Trans-Siberian Handbook: Guide to the World's Longest Railway Journey (Includes Guides to 25 Cities) »

Bryn Thomas was born in Zimbabwe where he grew up on a farm. Since graduating from Durham University with a degree in anthropology, travel on five continents has included a Saharan journey in a home-built kit-car, a solo 1600-mile cycle ride through the Andes, ten Himalayan treks and 30,000 miles of rail travel. Publications include Lonely Planet's guides to India (three editions), Goa (two editions) and Britain (three editions: 1993-2000), and Trailblazer's Trans-Siberian Handbook (all six editions) and Trekking in the Annapurna Region (all four editions). In 1992 he set up Trailblazer, to produce the series of route guides for adventurous travelers that has now grown to 35 titles.

This seventh edition was researched and updated by James Pitkin. Educated at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio where he graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in English, he spent four years working as an editor and features writer for The Prague Post in the Czech Republic. He updated the Insight Guide to Prague and has had travel stories and political features published in New York Press, Prague's Think magazine, Berlin's City magazine and the journal NGO News Eastern Europe. He lives in Washington State where he is a news reporter for The Wenatchee World.

With over 90,000 copies now sold, this is the most popular Trans-Siberian guidebook. A trip across Siberia on the longest continuous railway track in the world is undoubtedly the journey of a lifetime. It's also a convenient way to reach China, Mongolia, or Japan. Tickets are not expensive or difficult to arrange. Readers can now travel almost anywhere they want in Siberia: we tell them how to organize a trip, where to get tickets, and where to go.

•Kilometer-by-kilometer route guide -- covering the entire routes of the Trans-Siberian, Trans-Manchurian, and Trans-Mongolian railways with thirty-eight strip maps in English, Russian, and Chinese: readers can see where they are as they travel
•Siberia and the railway -- the detailed history of Siberia, the construction of the railway and the running of the Trans-Siberian today are of great interest not only to visitors but also to armchair travelers
•City guides with maps -- the best sights, places to stay, and restaurants for all budgets: Moscow, St Petersburg, Ulan Bator, Beijing, and twenty-three towns in Siberia
•Nutshell information on Minsk, Berlin, Baltic Republics, Helsinki, Hong Kong, and Tokyo
•Rail fares and timetables
• Seventh edition includes seventy maps
• Plus Russian and Chinese phrases

INTRODUCTION (1) PART 1: PLANNING YOUR TRIP - Routes and costs (Route options, Costs, Breaking your journey, Internet resources), When to go, Bookings and visas, Organized tours or individual itineraries?, Route planning, Visas, Making a booking (in Britain, in Continental Europe, in North America, in Australasia, in South Africa, in Asia), What to take (Clothes, Gifts, Money, Background reading), Health precautions and inoculations (Inoculations, Medical services) (2) PART 2: RUSSIA Facts about the country (Geographical background, Historical outline, Economy, The people), Practical information for the visitor (Documents, Crossing the border, Where to stay, Tours, Local transport, Buying rail tickets, Electricity, Time, Money, Post/telecommunications, Magazines and newspapers, Holidays, Festivals, Food and drink, Buying your own food, Where to eat, What to do in the evening, Shopping, Crime) (3) PART 3: SIBERIA AND THE RAILWAY Historical outline (Early history, The nineteenth century, The exile System, Early travelers), Building the railway (Plans for a Trans-Siberian railway, The decision to build, Railway construction, The first rail travelers, The railway in the twentieth century), The Trans-Siberian today (The train, Life on the train, Steam locomotives in Siberia, Other railway lines (4) PART 4: CITY GUIDES AND PLANS St Petersburg (History, What to see, Excursions from St Petersburg, Local transport, Orientation and services, Where to stay, Where to eat, Moving on), Moscow (History, What to see, Excursions from Moscow, Local transport, Orientation and services, Where to stay, Where to eat, Moving on), Sergiev Posad (History, What to see, Practical information), Rostov-Yaroslavski (History, What to see, Practical information), Yaroslavl (History, What to see, Practical information), Vladimir (History, What to see, Excursions from Vladimir, Orientation and services, Where to stay and eat, Moving on), Suzdal (History, What to see, Practical information), Nizhny Novgorod (History, What to see, Practical information), Vyatka (Kirov) (History, What to see, Practical information), Perm (History, What to see, Practical information), Yekaterinburg (History, What to see, Practical information, Where to stay, Where to eat, Moving on), Tyumen (History, What to see, Practical information), Omsk (History, What to see, Practical information), Novosibirsk (History, What to see, Practical information, Where to stay, Where to eat, Moving on, Excursions from Novosibirsk: Akademgorodok, Tomsk), Krasnoyarsk ((History, What to see, Practical information, Where to stay, Where to eat, Moving on, Excursions from Krasnoyarsk), Irkutsk (History, What to see, Practical information, Where to stay, Where to eat, Moving on), Lake Baikal (Getting to Lake Baikal, Listvyanka, Port Baikal, Bolshie Koty), Other Siberian excursions (Bratsk, Severobaikalsk, Nizhneangarsk, Yakutsk), Ulan Ude (History, What to see, Ivolginsk Datsan, Orientation and services, Local transport, Where to stay, Where to eat, Moving on), Chita (History, What to see, Practical information), Birobidzhan (What to see, Practical information), Khabarovsk (History, What to see, Practical information, Where to stay, Where to eat, Moving on), Vladivostok (History, What to see, Practical information, Where to stay, Where to eat, Ferries, Moving on), Ulan Bator (History, What to see, Practical information, Where to stay, Where to eat, Moving on, Excursions), Harbin (What to see, Practical information), Beijing (History, What to see, Practical information, Where to stay, Where to eat, Moving on) (5) PART 5: ROUTE GUIDES AND MAPS Using this guide, Trans-Siberian route (Moscow - Vladimir - Nizhny Novgorod - Vyatka - Perm - Yekaterinburg - Tyumen - Omsk - Novosibirsk - Krasnoyarsk - Irkutsk - Ulan Ude - Chita - Bureya - Birobidzhan - Khabarovsk - Vladivostok (Maps 1-27)), Trans-Monglian route (Ulan Ude - Naushki - Sühbaatar - Darhan - Ulan Bator - Erlyan - Datong - Beijing (Maps 28-30)), Trans-Manchurian route (Chita - Zabaikalsk - Manzhouli - Angangxi - Harbin - Changchun - Shanhaiguan - Tianjin - Beijing (Maps 31-35)) (6) PART 6: DESTINATIONS AND DEPARTURES Tokyo, Hong Kong, Helsinki, Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Warsaw , Minsk, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius) (7) APPENDICES Alternative route via Yaroslavl, Timetables, Siberian fauna, Bibliography, Phrase lists) (8) INDEX