Silk Road
(Astrakhan – Elista – Volgograd)

Arrival. Meet your guide in the airport.

Transfer to the hotel.

Optional: Dinner at the restaurant.

Breakfast in the hotel.

Meet your guide in the hotel lobby.

Tour of Astrakhan and visit to the Kremlin.

You will see the city’s most beautiful main streets and take a walk in the “White City” which is a name for the oldest district of the Russian part of Astrakhan, where the Kremlin is located.
Take a walk along the Volga embankment with a view over the old merchant houses and see the famous Swan Lake. The city’s main treasure and the most visited sight is the Kremlin, a unique architectural ensemble and a monument of military engineering dating back to the second half of the 16th century.

Lunch at the local restaurant.

Visit to the Astrakhan museum of the local history, tour of the exhibition “The Sarmatians’ gold” – a unique collection of mysterious artefacts from ancient civilizations created about 2000 years ago.

Return to the hotel. Free time.

Optional: Dinner at the hotel.

Breakfast in the hotel.

Meet your guide in the hotel lobby.

Transfer to Elista.

Today we are waiting for a unique Elista – the capital of Kalmykia!

Cultures, religions, and architectural styles are mixed here! Here you are in Russia, but everything is so unusual! Kalmykia is a land of endless steppe expanses like the ocean. The land on which the great silk road ran, where the Golden Horde built their cities, here and now you can find their remains. Elista is also home to the largest Buddhist temple in Kalmykia with a 9-meter-high Buddha statue, the tallest in Europe. Looking at its outlines, you can accurately determine the influence of Tibetan architecture.

National lunch in the city cafe.

After lunch, a walking tour of the city center: the Golden gate, viewing the sculpture compositions “The great silk road “and” Man and nature through the eyes of the East”, created at the international Biennale of sculptors.

Transfer to Astrakhan. Return to the hotel.

Dinner at the hotel or on the way in a local restaurant.

Breakfast in the hotel.

Meet your guide in the hotel lobby.

You will travel through the Astrakhan desert where the richest cities of the Golden Horde used to thrive along with their capital city Sarai-Batu.

The village called Selitrenskoye can be found at the distance of 140 km up north from Astrakhan. It is hard to believe that once in this deserted steppe, there used to be one of the world’s biggest capital cities and one of the biggest centres of civilization. Nevertheless, it is here, on the hills of this village, that the famous Golden Horde invaders founded their first settlements and it is from here that the invaders started their campaigns and here lie the ruins of the huge city Sarai Batu, which is now called the Selitrensky hillfort.

Lunch at a local restaurant.

Transfer to Astrakhan. Return to the hotel. Free time.

Optional: Dinner at the hotel.

Breakfast in the hotel.

Meet your guide in the hotel lobby.

Tour of sturgeon farm.

A farm where everything is done with a soul: a fish soup for guests, a tour with interesting stories, and the very cultivation of sturgeon in cages, right in the river! The uniqueness of the company is that you will not only enjoy the natural beauty of the mighty river, go fishing, but also that a live and very strong Russian sturgeon will be in Your hands! Hold it, make a wish, smack it on the nose, and let it go into the river. Then the desire is for sure it will come true! But that's not all! The pride of the sturgeon farm can rightly be called the sacrament of Smoking sturgeon according to a unique, restored by us, ancient recipe, so that you'll lick your fingers! And of course, the Royal fish soup! From live sturgeon, sterlet, on a fire, with smoke…

Lunch on the farm.

Excursion to the village of Altynzhar (center of Kazakh culture).

The Kurmangazy cultural center is a vivid evidence of the deep and strong friendly relations between the peoples of Kazakhstan and Russia. Concern for the preservation of historical heritage, respect for traditions and cultural values are vivid manifestations of true friendship between our peoples. In the ethnographic Museum you will see a mausoleum opened in 1996 – on the 100th anniversary of the death of Kurmangazy, one of the brightest representatives of the Kazakh people, a composer and musician. You will get acquainted with the Museum exposition, which introduces the cultural traditions, life of Astrakhan Kazakhs, with materials about outstanding figures of science, education, and culture. Inspection of the Kazakh Yurt.

Transfer to railway station in Astrakhan.

Evening train Astrakhan – Volgograd.

Transfer from the railway station to the hotel.

Check in to the hotel.

Optional: Late dinner in the hotel.

Breakfast in the hotel.

Meet your guide in the hotel lobby.

Sightseeing tour of Volgograd with visit to Mamaev Kurgan Hill.

A sightseeing tour of Volgograd will acquaint you with the most important and interesting places of the hero-city located at the historic crossroads from Asia to Europe in a short time! You will visit will visit the Central Embankment. 62nd Army – the main gate to the city from the Volga, you will visit the main height of Russia – Mamayev Kurgan. In the days of the Battle of Stalingrad, Mamaev Kurgan in official reports was called the height of 102.0 this place of heavy, most bloody battles. The battles for this height lasted 140 days. Here many enemy tank divisions were defeated, there were battles of extermination, unprecedented in history in their tenacity and cruelty. During the excursion, you will visit the Square of the Fallen Fighters, Ruined walls, the Motherland Calls monument and much more. Stroll through the historical center of the city, places of military glory, and add an unforgettable impression of the hero city of Volgograd!

Return to the hotel.

Optional: Lunch at the hotel.

Optional: Dinner at the hotel.

OPTIONAL

BOAT TRIP ON THE VOLGA

We invite you to take an hour-long walking route within Volgograd! An hour's walk is a unique opportunity to see the main architectural sights located along the Volga river: the ship offers excellent views of Mamayev Kurgan, the Central Park, the Museum-panorama of the battle of Stalingrad and of course the famous dancing bridge.

Breakfast in the hotel.

Meet your guide in the hotel lobby.

Transfer to Olkhovka.

Departure from Volgograd. Visiting the Soldier field. Inspection of the Tsaritsyn Watchdog Line – Petrov Val, where in 1718 the great Tsar Peter Alekseevich ordered to make a big shaft from Tsaritsyn to Don to protect from unintentional Tatar raids, to make a small fortress along the line in decent places.

Lunch-boxes in a bus.

Visit to the Holy Trinity Monastery of Belogorsk, Kamennobrodsky monastery with its chalk caves, 12th century. Visiting the grove x oaks planted over 600 years ago.Visit the Akhtyrskaya Mother of God Convent in Gusevka.

Return to Volgograd.

Optional: Dinner at the hotel.

Breakfast in the hotel.

Сheck out. Transfer to the airport.

End of the tour.