Your Itinerary
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Cossack Explorer Your itinerary Start Location Visited Location Plane End Location Cruise Train Over night Ferry Day 1 Included Meals - Breakfast Arrive Helsinki (1 Night) Day 8 Kickstart your adventure through the Cossacks in Helsinki, the quirky capital of Moscow – Minsk (2 Nights) Finland. Helsinki's pretty boulevards and stunning architecture melts into its stunning natural surroundings, with Baltic bays and islands, lush parks and gardens, This morning you'll wave farewell to Mother Russia and begin the journey west on and thick forests all around. Once you've checked in to your hotel, you'll have some the next exciting part of your Helsinki to Berlin tour. As you cross the Belarus border time to relax before meeting your Travel Director and fellow travellers for a glimpse of to Minsk. Driving past Borodino, you'll be reminded of Napoleon's great 19thcentury what's to come. battle, immortalised in the famous novel War and Peace as a 'continuous slaughter which could be of no avail either to the French of the Russians'. Arriving in the Hotel - Holiday Inn West Ruoholahti Belarus capital later, you'll be left in no doubt of the city's strong ties with Russia. Your orientation tour will reveal a perfectly Soviet city, rebuilt after World War II in a Day 2 style that would make Stalin proud. Dinner is served at your hotel this evening. Helsinki – St. Petersburg (3 Nights) Planeta Say goodbye to Finland this morning and travel east to the imperial city of St. Hotel - Petersburg where Peter the Great's magic touch on its pastelcoloured façades and Included Meals - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner gorgeous canals provides the perfect introduction to our adventure through Russia. Tonight, dinner is served at your hotel. Day 9 Minsk sightseeing and free time Hotel - Park Inn by Radisson Pribaltiyskaya The war was not kind to Minsk, but the grand buildings, large squares and elegant Included Meals - Breakfast, Dinner avenues that characterise the Belarus capital today tell a tale of Soviet supremacy. Your Local Specialist will reveal the city's history of occupation and all its iconic Day 3 sights, including the Hero City Memorial, built to commemorate the city's status as St. Petersburg sightseeing and free time one of the Hero Cities of the former Soviet Union. You'll have the rest of the afternoon With your Local Specialist by your side, the stories of Russia's royalty come to life to explore Minsk your way, delving into its Sovietstyle architecture followed by an as you visit some of St. Petersburg's most famous sights. See the Tsar's Winter elegant night of art and culture should you choose to visit the celebrated National Palace, St. Isaac's Cathedral and The Bronze Horseman, who's enduring presence Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre. in the heart of St. Petersburg ensures the city will never yield to enemy forces. Included Meals - Breakfast Discover the goldenspired Peter and Paul Fortress, the final resting place of the Romanovs then spend the rest of the day exploring the city your way. Alternatively, Day 10 consider an Optional Experience to the Church of our Saviour on Spilled Blood and Minsk – Brest – Warsaw (2 Nights) St. Isaac's Cathedral, the fourthlargest cathedral in the world. Or you could choose to visit the Hermitage Museum on an Optional Experience to see the masterpieces The highlights of your Eastern Europe value tour just keep on rolling today as you of Matisse, Vermeer and Rembrandt on display and admire the opulence of the city's take a scenic journey across the expansive plains of Belarus, heading west towards Baroque, Neoclassical and Orthodox architectural heritage. Warsaw. You'll stop for lunch at Brest, a celebrated site of Soviet resistance during World War II. Later today, you'll arrive in Poland's capital, a modern metropolis which Included Meals - Breakfast has risen with all the invigorating spirit of a phoenix after a recent tumultuous past. Day 4 Hotel - Ibis Ostrobramska St. Petersburg free day Included Meals - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Trace the magic touch of centuries of tsarist rule as you embark on a full free day of St. Petersburg sightseeing on your own terms. Take a stroll down Nevsky Prospekt Day 11 and snack on a soft, hot and sweet pyshki or two, or embark on a full day Optional Warsaw sightseeing and free time Experience to the imperial summer residences at Pushkin and Petrodvorets. You're Today is all about unearthing the turbulent history of Warsaw. Meet up with your in for a cultural extravaganza this evening should you choose to join an optional Local Specialist this morning for a sightseeing tour where you'll see firsthand how evening at the ballet in a tsaristera theatre or attend one of the best Russian folklore the resilient Poles rebuilt their city after the destruction of World War II. You'll visit performances featuring Cossack dances, songs and costumes. St. John's Cathedral and the Royal Palace in the Old Town, then see the site of the Included Meals - Breakfast Warsaw Ghetto which confined over 400,000 nearstarving Jews during World War II. With the rest of the day free to explore your way, why not join your fellow travellers Day 5 tonight on an Optional Experience which will reveal the heart and soul of Warsaw. St. Petersburg – Novgorod (1 Night) Included Meals - Breakfast Today you'll embark on a scenic journey across the vast landscapes of Russia, bound for the ancient city of Novgorod, the 'Birthplace of Russia'. Here you'll delve Day 12 into the legacy of the Rurik dynasty which ruled Russia for over seven centuries. Warsaw – Berlin (2 Nights) You'll view the Millennium Monument, St. Sophia Cathedral and the Kremlin whose Blaze a trail west along the Autostrada Wolności (Motorway of Freedom) which was fortified red façades overlook the Volkhov River. Tonight, dinner is served at your first initiated by Nazi Germany to connect Berlin with Poland and left unfinished for hotel. decades after World War II. Continue your journey through Bohemia as you cross Hotel - Park Inn by Radisson the border into Germany and head to its vibrant multicultural capital city of Berlin. You'll have the rest of the day free to begin your exploration of Berlin your way. Included Meals - Breakfast, Dinner Alternatively, you could join an Optional Experience with good food, wine, beer and music, followed by a BerlinByNight tour of the illuminated capital. Day 6 Novgorod – Tver – Moscow (2 Nights) Hotel - Amber Econtel Charlottenburg Looming larger than life, the Russian capital of Moscow lies ahead, but not before Included Meals - Breakfast you pay a brief lunch visit to the Tver region, the traditional pit stop on the popular travel route between St. Petersburg and Moscow. Arriving in Moscow later today, Day 13 you'll have the opportunity to join your fellow travellers on an Optional Experience to Berlin sightseeing and free time visit an illuminated Red Square and Moscow's grandiose Metro stations. The Embrace the lively spirit of your Berlin hosts when you join your Local Specialist for stations themselves are impressive works of art and style and substance coexist a guided sightseeing tour that will bring the tumultuous history of this city to life. effortlessly here, making Moscow's Metro the most beautiful subway system in the View the Reichstag building, German State Opera House, the Tiergarten, Unter den world. Linden and Brandenburg Gate, the iconic 18thcentury military monument that has Hotel - Hilton Garden Inn Krasnoselskaya since come to symbolise peace and unity. Spend the rest of the day exploring the city's energy on your own or maybe join an Optional Experience to uncover the Included Meals - Breakfast, Lunch secrets of Berlin's World War II and Cold War past. Day 7 Included Meals - Breakfast Moscow sightseeing and free time Day 14 Strut your stuff in one of Europe's mightiest capitals, joining a Local Specialist for a Depart Berlin guided sightseeing tour that will delve into the indomitable spirit of the Russian nation. Moscow oozes grandeur around every turn, from the colourful domes of St. Your epic encounter with imperial Russia, Soviet powerhouses and the capitals of Basil's Cathedral to the imposing Red Square the site of grand celebrations, fierce Poland and Germany has come to an end. You've seen grandiose monuments and fighting and the seat of Russian power for centuries. An Optional Experience to the witnessed the revival of cities that were once reduced to rubble. Say a fond farewell heart of Moscow will take you behind the scenes of its red walls to the Cathedral of to your travel companions and your Travel Director as you prepare to return home. Christ the Saviour and Ivan the Great's Bell Tower or admire great imperial riches Find out more about your free airport transfer at costsavertour.com/freetransfers. during an optional visit to the Treasure Chamber of the Russian tsars. Included Meals - Breakfast HERE'S A SAMPLE OF YOUR CHOICE OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES AVAILABLE ON DAY 6 AVAILABLE ON DAY 3 Metro And Red Square By Night Venice Of The North Cruise And Champagne Often cited as the most beautiful subway system in the world, Moscow's Soak up the atmosphere and romance of this former imperial capital, grandiose Metro stations are decorated with mosaics, stained glass and known as the "Venice of the North". Board a private boat to cruise through bronze statues. They're also one of the few remaining places featuring the canals and along the River Neva.