Trans-Siberian Railway?

lin86 · Post by **lin86** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 7:46 am

Has anyone here ever taken this journey? If you have I'd love to hear what you have to say. Where you took off from? How far you went? What trains? What stops did you make? What did you like and dislike? If you could answer anything here it would be of great help to me. Even if you cannot and just have opinions on it please share. I would love to do this one day, but still have to educate myself more on the the whole
experience. More than anything I would love to begin my journey in Finland. In that past year I've made friends with someone in Hyvinkaa but would not want to stay with this person my whole visit, even though it would help with the cost very much. Could anyone give me any advice on the youth hostels in Helsinki? Also, if you know the cost of the Helsinki-St.Petersburg train, I'd like to know that also. And that is my last question, for now :) Thanks for listening!

lin

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superiorinferior · Post by **superiorinferior** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:54 am

http://www.vr.fi/heo/eng/ita/ita.htm

Above link will help you get to Russia by train.

I would recommend asking a travel agent about the Trans-Siberian.

lonely_soul · Post by **lonely_soul** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:18 pm

I've done it. The trip I booked for lasted for 26 days. I did a little bit of sight-seeing in Moscow then we headed off through the Ural mountains to Ekaterinburg and did some sight-seeing there. Then we went through Southern Siberia and by road from Barnaul into the High Altai mountains where we had a picnic. Then we visited an ancient cave-painting site, and I also did some horse-riding. After that, we went on an Altai river-rafting trip, and camped overnight. The next day we finished the second half of rafting, and then returned to Altai Village Guest House, where we were able to have a sauna, which felt soooooo good. Then we went by road to Novosibirsk, and we had an evening free there to do what we liked. I just decided to have a look around and get some rest. Then we boarded the Trans-Siberian again and went east where we crossed the Yenisei River Bridge. Then we had the option of staying in a Siberian village or going on an adventure trek. I chose going to the village where I was able to do a little bit of trekking plus some scuba diving. We then went on to Lake Baikal, where we went on another trek. After that we had time to explore in Irkutsk, after which we hopped on the train and ended up in Ulan-Uday, where we visited a Buddhist monastery & went on a Buryat village trip. After that we got back on the train and headed to the Mongolian border. When we arrived in Ulaanbaataar, we got to walk around the city and then went by jeep to Bayan-Gobi where we stayed for the night. Then we went by jeep to the Karakorum site, and stayed in gers with local nomads, which was quite interesting. Then we got to experience a scenic desert jeep ride back to Ulaanbaataar, and stayed at the Elstei Ger Camp. Then we had a free day at Elstei for walking and I also did some horseriding. Then we returned to Ulaanbaatar and got to explore the area a little bit. Then we departed by train to Beijing, across the Southern Gobi desert. We passed the Great Wall of China, and finally arrived in Beijing. I stayed in Beijing for a week or so before heading back home to Australia.

So did I enjoy it? I certainly did. The package I took was an ultimate package and you were able to see a lot more than one of the regular routes. The natives were all very kind to us and I met some really genuinely nice people on the train as well. You feel a lot more safer after you know a few people, especially if you're a young woman travelling on her own. I didn't want to go into too much detail of what I did in every place we stopped at because we stopped at a lot of places, but the experiences I had were amazing. The only thing I didn't like was that there wasn't much time to explore on your own, but I plan to go back to those places one day and do that by myself. Also I guess if you like your creature comforts, all the camping and the less frequent, if at all, showers might be a bit hard to get used to. It didn't bother me though.

There's plenty of different packages you can do. The most well known ones usually take about a week or so. I booked mine through a UK agent so if you google it, I'm sure you'll find it. It was quite expensive, but considering all the things you get to do, it is worth the money.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

craiced · Post by **craiced** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:32 pm

I have been planning on doing the same trip this September. I have done a little research. There are a lot of good sites to get info on the trip.

Lonely PLanet has a forum and you should get some info on it there.
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/messa ... d=0&from=1>

You will get alot of info on the trains here
http://www.seat61.com/

lin86 · Post by **lin86** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:46 am

Wow! Thanks for the sites and story guys! This is great. A question to craiced-- Is there a reason youve chose the month of September or does it just work best for you? Because I'm planning on going to Finland first I've been told to definitely travel in the summer months, not only for the weather. That if I plan on meeting or getting to know any Finns that it is not wise to visit in the winter. Is this really true or am I being horribly stereotypical? Apologies to any Finns, if I am.

Thank you so much for your story lonely_soul! It makes me want to pack my bags and leave right now :) But first I have my trip to Figi (I wish I could one day see Austrailia too!). Ancient cave painting site? Buddhist monastery? Visiting a Siberian villiage? This all fascinates me! I'll most definitely be looking all this up. I would love to spend all that time there, much more than a week. It always ends up going by too fast, doesnt it? How long did you stay at the monastery? What were you able to do there? Its good to hear you met some good people on the train, I've heard different opinons on that. I also know about the shower situation, but I've dealt with that before in travelling so it wont bother me much. Could you tell me what you thought of Beijing? Was this part of the tour? Oh and besides the cost of the tour, what kind of money do you have to bring along with you? (approx.) I've been working like a mad person lately trying to save for this and I hope to spend as little as possible, of course. Still trying to find a good deal on that flight to Finland! :) I love Finland so much right now, my friend who lives there says I'm crazy haha!

craiced · Post by **craiced** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 1:04 pm

I am planning on September because it is pretty quiet at work and it means that I can take a month or 2 off without any hassles and go and do it. I would rather do it during the summer but it would be too busy. I have heard the siberian leg can be quite amazing though during the winter though.

lin86 · Post by **lin86** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:06 pm

Yes it would be busy and everything more expensive I suppose. It would be an experience to attempt this in the winter thats for sure. Although I guess you are used to the cold weather, I am not. Ive never been in anything less than -5 C, I'd probably freeze my butt off hehe.

craiced · Post by **craiced** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 10:44 am

The trip itself from Moscow to Beijing costs around $250-300 for the trian ticket if you buy the ticket yourself and dont go through an agency. SO really it isnt that expensive and plus it should be good craic.

Mora · Post by **Mora** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:46 pm

http://www.pallontallaajat.net/interrail/keskustelu/

lin86 · Post by **lin86** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 10:15 pm

Well no, thats not too expensive at all. This would be one of the biggest trips I've ever taken though, I think it would be wise to go to an agency.
Afterall, I still have to make my way from Canada to Finland. And thanks for the link Mora, but I dont speak Finnish.

Mora · Post by **Mora** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 10:51 pm

You could ask the same question in english there at "yleinen". I'm sure you'd get all the answers you need.

Fred · Post by **Fred** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:57 am

Try http://www.sundownerstravel.com/

lin86 · Post by **lin86** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 4:55 am

Thanks Fred!

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