Perhaps the most famous train route of all—the fantasy of every short-trousered boy who has ever stood at Victoria Station and watched people depart to who knows where.
The name alone smacks of adventure. The Trans-Siberian rail system is the world’s longest and in addition to the basic stop-start trip, a number of operators now offer a multitude of tailored trips—from the ‘Original Trans-Siberian’ to the ‘Dr Zhivago’.
They range from a few days’ jaunt to an epic, month-long voyage, or from a restful sightseeing tour to a full-blown expedition. Moscow to Beijing can include (depending on the time of year) the Ural Mountains, snow mobile rides, scuba diving, the Gobi desert, the Great Wall of China and the Harbin Ice Festival.
But for sheer romance and gritty adventure, nothing can beat stepping aboard the 21:25 from Moscow—duration 147 hours on a good day.