Long train journeys are one of the simple joys in life. I don’t mean a three-day journey through Europe where one has to switch trains every 6 hours. No, I mean a continuous train journey where you board at point A and don’t have to get off again until point B, many days later.
The Trans-Siberian is one such classic journey. To do it without switching trains, however, involves starting the journey in Moscow–not an easy task.
There are some alternatives, however. Currently the longest journey from Western Europe itself travels from Berlin to Novosibirsk–a very long, four-day trip.
Russian Railways, however, is floating the idea of extending the journey an additional day, all the way to Irkutsk. This would be a far more attractive end station than Novosibirsk and very much worth the journey on its own. Travelers can then catch an onwards train to China (another two days) or turn around and do it all over again back to Berlin. Whatever their choice, they can still brag they rode Western Europe’s longest rail route without changing trains.