Arrive at Moscow airport, where you are met and transferred to a luxurious five-star hotel located in the heart of this vibrant city for a one-night stay.  We enjoy a welcome dinner at our hotel, whilst you meet your fellow travellers and, together, look forward to the 14 day voyage that lies ahead.

Our city tour of Moscow principally takes us to Red Square, an iconic symbol of Russia’s former military and political might. Here we see an eclectic mix of fascinating architecture, such as the ornate St Basil’s Cathedral with its magnificent onion-domed spires, the grandeur of The Kremlin and the sombre and evocative site of Lenin’s tomb. In the late afternoon, we board the Golden Eagle and after settling into our modern, stylish cabins, we enjoy dinner in one of the beautifully designed restaurant cars as our journey begins. 

Today we tour this magnificent city and visit Catherine the Great’s rococo Summer Palace in Pushkin, including the world-famous Amber Room. Lunch is at the Podvorye Restaurant in Pavlovsk before returning to the imperial capital city of the Russian Empire for an afternoon tour of the key sights including St Isaac’s Cathedral and Nevsky Prospect.

We spend the day in Minsk, capital of Belarus and enjoy a tour of this city which saw fierce fighting during World War II.

Breakfast is early prior to our arrival in Lvov, capital of the Western Ukraine and an ancient city that has seen many rulers. Named ‘Lemberg’ during Polish/Austrian rule, and again briefly during Nazi occupation, the old city, with its winding streets has survived almost untouched. Our city tour includes lunch before we reboard our train and head south.

Passing over the Moldovan border during the night, we arrive at lunchtime in the capital city of Kishinev. Our afternoon tour of the city includes a visit to a local winery.

With its tree-lined Primorsky Boulevard featuring street cafes on the embankment and Potemkin Steps, we arrive in the elegant city of Odessa at lunchtime. This Black Sea city was immortalised in Einstein’s 1925 film ‘Battleship Potemkin’. Nearby is the impressive Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Sevastopol is home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet and is a town steeped in the history of the Crimean War and World War II, on both occasions being under siege for almost a year. Our tour includes the Old Town, the Panorama (a 360-degree painting and montage depicting the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War) and Khersones, reputed to be the most complete ancient Greek settlement in existence, and only opened to foreigners a few years ago. We spend our final night on board the Golden Eagle.

Before arriving late afternoon at the Hotel Oreanda in Yalta for a 3 night stay we visit Balaclava and the Diorama depicting the WWII battle and from where there is a fine view of the valley where the Charge of the Light Brigade took place. The valley is now covered in neat rows of vines and in the middle is a white stone memorial to the infamous Charge.

Today there is a guided tour of Yalta including Chekhov’s House and the Botanical Gardens, followed by lunch at the Swallow’s Nest, a fairy-tale castle breathtakingly perched high above the sea. This restaurant is a world famous location and many world leaders have eaten here. In the afternoon we take a scenic cruise along the picturesque coastline before visiting the Massandra Palace and Imperial Winery, touring the cellars (they have bottles dating back to 1775 and many bottles from the Tsars personal collection).

This morning we visit Alupka Palace which was built for Count Mikhail Vorontsov, former special envoy to the United Kingdom and friend of the Marlborough Family. The Palace is a strange, but attractive combination of a Scottish castle with Arabian additions. Churchill stayed here during the Yalta conference of February 1945. In the afternoon we enjoy a private tour of the Tsar’s Summer Palace at Livadia and the site of the Yalta conference between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. A champagne reception in the grounds will be followed by a concert of chamber music and dinner in the restaurant attached to the palace.

We take a flight from Simferopol to Kiev, one of Europe’s oldest cities, where we transfer to our 5-star city centre hotel for 2 nights.