The Trans-Siberian Railway stretches from Moscow in western Russia all the way to Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean. It is the longest train route in the world - 5,772 miles of track, almost a quarter of the way around Earth. A single one-way ride takes around seven days if you stay on the same train.
Construction started in 1891 and didn’t finish until 1916. Workers had to lay rails across frozen swamps, dense forests, and the steep edges of Lake Baikal, the deepest lake on the planet. Conditions were brutal, with temperatures swinging from very hot summers to bone-cracking winters that froze tools to your hands.
Riding the line today means crossing eight time zones, watching the scenery shift from European cities to endless Siberian forest to Pacific coast. Some passengers fly between stops; others spend the whole week aboard, eating in dining cars, sleeping in bunks, and getting off briefly at small platforms to buy food from local sellers.
