Negotiating 6,152 miles between Beijing and Moscow in 7 days is train travel on a momentous scale.

People assume that speeding through the Siberian wilderness is the exclusive domain of the intrepid traveler, or at the very least the middle-aged, all-expenses-paid tour-guided ‘explorer’.

Actually, it is perfectly possible to complete it on a strict budget - with your personal hygiene and sanity in tact. You don’t even have to ‘find yourself.’

Decide your route

There are two branches of the Trans-Siberian railway from Beijing to Moscow- the Trans-Mongolian and the Trans-Manchurian.

I went for the Trans-Mongolian. On the way to Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia’s rather desolate capital, you get to wake up to see the sunrise over the Gobi desert. That’s the beauty of train travel: even in the places you end up in fail to meet expectations the journey more than makes up for it.

After bargaining down the price of jeep rental (with a driver) to about $70 a day and inducing a couple of unsuspecting hostel-dwellers to split the cost, we got out of Ulaan Bataar. With no money for a translator or the more expensive tourist ger camps (round tent-like structure that the nomadic people of Mongolia call home) our travel was laborious and often confused. But it also meant we got to enjoy our mutton-based breakfast, lunch and dinner with each family who provided us with a bed for the night.

Being welcomed right in the heart of these nomadic families meant our evenings were also taken care of. It wasn’t long before we were offered a metal bowl of Airag. If this happens to you, proceed with caution. We eventually surmised, from a game of dirt-floor-Pictionary, that it is a sort of home-brew: A mildly alcoholic beverage made from mare’s milk fermented in a bag in the sun. It tastes like it looks: watery, soured, slightly carbonated, yogurt.

Be brave - buy your own tickets

The big advantage of traveling west from Beijing to Moscow is that vast majority of tourists are heading in the opposite direction. This means the trains are less congested and it is possible to buy your own tickets avoiding paying hundreds of pounds to an agency.

The direct Trans-Mongolian requires 3 visas, departs once a week and tickets cost around £410 one-way, in a second–class compartment (sharing with three others). On paper the the ‘Platskatny’ class seems like a great deal, but in reality it is a big cart of Russian men and more bags of Mongolian trader’s wares than you ever imagined would fit in a train carriage.

Unfortunately on the direct train you only see the scenery it passes along the way. There are two or three short stops each day, just enough time to buy a little food from a babushka and hop right back on.

To get on any Trans-Siberian train you must have a confirmed sleeping-berth reservation for that date, train and journey. Essentially this means if want to travel from, say, Beijing to Moscow stopping off in Ulaan bataar you need a ticket from Beijing to Ulan Bataar and a second separate ticket for the train you want to take from Ulaan Bataar to Moscow. Buying your ticket for the next leg of you journey as you arrive at each station is perfectly possible just make sure you memorise the train timbetables and plan according to your visas: our border crossings included a midnight search by Russian soldiers and invalid visas would have meant a long trip back to the embassy.

Go in summer

The Trans-Siberian route is open all year round rain, shine or snowstorm. It might be a romantic idea to sail through mile after mile of snow engulfed landscapes in a warm and cosy cabin but as the temperature drops to –45 °C the logistics of actually getting off the train become a little more complex.

Choosing summer means you get a chance to take a dip in the glorious Lake Baikal. A few hours drive and a ferry ride from Irkutsk lies the deepest fresh water lake in the country and one of PM Putin’s favourite spots. According to Siberian legend if you submerge your head in the lake water you will live to be a hundred.

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