Userpic

barungbabie
Traveller
0 comments

Posted 7 years ago

HI everyone, my friend and I are planning a trip by train from Beijing (China) to Lisbon (Portugal) in around September. We plan to hop on and off the train so we can also tour the cities we pass through instead of staying on the train for (minimum) 6 days in a row, specially the Trans-siberian leg.

The trip is to be broken down into three parts:

1) Trans-Siberian (Trans Mongolia to be exact), from Beijing to Moscow
2) A train ticket from Moscow to Warsaw (to enter into the EU zone)
3) An interrail/Eurorail pass so we can hop on and off a few stops.

We have about 1.5 months to do the trip, and my question main question is about the Transsiberian leg (planning to get 1st class, with 2 berth/compartment). How is it possible to get on and off the train to do some sightseeing, or even staying overnight in some of the Russian cities? We also plan to take a day trip to Lake Baikal. Any tour companies that can offer such services so instead of buying the tickets on the go at the stations, we can have everything planned and arranged while being able to get off the train. (Also we need some help with obtaining the visas)

And which is the best option to get to Warsaw from Moscow?

Our itinerary will be something like Beijing-(some cities in between, including Ulaanbaatar)-Moscow-Warsaw-Prague-Vienna-Salzburg-Zurich/Geneva-Venice-Monte Carlo-Barcelona-Madrid-Lisbon

I\'m pretty new to these so any advice will be appreciated!! Thank you in advance.

Follow this topic
Userpic

Flo
Traveller
10723 comments

replied 7 years ago

Hi!

That\'s a pretty impressive tour ahead of you! :)

Depending on where you are from you will need visa for China, Mongolia and Russia; to obtain these visa you already need your booked train tickets; so you should order your tickets first, then go ahead with the visa.
I have only been to Russia and Belarus; to obtain my visa I used an agency who did everything for me which is really convenient albeit at higher costs of course. I don\'t know about the exact process for China and Mongolia though.

To get your tickets to Moscow (or to your first stop in Russia, to be exact) you can either buy them through a specialized agency or online through our partner Real Russia: [ux]https://rail.shop/realrussia/[/ux] - in case you book through them, please use this link so we get a little commission, thank you! :)
They can offer multi-stop tickets from China via Mongolia to Russia which is a really convenient solution. Unfortunately Russian Railways themselves [ux]https://rail.shop/rzd[/ux] do not sell inbound tickets from China/Mongolia to Russia online. As Real Russia charges higher prices as RZD (Russian Railways) themselves your best bet probably is to book Beijing - Ulan Batar - Irkutsk. You will have to book this beforehand, having your route and trains fixed before you leave.
From Irkutsk to Moscow you can use the website of RZD to book; depending on your plans you might make some extra stops along the route, however each ticket is valid only for the booked train so you have to plan a little bit as well. You might also buy your tickets locally, however it might make sense to plan your route to Moscow in advance so to not be stuck somewhere 4000km away from Moscow...

[ux]https://rail.shop/realrussia[/ux] also offers excursions around Irkutsk/Lake Baikal as well as readymade tours with the Transib.

From Moscow to Europe, you might have a look at this blog: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/travel-russia-train/[/u]
The most convenient option would be the weekly train to Paris which has a really good schedule to get to Warsaw, as the border control and gauge change at Brest takes place around midday; between Moscow and Brest there is also a dining car available where you can have dinner and/or breakfast. More about the Moscow - Paris train: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/night-train-paris-moscow/[/u]

Within the boundaries of the Interrail pass, this will be a very nice tour; a pass with 10 or 15 travel days in a month will be the right choice: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-global-pass[/u]
Basic info about Interrail and how to get started: [u]https://rail.cc/en/first-time-interrail[/u]
Again, you can support us by purchasing your passes through our partner link with interrail.eu: [ux]http://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] - thank you!

Travelling from Switzerland to Venice is a bit of a mess; but there would even be a direct train from Geneva; otherwise you could travel this beautiful route: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u]

Milan to Nice/Monte Carlo is possible on two routes: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/marseille-mailand-train/[/u] or [u]https://rail.cc/blog/tenda-railway-nice-turin/[/u]

Travelling along the Mediterranean: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/barcelona-marseille-nice-train/[/u]

I am happy to help in more detail as you continue to plan your trip! :)

Flo 8)