The Moscow to Irkutsk Railway: History, Things to See

The train journey from Moscow to Irkutsk truly is an immersion into Russian culture. Taking 3.5 days and covering all of the Trans-Siberian’s main sights (except for Ulan-Ude and Vladivostok), it is the perfect option for those who want to explore Russia’s east and west without spending too much time in a train carriage. There are two routes to Irkutsk. The less common route goes via Kazan—the capital of Tatarstan. If you’re interested in Turkic cultures, then this is the route to take. Most tourists, however, travel on the trains that pass through the historically Slavic cities such as Nizhny Novgorod and Perm.

Regardless of the route, we highly recommend buying separate tickets so that you have time to see the sights on the way that interest you most and give your legs a stretch! Here’s a list of the most well-known stops on the Moscow to Irkutsk train with our recommendations for how to make the most of a short stopover in each:

Perm: The last major city before the Siberian tundra begins may already be familiar to you from the book Dr Zhivago which was set here. Apart from visiting the mansions which inspired Pasternak’s writings, it is also worth buying tickets to PERMM. Experimental and eccentric are two out of the many words that could be used to describe one of Russia’s most progressive contemporary art galleries. Perm 36, an innocuous name for Stalin’s most heinous inventions—the gulag— is the only gulag open to the public in Russia and is definitely worth the journey to the outskirts of the city.

Yekaterinburg: The leaning bell tower near the main church of Yekaterinburg is ripe territory for snapping hilarious holiday photos. More seriously, this city has one of the largest military museums in Russia.

Omsk: Dostoevsky fans can’t miss this city as this is where the author was exiled for four years. The literary museum isn’t large, but its walls are steeped in history.

Novosibirsk: The history of Siberia's largest city is fascinating. In the USSR, a whole secret city for scientists was built in its suburbs. In this settlement made up of futuristic buildings, you can visit a museum entirely devoted to the Sun which was set up by one of the Soviet scientists and a statue dedicated to laboratory mice. For something a little more conventional, Novosibirsk’s opera house is the largest in Russia and shows top-class ballet performances.

Irkutsk: Though it may be a city, Irkutsk feels more like a village thanks to the wonderfully ornate wooden houses lining its central streets. The other reason it mightn’t feel so busy is the fact that almost everyone bypasses this charming city to go directly to Lake Baikal, which is just a bus ride away.