Trans-Siberian (Mongolian) in winter/Essential stops

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Heading off on the Trans Mongolian from Moscow to Beijing just after Christmas or New Year. Brave or stupid I realise, with the temperatures.

Myself any my girlfriend are going to be as well prepared as we can for the cold but we're just wondering if there's any particular stops we should make, bearing in mind it will be the middle of a harsh Siberian winter. Baikal is a given, even if it'll be a huge ice rink.

We're starting in St Petersburg on 18th December by the way, also we're wondering if it's best to stay there or go to Moscow for Christmas, though I'm not sure if they celebrate the same dates we do.

We'll be heading onwards to China and further south afterwards to thaw out!

Cheers...

jackbhoy

We stopped off for 2.5 weeks in Mongolia on that trip and it was absolutely fantastic, we did it in late November/early December and it was just getting into really cold weather (-20 ish a few nights). We met another couple in Golden Gobi hostel in Ulan Bator and hired a driver from that hostel to take us around for couple of weeks. We had never really planned to spend time in Mongolia but some of the experiences we had there were best we've had travelling and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Given that you are going even further into winter than we did it might be worth looking into whether trips still run and if weather will scupper plans. We stayed with nomadic families throughout the trip and they move to different areas to batten down for winter so it might affect your chances of getting out into the wilderness etc..

The Trans-Siberian is a great trip anyway and is really interesting in winter. Make sure you stock up on vodka as a few spare bottles to share will make you very popular with locals on the train. Also, if you haven't already booked tickets and can handle roughing it a bit to get a more authentic experience then go for hard sleeper or 3rd class ticket, you'll be in an open carraige with 54 others and it's a fantastic way to meet some locals and have some fun!

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jackbhoy wrote: »

We stopped off for 2.5 weeks in Mongolia on that trip and it was absolutely fantastic, we did it in late November/early December and it was just getting into really cold weather (-20 ish a few nights). We met another couple in Golden Gobi hostel in Ulan Bator and hired a driver from that hostel to take us around for couple of weeks. We had never really planned to spend time in Mongolia but some of the experiences we had there were best we've had travelling and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Given that you are going even further into winter than we did it might be worth looking into whether trips still run and if weather will scupper plans. We stayed with nomadic families throughout the trip and they move to different areas to batten down for winter so it might affect your chances of getting out into the wilderness etc..

The Trans-Siberian is a great trip anyway and is really interesting in winter. Make sure you stock up on vodka as a few spare bottles to share will make you very popular with locals on the train. Also, if you haven't already booked tickets and can handle roughing it a bit to get a more authentic experience then go for hard sleeper or 3rd class ticket, you'll be in an open carraige with 54 others and it's a fantastic way to meet some locals and have some fun!

Thanks for the tips Jackbhoy, sorry, haven't checked this for a while.

Yeah i realise weather could scupper a lot of plans, that's why I'm not getting my hopes up too much about anything definite. To be honest, I think it's the train journey itself I'm most looking forward to. Good call about the bottles of vodka, even though I'm not a massive fan of the stuff!