Tour Itinerary:
Day 1, Saturday, 13th June 2009: Moscow. Passengers should arrive in Moscow (flights not included). Transfer to hotel for one night. Welcome dinner.
Day 2, Sunday, 14th June 2009: Moscow. A full day’s city tour of Russia’s vibrant Capital City includes visits to Red Square and The Kremlin. Early evening transfer to Moscow’s Leningradski station to join our private sleeping car train that will be our home for the next 13 days. The train will be hauled from Moscow by Europe’s largest operating steam locomotive, the P36.0032 Russia’s most modern express steam locomotive design (a 4-8-4 design of 1954). Welcome reception and introduction to the train staff in the bar car, followed by dinner, as we depart north towards Saint Petersburg and the Arctic Circle; be warned, there will not be many hours of darkness in the next two weeks as this is the time of year the Russians call ‘White Nights’
Day 3, Monday, 15th June 2009: Pavlovsk and St Petersburg. After breakfast we alight in Pavlovsk and visit Catherine’s Summer Palace in Pushkin, including a visit to the Amber Room. Lunch at the Podvorie Restaurant (a typical Russian Log Cabin) after which we continue to St Petersburg hauled by Russia’s oldest working steam locomotive Ov. 324 running built in 1905. There is an afternoon tour of the city of St Petersburg before we rejoin the main train for dinner as we head southwest out of the city.
Day 4, Tuesday, 16th June 2009 : Pskov and Novgorod. In the morning we tour Pskov on the Latvian border with its ancient and well restored centre and in whose station Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on 15th March 1915, before continuing to Novgorod, one of the oldest towns in Russia with its five-doomed Cathedral. Dinner as we head back north and head for the Arctic Circle.
Day 5, Wednesday, 17th June 2009 : Petrozavodsk. This morning we are in Petrozavodsk where we board a hydrofoil to Kizhi Island on Lake Onega to view the world famous 22-domed wooden cathedral. On our return to Petrozavodsk we will tour this pleasant lakeside resort before rejoining our train for lunch and continue our journey north.
Day 6, Thursday, 18th June 2009: Arctic Circle. Overnight we have arrived at the end of the Sofporog branch line and spend an enjoyable morning steaming back to the mail line at Louki, where our P36 will be waiting to take us to the Arctic Circle, where we will arrive shortly after lunch. During the afternoon we will enter the Kola Peninsula and around midnight we arrive in the city of Murmansk.
Day 7, Friday, 19th June 2009: Nikel. Early morning we will arrive at Nikel, on the border with Norway. The station is close to the Nikel smelting plant which in part has caused the devastation to the surrounding countryside that will have been evident for the 20 miles before our arrival. An eerie place but has been one of the highlights of our previous tours. We retrace our steps to Luostari where we may take the branch north to Pechenga, the world’s most northerly passenger railway station, if the line is still open to passenger traffic. On previous trips we have not been allowed to Pechenga as it passes through a highly sensitive military area. We will tour Murmansk later in the afternoon if we are unable to go to Pechenga.
Day 8, Saturday, 20th June 2009: Solovetsky. After breakfast in Kem we transfer to a small boat bound for Solovetsky Monastery on Solovetsky Island in the White Sea. The Island is also famous for its ‘Special Purpose Camp’ set up by Stalin and is the location used as the basis for Solzhenitzyn’s Gulag Archipelago.
Day 9, Sunday, 21st June 2009: Archangel. We spend the morning touring Archangel, a pleasant town on the White Sea and in the afternoon continue along the branch line to Kapagory, arriving late evening on the longest day of the year. There is an extra-cost option to spend the whole day in Archangel, staying in a hotel overnight and rejoining the train in the morning.
Day 10, Monday, 22nd June 2009: Onboard. Mid-morning we pass through Archangel and spend a relaxing day on the train heading south.
Day 11, Tuesday, 23rd June 2009: Vologda. After breakfast we arrive in Vologda, a pleasant city on the Vologda River. We will visit the beautifully restored Kremlin and the adjacent Saint Sophia’s Cathedral and Bell tower. During the afternoon we continue heading south.
Day 12, Wednesday, 24th June 2009: Uglich. After lunch we arrive in Uglich on the Volga River and spend the afternoon in this pleasant town viewing the buildings same dating back to the 14th century. Uglich is also home of the Library of Russian Vodka. This is an interactive library and visitor participation is encouraged. A farewell train dinner will be served to those still standing upon departure.
Day 13, Thursday, 25th June 2009: Moscow. Our final morning on the train sees us speeding down the St Petersburg - Moscow mainline with a light lunch being served before we arrive at Moscow Leningradski station. Free time in the afternoon before the tour farewell dinner is served in the hotel.
Day 14, Friday, 26th June 2009: Moscow. Breakfast in the hotel brings the tour to a close and airport transfers are provided for departing flights.
Technical details : The tour will cover 4,200 miles (6,760 kms) of which about 75% is scheduled to be steam hauled using eight different historic locomotives of classes P36 (4-8-4), Su (2-6-2), L (2-10-0), SO (2-10-0) Er (0-10-0), Eu (0-10-0) and Ov (0-8-0).
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
Price Includes:
- Accommodation as per the itinerary;
- On board the train and in hotels;
- All meals starting with dinner on day 1 (please refer to the specific itinerary);
- Generous allowance of wine, beer, soft drinks and tea and coffee with all lunches and dinners both on and off the train (except where stated otherwise);
- Arrival and departure transfers (if you arrive/depart on the tour start/end date and except where stated otherwise);
- Guided off train sightseeing excursions;
- Services of experienced tour leaders;
- Complimentary tea, coffee, mineral water 24 hours a day, all gratuities;
- On board doctor (except if stated otherwise).
Gold Glass Cabins- private wc/shower.
Heritage cabins - 2 lower level beds, luggage storage, central air conditioned. WC facilities located at end of each carriage, plus purpose built shower car is included.
Cabin dimensions: cabin area 38.4 sq ft, cabin length 6’7”, cabin width 6’ 2”, Bed width 2’ 4”, bed length 6’ 2”
Also see tour packages in:
Europe
Russia
Railway Trips
Sightseeing
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