This trip was in June, 2017, following a 12 night Royal Caribbean northern European cruise on the Vision of the Seas. It was a round trip cruise out of Amsterdam with stops in several Scandinavian countries, Tallin, Estonia and St. Petersburg, Russia.
Flights to/from Russia were, in general, pricier than standard European flights. Other than that, meals and lodging were pretty reasonable. We could have a nice meal with a pint of beer for under $10pp.
Day 1: Flew to Moscow on Belavia Air via Minsk($155pp). The total flight time, two flights, with a plane change in Belarus, was about 4 hours. Moscow has 4 airports serving the city and we ended up at ZIA, the newest airport which nobody knew anything about. There was a shuttle bus to the nearest metro station which brought us to the city center. Our Airbnb studio apartment($65/night) was a ten-minute walk from the Kremlin.
Day 2: Walked around the city exploring Red Square and the incredible Moscow subway system.
Day 3:More walking around the city and exploring some museums.
Day 4: Visited Kolomenskoe by public transportation before flying out to Irkutsk on Ural Air(6 hours, $225pp). There’s a 5 hour time difference between Moskow and Irkutsk. It certainly is a big country. We stayed with friends in Irkutsk.
Day 5: Walked around Irkutsk
Day 6: Visited the golden trout farm on the Angara River.
Day 7: Did the 10-hour Circum-Baikal Railway. Tickets are gobbled up by travel agencies, and anybody who wants to do this has to buy a package from an agency for about $125pp. We were confused at the train station in Irkutsk as the times shown on the clock and the departure board were nowhere near the correct time. It finally dawned on us that all the times were Moscow time. All trains in Russia run on Moscow time.
When we finally left the train, we hopped on the free ferry to Listvyanka & returned to Irkutsk by bus.
Day 8: Tunkinky National Park & Zemchug hot springs. Drove 4 hours in a private car & toured the park. Stayed at a hotel near the hot springs($35/night).
Day 9: Drove back to Irkutsk.
Day 10: Flew back to L.A. on S7 Airlines. (3.5 hours to Seoul(ICN) Airport, then transferred to Korean Air for the second leg. Making the reservation with S7, we paid $520pp, but the ICN-LAX flight sold by Korean Air alone was priced at $600 at the time. Somehow buying from a cheaper airline brought the price down quite a bit.
Small Wide World 