Trans-siberian Railway Cost

[Ammiano Hibbert]

Bookinga world-famous trip across the largest country in the world may sound intimidating and incredibly expensive. But as someone who has personally done it themselves and on a very limited budget, I am here to give you all the information you need about planning, booking, and how to travel the Trans Siberian Railway.

This is the traditional route which takes you by train through Russia only, from Moscow all the way to Vladivostok. It can be done entirely on the cheap local trains. This is also the route most tourist trains take.

This route is actually the most popular as you still get to do the majority of the Trans Siberian in addition to adding Mongolia and China to your trip. The route branches off from the Classic Trans-Siberian when it goes south to Mongolia at Ulan-Ude.

As I wanted to spend a decent proportion of my time in Russia itself, I chose the Trans-Mongolian. I broke my trip up a little by spending 5 days in Beijing on a layover visa before flying to Mongolia. I explored this vast country independently then took a bus across the border to Russia to join the Trans Siberian Railway. It was the perfect compromise for my budget, time and interests.

While the Trans-Mongolian route I described above does continue onto China (if you wish to do so), the Trans-Manchurian Route skips Mongolia, continuing on the traditional route until the town of Chita, where it splits and crosses the border from Russia straight into China.

There are many different types of trains that run the Trans-Siberian route. The biggest distinction is between the private tourist trains, local Russian trains and international trains.

This is what many people think of when they hear about the Trans Siberian Railway. These tourist trains run on the same tracks as all the other trains mentioned in this blog post but are privately owned and operated, targeting wealthy tourists.

Tourist trains such as the Tsars Gold private train are much more fancy than anything else you will find along the route. They often have private locking berths, hot showers and even full-service fine dining restaurants on board, everything included in the price. Sounds amazing, right?

Aside from the enormous price tags, these trains also have set routes and offer no flexibility as they are there to provide a full-service experience to tourists who do not wish to plan or navigate Russia on their own.

As you can imagine, international trains cross the Russian border and extend into China and/or Mongolia, but they also cross all of Russia using the same train tracks as both tourist trains and local trains.

These trains often have private bathrooms and sometimes hot showers in the first-class cabins so you can get a similar experience to the tourist trains but still have the ability to customise your route.

You still have beds, bathrooms, restaurant cars and views, but at much more reasonable prices. Plus, you can choose any length of segment you like, meaning you can literally stop and explore any part of the country you wish.

These local Russian trains are how real Russian people get around their own country and range in classes. Some trains have all 3 different classes while other cheaper trains just have the lower 2.

Third class (Platzkart): We travelled exclusively in third class and it was totally fine (for 99% of our trip). Very similar to second class but you have an open carriage separated into births of 4 (upper and lower) with a table, plus an extra bunk running laterally (the lower bunk transforming into two seats and a table), but no door.

When my friend and I read a similar description, we thought about taking a mixture of 2nd and 3rd class depending on the distance, however, as soon as we got on our first train, we were blown away by how nice it was even in the lowest class. (Keep in mind, the last long-distance trains we had taken were in India.) Then it was 3rd class for the whole trip!

The trip from Vladivostok to Moscow takes around 7 days if you take the train directly from A to B without stopping. But that would be a little boring, to be honest, so now you need to plan where you want to stop along your journey.

Officially the end/start of the Trans Siberian all the way in the East of Russia! Vladivostok is a port city near the borders with China and North Corea where you will find a number of museums and galleries as it is the cultural centre of Eastern Russia.

The town of Krasnoyarsk itself was pretty underwhelming and we had a very weird experience in our hostel, but the reason for this stop was not the town but to visit the Stolby Nature Reserve, which I loved.

Moscow is officially the other end of the Trans Siberian Railway and of course, the Russian capital is a must-visit city in Russia. There is so much to see and do here, plus you finally feel like you are in Europe arriving in the centre.

Last but certainly not least is the famous St. Petersburg. This was actually our last stop on the trip and to make it even better, we made some new local friends on the train coming here who showed us around for the next few days.

You can also have a look at the amenities on board when booking (see below). Little icons show if there is a restaurant on board or not plus some other points of interest. We presumed that all trains would have a restaurant car until we ended up on one without it.

We had to laugh at the whole situation whilst we had a large audience of Russian men every time we spoke. The one broken English speaker in the carriage told us that none of them had ever seen a foreigner on the train and they were totally surprised when we walked on speaking English.

There are two routes when choosing how to book your tickets for the Trans Siberian. You can book everything yourself using the official RZD website, or use an agent like Tutu which is designed to make the process easier for foreigners.

Bookings for train tickets only open 3 months in advance, so if you are a planner, you will still need to wait until you are within this timeframe to get your tickets. Me being me, I leave everything to the last minute and have been booking my tickets on the fly.

I do still recommend, however, booking your seats at least a couple of days ahead to get the best and cheapest spots. On the longer train trips (2 days) it makes a big difference being able to choose a nicer bed and these do book out even in the low season.

Luckily for us, the prices I researched earlier were still nearly exactly the same, if not a tiny bit cheaper when booking a couple of days out in March. So no need to stress about price hikes like when booking last-minute flights.

*Linen is automatically included for a minimal cost but if you have your own sleeping bag or sheets and pillowcase, feel free to un-tick this. Mattresses, blankets and pillows are provided on all beds regardless.

3rd class carriages are laid out in groups of 6 with two lower and two upper bunks in a berth divided by a table, plus a lower and upper bunk running laterally on the other side of the aisle.

Travelling as a pair, we found the lower two beds in the berth are by far the best option. They give the most storage room underneath, headroom to sit up during the day, and a permanent table for lunch and activities.

These are also the only ones we have found to more consistently have power outlets. Although these are sometimes slightly more expensive than upper or lateral beds, we found it more than worth it for the comfort on the longer trains.

We had a hilarious time attempting to fit all our stuff without falling out of the beds at the same time. These bunks also only sometimes have outlets, so if you want to do some serious charging, your only option may be to make friends with a spare power point or hang out by the bathrooms where the only extra port is located.

One last tip, if you are looking for a quiet nights sleep, you should try to get a spot in the middle of the carriage. The ends of the carriage contain the toilets, water boilers and train staff and tend to be where people gather to socialise making it quite noisy.

A stewardess is assigned to each carriage and will periodically offer you tea or coffee to purchase as well as an assortment of comfort items, snacks or even souvenirs. They also ensure the carriage is kept clean throughout the journey, wiping the tables and mopping the floor- how civilized!

The people you meet onboard will by far be the best part of your railway experience. Most people on the train did not speak even a word of English, yet EVERYONE wanted to talk to us.

Below you will find a complete breakdown of my expenses from March 2019. Taking inflation into account you will need to increase these numbers a little for current rates, but I hope it can give you a good idea of how much things will cost.

Many tour operators have discontinued their Trans Siberian tours due to the ongoing conflict so there are not too many options if you wish to visit Russia at the moment.

Below I have included the ones that are currently running and I will update this section when regular tourism returns to Russia.

In the past, the Trans-Siberian was infamous for its rowdy passengers and less-than-safe conditions. Thankfully, those days are long gone now as stricter regulations regarding passenger behaviour are now enforced.

The biggest safety concern while travelling on the Trans Siberian Railway is simple theft. As you will be travelling with all of your luggage and generally stand out like a sore thumb being a tourist, your belongings are at the highest risk of being stolen.

That being said, in a month of travelling Russia on trains, my friend and I had nothing stolen until Kelly left her portable charger out on the table one night. Realistically it was just begging to be taken! haha.

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