Trans-Siberian Railway

[Seany88]

Hello all,

Hoping for a bit of help and advice from others who have done this. I'm planning on doing this in April this year, I haven't booked anything as yet but having been looking into it over the past few days and got stuck at the first hurdle. Flights!

I'm finding they're ridiculously expensive one-way to Moscow, then one-way from Beijing to home! It seems to actually work out cheaper to book return flights to Moscow and then to/from Beijing!?

Are there any other (cheap) ways of getting to Moscow and how have others organised it in the past?

Thanks

[Puggit]

The return to Moscow would be fine, but if you booked a return to/from Beijing it would be ripped up if you didn't fly to Beijing.

[Olf]

Speak to a specialist travel agent and try to do it on a round the world ticket which work out quite well.

[Nicholas Blair]

why not get the train there + fly back fron Beijing.

I'm hoping to do this too some day. Have been immersed in my new TSR books since Christmas.

[Seany88]

Nicholas Blair said:

why not get the train there + fly back fron Beijing.

I'm hoping to do this too some day. Have been immersed in my new TSR books since Christmas.

That's my plan, problem is booking tickets one-way is extortionate!

I think I'm going to try STA travel later and see what they can do, I think organising this trip is probably one best left to agents...

[Puggit]

Another point to consider is your Russian visa. It will be considerably easier to organise this through an agent, if you're travelling independently I can't imagine the hassle!

[hesnotthemessiah]

I did the trip a number of years ago. I bought my ticket for the Trans Siberian from Monkey Travel in Hong Kong. I went from Beijing to Moscow. Cost me $100 about a 10th of the price it would have cost me to go the other way. So if money is an issue....I would definitely go from east to west. The Russians (no offence intended) tend to take the micky with prices.

A great trip, one I won't forget in a hurry. It was part of me working my way around the world, so no direct flights involved, therefore, can't really offer advice on the flights.

Have a great trip regardless.

[SplatSpeed]

start in helsinki!

[DBSV8]

Seany88 said:

Hello all,

Hoping for a bit of help and advice from others who have done this. I'm planning on doing this in April this year, I haven't booked anything as yet but having been looking into it over the past few days and got stuck at the first hurdle. Flights!

I'm finding they're ridiculously expensive one-way to Moscow, then one-way from Beijing to home! It seems to actually work out cheaper to book return flights to Moscow and then to/from Beijing!?

Are there any other (cheap) ways of getting to Moscow and how have others organised it in the past?

Thanks

BMI rtn is 220 quid for April ? which is a good price imo

will send link for tickets , would help to know what your budget is ? , If you are travelling on the Trans Siberian Express , there are 3 options of ticket , cattle class , coupe , Lux ,

cattle class , will see you in an open carriage with triple berths , so you could end up getting friendly with a babushka complete with seaty socks and unwashed ,shower shy workers screaming kids , you get the picture .

Coupes are 4 berths carriages, if you go for this option get a lower berth ( odd number ) even numbers are top berths ,

lux are two berths , better service , if you are a non smoker ask for a coupe in the middle of the carriage as smokers smoke in the areas between the carriages .

the best coupes will have china tea services tv's / dvd players and you may spend the entire journey with a playgirl look alike ......alternatively ..it could be Gordon Brown ,

If you want total privacy simply purchase two tickets.

[caziques]

Thread resurrection time.

'er indoors wants to do Trans Siberian at some point.

So OP, how did you get on?

Interesting that east to west is cheaper - anyone else done the journey?

[Rostfritt]

Well I did east-west, but I was moving from Asia to the UK at the time, so flight costs weren't an issue at the time. Cost was much less in the bottom class and it was not that bad, obviously the others are better but it was a lot cheaper. People are quite friendly but takes a bit to break their Russian style rudeness to strangers. It may or may not be a blur of vodka bottles, it really depends who you meet. The train stops for about 30 mins, every 4 hours or so, so you can stretch your legs. I highly recommend the cities of Kazan and Irkutsk on the way, a trip to lake Baikal has to be done, but try to get a train the goes around the edge in the day, I didn't but heard it is good. If I were you I would fly to Beijing, either take the Trans Mongolian if I wanted to visit Mongolia, or the Manchurian and see Harbin, then stop in Irkutsk, Tomsk, Kazan, Moscow, St Petersburg and Helsinki. I went all the way home on the train, through Ukraine, but that took a while. You could get back by boat and train from Helsinki if you wanted, returning on Eurostar, which involves less flying, so is what I would do.

I will be going again the other way some day, definitely worth it.