Russia

One of the main reasons to go to Russia was witnessing the mighty Lake Baikal. Banana-shaped, 636 km long and 60 km wide, it contains almost one-fifth of the world’s fresh water. In winter, the rocky hills will be covered with snow and the lake will be frozen. This ice, created by the Siberian winter, […]

After some relaxing days, we said goodbye to the official capital of Siberia and hello to the unofficial capital of East-Siberia to discover the magnificent area around Lake Baikal. This meant two nights on the ‘official’ Russaya (or Trans-Siberian train between Moscow and Vladivostok). We again shared our Kupe with a young friendly Russian couple, […]

After another night train, we arrived early in the capital of Siberia: Novosibirsk. This is the fifth largest city in Russia, but luckily for us, the city center can be navigated easily the way we like it best, on foot. We checked in at Juicy hostel, which apart from its English sounding name did not […]

Our first experience with the night train from Moscow to Kazan was a positive one. Since the kind receptionists at GoodMood hostel had given us some valuable inside info on riding the Russian trains and finding the right carriage, we made sure to be early at the train station to avoid stress. After much speculation […]

Almost everybody we have spoken to reacted surprised when we told them we wanted to kick off our worldtrip in Russia. For most, it started to make more sense if we said we wanted to take the Trans-Siberian train to Mongolia. Russia is not a holiday destination that makes the bucketlist of many people. For […]