Winter Legends of Baikal and Arshan

You will be picked up at Irkutsk Airport at 9:00 a.m. and transferred to Zvezda or a similar hotel. After breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, you will go on a guided tour of Irkutsk. You will explore the historic city centre, discovering landmarks like the Kirov Square, the Polish Church, the Eternal Flame, the Church of Our Savior Not Made by Hands, the Epiphany Cathedral, Nizhnyaya Quay, Znamensky Monastery, the Alexander Kolchak Monument, and the Monument to Alexander III. Finally, you will take a stroll down the main city street, Karl Marx street. You will have lunch at a restaurant and enjoy leisure time afterwards. After dinner, you will have a restful sleep at the hotel.

Once you’ve had breakfast at the hotel, you will travel 65 kilometres to Listvyanka and check into Mayak Hotel. Your second day will be packed with events. You will visit Baikal Museum, where you will not only learn exciting things about the lake’s geology and geography. Anticipate a virtual dive to the depth of 1643 metres, where you will watch Baikal omul, whitefish, and seals in the aquarium! Afterwards, you will go back to the Mayak hotel and have lunch. Your next destination will be the Taltsy Museum. This unique open-air museum complex boasts some of the most remarkable wooden architecture examples of Baikalia across 67 hectares. At Taltsy, you will learn about the daily lives, traditions, and beliefs of Buryats, Evenks, and Tofalars. You will see Russian peasant houses from the 17th–19th centuries and picturesque watermills from the late 19th century. After visiting the museum, you will take a cable car to the Chersky Stone viewing platform. You will soak in sweeping vistas of Baikal and the beautiful Angara River, Listvyanka, Port Baikal, Shamanka Rock, and the old railway. The tour will culminate at the Nerpinary and the local fish market. Cute little Baikal seals a.k.a. nerpas will fascinate you with an unforgettable show. You will see this endemic species of Baikal within your arm’s reach and learn interesting facts about the freshwater seal, the only such in the world. At the end of the day, you will have dinner at the hotel and have a restful sleep.

After breakfast at the hotel, you will depart to Port Baikal and take a train. The train journey will take you along the Circum-Baikal Railway and will last about seven hours. The stunning beauty of the Baikal mountains and one-of-a-kind architectural pieces will enchant you. It is for a reason that the Circum-Baikal Railway is sometimes referred to as ‘the golden buckle of the steel belt of Russia’. Upon arrival to Slyudyanka, you will be transferred to Baikalsk and check into Beliy Sobol or a similar hotel. You will have dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. Your third day at Baikal will gently slip into the night at the hotel.

After breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, you will go on a Baikalsk sightseeing tour. You will spend the rest of the day enjoying skiing, snowboarding and tubing. Equipped pistes of varying difficulty, mild climate, qualified instructors, and well-developed infrastructure make Sobolinaya Mountain one of the best ski resorts in Siberia. You will spend that night at the hotel.

You will have breakfast at the hotel. In the first part of the day, you will head to Arshan village. As you walk, spectacular views of Tunkinskaya Valley will unfold before your eyes: the snow-capped East-Sayan mountains, fields, forests, and fast-flowing rivers. Many guests of Siberia are attracted to Arshan, aspiring to see its Buddhist temple called datsan, marvel at the picturesque waterfalls, and bathe in the healing thermal springs. In the evening, you will arrive in Irkutsk and check into Zvezda or a similar hotel. Farewell dinner at a restaurant in the city will conclude this tour. You will recharge your batteries for the flight home through the restful sleep at the hotel.

You will have breakfast at the hotel and be transferred to Irkutsk Airport afterwards.