- Baikal sightseeing tour -
This brief tour is the best first trip to Baikal for introduction to the culture of this ancient land, getting to know its history, peoples, traditions. Major museums, visits to Buryat villages, walks along Baikal shores, folklore show and more are included in the itinerary for you to get a closer feel of Baikal Land, its ambience, its essence - in order to come back later.
Tour type: sightseeing
Duration: 8 days/7 nights
Season: June 10 – September 01
Group size: 6 pax or more
Requirements: no special requirements
Day 1
Arrival and meeting in Irkutsk. Transfer and check-in at a comfortable hotel, located not far from the airport, built in a typical Siberian design. Time at leisure, dinner. Overnight.
Day 2
Breakfast, a brief city tour of Irkutsk incl visit to the city’s historical center and its most atmospheric sights.
Half-day cultural & ethnographic trip to Ust-Orda – administrative center of the Buryat Autonomous District on the left side of Lake Baikal, 65 km away from Irkutsk. The trip will enable you to learn the culture, customs and ways of life of the Siberia’s native people - the Buryats. Tour of Ust-Orda, visit to the Buryat Ethnic Museum, small rite and explanation of the local shaman. Lunch of Buryat cuisine in a Buryat ger followed by the Buryat folklore show.
Return to Irkutsk, time at leisure. Dinner. Overnight at the hotel.
Day 3
Breakfast, check out from the hotel, transfer to Listvyanka settlement located in the mouth of Angara-river, 70 km away from Irkutsk. En route stop for a tour of the Taltsy Open-Air Museum of Wooden Architecture.
Check in at U Ozera Hotel the water surface of Lake Baikal. Lunch as a picnic on the lake’s shore with the specialty of Baikal - freshly smoked omul-fish.
3-hours trip on Lake Baikal by a private motor boat to enjoy the views of Baikal shores. Visit to Baikal Ecology Museum of Limnological Institute, which has a large display of unique exhibits of the lake’s flora and fauna, see an interesting video about Lake Baikal and visit the Baikal fresh water seal aquarium. 2-hour walk to the Chersky Mountain. From top of this hill we will enjoy great panoramic views of the southern part of Lake Baikal and the river of Angara.
Dinner and overnight at the Hotel.
Day 4
Breakfast. An excursion by foot to the popular functioning St.Nicolas-the-Miracle-Worker Russian Orthodox Church built of wood without any nails.
Check out from the hotel.
5-6 hours transfer to the settlement of Arshan (“healing spring” in Buryat), located in the south of Baikal lake in Buryat Republic, in the foothills of the Eastern Sayan mountain ridge, where the famous recreational resort, was built.
Lunch box
Check-in at the guesthouse Castle of the Mountain King upon arrival in Arshan.
Dinner of Buryat cuisine. Overnight.
Day 5
Breakfast, visit to the Arshan lamaist datsan to see the morning sermon.
Lunch in the hotel, short break, start for the legendary springs of Arshan, which have been healing people of numerous diseases for over one hundred years. Here we will try different kinds of mineral water, tie a ribbon to keep the Buryat custom and hear a legend of how this healthful outlet was discovered, see a 6 meter waterfall.
Return to the guest house, dinner, time at leisure. Overnight
Day 6
Breakfast, transfer by coach to the site of extinct volcanoes for a walk in the Tunka Valley near the settlement of Arshan.
Return to the guesthouse. Dinner. Overnight.
Day 7
Breakfast. Departure by coach to Irkutsk. Upon arrival back to the city check in at a hotel. Late lunch of traditional Siberian cuisine in one of the down-town restaurants. Visit to the central market and souvenirs gift shop. Dinner. Overnight.
Day 8
Breakfast. Transfer to the airport for flight to Moscow.
