Cruise Express combines Russia with a winter Northern Lights cruise tour of Norway in February 2021

Fares from five Australian cities

Media Release January 29, 2020

For the first time, Cruise Express has combined a cruise tour of Norway in winter with a trip through northern Russia. The 20-night ‘Russia & the Lights of Norway’ tour will offer Australian adventurers the chance to experience remote landscapes and outposts few others get to see.

The exclusive Cruise Express-hosted journey begins on February 13, 2021, in the former imperial Russian capital of St Petersburg – famed for its stunning architecture and lavish palaces. Guests will explore the city over three days, taking in the Museum of Vodka, the famed Hermitage Museum, the Shuvalovsky Palace – famous for the world’s greatest collection of Faberge eggs – and Catherine’s Palace with its magnificent Amber Room. Then head north by train to Petrozavodsk and the famous Kizhi Island to see the 300-year-old Church of the Transfiguration – a striking wooden building boasting 22 onion domes.

The adventure will then cross the Arctic Circle and enter Russia’s Kola Peninsula, stopping first in Apatity. Here a plethora of activities are included to immerse guests in the magnificent nature and culture of this region. Guests will join an exciting snowmobile safari around frozen lakes, visit a Saami village to learn about this ethnic minority group and their culture, take an exhilarating, husky-led sled ride, meet reindeers and search the night skies on a Northern Lights tour. Th tour then continue north to Murmansk – the world’s biggest Arctic city.

After seven nights in Russia, the tour crosses the border into Norway for the next stage of the tour, beginning in the far northern village of Kirkenes.  Guests will stay at the famed Snow Hotel – made of ice and snow – and continue to search the skies each night for the amazing Northern Lights, nature’s dazzling celestial show.

In Kirkenes, guests will board a Hurtigruten’s voyage, travelling on ms Nordnorge for five-nights around North Cape and south to Bergen with fjords, snow-clad mountains, glaciers and storybook villages for company.  After a wilderness ride on the iconic Flam Railway – one of the world’s steepest and most spectacular railways – the tour ends with two nights in Oslo and a visit to the Viking Ship Museum.

Including return flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth, the 20-night escorted ‘Russia and the Lights of Norway’ package is available from $9990 per person, twin-share.

Call Cruise Express on 1300 766 537 or visit www.cruiseexpress.com.au

Direct link www.cruiseexpress.com.au/cruise-list/russia-norway