included. Highlights of the city tour include, but are not limited to, the Nevsky Prospect (the main avenue and most popular promenade of the city), Palace Square, Senate (Decembrists) Square, Summer Gardens and Summer Palace of Peter I, and Vasilievsky Island, featuring the Kunstkamera Museum and Menshikov Palace. You will be returned to your hotel in the afternoon and will be free for the evening. (Dinner on Day 4 is not included in the package.)

Day 4
After breakfast at the hotel, you will be met by your guide and driver for an excursion to Hermitage. You will be free in the afternoon and evening to explore on your own. At roughly 9:00P, you will be retrieved at the hotel for transfer to theairport. Your flight (#515) to Irkutsk departs at 11:55P. (Lunch and dinner on Day 5 are not included in the package.)

Days 5
Arriving in Irkutsk at 12:20P, you will be met by your local guide and transferred to the Angara Hotel, located in the heart of the city near picturesque Kirov square and within walking distance to the main historical sights. After check-in and lunch at the hotel restaurant, you will undertake a guided tour of Irkutsk, known as "The Paris of Siberia" and the gateway to scenic Lake Baikal. The tour includes, but is not limited to, the founding place of Irkutsk by Cossack soldiers (dating to 1661), Victory Square, Church of Our Saviour (built 1706), Cathedral of the Epiphany (consecrated 1723), Catholic Church (built 1884), Kirov Square, Labor Square, Palace of Youth, Irkutsk Znamensky Convent (founded 1683) and cemetery, Karl Marx Street, Revolutionary Fighters' Monument, White House, Yuri Gagarin Boulevard, Memorial to the First Pioneers of Siberia, Wooden Houses with carvings, Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, Fine Arts Museum, and the Decembrists’ Memorial Complex. Dinner will be provided at a hotel restaurant.

Day 6
After breakfast, you will depart by van for Listvyanka, located on the shore of Lake Baikal. En route, you will visit the Wooden Architecture/Ethnographic Museum. This is a living museum of historic wooden buildings from various parts of the region that have been beautifully restored as an ageless memorial to the beginnings of the Siberian lifestyle. Lunch will be served shortly after check-in at the Baikal Hotel. After lunch you will visit the Limnological Museum, which provides an excellent exhibit of the wildlife and biota of Lake Baikal, much of which, like fresh water seals, are endemic to the lake. You will also visit the village of Listvyanka and the Russian Orthodox St. Nikolas Church, revealing a tranquil way of life in a timeless part of a changing country. You will be free in the evening to enjoy a Russian sauna and relax. If interested, you may also have the opportunity to hire a Troika (sleigh) for an evening ride under fur robes (March). Dinner will be served at a hotel restaurant.

Day 7
After breakfast, you will embark on a snowmobile (March) or boat (July August) tour on Lake Baikal. With a little luck, you might witness Lake Baikal fishermen fishing through 1.5 meters of ice with nets, bringing in fish by the hundreds (March). You will find the ice of Lake Baikal remarkably clear - almost like plate glass up to two meters thick (March). A picnic lunch on the lake will be provided. Returning to the hotel around 5:00P, dinner will be served at a hotel restaurant. After dinner, you will board a van for transfer to the Irktusk train station. Your train for Ulan Ude (Trans-Siberian Railroad #264) departs at 8:10P (1st class accommodations/2 people per compartment).

Day 8
Arriving in Ulan Ude at 5:25A, you will be met by your local guide and transferred to the Buriatia Hotel, located in the city center and near the city's cultural highlights (Historical Museum, Museum of Nature, Opera and Ballet Academic Theatre and Philharmonic Hall). After breakfast at the hotel restaurant, you will undertake a tour to Ulan Ude and the nearby area, with lunch included. Highlights of the tour include the Lenin Head, the Buryat State Opera and Ballet Theater, the Cathedral of Hodigitria, the Great Merchants’ Rows, the Ethnographic Museum of the People of the Trans-Baikal Region, and the Ivolginsky Datsan Buddhist Monestary. Dinner will be served at a local restaurant with a folklore show. Later in the evening, if you have the energy, you may want to take in a show at the Buryat State Opera and Ballet Theater.

Day 9
After breakfast at the hotel, you will be transferred to the train station to re-board the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Your train for Khabarovsk (#002) departs 10:20A (1st class accommodations/ 2 people per compartment). You will be on your own for the journey to Khabarovsk. There will be few stops but many impressions during the two-day ride. For many, this ride makes real the idea that the isolation of pure physical distance may be even stronger than prison bars. Beyond the train window, you will witness an expanse of land whose most memorable service to humanity is imprisonment. The train will stop in the Petrovsk-Zabaikalskii, Chita, and the Jewish Autonomous Republic, all famous for labor camps, exiles, and outcasts from European Russia. Meals on the train are not included in the price of the trip, however, you will find a reasonable menu on the dining car.

Day 10
On the train, en route to Khabarovsk.

Day 11
Arriving in Khabarovsk at 4:40P, you will be met by your local guide and transferred to the Intourist Hotel, located in the historical and business center, yet within an easy walk of the Amur River. After check-in, dinner will be served at a hotel restaurant. You will be free for the evening.

Day 12
After breakfast at the hotel, you will undertake a tour of Khabarovsk, including lunch at a local restaurant. The city tour includes, but is not limited to, Khabarovsk Central Square and Muravyov-Amursky Street (the cultural and business district), the Universal Scientific Library, a Russian-Orthodox Church, Komsomolskaya Square, a monument to the Heroes of the Civil War in the Far East, and monuments to Yerofey Khabarov, N.N. Muravyov-Amursky, and G.N. Nevelsky. You will enjoy panoramic views of the Amur River, Khekhtsirsky Mountain Range and the industrial area of the city from the top of the Amur River Cliff, as well as have the opportunity to visit a local kindergarten. Dinner will be provided at a local restaurant.

Day 13
After breakfast at the hotel, you will be free to explore the city of Khabarovsk on your own or with your local guide. Lunch will be provided at a local restaurant. You will transfer to the airport immediately after lunch to begin your journey home. Your Aeroflot flight to Moscow departs at 3:25P.

Arriving in Moscow at 4:45P, you will be met by your local driver/guide and transferred to the President Hotel. After check-in, you will be free for the evening to relax or explore the city. Lunches and dinners in Moscow are not included in the trip price.

Day 14
After breakfast, you will be retrieved at the hotel for transfer to the airport. Your guide or driver will assist you with check-in, if needed. While you may treat your on-going travel reservations as you would any similar airline connection, in the event of delays, we recommend that connecting domestic flights depart at least four hours after your scheduled arrival in the states.

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