Tracks of Genghis Khan

Departing: Beijing - 21 days
Countries visited: China, Mongolia, Russia

Highlights Beijing - Mingle with the locals at some of Beijing’s colourful local markets - Visit a local family skilled in the art of kite making, a Chinese folk handicraft, and take this fun class yourself Ulaanbaatar - Overnight out on the Steppe sleeping in a traditional?Mongolian ger Moscow - Visit a local Matryoshka factory (traditional Russian nesting dolls) and try your hand at doll making at a master class St.Petersburg - Relax in a traditional Russian Banya (bathhouse) including professional ‘steam man’ with tea and green birch twigs

Itinerary

This journey is one of our ‘Experiential’ tours offering you an alternative to conventional touring. It includes local guides in each city but no appointed ‘Group Leader’ and no Local Payment. The sightseeing program will also include a range of alternate activities and sights not found on other tours, and is designed to give you greater contact with local people and their daily lives while still allowing for time to visit other highlights in each city.

Days 1-3. Beijing
We have the opportunity for an excursion to the Great Wall. Built to defend the civilised world from the fierce and capable Mongol horsemen, the Wall stretches 10,000 Li across China's mountainous northern frontier. We may also find time to visit the spectacular Summer Palace and enjoy the history and significance of the astonishing Forbidden City with its moated complex of superb awe-inspiring Halls, Palaces and Gates.

Day 4. Trans Mongolian Railway
North through border formalities where the bogies are changed and onto to Ulaanbaatar across the Gobi desert and over the steppe-lands of Mongolia.

Days 5-9. Ulaanbaatar & the Mongolian Steppe
The Mongolia of Genghis Khan lies beyond the city, in the land of the nomad. In the afternoon we travel out across the grasslands through the countryside where we spend two nights in a traditional Mongolian nomad tent or ger set amongst spectacular rock formations and wild rolling hills. Among nomadic families and their grazing livestock we can explore nearby valleys or just relax and enjoy the area. We return to Ulaanbaatar and depart aboard the Trans Mongolian Express to Siberia.

Days 10-12. Irkutsk & Lake Baikal
Almost in the centre of Asia, Irkutsk - 18th century churches, bright painted shutters and log houses decorated with wooden lacework. Modern administrative blocks and soaring bridges reach out across the Angara River in this beautiful town known as the "Paris of Siberia". Then aboard the train to Moscow.

Days 13-14. Trans Siberian Railway
Booming over the steel bridges spanning Siberia's nerve system of 5,000 rivers we travel through Ekaterinburg, well known for the execution of the Romanov family.

Days 15-18. Moscow
With its newly restored palaces and public building to the echoing vastness of Red Square and the splendid twirled cupolas of St.Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow will amaze you.

Days 19-21. St.Petersburg
Richly filled palaces and museums, wide boulevards and canals. The gilded halls of the Hermitage Museum hung with the works of Da Vinci, Rembrandt and many other great masters, and beyond the city lie the incomparable summer palaces of the Tsars at Petrodvorets.

Essentials

Group Size
15 maximum.

Accommodation
Hotels - 9 nights (twin share)
Mongolian Ger - 2 nights (shared)
Siberian Guesthouse - 2 nights (twin share).
Trains - 7 nights (4 berth)

Meals
Breakfast (13).

Travel by
Train: Comfortable 4 berth sleepers.
There are 4 rail sectors on this journey
- Beijing to Ulaanbaatar (1 night)
- Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsk (2 nights)
- Irkutsk to Moscow (3 nights)
- Moscow to St.Petersburg (1 night)
Other: For 'Scheduled Sightseeing' we generally use a small minibus.

2 Berth Rail (Optional)
Available for a supplementary price only when two people book and travel together. Available on all rail sectors between Beijing and St.Petersburg.

Sightseeing
Scheduled Sightseeing is part of the itinerary and includes all transport, entrance fees and English speaking local guide and may change according to group demands and availability. Below is a sample of the planned activities for this journey.

Beijing: Local markets, morning Taichi, kite making, cultural family visit.

Ulaanbaatar: Zaisan Memorial, National History Museum, Gandan Hiid Monastery, Terelj National Park.

Irkutsk (Siberia): City tour, Museum of Wooden Architecture, Limnological Museum.

Moscow: Matryoshka factory with master class and Museum of Cheburashka. St.Petersburg: Dinner with artist Yury Petrochenkov and his wife, Russian Museum of Ethnography, Russian Banya.

Visas
Required for China, Mongolia & Russia. Sundowners Overland will provide all required invitation letters and full visa support including detailed visa guidelines.