Trains set the tone: wheels on rails, a kettle hissing down the carriage, strangers trading stories in the soft cadence of Russian. Outside the window the land unrolls from forest to open plains, and in the cities tram bells and street musicians take over.

The climate is mostly continental, with warm, bright summers and long, properly cold winters, colder still in the far north and Siberia. Pack for the season you choose and the days feel made for it. A Local Friend turns a long list of places into a day that makes sense, so the whole trip hangs together.