Experience a journey of a lifetime as you visit two continents and travel by rail across nearly 4,000 miles to experience the fascinating landscapes and cultures between Mongolia and Moscow. A special highlight is Mongolia’s incomparable Naadam Festival.
The Trans-Siberian Express
A Train Journey Aboard the Golden Eagle from Mongolia to Moscow Featuring the Naadam Festival
14 days from $17,895
Experience a journey of a lifetime as you visit two continents and travel by rail across nearly 4,000 miles to experience the fascinating landscapes and cultures between Mongolia and Moscow. A special highlight is Mongolia’s incomparable Naadam Festival.
Tour Details
TOUR BROCHURE

WHAT OUR TRAVELERS SAY
- Barbara H.This was a wonderful trip. I thoroughly benefited from my time with Smithsonian. An added bonus is that so many people on the tour are knowledgeable that we learn from each other.
- Pat R.All in all this was an outstanding adventure—unique background information, excellent city guides, and also all the attention to detail and safety was greatly appreciated. Would urge anyone to take this Journey and experience the vastness of Russia.
- Ken T.I really enjoyed this trip and will recommend it to my friends. This was just ‘as advertised,’ the voyage of a lifetime by private train. A unique experience with the most professional and personable staff.
- Clara Z.This was an outstanding tour full of very unique experiences and an incredible trip. Enjoyed nature at Lake Baikal and the wildflowers in full bloom; the folk culture at the Nadaam, the village life re-enacted near Irtursk and Lake Baikal, the special concerts at Novosibirsk and Moscow, the dinosaur museum. It was like having eight or ten superb vacations in a single tour!
JOURNEYS DISPATCHES
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Shangri-La Hotel Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Located in the heart of Mongolia’s capital city, Shangri-La Hotel Ulaanbaatar is a luxurious sanctuary. Each well-appointed guest room offers panoramic views of either the city or nearby park and boasts a stunning fusion of contemporary and local design styles. Dine at one of the hotel’s international restaurants or recharge in the fitness center.
Number of nights: 3
InterContinental Tverskaya
Moscow, Russian Federation
The luxurious five star InterContinental Tverskaya is located in the heart of Moscow just a Metro stop from Red Square. The beautifully-designed hotel features a fine restaurant serving a modern take on traditional European cuisine, a 24-hour fitness center, deluxe spa services, and cocktails and sweets in the stylish P-Square Bar. The elegant rooms include air conditioning, cable TV, minibar, complimentary WiFi, iPod docking, bathrobes and in-room safe.
Number of nights: 1
Activity Level 3: Moderate / Active
Expectations: Longer trip featuring an exotic and sometimes challenging destination, with eight nights aboard a luxurious, historic train that crosses nearly 4,000 miles from start to finish. Train travel requires balance for navigating a moving train for an extended period; the restaurant and bar cars may be some distance from the sleeping cars. Travelers may encounter challenges getting on and off trains due to low platforms, steep steps, and or gaps between the platform and train. Long days of touring with daily activity of four to six hours on most days with extended walking of generally two to three miles. Walking entails sometimes difficult terrain (uneven surfaces, uneven steps in older buildings, city hills, steep staircases without handrails, little access to elevators), walking to city centers where coaches are prohibited, and navigating through crowds such as the Naadam Festival. Excursions in Mongolia will involve driving over rough, unpaved roads. This tour entails altitudes up to 6,000 feet, which may cause some travelers additional effort. The daytime temperatures can range from 60 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the tour, depending on the location. Flexibility, a sense of humor, and a willingness to accept local standards of amenities and services are essential components to the enjoyment of this trip.
Appropriate for: Travelers who are physically fit, lead active lives, are comfortable participating in long days of activities, and expect some physical exertion.
St. Petersburg Post-Program Extension — 5 Days, 4 Nights
Day 1 — Moscow
Begin the day with a ride on Moscow’s Metro system, one of the largest in the world. The first Metro station opened in 1935, and today there are some 200 of them along the 200 miles of track, serving nearly 2.5 billion travelers each year. The stations in the city center are showpieces of Socialist art, furnished with statues, frescoes and mosaics, and with marbled, gilded, and bronzed walls and ceilings. Some of the more elaborate are Kievskaya Station, its walls clad in framed mosaics showing happy Ukrainians under golden skies; Ploshchad Revolutsii, its black Georgian marble setting off bronze sculptures of Russian workers and soldiers; and Mayakovsky Station, with its slender stainless steel pylons and graceful arches forming domes filled with mosaics. Stalin gave his Anniversary of the October Revolution speech here in 1941, deep underground where he was safe from air raids.
Exit the metro at the Tretyakov Gallery, founded by 19th-century Russian merchant, Pavel Tretyakov, who spent 40 years and much of his fortune collecting and preserving works of Russian art. The history and trajectory of Russian art are displayed here, encompassing pieces from the 11th century to the present, and including mosaics, icons, paintings and sculptures by such artists as Rublev, Repin, and Levitan. The collection is rarely seen outside of Russia.
Following lunch, tour the Lev Tolstoy House Museum. Located in a beautiful early 19th-century building, the museum’s collection includes Tolstoy’s manuscripts, photographs, portraits, memorabilia, and an invaluable book depository, including the author’s works translated into many of the world’s languages. The museum arranges excursions and lectures and conducts extensive research.
Upon completion of the day’s program, enjoy a free evening in preparation for the journey to St. Petersburg tomorrow. Dinner tonight is independent. (B,L)
Day 2 — Moscow/Train to St. Petersburg
Following breakfast at the hotel, transfer to the railway station for departure to St. Petersburg by an express train. Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, transfer to the city-center hotel for a three-night stay.
The lavish pre-revolutionary palaces and churches of St. Petersburg have been renovated with flair and reverence. Daily life swirls around the city’s main boulevard, famed Nevsky Prospect, where lanky fashion models in stiletto heels brush past stout kerchiefed babushkas (grandmothers.) With its tenacious underground current of edgy energy, St. Petersburg is a fundamental lesson in apprehending the spirit of Russia. Reminisce on your Trans-Siberian journey with fellow travelers at dinner this evening. (B,D)
Days 3 — St. Petersburg
This morning, begin with a visit to St. Isaac’s Cathedral, an architectural feat that took 40 years to complete. The 48 red granite columns around the lower part of the building each weigh 110 tons and the upper columns around the rotunda weigh 67 tons apiece. The dome is covered with 220 pounds of gold, and the interior columns faced with lapis lazuli and malachite. The cathedral is bursting with sculptures, frescoes, stained glassworks, and woodcarvings.
Later, see the Church of the Savior on the Blood, built on the spot where Czar Alexander II was felled by a bomb in 1881, and commissioned in the style of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow by his son and successor, Alexander III. Just off Nevsky Prospekt, the emblematic cathedral with its blue and green patterned domes has become a symbol of St. Petersburg. The interior walls and cupolas are covered in fine mosaics of Biblical scenes, and four jasper columns mark the spot where the czar fell.
In the afternoon take a guided tour of the Hermitage Museum. The Winter Palace, part of the Hermitage ensemble, was built in 1754-62 as the principal home of the czars and was lavishly rebuilt in 1839 after it was destroyed by fire. Originally a small private palace gallery founded by Catherine the Great with a purchase of 255 paintings from Berlin, the Hermitage today houses one of the largest museum collections in the world. It includes works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, and others. The fabulous rooms with their inlaid floors and gilded woodwork and the grand double entry staircase are works of art in themselves.
As part of the visit, see the Hermitage’s Gold Room, which contains finely-worked Scythian and Greek golden ornaments from the 7th to the 1st century BC, including shield plaques, bracelets, equestrian armor, and drinking vessels.
Upon completion of the tour, return to the hotel for a free evening. (B,L)
Day 4 — St. Petersburg
This morning travel by hydrofoil to Peterhof. Peter the Great sketched the original drawings for the beautiful Sea Canal, laid out strictly north and south, and forming a marine entrance to the Grand Palace from the Gulf of Finland. At the terminus of the canal is the Grand Cascade, its double set of stairs pouring water into the Lower Grotto, where a gilded Samson pries open the jaws of a lion from which water jets up to 60 feet.
Peter the Great’s fountains are Peterhof’s main attraction. More than 150 glistening, gilded, sculpted marble, granite and limestone fountains and cascades adorn the Lower Park. The gravity-fed collection pools in Peterhof’s Upper Garden discharge their waters nearly 50 feet down to the Lower Park’s cascades and jets, creating enormous force and powering fountains all over the park.
Enjoy an opportunity to go inside the Grotto behind the Grand Cascade and learn about its complicated system of pipes and the mechanics that supply the fountains with water. The experience offers an unusual vantage point from which to appreciate the Grand Cascade and conveys the sense of being behind a waterfall.
Take a tour of Peter the Great’s favorite residence, Monplaisir Palace, the only fully original building remaining at Peterhof. The first structure built on the estate, the early 18th-century Monplaisir has a sweeping view over the Gulf of Finland so Peter could keep an eye on the passing ships. Peter designed the intimate palace, including a kitchen so he could cook for himself (not an ordinary pastime for a czar). This is where he experimented with his first “joke” fountains, inviting foreign dignitaries to sit on an innocent-looking garden bench that doused them with jets of water. Outfitted with some of Peter’s belongings and furnishings, the charming little palace is known as the “heart of Peterhof,” and has been considered a memorial to Peter since just after his death.
Drive to the nearby Pushkin for lunch, followed by the afternoon visit to Catherine’s Palace, originally built in 1717. In 1752, famed architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli enlarged and embellished the palace, extending the facade to its current grandeur. The estate and palace buildings were almost completely destroyed by the Germans during World War II, but they have been carefully and expertly restored into a brilliant architectural monument.
The fully restored Amber Room in Catherine’s Palace has been years in the making. The wall coverings of amber panels, created in the time of Peter the Great, were taken by the Nazis during the Second World War and never recovered. The beautifully crafted amber panels we see today were re-created from photos and descriptions of the originals, and have become one of the highlights of Catherine’s Palace.
Gather tonight for a farewell dinner to toast the completion of your Trans-Siberian adventure. (B,L,D)
Day 5 — Depart St. Petersburg
Transfer to the airport this morning for international departures.
Hotel Intercontinental Tverskaya — Moscow
The luxurious five-star Intercontinental Tverskaya Hotel is located in the heart of Moscow just a Metro stop from Red Square. The beautifully-designed hotel features a fine restaurant serving a modern take on traditional European cuisine, a 24-hour fitness center, deluxe spa services, and cocktails and sweets in the stylish P-Square Bar. The elegant rooms include air conditioning, cable TV, minibar, complimentary WiFi, iPod docking, bathrobes, and in-room safe.
Hotel Lotte — St. Petersburg (2021 departure)
Housed in a restored 1850s mansion facing the Moika River embankment, the beautiful five-star Lotte Hotel is located in the heart of St. Petersburg, and is just a few minutes' walk away from the Mariinsky Palace and St. Isaac's Cathedral. The hotel features a luxurious Balinese-style spa, a fitness center, two restaurants serving Japanese and international cuisine, and an open rooftop bar with panoramic views of the city. Rooms include individually controlled heating, cooling, and lighting systems, cable/satellite TV, in-room safe, and complimentary WiFi access.
Kempinski Moika 22 Hotel — St. Petersburg (2022 departure)
Kempinski Hotel Moika 22 is housed in a pre-revolutionary mansion on the Moika Embankment just across from the Hermitage. Its renovated interior is furnished with a mix of classic and antique pieces. Amenities include the ninth floor Bellevue Bar with beautiful views over the city, the Beau Rivage restaurant featuring fine dining, a rooftop Wellness Center and a Tea Room where a Russian/English high tea is offered every day. Rooms include satellite TV, wireless and cable Internet, minibar, hair dryers, heated bathroom floors and bathrobes.
Golden Eagle Train
A true highlight of The Trans-Siberian Express and Arctic Explorer train journeys is the legendary train itself. The Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express private train is the most comfortable train available for these rail adventures. Dining cars provide traditional Russian and European cuisine and the bar/ lounge car is a relaxing place to gather with other guests. The train offers a choice of comfort levels with different styles of sleeping cars. Each car features two attendants and each cabin offers well-appointed convertible berths, modern amenities, air- conditioning, and private bathroom/shower.
- Silver Class: Silver Class cabins are more compact than Gold Class cabins with similar facilities. Silver Class cabins feature the same amenities as Gold Class cabins but in a smaller space.
- Gold Class: Gold Class cabins are well-proportioned and feature modern en suite amenities including power showers, underfloor heating, a DVD/CD player, LCD screen, remote-controlled air-conditioning/heating, recessed lighting and wardrobe, and a personal safe. Each cabin is configured with upper and lower berths and can accommodate double, twin or single occupancy.
- Imperial Suite: Imperial Suites are the most beautiful and spacious cabins available onboard the Golden Eagle. Measuring a surprising 120 sq ft (11.1 sq meters), they are furnished with a luxurious king-size bed, dedicated seating area, dressing table and private en-suite facilities with large power shower and underfloor heating. Individual air-conditioning, wardrobe, DVD/CD player with LCD screen and two large picture windows make the cabin a pleasant retreat.
- Dining Cars feature local and European cuisine complemented by a selection of local and European wines. Dining cars are multi-purpose, used for on-board lectures and viewing documentaries. One or more dining cars may be included in the train formation of any given departure depending on the number of passengers.
- The Bar/Lounge Car is a favorite destination in the train formation and is typically included on most departures. The lounge offers a relaxing and comfortable area where you can enjoy a drink, take language lessons, and gather around the piano with other passengers.
Golden Eagle Train
A true highlight of The Trans-Siberian Express and Arctic Explorer train journeys is the legendary train itself. The Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express private train is the most comfortable train available for these rail adventures. Dining cars provide traditional Russian and European cuisine and the bar/ lounge car is a relaxing place to gather with other guests. The train offers a choice of comfort levels with different styles of sleeping cars. Each car features two attendants and each cabin offers well-appointed convertible berths, modern amenities, air- conditioning, and private bathroom/shower.
- Silver Class: Silver Class cabins are more compact than Gold Class cabins with similar facilities. Silver Class cabins feature the same amenities as Gold Class cabins but in a smaller space.
- Gold Class: Gold Class cabins are well-proportioned and feature modern en suite amenities including power showers, underfloor heating, a DVD/CD player, LCD screen, remote-controlled air-conditioning/heating, recessed lighting and wardrobe, and a personal safe. Each cabin is configured with upper and lower berths and can accommodate double, twin or single occupancy.
- Imperial Suite: Imperial Suites are the most beautiful and spacious cabins available onboard the Golden Eagle. Measuring a surprising 120 sq ft (11.1 sq meters), they are furnished with a luxurious king-size bed, dedicated seating area, dressing table and private en-suite facilities with large power shower and underfloor heating. Individual air-conditioning, wardrobe, DVD/CD player with LCD screen and two large picture windows make the cabin a pleasant retreat.
- Dining Cars feature local and European cuisine complemented by a selection of local and European wines. Dining cars are multi-purpose, used for on-board lectures and viewing documentaries. One or more dining cars may be included in the train formation of any given departure depending on the number of passengers.
- The Bar/Lounge Car is a favorite destination in the train formation and is typically included on most departures. The lounge offers a relaxing and comfortable area where you can enjoy a drink, take language lessons, and gather around the piano with other passengers.
WHAT OUR TRAVELERS SAY
- Barbara H.This was a wonderful trip. I thoroughly benefited from my time with Smithsonian. An added bonus is that so many people on the tour are knowledgeable that we learn from each other.
- Pat R.All in all this was an outstanding adventure—unique background information, excellent city guides, and also all the attention to detail and safety was greatly appreciated. Would urge anyone to take this Journey and experience the vastness of Russia.
- Ken T.I really enjoyed this trip and will recommend it to my friends. This was just ‘as advertised,’ the voyage of a lifetime by private train. A unique experience with the most professional and personable staff.
- Clara Z.This was an outstanding tour full of very unique experiences and an incredible trip. Enjoyed nature at Lake Baikal and the wildflowers in full bloom; the folk culture at the Nadaam, the village life re-enacted near Irtursk and Lake Baikal, the special concerts at Novosibirsk and Moscow, the dinosaur museum. It was like having eight or ten superb vacations in a single tour!