Day 1  Arrival Beijing
Meet your Active Travel Tour escort at our arrival hotel in Beijing. Airport transfers can be arranged if required (extra charge). Overnight Hotel. Meet up with group arriving from pre tour section. (No arrangements included this day.) There is the option to go to the Chinese acrobatic display (at additional cost).

Day 2  Great Wall of China Simatai (BL)
Full day tour to the Great Wall of China at Simatai. The Simatai section of the Great Wall, not far from the Gubeikou section, is located at Gubeikou Town in the northeast of Miyun County, Beijing, 120 kilometres from the city centre. Its construction started in the early Hongwu years (1368-1398) of the Ming Dynasty. Like most sections of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall often visited today, this section was also built under the supervision of General Qi Jiguang. The Simatai Great Wall is 5.4 km long with altogether 35 watchtowers. As the east section of the Gubeikou defence line, this magnificent section features great strategic significance. Built hundreds of years ago, the Simatai Great Wall still retains all its original appearance. It not only incorporates a variety of styles of other parts of the 10,000-li-long wall, but also displays some unique characteristics. This section of the Great Wall is often described with the following five words: perilous, dense, diverse, ingenuous, and peculiar. It is possible to take a chairlift to the top if you do not want the challenge of the walk. A well-deserved lunch will be taken after descending from the wall. Overnight Hotel – Beijing

Day 3  Beijing – Ulaan Baatar (Mongolia) (B)
Morning transfer to train station for the overnight journey to Ulaan Baatar departing at 07.45am. As we approach the border with Mongolia we pull into a siding while the bogies are changed. Mongolia has a different gauge track to China and it is always of great interest to watch the efficiency and speed in which the train carriages are lifted and new wheels are rolled beneath.

Day 4  Ulaan Baatar City tour, Mongolian throat singing (D)
We suggest an early snack on the train before arrival at 1.20pm (subject to border formalities and inevitable delays common in Outer Mongolia). On arrival we travel to our hotel. After an opportunity to rest and freshen up, we will take a brief orientation on Ulaan Bataar. We visit the lookout and a cashmere clothing outlet before heading back to the hotel to prepare for dinner. Tonight we enjoy a traditional Mongolian dinner and throat singing demonstration. Mongolia is one of the world's best-kept secrets. It is a fascinating place to visit. The people are friendly, kind, and extremely generous. Although the country is just beginning to be capitalised on, today it is one of the few countries without a McDonalds. Three times the size of France and with more horses than people, it is one of Asia's last unspoilt destinations. Nomadic herders still roam the steppe as they have since the time of Genghis Khaan. Mongolia is truly at the ends of the earth. It is most famous for being the homeland of one of the greatest conquerors of all time, Genghis Khaan. In modern times, it was the second country to become communist after the Soviet Union. It remained a socialist country for more than seventy years. Since 1990, the country has made a great transition from communism to a free market economy. There are approximately 2,700,000 Mongolians living in Outer Mongolia. Almost 1,000,000 live in one city, Ulaan Baatar, leaving the rest of the country barely inhabited. The size of the country is vast and the population small so once you leave the city you are in the midst of great plains and mountains and will encounter more livestock than people in every direction. It has been called the ‘land of no fences’, and ownership of land is still forbidden outside of the city. Animals and people range freely wherever they would like in the pristine countryside. Overnight Hotel – Ulaan Baatar

Day 5  Gandan Monastery and Ger Camp (BLD)
Morning departure for tour of the Gandan Monastery. In the XIII century, during the dynasty of Kublai Khan the Wise, Buddhism was declared the state religion, and from the XVI century it became popular all over Mongolia and became known as the yellow religion. Small mobile monasteries functioned in Mongolia, and in 1838 the Gandantegchinlen monastery was founded as the religious centre of Sutra-Tantra Buddhism at the site of Dalkha hill. It grew into a complex of colleges including a college of basic Buddhist teachings, departments of Astrology and Medicine, and as such was the largest centre of the Mongolian Buddhism. Continue for a two-hour drive into the countryside and our overnight stay in a Ger camp (a sturdy wood and felt tent). Here hospitality abounds. Although the desert is cold at night, the potbelly stove will keep you warm. Overnight – Ger Camp

Day 6  Ger Camp, nomad camp visit - Night train to Irkutsk in Siberia (BL)
Morning activities, trek to nearby sites, horse ride as long or short as you wish, watch local wrestling demonstrations and take a try at local archery. After lunch we return to Ulaan Baatar in the afternoon. Leaving Terelj NP, we transfer back to the capital via a food store in anticipation of the onward evening departure to Irkutsk departing at 21.05. During the journey, the train will cross the border into Russia, bringing with it inevitable customs and immigration formalities and delays. Here we experience true adventure, all perfectly safe but very interesting as the train arrives at the border and disappears leaving the carriage with those continuing to Russia seemingly abandoned. A chance to purchase Mongolian duty free, wander the village and stretch your legs on your last day on Mongolian soil. As we depart the station we roll through no mans land until we arrive in Siberian Russia. Here more border controls and the train is searched for contraband. By the time we get away from the border it will be early afternoon. Overnight – Train

Day 7  Train continues to Irkutsk
Full day and night on the train en route to Irkutsk. Overnight – Train

Day 8  Irkutsk – homestay in Listvyanka, Limnologiical institute (BLD)
Morning arrival in Irkutsk and transfer from the train station to the village of Listvyanka to a private cottage and our homestay close to the shores of Lake Baikal. One of the biggest and most ancient lakes of world is situated nearly in the centre of Asia in a huge stone bowl set 445 m above sea level. Everyone who has been to its shores is impressed and charmed by the grandeur, size, and unusual might of this Siberian miracle of nature. Baikal has more endemics than any other lake in the world. Its great age – more than 25 million years – also sets it apart from other freshwater lakes as a living laboratory of evolution. Baikal owes its longevity to the tectonically active rift it occupies, which may cause it to widen by as much as 2.5 centimetres each year. After a late breakfast we will take a walk to the Limn logical Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences museum. The exhibits acquaint visitors with the history, study and research of Lake Baikal, its fauna and its flora. Overnight – Homestay, Listvyanka

Day 9  Listvyanka Freedom day (B)
A freedom day to explore the village of Listvyanka, on the edge of Lake Baikal.
Day 10  Irkutsk (B)
Breakfast then return journey to Irkutsk. Free afternoon to explore the town. Overnight – Hotel
Day 11  Irkutsk / Train to Moscow (B)
Wild and free, the vast landmass of Siberia lies behind the Ural mountains. For many centuries, not only for foreign travellers but also for Russians themselves, Siberia seemed to be "unknown territory", unsafe and barbaric. And so Irkutsk opens up to them even more brightly and suddenly the richness of its spirit and culture, which have developed under enormous difficulties and hardships for more than three centuries. Free day to explore this unusual city before transferring to the train bound for Moscow. Overnight – Train #9 departing at 16.35pm

Day 12 &13  On Train across Siberia
Train for day and night en route to Moscow. Overnight – Train

Day 14  Moscow
Arrive Moscow in the evening at approx 17.00hrs and transfer to your hotel. Moscow is the barometer and nucleus of the changes sweeping through Russia. Nowhere are Russia's contrasts more apparent than here - ancient monasteries and ultra-modern monoliths standing side by side, and 'New Russian' millionaires and poverty-stricken pensioners walk the same streets. The populace now prefer international name brands to monolithic department stores, and the beautiful churches vandalised or abandoned during the Soviet era of hard-line atheism are being lovingly restored. But the real flavour of this city is in its nooks and crannies, each of them unique. Overnight – Hotel

Day 15  Moscow (B)
The Kremlin is Russia's mythic refuge, a self contained city with a multitude of palaces, armouries, and churches, a medieval fortress that links the modern nation to its legendary past in the ancient state of Kievan Rus. St. Basil's Cathedral rises from Red Square in an irresistible profusion of colours and shapes. Its montage of domes, cupolas, arches, towers, and spires, each bearing a distinctive pattern and hue, have fascinated the eyes of visitors since its construction in the 1550s. The appeal of St. Basil's is best appreciated by a leisurely stroll around its perimeter, as its wondrous exterior decoration belies a remarkably plain and cramped interior. Red Square is indelibly associated with images of stone-faced Soviet leaders standing in the bitter cold as a panoply of military might rumbles past their review stand atop Lenin's Mausoleum. Although the Square is no longer witness to the imposing parades of May Day, it remains a profoundly impressive space. A brief stop will be made to introduce you to the world-famous GUM department store. The Armoury like the Faceted Chamber, forms part of Great Kremlin Palace complex. The museum's collection fills nine halls and includes exquisite jewellery, men's and women's clothing, carriages, armour, weaponry and many other fascinating artefacts from the cultural and domestic life of different eras. Overnight – Hotel

Day 16  The Moscow underground art collection (B)
For nearly half a century the artists of the Moscow avant-garde lived on the fringe of society. Denied studio space, prohibited from showing their work in public and even from buying canvas, paints and brushes, the Moscow underground subsisted as something of a Masonic sect, committed to the principle of free expression, and fighting to prevent the Soviet regime from implementing the same sort of centralised, monolithic control over the arts that it exercised in most other facets. You’ll have the rest of day to explore Moscow on your own – there’s so much to see and do! Transfer to station for overnight train to St Petersburg departing at midnight.

Day 17  Train to St Petersburg (B)
Arrival St Petersburg 8am. On arrival transfer to hotel. Tour to St Peter and Paul Fortress. Few cities can offer so many stunning attractions and intriguing moods as St Petersburg, City of the Tsars. From the vibrant colours of spring, through the sunny summer days and endless twilights of the famous White Nights, the brilliant golden sun of autumn and into the crisp and brittle brightness of a St Petersburg winter, the city casts its own unique spell over visitors. Created by Peter the Great in 1703 to be his ‘window on Europe’, St Petersburg combines its fascinating Russian heritage with a distinctly European outlook. Considered the cultural heart of modern day Russia, St. Petersburg is rapidly regaining its reputation as one of the Great Cities of Europe. The Peter and Paul Fortress (Petropavlovskaya Krepost) is historical core of St Petersburg. It is a monument of military and engineering craft. It was laid by the order and to the plot-plan of Peter the Great on 16 May 1703, on Zayachy Island that is linked with Petrogradsky Island by Ioanovsky and Kronverksky bridges. The Palace Square (Dvortsovaya Ploshchad) is the most grandiose among the squares of the city. The focal point of its architectural ensemble is the Winter Palace (Zimny dvorets), an architectural masterpiece of the flamboyant Russian Baroque and the royal residence of all the Russian Emperors but Paul. The Palace has a dramatically eventful history. During the First World War Nicolas II turned it into a hospital. On the eve of the Revolution it was occupied by the Provisional Government. On 25 October 1917, Bolsheviks occupied the Palace and called the occasion the Social Revolution. In the course of World War II the Palace was damaged by Nazi air strikes. Overnight – Hotel

Day 18  State Hermitage (B)
The State Hermitage occupies six magnificent buildings situated along the embankment of the River Neva, right in the heart of St Petersburg. The leading role in this unique architectural ensemble is played by the Winter Palace, the residence of the Russian tsars that was built to the design of Francesco Bartholomew Rastrelli in 1754-62. This ensemble, formed in the 18th and 19th centuries, is extended by the eastern wing of the General Staff building, the Menshikov Palace and the recently constructed Repository. Put together throughout two and a half centuries, the Hermitage collections of artworks (over 3,000,000 items) present the development of the world’s culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century. Today the Museum is creating its digital self-portrait to be displayed around the world. Computer technologies enable the State Hermitage Museum to provide people from all over the world with wider access to information about the Museum and its treasures. Orientation tour and option to stay on for rest of day if desired.

Day 19  St Petersburg (B)
Free day to explore the rest of this stunning city. Overnight – Hotel

Day 20  Depart St Petersburg (B)