Do it yourself Trans-Siberian, all the practical information to organize the Trans-Siberian train from Moscow to Beijing in complete autonomy, read the post inform yourself before leaving.
The longest railway in the world, 7 time zones for more than 9200 km. From Moscow to Vladivostock, via Eurasia, to Beijing, in the variant Trans-Mongolian. That I would have done the Trans-Siberian I did not know. Or rather, this trip was on my bucket list but I thought it would happen in a few years.
Instead it went as usual.
Between the serious and the facetious, the idea of ​​a summer trip with my friend Anna is feared. The idea developed in five stages:
- the desire: "Ah ... how nice it would be to go to Mongolia!"
- the dream: "And then go by train from Mongolia to China ..."
- the unbridled dream: "We leave Moscow, arrive in Mongolia and go to China?!?"
- free fall: “Let's make the Trans-Siberian! And the Trans-Mongolian! Yup! Yup! Yup!"
- the collision with reality: “It costs too much… we can't. How you do it?"
How do you do? If you, like me, are affected by wanderlust syndrome and are willing to adapt a lot to add a notch to your list, the Trans-Siberian is done without spending mind-boggling figures. A dream in second and third class. We all know that third class had a lot more fun on the Titanic too. Jack docet.
The organization of this adventure took a long time, the perfect fit of days, dates, times, names, hotel reservations and visas. I passed about two months, in the clippings of my free time, combing through sites, seeing documentaries, reading everything, subscribing to specific groups on Facebook.
In this post I will write everything, everything that I have found here and there and I would have liked to find everything together.
He flew
After monitored for days, made calculations and considerations, a KLM flight was chosen. Departure 8 July (Turin / Moscow) and return on 7 August (Beijing / Turin). Costo: 566 euro.
Watched
In reality it will be the last thing you have to deal with because to fill in the forms for each country you will need to have the addresses of the hotels booked and the flight operation.
The expense for documents affects a lot in a trip like this, so don't rely on the first agency but get them sent more quotes. If you live in Milan or Rome, the situation probably changes; for those who live in other cities the agency is the best choice, just choose the most efficient one according to your parameters. In Turin, the choice fell on Box office, the headquarters in Via Mazzini 36, in the center. From the beginning they were the most competitive in terms of price, the most complete and rapid in information and the only ones who provided the attachments to be printed and filled in together with the photographs, with instructions for each country. I do not indicate here the specific information for each country because they may change and can be found on the reference sites.
For example, until last year the visa for Mongolia, from this year the Viaggiare Sicuri website reads "... on 1 January 2016 it will be necessary to apply for an entry visa also for short tourism stays, as the Mongolian government has not extended the exemption measure adopted in 2015 ...". For the sole purpose of obtaining the Chinese visa, I provided a fictitious booking made on Booking for the duration of the entire stay in Beijing in which we will stay 9 days, but with the intention of visiting more sites and wanting to decide on the spot, I provided them with a hostel reservation for 9 days canceled as soon as the visa is obtained and rebooked only for the first three days in the city. The rest is unknown to us and I will tell about it on my return.
A special note deserves the Russian visa: on this you can save on two fronts. Russia, in fact, requires acompulsory health insurance and tourist visa support. Insurance with Box office will cost you 2 euros for each day you stay on Russian soil. Other agencies have asked me for 60 euros as a fixed amount, sending me the message: “it is just like that and it is strongly recommended that you do it with us“. Box Office instead calculated exactly the days of my stay and in my case the total is 44 euros.
The insurance must be calculated from the first day of arrival in Russia to the last, which also implies the Siberia and our first stop in Irkutsk, once we took the train to Moscow. So, in order not to be mistaken, we have calculated from the actual first day in Moscow until the train arrives in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. In this way, of course, the entire route that will be carried out in Siberia, which is part of Russia, is also covered.
The same goes for the Visa Support: what is it? It is a voucher issued by the hotels of each city where you will stay and is required! They should release it for free but this often doesn't happen. Box Office asked me for 50 euros plus VAT but I didn't want to give up, so, after having searched the net far and wide, I found a site run by a Russian with the best post around for the clarity and completeness of the information regarding the visa.
Thanks to her tips, I got Visa Support on my own, making an online payment and relying on a Russian company that she suggests and is authorized by the Ministry for issuing the invitation letters. In this way the Visa Support cost about 14 euros against the 50 euros that Box Office had asked me for. It arrives by email as soon as you make the payment, you add it to the documentation sent to you by the agency telling them that you got it yourself, and it's done. Total expenditure for the 3 visas: 468 euros, documentation delivered at the end of April and collected in early June.
Train tickets
On this point, the possibility of saving or spending a lot depends exclusively on you, on how you will move (agency to which you can delegate everything or “do it yourself”) and on the class of the train you want, increasing or decreasing your comfort level. Specialized agencies usually offer first and second class. Each stage must be decided before leaving, so arm yourself with patience, a calendar, a pen and make your joints.
Personally I relied on the Russian agency Russiantrain.com which allows you to buy third class tickets, choosing the date, time and duration of the trip.
The site is also in Spanish: it is very clear, easy, intuitive and I can confirm that it works very well.
They answer immediately, they are efficient and accurate, with detailed emails and summaries of the ticket purchased. You have to decide everything and provide your passport and credit card details. When permitted, they will send the ticket via email, otherwise, depending on the chosen routes and the ticket issuing times, they will have them found directly in the hotel you have chosen for your stay.
Le tappe what you can do are different; the more you make, the more the total price of your trip will increase.
This is our journey: Moscow-Irkutsk; Irkutsk-Ulan Bator; Ulan Bator-Beijing.
With the Russian agency we only bought tickets for the first two routes, so we will be in Moscow for three days. On 11 July a night train will take us to Siberia, Irkutsk, after 87 hours of travel in third class, arriving on 14 July.
This will be the toughest stage. On the net there are those who recommend that you do a maximum of 36 hours on the train, even less. I guess it will be tough for a variety of reasons but we will try to please us very much the landscapes, the birches, the puzzle week and everything that will come from being necessarily in a third class wagon for 87 hours. In reality the excitement is a lot and we believe that with the right dose of irony this journey within the journey will be unforgettable.
The price of this ticket has won over everything, let's face it.
Cost: 95 euros. To give you an idea, the same ticket for a first-class, non-stop ticket from Moscow to Irkutsk can cost around 490 euros. On the site, the prices are also different depending on the place you choose.
Un upper bank seat (upper bed) in second class can cost 338 euros compared to 176 euros for a lower side bunk (lower bed).
As you can see, you can really choose according to your budget and vary the price a lot.
After a stop in Irkutsk to make an excursion to Lake Baikal, on July 16 we will leave to reach Mongolia with a second class ticket: in 32 hours we will arrive in Ulan Bator.
Cost of this route: 138 euros.
We will stay in Mongolia for 11 days. We will decide on the spot what to do.
On July 28 we leave for Beijing. For this last ticket the Russian agency asked about 200 euros, in second class for about 28 hours, which is why I entrusted myself to a Mongolian agency: Sunpath Mongolia. For the same second class ticket we paid $ 115 by transferring them 50% of the total; we will collect the tickets directly in Ulan Bator. Once contacted, the Mongolian agency will refer you to this site for tickets mongoliatraintickets.com where you can check the prices and schedules yourself and tell them which one you are interested in, then collect everything in Ulan Bator.
I chose this agency after reading the travel reports that have a great experience as travelers behind them. They are the Goats on The Road and to the Mongolia section they give a series of useful and recent tips and information.
They also explain in a concrete way how to organize independent tours for those who love trekking whether on foot or on horseback, they provide detailed lists of useful objects tested by them, videos shot on the train and not only, indications on how to choose the agencies on site, especially to have the necessary assistance during the popular excursions in the Gobi. Safety must always be a priority while traveling, the agency you choose is fundamental.
La Sunpath mongolia at the moment it has proved to be efficient and precise, both for the train ticket and for the estimates requested for information purposes for our tour. I will write about it in detail upon my return.
Hotel
Even this expense item can vary a great deal: the hotels / hostels we have booked are currently only 4. The choice in Moscow fell on a hostel near the red square: bed in 8-bed female dormitory (3 nights); we will allow ourselves a double room with private bathroom once we arrive in Siberia (2 nights). In Mongolia, the hotel was booked for the first two nights only, considering the idea is to go on a tour.
Same thing in Beijing, double room (3 nights). The hotels have been chosen based on their location, close to a metro station or the city center and, especially in Beijing and Mongolia, taking into account the presence of a good tour desk for any kind of support.
Total spent on these first 4 hotels and a total of 10 nights: 68 euros.
The low-cost Trans-Siberian train has cost me so far: 1.438 euros.
Our choices are questionable and subjective but everyone travels in their own way. I've already been told that being on an 87 hour train is insane. Maybe yes, maybe I'll regret it or think about it nostalgically in ten years, it doesn't matter; it's my madness. I count the hours that separate me from that third-class bed as when you count the hours that separate you on a date with your first love. Did I get the idea?
