14 days / 13 nights from £4,575 pp Take an incredible train journey to the Arctic Circle, which includes visits to Archangel, Murmansk and many rare sights of the Russian north. Travel in comfort and style on a once in a lifetime rail holiday, with the added charm of your carriages pulled primarily by classic steam locomotives.
Of course your journey includes sightseeing in
Moscow and St. Petersburg and you will enjoy first class service a long the way.
Accommodation on board the Train:
Gold Class cabins have everything from power showers and under floor heating to a DVD/CD player, LCD screen and individual air conditioning – and at 77sq ft (7 sq m) they are among the largest rail cabins anywhere in the world. Fully en-suite, the bathrooms contain a separate shower cubicle. Silver cabins are more compact at 60sq ft (5.5 sq m) and have similar facilities with a fully en-suite wet room.
Heritage Class Traditional Russian Railway International First Class cars with Trans-Siberian enhancements. Cabin area is 38 sq. ft. (3.6 sq. m.)The cabins feature twin beds (1.9m length), luggage storage and are centrally air conditioned. Located at the each end of the carriage are toilet facilities, and a purpose built shower car is included for the use of our Heritage Class guests.
Departure Date - June 13 – 26, 2009
Package price is based on availability and two people sharing double or twin accommodation:
- Gold Class - £8,715 pp. single supplement £3,175
- Heritage Class - £4,575 pp. single supplement £1,980
Package includes:
- Direct return flights from London to Moscow with British Airways (we can arrange connecting flights from other airports upon request)
- Return Airport Transfers
- 2 nights accommodation in a 4* hotel in Moscow as per itinerary
- 11 nights accommodation on board train
- Off train excursions
- Experienced tour guides
- 3 meals per day
- Wine, soft drinks, tea & coffee with lunch and dinner
- Tour Manager
- Doctor on Board
- All gratuities
- Guest speaker Best Selling Author & Travel Writer, Paul Theroux will be on board.
Detailed Itinerary - Arctic Circle by Luxury Steam TrainSaturday 13th June - Moscow Afternoon flight arrivals into Moscow, transfer to hotel for one night. Welcome dinner.
Sunday 14th June - Moscow A full day’s city tour of Russia’s vibrant Capital City includes visits to Red Square and The Kremlin. Early evening transfer to Moscow’s Leningradski station to join our private sleeping car train that will be our home for the next 13 days. The train will be hauled from Moscow by Europe’s largest operating steam locomotive, GWT’s P36.0032 Russia’s most modern express steam locomotive design (a 4-8-4 design of 1954). Welcome reception and introduction to the train staff in the bar car, followed by dinner, as we depart north towards Saint Petersburg and the Arctic Circle; be warned, there will not be many hours of darkness in the next two weeks as this is the time of year the Russians call ‘White Nights’
Monday 15th June – Pavlovsk & St Petersburg After breakfast we alight in Pavlovsk and visit Catherine’s Summer Palace in Pushkin, including a visit to the Amber Room. Lunch at the Podvorye Restaurant (a typical Russian Log House) after which we continue to St Petersburg hauled by Russia’s oldest working steam locomotive Ov. 324 running built in 1905. There is an afternoon tour of the city of St Petersburg before we rejoin the main train for dinner as we head southwest out of the city.
Tuesday 16th June – Pskov & Novgorod In the morning we tour Pskov with its ancient and well restored centre on the Latvian border and in whose station Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on 15th March 1915, before continuing to Novgorod, one of the oldest towns in Russia with its five-doomed Cathedral. Dinner as we head back north and head for the Arctic Circle.
Wednesday 17th June - Petrozavodsk This morning we are in Petrozavodsk where we board a hydrofoil to Kizhi Island on Lake Onega to view the world famous 22-domed wooden cathedral. On our return to Petrozavodsk we will tour this pleasant lakeside resort before rejoining our train for lunch and continue our journey north.
Thursday 18th June – Arctic Circle Overnight we have arrived at the end of the Sofporog branch line and spend an enjoyable morning steaming back to the mail line at Louki, where our P36 will be waiting to take us to the Arctic Circle, where we will arrive shortly after lunch. During the afternoon we will enter the Kola Peninsula and around midnight we arrive in the city of Murmansk.
Friday 19th June - Nikel Early morning we will arrive at Nikel, on the border with Norway. The station is close to the Nikel smelting plant which in part has caused the devastation to the surrounding countryside that will have been evident for the 20 miles before our arrival. An eerie place but has been one of the highlights of our previous tours. We retrace our steps to Luostari where we may take the branch north to Pechenga, the world’s most northerly passenger railway station, if the line is still open to passenger traffic. On previous trips we have not been allowed to Pechenga as it passes through a highly sensitive military area. We will tour Murmansk later in the afternoon if we are unable to go to Pechenga.
Saturday 20th June - Solovetsky After breakfast in Kem we transfer to a small boat bound for Solovetsky Monastery on Solovetsky Island in the White Sea. The Island is also famous for its ‘Special Purpose Camp’ set up by Stalin and is the location used as the basis for Solzhenitzyn’s Gulag Archipelago.
Sunday 21st June - Archangel We spend the morning touring Archangel, a pleasant town on the White Sea and in the afternoon continue along the branch line to Kapagory, arriving late evening on the longest day of the year. There is an extra-cost option to spend the whole day in Archangel, staying in a hotel overnight and rejoining the train in the morning.
Monday 22nd June - Onboard Mid-morning we pass through Archangel and spend a relaxing day on the train heading south.
Tuesday 23rd June - Vologda After breakfast we arrive in Vologda, a pleasant city on the Vologda River. We will visit the beautifully restored Kremlin and the adjacent Saint Sophia’s Cathedral and Belltower. During the afternoon we continue heading south.
Wednesday 24th June - Uglich After lunch we arrive in Uglich on the Volga River and spend the afternoon in this pleasant town viewing the buildings same dating back to the 14th century. Uglich is also home of the Library of Russian Vodka. This is an interactive library and visitor participation is encouraged. A farewell train dinner will be served to those still standing upon departure.
Thursday 25th June - Moscow Our final morning on the train sees us speeding down the St Petersburg - Moscow mainline with a light lunch being served before we arrive at Moscow Leningradski station. Free time in the afternoon before the tour farewell dinner is served in the hotel.
Friday 26th June - Moscow Breakfast in the hotel brings the tour to a close and airport transfers are provided for departing flights.
Technical details : The tour will cover 4,200 miles (6,760 kms) of which about 75% is scheduled to be steam hauled using eight different historic locomotives of classes P36 (4-8-4), Su (2-6-2), L (2-10-0), SO (2-10-0) Er (0-10-0), Eu (0-10-0) and Ov (0-8-0).