Trans-Siberian Railway - Baikal-Amur Mainline (Chapter)

This is the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) chapter from Lonely Planet’s Trans Siberian Railway guidebook.

Most know the Trans-Siberian Railway, but how many can say they’ve heard of the ‘other’ Trans-Sib, its poor country cousin, the Baikal-Amur Mainline (Baikalo-Amurskaya Magistral; BAM)? The branch line to end all branch lines, the BAM begins as a set of points at Tayshet, and ends over 4200 lonely kilometres further east at Sovetskaya Gavan, passing through some jaw-slackeningly off-the-map places en route.

• Imbibing everything BAM at the varied and welcoming BAM Museum in the BAM capital, Tynda
• Looking out across the Bratsk Sea from a BAM train window as you trundle across the top of the Bratsk Dam
• Getting into hot water at northern Baikal’s mini-spas for a spot of R&R Siberian-style
• maps
• Bagging up your boots for the Frolikha Adventure Coastline Trail, one of Siberia’s most exhilarating long-distance hiking routes
• transport
• Touring the BAM’s nicest town, St Petersburg-styled Komsomolsk-na-Amure, with Soviet monuments and nearby Nanai villages
• restaurants & accommodation

Coverage includes: Bratsk, Severobaikalsk, Around Severobaikalsk, Tynda, Komsomolsk-Na-Amure Комсомольск-На- and Around Komsomolsk-Na-Amure.