Top 5 tips for riding the Trans Siberian Railway
One of the highlights of our travels was taking the world-famous Trans Siberian Railway. Turning up at the station knowing that this train could take us all the way to Beijing was so exciting. We actually got off along the way as we wanted to see parts of Russia but you can go all the way from Moscow to Beijing without leaving the train. It “only” takes 7 days. Our longest stint on the train was a mere 58 hours.
To some travellers the thought of spending 58 hours on a train fills them with dread but to us, train travel is the best way to travel (unless you are going scuba diving). It’s the most social of transports and you get to see much more scenery. For us bloggers it’s perfect for just sitting there writing notes and getting inspiration. Would you say the same about plane travel?
If you are thinking about taking the Trans Siberian Railway here are our top 5 tips on riding it:
Choose your route:
There are 3 main routes that the Train takes:
Moscow to Vladivostok (9,258km/6,152 miles)
Moscow to Beijing via Harbin, Manchuria (8,986km/5,623 miles)
Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia (7,621km/4,735 miles)
The Vladivostok is the longest and least popular route with travellers. The Beijing via Harbin route is the oldest and the Mongolian route is the most popular. We took the Mongolian route as Mongolia was number 1 on my hit list.
Visas
We have travelled to over 60 countries in our life, and we can safely say that getting a visa for Russia is the most complicated, frustrating and time consuming exercise we have experienced so far. In the end we gave up and used an agency to obtain our visa. While there are rumours that getting a Russian visa will become easier with Russia hosting the Winter Olympics & World Cup 2018, we would recommend using an agency to obtain your visa. It will save many painful hours trying to figure the application out.
Keep in mind that if you are passing through Belarus you will need to get a transit visa for there too.
Booking your journey :
Many travellers use agencies to book tickets for the whole journey as the ticket website is only in Russian.
We were lucky enough to be living with Russian speakers before booking our trip so they helped us book all our tickets online. We saved quite a bit of money by avoiding the agencies so it would be worth trying to book the tickets yourself, with the help of a Russian speaking friend.
You could also use Google translate to help – this is how our efforts started. There are times when the translate does not work properly and you’ll think the station you’re looking for doesn’t exist when in fact you’re typing in ‘bloody station’ instead of the actual name.
Try to book your tickets as early as possible – we ended up on different carriages on some of the journeys.
Sleeping:
On the Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia route the train has 2-berth compartments (with shower), 1st class 4-berth compartments and 2nd class 4- berth compartments. We always opted for the 2nd class 4-berth as there is not much difference between the 1st and 2nd class. We really recommend going for the 4-berth even if you have the budget for 1st class. You get to know your fellow passengers that way and the journey becomes much more interesting.
Food:
All the main Trans-Siberian trains have a restaurant car, a Russian one when in Russia, a Mongolian one in Mongolia and a Chinese one in China. The food can be expensive and not always great. We’d recommend taking some of your own food with you. At the end of each carriage there is unlimited free boiling water so you can make tea, coffee, noodles, pasta, etc. A quick shop in a Russian Supermarket will bring up all kinds of food you can take on the train, from single serving porridge, to noodle cups etc.
You will also find babushka’s selling home cooked meals at most stops in Russia’
Get Off!:
It seems strange for me to be recommending that you leave one of the world’s greatest train journeys. Russia has so much to see and do and who knows when you will be in that part of the world again. Lake Baikal is spectacular and we really loved our stay in many of the Russian towns and cities ( the blogs are in the pipeline ). Mongolia is one of the most amazing and memorable places I have visited.
A word of warning! When you get off in Russia remember that trains run to Moscow time while in Russia, irrespective of what the local time is, so knowledge of the time zone you are in and a calculation are necessary when consulting the timetable. Very confusing!
I hope this blog was informative. Feel free to contact me or leave comments below if you have further questions. And if you’d like to sign up below you can download our TOP 33 Travel Tips to get more from your journey.
Have a great weekend and remember: slow travel is real travel!
Peace & Love,
Paul
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Paul Farrugia is a an avid traveller and blogger. When he is not travelling he likes to spend his free time reading, going to festivals and sitting down enjoying a nice glass of red! If you would like to reach him send him an e-mail to [email protected]
Thanks for this post! The trans mongolian railway has been at the top of my bucket list for so long, but it kept not happening thanks to having to muck around with getting the visa, so I really hope things do get easier in the years to come. i am very jealous that you got to this! Off to read all your other posts now 🙂
Thanks Sharon! It was an amazing experience. I want to do it again in winter now! 🙂
Really nice post. Funnily enough, I was talking about this trip to a Russian student of mine just this afternoon and he couldn’t understand why I wanted to travel to by train from Berlin to China!
I think it would be an exciting adventure and you’re right, if not soon. When!
Great post, very informative. I have really wanted to do this journey for ages but I am thinking that a minimum of 3wks is required and hence havent been able to get off work. Would doing it in 2wks be too little time? Obviously we want to get off and see some of the sights along the way.
Hi Victoria! Go for it, you will not regret it! Let us know if you need any other tips.
Hey Ross, I think it took us around 2.5 week with us getting off at various places in Russia. However we had a month in Mongolia. If you just wanted to get off in Russia you could do it in 2 weeks.
Not trying to criticize, but this short blog really wasn’t very informative for what should be at least a 3-4 week trip. Maybe you had to narrow it down to 5 tips, but for such a complex trip, you should have rebelled. I have been to Russia and am a seasoned traveler and this will be my next trip. What month you were there? The Mongolian extra I clicked was more info but it assumes we know how to book the 2 week extra. Beautiful pictures! I am considering going solo (am widow) and have a lot more questions. Maybe you could e me? Like why was the food on the train expensive and bad? The “two” books written say it is great.(as is going solo, do you agree?) I would book the 2 berth, anything about how they are as security, warmth & noise? Your info talks about getting meals at stops, but how often are the stops to count on doing this? I won’t take up space here, thanks for what you wrote and would love to hear more about it. Sharon E
Thanks for your feedback Sharone most of our readers found the article informative as you can see from the comments. Some people don’t want to get off the train so the journey will not be 3-4 weeks as you suggest but 7/8 days. There is no right or wrong way of travelling this journey.
If you would like further info you can e-mail me.
Thanks