Olkhon Island & Lake Baikal

You arrive in Irkutsk. You will be met, greeted, and escorted to Marriott hotel. Check-in. After lunch, you’ll have a leisurely city tour and explore the center of the city. View the embankment of Angara river and the Church of our Savior.  Visit the Holy Sign Monastery. Stroll down the main streets of Irkutsk, passing by the Drama theatre and the monument of Russian emperor Alexander III. Walk in the pedestrian 130^th quarter with cafés, restaurants, souvenir shops, museums. The district famous for its unique and beautiful wooden architecture. Overnight in Irkutsk. 

Meals: Lunch, Dinner

This morning depart to Listvyanka, a small settlement on the shores of Lake Baikal. You will visit Taltsy, the open-air museum of ethnography, to learn about the local people and culture. You will learn about the rural life of Russians in the 17^th through 19^th centuries, as you stroll through the collection of wooden buildings of Siberia. Have lunch with the local dwellers.

Next you will tour the Listvyanka village, and visit the splendid Church of St. Nicolas – the guardian angel of travelers. Visit the Baikal Ecological Museum to learn about the lake’s flora and fauna. Shop at the vibrant and bustling local fish market. Overnight in Listvyanka.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast, transfer to the ferry port of Listvyanka and board the Circum Baikal train. Today go back in time as you enjoy a slow and leisurely ride on the historic hundred-year-old steam train along Lake Baikal. Admire the picturesque view of the spectacular lake and surrounding mountains. This massive lake is the deepest in the world, and has more water than all of the Great Lakes combined.

The short, picturesque stretch of railway running between Slyudyanka and Port Baikal, allows you to appreciate the sheer feat of engineering it took to build this section of railway.  As the steam engine chugs along the shore, barely faster than walking pace, it’s fun to count the number of tunnels and bridges. The train stops along the way several times to explore the sites and admire the views (depending on its schedule each stop is from 15 to 60 minutes). In the evening return to Irkutsk, check in to your hotel and enjoy your dinner with the fellow travelers.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast, meet your guide and driver for the transfer to Olkhon Island. Enjoy your lunch at the traditional Buryat café, to eat one of their favorite dishes, Pozy, a local variation of Mongolia’s national dumpling, made with lamb, beef, pork, or chicken. Then get to the Island by ferry.

Indulge your wilderness-conquering fantasies on the dramatic cliffs and secluded sandy bays of Olkhon, Lake Baikal’s largest, sparsely inhabited island. Discover the magic of Shamanka Rock.

Overnight on Olkhon Island.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today, visit the northern part of Olkhon Island and Cape Khoboy. Visit the Khoboy peninsula in an antiquated Soviet army jeep to view the largest of the shaman ritual sites. Shamans still come here to conduct sacred ceremonies. Have a picnic lunch and taste Ukha, the local fisherman’s soup.

Then view the spectacular Sand beach, beautiful Three Brothers rock, Lion and Crocodile islands, Uzury village and at the most northern part of Olkhon – the magnificent Khoboy mountain!

Dinner and overnight on Olkhon Island.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast depart to Irkutsk. If time allows, walk the historical part of the city and do some souvenir shopping. Then depart to the airport for your flight.

Meals: Breakfast