Trans-Siberian Cycling Expedition

Vladivostok · Russia

Expedition Grade90 daysAsia~£3,000 est.

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Overview

Riding from Vladivostok's Golden Horn Bay to Moscow is cycling's ultimate distance problem: more than 10,000 kilometres and seven time zones of taiga, steppe and truck-stop Russia, shadowed the whole way by the world's longest railway. The route's emotional centre is Lake Baikal - after weeks of forest the road crests near Kultuk and the world's deepest lake fills the horizon - followed by the Buryat Buddhist datsans around Ulan-Ude and the long grind over the Urals, where a roadside obelisk marks the Europe-Asia line. The catch is arithmetic. Ninety days means averaging over 110 kilometres every single day, so most riders take four to five months or leapfrog the emptiest Amur sections by train. Summer, June to August, is the only sensible window; outside it you trade mosquitoes for frost. Camp wild, refuel in stolovaya canteens, and carry spares for the days between bike shops. Budget around £3,000 on the road excluding flights - but research visa and border realities carefully before committing, as independent travel logistics in Russia have tightened considerably in recent years and support options are thin.