UK To Australia Overland - Part 3 Moscow To Beijing

The next stage of Richard Lodge's overland journey to Australia takes him from Moscow to Beijing, surely two of the best holiday destinations on this epic overland route. Cheap trips on the transmongolian have opened up the option of overland travel to Australia. Enjoy!

Stage 2: Moscow (Russia) to Beijing (China)

This stage of the journey can be broken down even further due to the sheer distances you will cover between Moscow and Beijing. Firstly the journey from Moscow to Yekaterinburg is one which will take you from European Russia to the Europe/Asia border. It will also be the start of your Tran-Siberian rail journey.

From Yekaterinburg (Ekaterinburg) you will take your first steps into Asia and travel along the great plains and forests of Russia into Irkutsk in Siberia. This is the single longest train journey of the whole trip taking over 3 days to complete. When I travelled this route I left Yekaterinburg at 01:29am on 9^th July and did not get to Irkutsk until 06:14am on 11^th July.

Upon departure from Irkutsk you will change onto the Trans-Mongolian line which will head down into Mongolia and the capital Ulan Bator. The Russian-Mongolian border can involve a very long wait and it took me 9 hours to cross this border so be prepared for this and ensure your Russian visa allows for potential delays here. From Ulan Bator you will travel across into China and into the capital Beijing a journey which takes about 30 hours.

During this part of the journey I decided to stopover in all places and also note that this route can be amended to your own requirements with extra or less stops. The ticket provider I used was Real Russia and they delivered the tickets to me before I left the UK. Tickets can be alot cheaper if you book them yourself on the day but it is very difficult and there are no guarantees that you will get your tickets.

Useful Links

Seat 61

This site provides you with in depth information on train travel around the world with timetables, fares as well as tips and advice. An excellent resource when planning your overland journey.

Real Russia

A useful resource for booking your Russian & Mongolian train tickets in advance. Definitely not the cheapest option but in my view the safest and most reliable. Please note that whilst they deliver your Russian tickets in advance you will have to pick up your Ulan Bator to Beijing train ticket once in Ulan Bator.