An international rail tour covered 5,600 km in 11 days. In 2025 the Irkutsk Region won with the route “Baikal — the Heart of the Great Tea Road”.
From 28 July to 7 August 2026 the international familiarisation rail tour “The Great Tea Road” ran along the route Ulan-Ude — Irkutsk — Krasnoyarsk — Novosibirsk — Yekaterinburg — Perm — Moscow: 5,600 km in 11 days. It was organised by RZD Tour and the Federal Passenger Company with the participation of the Russian Union of Travel Industry and the Ministry of Economic Development; the participants were representatives of leading Chinese tour operators and trade media.
During two days in the Irkutsk Region the guests visited Taltsy, the Baikal Limnological Museum, Listvyanka, the Chersky Stone viewpoint and the fish market, and on a sightseeing tour saw the Moscow Gate, the House of Europe, the Decembrist Museum, Karl Marx Street and the 130th Quarter. The Great Tea Road alliance includes 28 regions of Russia, China and Mongolia; in 2025 the Irkutsk Region won with the route “Baikal — the Heart of the Great Tea Road”. The launch of a new rail route is planned for 2027.
Source (in Russian): Glagol, 1 August 2026.
