Majestic Baikal 2023

Early arrival to Irkutsk. Meeting with a guide at the airport. Transfer to hotel. Check in.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Time for rest.

Optional: Lunch in the restaurant of Russian cuisine.

City Tour of Irkutsk.

Irkutsk is a large city in Eastern Siberia and the administrative center of the Irkutsk region, located on the bank of the Angara river. Irkutsk is traditionally considered as the cultural capital of Eastern Siberia: the city has more than 80 cultural and art institutions, including theaters, museums, libraries, art centers, concert and exhibition halls. In addition, Irkutsk is included in the list of historically populated places with preserved planning and development, there are about 685 historical and cultural monuments in the city. You will not find such wooden architecture as in Irkutsk in any corner of the world. A tour of memorable and historical places will acquaint you with the history of the Irkutsk prison, the central part of the city, will tell you about architecture and wooden architecture, outstanding figures of history and culture of Russia, whose life was inextricably linked with Irkutsk.

Excursion to the Decembrist museum.

Irkutsk regional historical and memorial Museum of the Decembrists is located in the heart of Irkutsk – its historical center. The Museum consists of two manors, memorial houses of the princes of S.P. Trubetskoy and S.G. Volkonsky. The partially recreated historical interiors of the houses feature unique memorial relics of the Decembrists. The pride of the Museum collection is the musical instruments that belonged to Maria Volkonskaya. Visitors are particularly fond of items from the bead collection, including beaded embroidery of the wives of the Decembrists E.I. Trubetskaya and M.N. Volkonskaya.

Dinner at the hotel.

Irkutsk – Circum Baikal Rail Road – Listvyanka

Breakfast as lunch box. Check out.

Transfer to the railway station.

Tour to Circum Baikal Rail Road with lunch (by electric or steam train).

The route goes from Irkutsk to the Southern shore of the lake on an old railway built at the end of the 19th century. It was a time when the Circum-Baikal railway was a part of the Great Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok. There is no other railroad in the world which has such a large number of man-made objects like this part of the Circum-Baikal railway. Tunnels, drainage systems, bridges, and retaining walls built a century ago have preserved over 85 km of the rail. All this against the backdrop of cliffs and headlands, rocks exposed during the construction of the road, and scenic river valleys.

Transfer to the hotel in Listvyanka, check in.

Dinner at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Visit to the Museum of Wooden Architecture “Taltsy”.

The “Taltsy” Museum was started in 1966 by Irkutsk scientists in order to preserve the monuments of Siberian wooden architecture. The basis was made up of wooden buildings saved from the territory of the Ust-Ilimsky reservoir, which threatened to flood a number of territories. Now in “Taltsy” there are more than 80 wooden buildings, which are equipped with 17 thematic expositions. A part of museum on the bank of the Angara river is given to indigenous peoples. There are Buryat ulus and yurta, fishing nets and tarred boats, Evenk and Tofalar camps are recreated.

Lunch in Russian style In Taltsy.

Return to Listvyanka.

Visit to the Baikal Museum.

Visit to the Baikal Museum – the only Museum in Russia with an exhibition fully dedicated to lake Baikal. The Museum presents samples of bottom sediments and Baikal minerals, as well as various exhibits found during scientific expeditions. In a separate hall there are aquariums with live inhabitants of lake Baikal – gobies, coat-of-mail shell, omul, grayling, sturgeon, and, of course, Baikal seals. During the tour, the film “The Well of the planet” is shown with unique underwater filming at the maximum depth of lake Baikal – 1637 m.

Climbing the cable car to the Chersky Stone.

A breathtaking panoramic view opens from the observation deck on the Chersky Stone: in good weather, you can see almost the entire southern basin of Lake Baikal and even see the snowy peaks of Khamar-Daban. On the left side you can see the pier and the shipyard, then the outlines of the Baikal Observatory appear, on the right side the Angara flows majestically to the very Irkutsk reservoir. And right in front of us is the source of the Angara and the Shaman-stone, behind which the port of Baikal is in the palm of your hand. And also the sea of sky and larch taiga all around!

Dinner at the hotel.

Listvyanka – Olkhon island

Breakfast at the hotel. Check out.

Transfer from Listvyanka to Olkhon island (~360 km).

Lunch on the road at the local cafe.

Check in to the hotel in Khizhir (Olkhon island).

Walk to Cape Burhan with guide.

Rock Shamanka (or Cape Burhan) is located on the island of Olkhon, in the heart of Lake Baikal. A picturesque place that thousands of travelers dream of seeing. For centuries, people have come here to worship and take oaths. The majesty and uniqueness of the Shamanka rock invisibly subjugated the minds and souls of people. To this day, Cape Burhan is called one of the nine shrines of Asia. Tourists who come here feel the incredible energy and strength of the island, admitting to themselves that they have long lost the connection with nature inherent in each of us.

Dinner at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Tour by UAZ vehicles to the most northern part of Olkhon island – Khoboy cape with picnic lunch.

Cape Khoboy – the northernmost point of Olkhon island, the place of confluence of the Small and Large seas of lake Baikal, is located near the widest point of lake Baikal – 80 kilometers from here to the Eastern shore! Cape Khoboy is a famous “place of power” – according to legend, it was here that the first Buryat shaman found his power. Along the way, you will stop at the most interesting places: you will be able to see the face of father Baikal on the slopes of the Primorsky ridge, to admire the Three Brothers whose silhouettes were immortalized in stone by the mighty and just father, to make a wish on the rock of Love and also to taste soup prepared according to an old Buryat recipe.

Return to the hotel.

Dinner at the hotel.

Buryat village, Ogoy island

Breakfast at the hotel.

Tour to the Buryat village with lunch.

You will visit a Buryat family living on the island, who will share with you the way of life, the culture of their ancestors. You will visit several wooden yurts located in the courtyard, with a lot of household utensils and, most importantly, you can take part in a tasting of national dishes, dance the Johor dance and listen to Buryat songs and legends.

OPTIONAL

TOUR TO OGOY ISLAND BY BOAT

At the highest point of the island, a Buddhist stupa (or the Stupa of Enlightenment) was erected. The snow-white three-stage building with a dome and a spire became the new symbol of the island. The choice of the island of Ogoy for the construction of the stupa was spontaneous, but became very symbolic for Buddhists. Everyone wants to visit this iconic place and touch the shrine, but do not forget that the nature of Lake Baikal is very fragile, so you need to walk only along the special paths around the Stupa, then all your cherished desires will surely come true.

Return to the hotel.

Free time.

Dinner at the hotel.

Olkhon island – Sagan-Zaba cliff – Irkutsk

Breakfast at the hotel. Check out.

Transfer from Olkhon island to Sakhyurta village.

Tour on UAZ vehicles through the Tazheran steppes to the Sagan-Zaba cliff with picnic lunch.

The diverse nature of the landscape of the Tazheran steppe is similar to the southern Mongolian steppes and is not at all typical for taiga Siberia. It combines rocky outcrops, interspersed with hills, endless steppes with sand dunes, followed by a relict spruce forest and light pines. The path through the Tazheran steppes will lead us to a steep high coast above one of the widest part of Lake Baikal (50 km), next to which we will stop for a picnic lunch. After crossing the steppe territory, the famous Sagan-Zaba cliff, famous for a large number of cave paintings, awaits us. As scientists say, in composition, manner of writing and variety of subjects, they are the most complex of all known cave paintings in the entire space from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean.

Transfer to Irkutsk.

Check in the hotel.

Dinner at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel. Check out.

Transfer from the hotel to the airport.

End of the tour.