Day 1: Moscow
Included transfer from Moscow airport to hotel. Welcome dinner. Day 2: Moscow
Spend a full day touring Russia’s vibrant capital city, including Red Square and the Kremlin. Early evening transfer to Leningradski station to join a private sleeping car train that will be your home for the next 12 days. The train will be hauled out of 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 you depart north towards St. Petersburg and the Arctic Circle.
Note: there will not be many hours of darkness in the next two weeks, as this is the time of year called “White Nights”. Day 3: St. Petersburg
After breakfast, alight in Pavlovsk and visit Catherine’s Summer Palace in Pushkin, including a visit to the Amber Room. Lunch at the Podvorye Restaurant, after which you continue to St. Petersburg hauled by Russia’s oldest working steam locomotive, Ov. 324 built in 1905. Afternoon tour of the city before rejoining the main train for dinner as you head southwest out of the city. Day 4: Pskov & Novgorod
In the morning, tour Pskov with its ancient and well-restored city center. Located near the Estonian and Latvian borders, it was in Pskov’s train station that Tsar Nicholas II signed his abdication in March 1917. Continue to Novgorod, one of the oldest towns in Russia with its five-domed cathedral. Dinner on board as you head back north toward the Arctic Circle. Day 5: Kizhi Island & Petrozavodsk
This morning, arrive Petrozavodsk where you board a hydrofoil to Kizhi Island on Lake Onega to view the world-famous, 22-domed wooden cathedral. On the return, tour the pleasant lakeside resort of Petrozavodsk before rejoining the train for lunch and continuing the journey north. Day 6: Arctic Circle
Overnight, you have traveled to the end of the Sofporog branch line; spend a pleasant morning steaming back to the main line at Louki, where the P36 will be waiting to take you to the Arctic Circle. Arrival after lunch. This afternoon, enter the Kola peninsula and arrive Murmansk around midnight. Day 7: Nikel & Murmansk
Early morning arrival 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 be evident for the 20 miles before your arrival. Nikel is an eerie place but one of the highlights of previous tours. Retrace IRT's steps to Luostari where you may take the branch north to Pechenga, the world’s most northerly passenger railway station (if the line is open to passenger traffic_). (On previous trips IRT has not been allowed to Pechenga as it passes through a highly sensitive military area.) If you are unable to go to Pechenga, you will tour Murmansk in the afternoon. Day 8: Kem
After breakfast in Kem, take a small boat to Solovetsky Monastery on Solovetsky Island in the White Sea. The island is famous for its ‘Special Purpose Camp’ set up by Stalin and is the location used as the basis for Solzhenitzyn’s Gulag Archipelago. Day 9: Archangel
Morning tour of Archangel, a Russian Port on the White Sea. This afternoon, continue along the branch line to Kapagory, arriving late evening on the longest day of the year. Option to spend the day in Archangel, staying in a hotel overnight and rejoining the train in the morning (at about $200 additional cost). This would allow more time to explore this famous site of the Polar Bear Expedition of WWI. Day 10: Archangel
Mid-morning, pass through Archangel and spend a relaxing day on the train heading south. Day 11: Vologda
Mid-morning arrival in Vologda, a pleasant city on the Vologda River. Visit the beautifully restored Kremlin and the adjacent Saint Sophia’s Cathedral and Bell tower. Back on board, continue south. Day 12: Uglich
After lunch, you arrive in Uglich on the Volga River and spend the afternoon in this pleasant town viewing the architecture, with some buildings 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. Day 13: St. Petersburg - Moscow
Your final morning on the train has you speeding down the St. Petersburg-Moscow main line with a light lunch served before arriving Leningradski station. Free time before a farewell dinner. Overnight in five-star hotel. Day 14: Moscow
Breakfast in the hotel followed by airport transfers. | 
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