Unique Experiences

Arrive at the Moscow airport, where you are met and transferred to your five-star hotel, the Ritz Carlton, located in the city centre for a two-night stay.

This morning you will enjoy an overview city of Moscow.

To the south of the city lie a number of fortified monasteries, built to defend the city against the Mongols. The most spectacular of them is Novodevichy Convent, constructed in the 16th century. This serene sanctuary houses the lovely Cathedral of the Virgin of Smolensk. Located adjacent to the convent, you may like to visit Novodevichy Convent’s fascinating cemetery. Its cemetery, houses the graves of many famous Russians, from cultural figures to political and military dignitaries. Each tombstone is wrought with symbolism and makes for a very interesting and worthwhile visit.

This afternoon your guide will take you out to Izmailovsky Park for the weekend “Bazaar”: the best shopping in Russia! The park is only open on the weekend and is by far the best place to stock up on matryoshka dolls and lacquered Palekh boxes. Your guide will give you a complete lesson in advanced Russian shopping techniques.

Today, your guide will take you into the Kremlin and through its expansive grounds. Here you will see the largest bell in the world – as well as the largest cannon. Neither were ever used due to their enormous size! Also on the grounds of the Kremlin are three very important churches and your guide will take you through all that are of interest. We suggest you don’t miss the Assumption Cathedral, where all Russian tsars were crowned.

Later, your guide will take you to the famed Armory Museum, including its vast collection of Imperial Russian artwork. You will have the opportunity to see the Kremlin’s unique and intimate collection of Imperial Faberge Easter Eggs. Also in the Armory are many of the most important Imperial thrones and crowns, including the most historic, Cap of Monomachus.

Transfer to the station to board the Golden Eagle. After settling into your cabin, enjoy dinner in one of the beautifully designed restaurant cars as your rail adventure begins.

Today you will have the opportunity to tour this magnificent city and visit Catherine Palace in Pushkin, including the world-famous Amber Room. Lunch is at the Podvorye Restaurant in Pavlovsk before returning to the imperial capital city of the Russian Empire for an afternoon tour of the key sights including St Isaac’s Cathedral and Nevsky Prospect.

Today you will spend the day in Minsk, capital of Belarus and enjoy a tour of this city which saw fierce fighting during World War II.

Lviv is the capital of the Western Ukraine and an ancient city that has seen many rulers. Named ‘Lemberg’ during Polish/Austrian rule, and again briefly during Nazi occupation, the old city with its winding streets has survived almost untouched. Lunch is enjoyed in the city before reboarding the train and heading south.

Passing over the Moldovan border during the night, arrive at lunchtime in the capital city of Kishinev. Your afternoon tour of the city includes a visit to a local winery.

With its tree-lined Primorsky Boulevard featuring street cafes on the embankment and Potemkin Steps, arrive in the elegant city of Odessa at lunchtime. This Black Sea city was immortalised in Einstein’s 1925 film ‘Battleship Potemkin’. Nearby is the impressive Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Sevastopol is home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet and is a town steeped in the history of the Crimean War and World War II, on both occasions being under siege for almost a year. Your tour includes the Old Town, the Panorama (a 360-degree painting and montage depicting the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War) and Khersones, reputed to be the most complete ancient Greek settlement in existence, and only opened to foreigners a few years ago. You spend your final night on board the Golden Eagle.

Before arriving late in the afternoon at the Hotel Oreanda in Yalta for a three night stay, you will visit Balaclava and the Diorama depicting the WWII battle and from where there is a fine view of the valley where the Charge of the Light Brigade took place. The valley is now covered in neat rows of vines and in the middle is a white stone memorial to the infamous Charge.

Today there is a guided tour of Yalta including Chekhov’s House and the Botanical Gardens, followed by lunch at the Swallow’s Nest, a fairy-tale castle breathtakingly perched high above the sea. This restaurant is a world famous location and many world leaders have eaten here. In the afternoon enjoy a scenic cruise along the picturesque coastline before visiting the Massandra Palace and Imperial Winery, touring the cellars (they have bottles dating back to 1775 and many bottles from the Tsars personal collection).

This morning you will visit Alupka Palace which was built for Count Mikhail Vorontsov, former special envoy to the United Kingdom and friend of the Marlborough Family. The Palace is a strange, but attractive combination of a Scottish castle with Arabian additions. Churchill stayed here during the Yalta conference of February 1945. In the afternoon enjoy a private tour of the Tsar’s Summer Palace at Livadia and the site of the Yalta conference between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. A champagne reception in the grounds will be followed by a concert of chamber music and dinner in the restaurant attached to the palace.

The morning in Yalta is at leisure before you transfer to the airport for your flight to Kiev where you transfer to the Premier Palace hotel for two nights. (Cost of flight is included)

Your tour of this ancient city includes the beautifully restored Monastery of Caves, Lavra Complex which has the highest bell tower in the former USSR, the huge Mother Ukraina WWII monument and museum, a stroll along Khreshchatyk Street, Saint Sophia’s Cathedral and Independence Square.

Transfer to the airport for your onward flight.