Winter Lake Baikal Expedition

Day 1. Irkutsk
Arrival in Irkutsk. Transfer to the 5* hotel History. Check-in. Breakfast and lunch at the hotel.
Irkutsk bus sightseeing tour with the visit of the Irkutsk Regional Historic Memorial Decembrists' Museum (4 hours).
Irkutsk is a beautiful Siberian city, founded in the 17th century on the banks of the Angara River. Thanks to its good location at the crossroads of trade routes that connect Europe and Asia, Irkutsk quickly became the key city in Eastern Siberia. The Great Tea Road, which carried furs to China and tea, silk, and sugar back, used to pass here. When the "gold rush" began in Siberia, Irkutsk bore the title of a gold mining capital - ingots of gold and gold sand flocked here for sale.
Nowadays, you can see the greatness and wealth of that merchant Irkutsk, while walking along the embankments, squares and streets of this city. During your city tour, you will walk along the Lower embankment to the Moscow Gate, walk down the streets of Irkutsk Merchant Suburb, visit the house-museum of revolutionary Decembrist and the active female Znamensky monastery.

Dinner.

Day 2. Irkutsk – Taltsy – Peschanaya Bay
Breakfast at the hotel. Check-out from the hotel with luggage.
Departure for the excursion program: hovercraft transfer to the Taltsy museum (approx. 30 min.), excursion to the Taltsy museum (3 hours).
Today we will visit the "Taltsy" open-air ethnographic museum. Unique monuments reflecting the history and culture of Russians, Buryats, Evenks and Tofalars living on this land. On the territory of the museum, you can see peasant houses and homesteads of wealthy villagers, a tavern, a parochial school, a parish board, blacksmith and pottery workshops, a cascade of watermills on the bank of a mountain stream and a watchtower, once guarding a medieval fortress. All the buildings have been preserved since the end of the XVIII century.
Hovercraft transfer to the Bolshoe Goloustnoe village (approx. 1 hour 30 min.), lunch at the café, hovercraft transfer to the Peschanaya Bay (Sandy Bay) (approx. 1 hour) with a photo-stop (The stilted trees of Baikal, Baikal ice).
Peschanaya Bay is one of the most picturesque places on Lake Baikal. These places are so-called the "Siberian Riviera". The bay is located on the west coast of the Baikal coast, closer to the south. The nearest settlement around the bay is the village of Bolshoe Goloustnoe. One of the attractions here are the stilted or "walking" trees, which grow in the northern part of the bay. Peschanaya Bay is the only place on the Baikal coast where you can see so big exposed tree roots – huge pines and larches have risen above the ground on their walking roots higher than a human height.

Hovercraft transfer to the recreation centre near the Maloye More.
Check-in at the recreation centre, dinner at the recreation centre.

Day 3. Maloye More (the Small Sea) – Ogoy Island
Breakfast at the recreation centre.
Departure for the excursion program: hovercraft transfer to the Ogoy Island (approx. 30 min.), walking tour around the Ogoy Island.
There is a small, uninhabited island in Baikal in the Maloye More (the Small Sea) Strait, and it is called Ogoy. The word "Ogoy" comes from the Buryat word, which means "waterless". The length of the island is 2,9 km, and the width is 0,6 km. It is the largest island in the strait between Olkhon Island and the mainland. About a hundred herring gulls nest on the Ogoy Island. There is also an endemic species of vole – the Olkhon vole. The local relict grasses are included in the Red Book. The island has never been inhabited by people, and this has helped preserve unique species of wildlife.

Hiking up to the Stupa of Enlightenment, lunch (1 hour).
In 2005, a Buddhist stupa or Stupa of Enlightenment was erected on the highest point of the island. The snow-white, three-story structure with a dome and spire became a new symbol of the island. The shape of the island resembles the outlines of a dancing Dakini, where the head and body are clearly visible, and in the heart area of the goddess is a stupa. The Enlightenment Stupa is the main of the eight types of stupas in Buddhism because it symbolizes the main goal of Buddhism: enlightenment.

Hovercraft transfer to the recreation centre (approx. 30 min.).
Free time* (*Russian sauna service or ice-skating (extra charge)).
Dinner at the recreation centre.

Day 4. Maloye More (the Small Sea) – Olkhon Island
Breakfast at the recreation centre.
Departure for the excursion program: hovercraft transfer to the Cape Burhan (approx. 1 hour), walking tour to the Shaman Rock (1 hour 30 min.), lunch-picnic (1 hour).
The whole day will be dedicated to the sights of the Maloye More (the Small Sea). Local nature is no less impressive and fascinating – your photo hunt will be really successful! One of the most mysterious and popular places on Lake Baikal is the Shaman Rock.
The name "Burhan" appeared at the end of the 17th century after Tibetan Buddhism came to the Baikal region. The Buryat Buddhists began to call the main deity of Lake Baikal by the word "Burhan". The cape is made of crystalline limestone with veins of quartz, and the adjacent shore is made of granite rock. The rock is covered with bright red lichens. The height of the near shore part of the rock is 30 meters, the height of the far part is 42 meters.

Hovercraft transfer to the recreation centre (approx. 1 hour).
Free time* (*Russian sauna service, trecol riding or ice-skating (extra charge)).
Dinner at the recreation centre.

Day 5. Maloye More (the Small Sea) – Khoboi Cape – Maksimikha
Breakfast at the recreation centre. Check-out from the recreation centre with luggage.
Departure for the excursion program: hovercraft transfer through the Olkhon Gate Strait to the Khoboi Cape (1 hour 30 min.), walking tour around the Khoboi Cape with the traditional “Baikal kiss” and lunch (2 hours).
The Olkhon Gate connects the southwestern part of the Maloye More (the Small Sea) to Lake Baikal. The shores of the strait are mostly steep and precipitous, and the coast is divided by long narrow bays and coves. The most prominent bays are located on this mainland.
The Khoboi Cape is located near the widest place of Baikal, here its width is 79,5 km. If the weather is good, you can see the eastern shore from the cape – the mountainous contour of the Svyatoy Nos Peninsula. In Buryat language "Khoboi" means "fang" – cliffs abruptly dropping into the water resemble fangs. The main rock of the cape is called Maiden, as it resembles the outlines of a woman's body. The place is notable for the multi-voiced echo that echoes off the monolithic rock.

Hovercraft transfer to the Maksimikha village (1 hour 30 min.).
Check-in at the recreation centre.
Dinner, free time* (*Russian sauna service (extra charge)).
The recreation centre is located in the picturesque area on the shore of Lake Baikal. The complex has all the necessary infrastructure for comfortable and active rest.

Day 6. Maksimikha
Breakfast at the recreation centre.
Departure for the excursion program (9 hours): walking tour with the visit to the ice caves, visit to the hot springs, lunch on the ice in a traditional yurt, visit of the observation deck, walking tour along a part of the Great Baikal Trail.
In winter, the Chivyrkuisky bay is one of the first to freeze over. It is just in winter that you have a unique opportunity to see the incredibly beautiful icy rocks of Baikal and to breathe in the freshest frosty air. In one of the wind-protected cosy places we'll have a picnic in the best Siberian traditions - with freshly caught omul, lingonberries and hot herbal tea. Right on the shore of the bay there are famous thermal springs in Baikal. Their temperature is about +40°C to +45°C. The water is hydrogen sulphide, has healing properties and is used for diseases of the musculoskeletal system.

Hovercraft transfer to the recreation centre.
Free time* (*Russian sauna service, snowmobile riding or ice-skating and skiing (extra charge)).
Dinner at the recreation centre

Day 7. Maksimikha – Barguzin bay – Ulan-Ude
Breakfast at the recreation centre. Check-out from the recreation centre with luggage.
Departure for the excursion program (8 hours): the Barguzin Valley tour with lunch.
Today you'll get acquainted with the sights of the Barguzin bay. Barguzinsky and Chivyrkuisky bays are separated by the Svyatoy Nos (Holy Nose) Peninsula. It is a narrow mountain massif, which stretches for 53 kilmeters along the shore of Lake Baikal in the form of a giant nose.
The Barguzin Valley is located in Buryatia - an incredibly picturesque place. Mountains and forests, rivers and lakes, wild animals and fish, thermal and cold mineral springs, therapeutic mud - that's what people come here for. There are many sacred sites belonging to different tribes. The main attraction of Yarikta village is the face of goddess Yanzhima. The goddess is considered the patroness of arts, sciences, crafts, wisdom and prosperity. However, the main requests of the pilgrims who have been coming here for 13 years are related to children.

Departure to Ulan-Ude.
Check-in at the hotel.
Dinner at the hotel.

Day 8. Ulan-Ude
Breakfast at the hotel.
Ulan-Ude bus sightseeing tour (2 hours 30 min.).
Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia, is located on a picturesque plateau surrounded by wooded hills. In 1666, Russian Cossacks took a fancy to this place and built a fortified settlement here. Nowadays, Ulan-Ude is a large regional, cultural and economic center with well-developed infrastructure, very interesting museums and colorful sights, reflecting centuries-old history, traditions and religious preferences of several peoples of Russia living here.

Bus tour to the Steppe Nomad ethno-complex with lunch (Buryat national cuisine) (5 hours).
The Steppe Nomad ethno-complex is situated in the picturesque setting of the Atsagat Valley at the foot of the sacred Tamkhita Mountain, on top of which the villagers of Atsagat perform a rite of veneration for the local masters. Guests are welcomed with a traditional rite of welcoming "Ugtamja" with Khadak, a symbol of hospitality of the Buryat people and white food, a symbol of prosperity and pure thoughts, a melodious song and welcoming speech. At the ethno-complex you will get acquainted with traditions, culture and way of life of Buryats, will play national games, visit real felt yurts, learn how to cook real juicy "buuz", plunge into countryside life of modern Buryats. Visit the unique "World in Faces" gallery. Lunch at "Stepnoy Kochevnik" cafe (Buryatian traditional cuisine: bouzy, soup with home-made noodles, Buryat pastry for dessert, tea with milk).

Transfer to the hotel (1 hour).
Dinner at the hotel.

Day 9. Ulan-Ude
Breakfast at the hotel.
Transfer to the Ivolginsky datsan (40 min.).
Visit of the Ivolginsky datsan with a tea ceremony and snacks (3 hours).
Ivolginsky datsan is the most famous datsan in Buryatia and an important place of pilgrimage for Buddhists not only in Russia, but all over the world. Ivolginsky datsan is the residence of the head of Buddhists of Russia. It is the largest Buddhist monastic complex and the spiritual capital of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia. The Ivolginsky datsan monastery complex now consists of ten buildings, including temples, a library, and Russia's only Buddhist university, where they study philosophy and traditional Tibetan medicine.

Departure for the excursion program in the Tarbagatai Old Believers' village (6 hours): visit to the Museum of History, Culture and Life of Old Believers of Transbaikalia, visit to the St. Nicholas temple of the Russian Orthodox Church, lunch (dishes based on ancient recipes of local Old Believers in one of the most beautiful villages in the country), folklore-interactive program (get acquainted with the traditions of Old Believers in Buryatia).
In the 17th century, Russian Orthodoxy after the Reformation split into the official and Old Believer branches. Old Believers did not want to accept the new rules, they were persecuted and exiled away from the capital cities. This is why so many adherents of the old faith have survived in Siberia and still live by the laws and traditions of their ancestors. The culture of the Old Believers of Transbaikalia is recognised by UNESCO as part of the World Cultural Heritage.
You will also meet the locals of Tarbagatai, one of the largest Old Believers' settlements in Transbaikalia. It will be a real journey down the history lane. You will visit the Old Believers' Museum and the Old Orthodox Church, get acquainted with the rites, customs, unique polyphonic singing and the Old Russian cuisine. You will get acquainted with Old Believers' folklore culture, participate in master class on cooking food in the Russian oven, try spinning, visit the house-estate, the Museum of Old Believers' Culture and Life and the Old Orthodox Church.

Transfer to Ulan-Ude (1 hour).
Dinner at the hotel.

Day 10. Ulan-Ude
Breakfast at the hotel. Check out.
Transfer from the hotel to the airport/railway station
End of the tour.

The detailed program in a vise versa direction is available upon request

 Groups of different languages can be combined in one bus with individual guides.

 Due to bad weather or/and unforeseen circumstances the schedule of the tour and ashore accommodation are subject to change.

Our prices include:
- Double / Single accommodation in comfortable recreation centers and 4*-5* hotels in Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude
- Full board and picnics per program
- Drinks at special events
- Luggage handling at the hotels
- Registration fees at the hotels
- Excursion program with entrance tickets
- Transport service and all transfers on a comfortable hovercraft and buses per program
- Group attendant who will translate local Russian-speaking guides into English / German or French language
- Visa support letter

Supplementary (for prebooking only):
- PRE/POST stay and/or excursion program in Moscow and/or in St.Petersburg or another city of Russia
- Domestic flights to/from Irkutsk/Ulan-Ude
- Non obligatory insurance of medical, medical transport and other expenses for the insured amount of 30,000 Euro per pax

Please contact us for Price List and reservations

* If restrictions are imposed on the entrance to museums for a certain number of people, we can serve group requests with the division of groups into smaller ones, with the predominant use of the same transport (or with a different number and capacity of transport), but with a large number of guides.

** Some museums or excursions can be excluded from the program if circumstances beyond the control of the tour operator require it (time constraints due to covid-19 / bans on the operation of facilities). At the same time, as far as possible, we will offer an alternative replacement.