Dear Friends,
Today we’d like to tell you or rather remind you about our regular annual tour that we run several times each summer.
This tour, the Trans-Siberian Ride, is a 10 000 km journey across all of Russia following the legendary Trans-Siberian Railway.
This summer was not exception. In this text, we’d like to share some up-to-date information about traveling to Russia in 2025 (just in case someone is thinking about joining this tour in 2026), as well as a short story about how this year’s ride went.
This time we had an international group, took lots of great photos, and overall the trip had a wonderfully warm and friendly vibe:)
So,
- Getting a Russian visa is surprisingly easy now - you can apply for an electronic visa online. It’s valid for 120 days (and allows a stay of up to 30 days per entry). The e-visa works perfectly for tourism.
- Flying to Moscow or St. Petersburg is also simple - there are daily flights via Istanbul and Baku. Reaching Russia these days is no problem at all.
- Money is easy too: you can bring euros or dollars and exchange them for rubles anywhere. And if you prefer using a card, foreigners can open a bank account in Russia without hassle and receive a physical card in just one day (they even deliver it to your hotel). Top it up with cash and use it everywhere - shops, restaurants, gas stations, museums, theaters, public transport. No issues whatsoever.
- You can rent one of our motorcycles (BMW 750GS, 850GS, 1250GS, Voge900) or ride on your own.
- As for safety: we didn’t have a single issue throughout the trip. Nothing stolen, nothing damaged. We often left the bikes overnight right on city streets in front of hotels - something that would be risky in many European cities. Roads are excellent - 99% asphalt. People are friendly, food is delicious. No bears with balalaikas wandering around…) just smiles, hospitality, and genuine curiosity toward travelers. Riding across the entire country proved all of this true.
Moscow – Vladivostok Tour. July 2025
An international team met up in Moscow. Robin and Pixie, a seasoned motorcycle-travel couple from New Zealand, Chris from the US, Andre from Australia, Anatoly and Ivan from Russia and Roman, who had ridden all the way from the Czech Republic on his red Ducati Multistrada.
Some riders chose BMW 1250GS bikes, Andre picked the new VOGE 900, Anatoly and Ivan are riding their BMW 1250GS and Roman is on his Ducati.
After introductions and a short briefing, we celebrated the start of the tour in a cozy Russian restaurant - borscht, toasts, laughter, and the first stories about life on the road.
The next morning, we explored Moscow together: the Kremlin, the historic center, photos with the city’s iconic landmarks. The following day we mounted our bikes and rolled out of Moscow through Red Square - a symbolic way to begin a Trans-Siberian ride.
The guide led the group while the support van carried luggage, tools, and extra fuel. We rode through Murom and Kasimov and arrived in Nizhny Novgorod, checked into the Sheraton, and then went for an evening walk around the illuminated Kremlin walls.
From there the road carried us toward Kazan. We stuck to smaller backroads, passing through quiet villages and enjoying relaxed traffic. A stroll around the Kazan Kremlin, the stunning Kul Sharif Mosque, and a dinner with Tatar cuisine made the day unforgettable.
On the way to Izhevsk we had a small unpaved section and a funny moment: Robin and Pixie spontaneously congratulated a local woman celebrating her birthday at a roadside cafe. The initial shock on the locals’ faces quickly turned into laughter and applause.
That evening we stayed in a rustic wooden lodge with a proper Russian banya. They even set the dinner table inside the steam room - it turned into an incredibly warm, lively evening.
Before Yekaterinburg we had a long stretch - 710 km. We crossed the border between Europe and Asia and took traditional photos at the monument.
Yekaterinburg was planned as a rest stop for the group, but not for everyone - Roman noticed that his Ducati’s rear shock absorber had been behaving strangely and decided to check it.
By lunchtime he returned looking discouraged: the shock was completely dead. Finding a replacement in Yekaterinburg was impossible, and even Moscow didn’t have one in stock.
A full team brainstorm began, and soon we crafted a whole rescue operation for the Ducati. The Multistrada was loaded into the support trailer, Roman switched to a BMW 1250GS, which we bringed for our Altai tours and later, in Novosibirsk, he would move onto our spare VOGE 900 instead of BMW that we should leave in Novosibirsk for our collegues-guides. Meanwhile, his shock would be sent to Moscow for express repair and then shipped to Novosibirsk, where the Ducati would wait for him after we reached Vladivostok.
A complicated plan, but it worked perfectly, a real example of teamwork. By evening, the group returned from a city tour of Yekaterinburg, and over dinner we were already joking about the day’s drama. Roman was back on a bike - which meant the adventure continued!
From Yekaterinburg, our first stop was the Ganina Yama complex - the former Iset mine where, on the night of July 17, 1918, the bodies of seven members of the imperial family and four of their servants were thrown after the execution. Today it’s a monastery with seven chapels, one for each member of the family.
After that we headed straight to one of the main highlights of the whole tour - the UGMK Technical Museum in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. This place isn’t just “cool”; it’s genuinely one of the best tech museums in the world. Huge, modern, beautifully organized. We could’ve easily spent the entire day there, but the schedule didn’t really allow it. We bought tickets for three pavilions and managed to see only two in the 2.5 hours we had. The main pavilion is a four-floor building packed with cars and motorcycles, with amazingly done scenery and displays. Plus aviation, engines, a planetarium, military equipment, outdoor exhibitions… you simply have to visit this place.
Next, we rode to Irbit - home of the legendary Ural sidecar motorcycles.
Lunch was at a Chechen cafe just five minutes from the factory - great shurpa and kebabs.
We had contacted Sergey, the director of the Ural museum, ahead of time and asked if he could arrange a warm welcome and a guide for our group. Sergey did everything perfectly: a guide was waiting for us, showed us around, shared stories about the factory, and we snapped a few photos at the Gear Up model near the entrance and at the monument in front of the main gate.
Tired but happy, we rode to our final stop of the day - Tyumen.
On the way we passed ancient mammoth sites. They say a few were found here… and well, we even “found” one. To be fair, a BMW GS does resemble a mammoth a little, doesn’t it?
Dinner was at “Rusty Grandpa” Pub - local beer, good snacks.
Then the road carried us toward Omsk, about 640 km away. Lunch was in a simple roadside cafe. Soon after, we entered a region where the highway is packed with endless truck convoys. For two days we had to ride more attentively than usual, but we told the group that the traffic would lighten up later - and it really did.
Omsk greeted us with a calm city center and a young vibe. We walked around and had dinner in an Irish pub. No Guinness, but the local stout wasn’t bad at all.
The next long stretch took us to Novosibirsk, another 650 km through “freight-train” streams of trucks. We checked into the Hilton, dropped Roman’s bike at our friends’ service shop, and also left the 1250GS there for the upcoming Altai tour. Roman continued on a new VOGE 900 - another real-world test for the model. Dinner was at a place famous for handmade Russian pelmeny (dumplings). Honestly, probably the best pelmeny we’ve ever had - a whole culinary universe, like pasta varieties in Italy. Plus great local craft beer brewed right there.
On the way to Kemerovo we visited the Russian Railways Museum outside Novosibirsk, took a guided tour, and climbed inside the old trains and steam engines.
Our forest Hotel in Kemerovo
Then came Krasnoyarsk. A short morning briefing, 540 km, and by evening we were already standing on the banks of the Yenisei - one of the largest rivers in the world. We had time for an excursion to the famous Stolby National Park.
We stopped at an overlook of an enormous open-pit coal mine near the village of Borodino - quite a sight.
Then moved on, following the Trans-Siberian Railway tracks that appeared again and again along the way. At one point we even stopped right on the rails for photos. A train passed soon after, and we stood there like kids, watching the train roll by.
Further down the road, right in the forest, we found little stands selling homemade jam, honey, nuts, and tea brewed in old samovars. A cup of hot herbal tea with honey in the middle of Siberia hits differently.
We stayed that night at a small local lodge. As usual, some cheerful Siberian company was having a loud party nearby, blasting old Soviet hits from the 90s. Colorful, slightly chaotic, very Siberian. We got our own pavilion and had a proper barbecue evening.
The next morning we headed toward Lake Baikal - one of the toughest and most interesting days of the tour. Our first taste of traditional Buryat buuz (steamed dumplings), a ferry crossing over the Angara River, and then more than 300 km to go, including about 50 km of gravel, ending with an off-road descent to the lakeshore hotel.
Lunch was in the village of Unga - our first “official” buuzy, and they were excellent. Then the ferry. It’s free and runs every two hours. We had to catch the 14:00 one because the next was only at 16:00 and we still had a long ride after the crossing. We lined up with the cars, let everyone board first, and rolled on last. But the 14:00 ferry was canceled unexpectedly because they decided to refuel it. While waiting, Robin and Pixie took a spontaneous swim in the Angara, to the amusement of everyone in the queue. In the end, we boarded the 16:00 ferry.
We disembarked first to avoid the dust from cars. The gravel section began - 50 km of bouncing around, and somewhere along the way Anatoly lost his key. The bike doesn’t shut off right away, but soon displayed “key not detected.” We searched along the road but found nothing. Once the bike was turned off, it couldn’t be started again.
We loaded Anatoly’s bike into the trailer and arranged for his spare key to be sent from Moscow to Irkutsk, where we’d arrive in a couple of days. The spare key looked like a plain blank with a plastic head, and we worried whether it would actually work, even though everyone said it would.
Then another 250 km through beautiful Siberian terrain - and finally, Baikal opened up in front of us. One of the biggest and deepest lakes on Earth. But it doesn’t give itself up easily - the last 1.5 km to the hotel is steep, rocky, and tricky. Luckily it was dry. After such a long day, everyone handled it perfectly. And that evening, whatever local beer we found tasted like the best beer on the planet.
The next day we ditched the bikes and explored Olkhon Island in a classic Russian “Bukhanka” van. Took the ferry to the island, met our guide Dmitry, and spent an amazing day visiting iconic spots, hearing local legends, swimming in crystal-clear water, and making offerings to the spirits of Baikal.
After that came a marathon of long-distance rides toward Ulan-Ude and beyond - endurance mode.
Ulan-Ude to Chita: 660 km. Next day to Yerofey Pavlovich: 770 km. Heavy rain, small motels, quick cafe lunches, lots of coffee at gas stations, and a strange sense of joy from the monotony.
Then a 780 km push to Blagoveshchensk - a city right on the Amur River, facing China across the water. We walked along the riverfront, watched the lights on the opposite shore, and had dinner at Pilsner. Everyone was fully in “road zen” by that point.
The final stretch to Khabarovsk included the iconic “Moscow - Vladivostok” monument - put up in 2010 when the entire road was finally connected by continuous asphalt. We grabbed our must-have photos and rode on.
And then, the last day.
On the approach to Vladivostok we stopped at the city stela and the Rostral Column for our final photo session. The heat was brutal - the bikes showed 38 C - but we made it.
The next day our group explored Vladivostok with our local guide Dmitry, had lunch with fresh crab and seafood, and in the evening celebrated the end of the tour at a beautiful pan-Asian restaurant overlooking the ocean. Lots of jokes, toasts, stories - a perfect finish.
As always, we raffled off the tour map signed by everyone. Anatoly won but handed it to Pixie like a true gentleman. She really deserved it.
By the end of the journey we’d become more than a group - more like a family. Many of us still keep in touch.
A wonderful way to finish an unforgettable ride.
Friends, we invite you to discover our country - and you’ll fall in love with it, promise!:)
You can see the schedule for the 2026 tour and sign up here: 2026 Trans-Siberian Tours