Kensington Tours Worldwide: Trans-Siberian from Beijing to Moscow
This 15-day tour takes you from Beijing to Moscow via Ulaan Baatar, Lake Baikal, and Yekaterinburg. You'll meet your tour guide in Beijing to show you Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, before boarding your train for Mongolia. In Ulaan Baatar, you'll take a trip to the Gobi Desert before continuing on to Lake Baikal, where you'll transfer by boat to Port Baikal, where you'll join the famed Trans-Siberian Railway. After crossing the Russian steppes, you'll arrive in Yekaterinburg, the city in which Russia's last tsar and his family met their end. Finally, you'll arrive in Moscow, where you'll tour Red Square and other Moscow landmarks before transferring to the airport for your flight home.
On the Go Tours: The Big Rail Tripper
At the start of this tour, you'll visit Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall before departing for Mongolia. In Ulaanbaatar, you'll head into the Gobi Dessert for a two-night stay in a Ger camp. When you return to the train, you'll depart for Lake Baikal, where you'll lodge with a local family for two nights. Next, it's off to Yekaterinburg, where you'll visit the site of the Romanov family's death, then to Moscow. Once in the Russian capital, you can stay on for a few extra days, or travel directly home.
The Trans-Siberian Railway: The Two Empires
For those who want help planning but prefer to travel on their own, this site offers several customizable itineraries between Beijing and Moscow. "The Two Empires" skips Mongolia and takes you directly to Vladivostok, the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway. From here, you'll travel across Siberia to Irkutsk, Yekaterinburg, and Moscow. If you want to spend more time in any of the cities, you can add up to nine nights at each stop. You'll need to arrange your own hotels, but the system automatically schedules your train tickets to match your schedule, and and will even adjust your travel dates if there is no train scheduled on the dates you request.
