Travel in RussiaRussia

Wanna do Transsib tour? Following is all you need to know about traveling in Russian Long-Distance Trains! 

Across Siberian Routes are probably the most popular when thinking about traveling to Russia. Almost all tourists include it to their plan even though Trans-Siberian is time-consuming and quite hard to be planed in advance. There are plenty of issues to dealt with before and during the trip.

What I would like to concentrate here today are some principal tips on Russian train tourism, as it has its specific (very authentic one, which is better to be studied in advance); and to describe a bit of several across-Siberia Routes.

The most important things to know before traveling by train in Russia

SAFETY ISSUES
Traveling by train presents additional safety issues. NEVER leave your valuables «alone»! Specifically, take your money, cards and cell phones with you no matter where you go. This way you will still have your cash, even if your suitcase is stolen. Of course, the odds are against being robbed, but as a Russian, I use this simple rule and strongly recommend you do the same! Once, traveling overnight from Moscow to St Petersburg with two trustworthy neighbors and a friend in the same compartment, I left my phone for just a minute; it disappeared forever. No one knows how, even though my friend was right there!

THE LANGUAGE BARRIER
The language barrier can be even more of a major factor because the Russian railroad conductors receive low wages and are less likely to be well-educated. Additionally, the more rural and small cities are less likely to teach significant amounts of English. Take a dictionary with you, at least you will be able to show what you need written there.

What to take with you — THE MUST!
If you will travel any other class than business, please include in your luggage drinking water, tea and/or coffee (hot water is always available), non-perishable snacks that are quick to make, tooth paste, tooth brush, sanitary napkins and slippers! There is no refrigerator on the train. Nor is there a shower in standard carriages; you can go through the train to find specially designed carriages where there is a shower and even a kids' room, but not all trains contain such. Plus, you will have to pay the conductor something like 100 rubles to use it.

FOOD
As was already mentioned — there is no any refrigerator for the public use on train. There is a restaurant-carriage, so it is possible to buy hot food. However, the quality is usually poor so I recommend eating in advance. Traveling up to eight days can be challenging, but on some stops (which can last as long as two hours) there are old ladies — babushka's — who sell homemade pies, ravioli and dumplings. As a result, you should not go hungry, but you will have to explain your order using your fingers.


Train (e-)tickets
The earliest day to buy a ticket for a long distance trains in Russia is 45 days prior to the departure.

Order train e-tickets. Unfortunately, it is not an easy process for foreigners to buy train tickets in Russia; even Russian citizens find it nearly impossible to get an e-ticket with an on-line purchase. There are only a few trains such as those between Moscow and St Petersburg that provide such services. For all other trains, travel companies can help you with the purchase. All you have to do is to purchase tickets at the office or ask for a courier to delivery to your hotel.

 Just in case, the official web page of the Russian railways. However, the English version provides no possibility to book on-line.


Types of cabins available



There are Compartment-type, Economy class reserve-seat type of cabin and Lux Cabins.

Compartment-type cabins contain 36 berths, odd-numbered seats are on lower berth line, even-numbered are upper berth line. Each compartment has 4 beds, 1 table; the compartment can be closed with a door; it also has mirror and a big window.

Economy class reserve seat type of cabin contains 54 berths. All seats are open, as there are no doors at all in this type of cabins. Here also odd-numbered seats are on lower berth line, even-numbered are on upper berth line.

Lux cabins contains 16 or 18 seats, all are on lower berth. The compartments here have more space and are more luxury. There is a TV screen inside each compartment, 2 beds, 1 table, mirror, and a big window. Special services (like linen, tea, coffee and snacks) are most of the times included.

On the picture:

1 — WC
2 — Tambour
3 — Railway crew cabin
4- Corridor
5 — Boiler with hot water, socket
6 -Trash bin, socket


Three Main Rail Routes


It would be better to acknowledge that there are three different routes to travel by long-distance trains through Russia. You can plan you trip in different ways, depending on time, money and your wishes. Having traveled somewhere till the middle of Russia you can switch and continue to China or Mongolia. Such flexibility gives you a good chance to travel through Asia. Please note that you should prepare all necessary visas (if needed) in advance.

Trans Siberian Route
It is the longest and the most popular. Goes only through the territory of Russian Federation. Takes 8 days in total (without stops). You can choose several main cities on the way to drop out and drop in.

Main cities on the route are:
(St Petersburg) Moscow — Yekaterinburg — Novosibirsk — Irkutsk — Ulan-Ude — Khabarovsk — Vladivostok

Trans-Mongolian Route
This one follows an ancient tea-caravan route from China to Russia through Mongolia. Also takes 8 days in total (without stops) if you start from St Petersburg (if your initial city is Moscow — the trip is one day less)

Main cities on the route are:
(St Petersburg) Moscow — Yekaterinburg — Novosibirsk — Irkutsk — Ulan-Ude — Ulan-Bator — Beijing

Trans Manchurian Route
It is the shortest in terms of stops route, going directly to China from the middle of Russian territory. Takes 7 days in total (from St Petersburg).

Main cities on the route are:
(St Petersburg) Moscow — Yekaterinburg — Novosibirsk — Irkutsk — Ulan-Ude — Beijing


Trans-Siberian virtual tour
 Baikal Lake This is how it looks like from the train window! (Scroll till 16.45 min and enjoy!)

 Full virtual tour through the whole Trans-SIberian (it is in Russian, but Google translate will help you to understand what is where. IMHO, this tour is really impressive).


Sincerely yours,
Anastasia Zalesskaya

Keywords (tags), separate by comma: Russia, Russian trains, trains in Russia, Russia travel tips, transsib

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