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jack75
Just Starting
Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 7
Location: Manchester, UK
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 Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 7:05 pm Post subject: Trans-Mongolian - Advice Please! |
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Firstly, I apologise for coming on here looking for advice having not contributed first. Together with my girlfriend, I am planning a trip this summer through the Baltics into Russia, across the Trans-Mongolian, and around China. We have about 5 months in total, from early April to early September. This will be our first such long trip. I've come up with the following rough itinerary and would appreciate any advice from people with previous experience:
1. Fly from Manchester to Berlin. Two or three days there, so my (German) girlfriend can see her family, friends etc.
2. Train from Berlin to Warsaw. Not sure how long to spend there or whether to visit Krakow or not.
3. Train (or bus?) from Warsaw to Vilnius. 2-4 nights in Vilnius or the surrounding area.
4. Bus from Vilnius to Riga. 2-4 nights in Riga or the surrounding area.
5. Bus from Riga to Tallinn. 2-4 nights in Tallinn or the surrounding area (as you can see I’m not sure whether one of the Baltic states deserves more time than the others).
6. Bus from Tallinn to St Petersburg. 5-7 nights in St Petersburg.
7. Train from St Petersburg to Moscow. 5-7 nights in Moscow.
8. Start Trans-Mongolian journey. This should be early/mid-May. We are intending to buy tickets for the trans-mongolian on the go. At the moment I’m not sure where we’ll stop off, but we have allocated around 6 weeks for the journey (I realize this will require a 3 month business visa). We’d definitely like to spend quite a bit of time at Lake Baikal and Ulan Bator (and the surrounding area), but apart from that any suggestions are welcomed.
9. Arrive in Beijing (roughly end of June). Then we will have about 2 months in China, probably flying back to England from Hong Kong. Haven’t worked out this part of the trip yet but as the visa situation seems easier in China than Russia I’m concentrating on the Russian side of things first.
Any comments/suggestions to the above would be gratefully received. I’m also trying to get an idea of the cost. I know it’s hard to estimate but if anyone who’s done a similar trip could suggest the absolute minimum cost for something like this, I’d be very grateful.
As an aside, we were originally thinking of taking the trans-siberian (instead of the trans-mongolian) to Vladivostok, then a ferry to Japan, travelling down Japan then taking a ferry to Shanghai, then carrying on the trip around China. But I fear this might be considerably more expensive – would it be worth the extra expense?
Many thanks for any answers,
Jack. |
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deskware7
Frequent Guest
Joined: 07 Jun 2004
Posts: 67
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Hewlett38
Just Starting
Joined: 22 Dec 2004
Posts: 4
Location: Russia, Irkutsk
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| Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2005 6:35 am Post subject: Re: Trans-Mongolian - Advice Please! |
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| jack75 wrote: | 8. Start Trans-Mongolian journey. This should be early/mid-May. We are intending to buy tickets for the trans-mongolian on the go. At the moment I’m not sure where we’ll stop off, but we have allocated around 6 weeks for the journey (I realize this will require a 3 month business visa). We’d definitely like to spend quite a bit of time at Lake Baikal and Ulan Bator (and the surrounding area), but apart from that any suggestions are welcomed.
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I invite you to stay in Irkutsk in our hostel (see my profile pls) - we have a lot of information about Baikal region and travels about it. Also we can give you some advices about Mongolia - we've been there because it's not so far from Irkutsk.
In fact 10-15 days is optimal for Lake Baikal and around - at least I recommend you to go to Olkhon Island and make trekking around Old Baikal Railway. |
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gonzock
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 101
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| Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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| hello Jack. I am new with the internet stuff but if this works I think I can help you. Some friends and I are also planning on Transmongolian on May. The main problems are visas. Where are you from? I know that people from US have no problems with mongolian visa, otherwise check if you have an embassy in your country or do it once in Moscow. Russian visa is also hard to get if you don´t have the entry day, train tickets and accomodation. Maybe you could try to get it in Riga, because everybody speaks english. In Russia none, at least St Petersburg where I was 2 years ago. Chinese visa is very easy to get if you have an embassy in your country, at lest for me that I am from Spain. If you want I can tell you where to go in China, I was there last year and spent 1 month - also in Tibet-. About taking a ferry from Vladivostok to Japan I checked that last year and was about 600 euros, and also the same from Japan to Shanghai. About the money you will spend, I would say that will be expensive, even though countries are supposed to be cheap |
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Siberian-Tour-Guide
Frequent Guest
Joined: 22 Nov 2004
Posts: 14
Location: Krasnoyarsk
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| Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:18 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | but apart from that any suggestions are welcomed.
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Krasnoyarsk could have been your midway Trans-Siberian stop. The place is worth stopping atleast couple nights. To learn more what it is like, find cheap accommodation check out this website: http://www.sibtourguide.com/
Anatoliy. |
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Marina-Vladi
Frequent Guest
Joined: 12 Aug 2004
Posts: 23
Location: Vladivostok
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| Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 5:46 am Post subject: Ferry boat from Vladivostok to Japan |
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Hello!
To stay in Vlad is a good idea and this place is worth staying. If you are interested you can visit our web page: www.csvlad.com
As for the ferry boat from Vladivostok to Japan it will cost $ 200-220 USD per person depending on the port in Japan.
Good luck,
Marina |
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