Day 1
You’ll be met at the airport by your guide and get assistance with the baggage claim. Individual transfer (by minivan/minibus) to the city center. Enjoy breakfast in the restaurant.
After breakfast you’ll go on a 2-hour guided car tour around the capital of Eastern Siberia; then you’ll be transferred to the village of Listvyanka – the tourist hub of the Baikal area (it is 70 km away from Irkutsk, time spent travelling is 1 hour).
On your way to Listvyanka you’ll stop at the open air museum of wooden architecture and ethnography “Taltsy”, which represents the history of the four historical and cultural zones of Baikal region: Russian, Buryat, Evenki and Tofalar.
Your guide will tell you about the village life of Siberians and show you the household items of the past. Enjoy Russian and Siberian cuisine dishes for lunch in the museum tavern.
Upon arrival to Listvyanka you’ll be accommodated at the comfortable hotel (standard rooms, DBL/TWIN). You’ll have some spare time to relax after the trip.
In the afternoon you’ll go on a guided tour to the Baikal Museum where you’ll get an opportunity to learn about the history of the lake’s exploration, its flora and fauna. The museum’s sizeable and varied collection has about 17 000 exhibits. Unique lake’s inhabitants swim in large aquariums, the water to which is pumped directly from Baikal. In the evening you’ll return to the hotel; enjoy Siberian and European cuisine dishes for dinner in the hotel restaurant.
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Day 2
Enjoy breakfast in the hotel restaurant.
Today you’ll go to the Maloye More Strait by individual minivan/minibus. This is the strait separating Olkhon Island from the land (320 km, time spent travelling is 5 hours). The route goes through the snow steppe and taiga and is absolutely beautiful. On your way to Olkhon you’ll stop to have lunch in the “the Golden Horde” Ethno Park where you’ll be met according to Buryat traditions and treated to Buryat cuisine dishes. In the evening you’ll arrive at the Maloye More Strait and will be accommodated at a comfortable holiday center (standard rooms, DBL / TWIN).
Enjoy dinner in the center’s restaurant.
Additional offer (not included in the price): Siberian firewood banya with birch and silver fir sauna whisks («veniks»).
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Day 3
Today after breakfast in the center’s restaurant you’ll spend the day making a tour across the frozen Maloye More Strait. The transport used: UAZ 452 and UAZ Patriot. You’ll see dozens of kilometers of wide open Baikal spaces!
On your way to the Maloye More Strait you’ll have a chance to see ice caves and grottos, picturesque capes and rocks of Olkhon Island, islands frozen in Baikal’s ice arms.
You’ll see Ogoy Island, one of the Baikal places of power. There is a Buddhist Suburga named the Enlightenment Stupa. More than 750 kg of Tibetan books and 2, 5 tons of sacred scrolls with mantras have been put into the Stupa. Before 2005, a similar Stupa used to be installed only in Kalmykia.
You’ll see the famous Burkhan Cape – the hallmark of Lake Baikal. Burkhan Cape is included in the list of “9 most sacred places in Asia” and is hallowed by the locals. According to the popular belief, this is the place where the spirit of Olkhon lives. Shamans still perform the rituals near Burkhan Cape.
You’ll be offered Siberian cuisine dishes, taiga herbal tea and home-made liqueur made from taiga berries for picnic-style lunch on the Baikal ice.
In the evening enjoy Baikal and Siberian cuisine dishes for dinner in the holiday center’s restaurant.
Additional offer (not included in the price): ice skating and tubing on the Baikal ice.
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Day 4
Enjoy breakfast in the center’s café.
Today you’ll leave the western coast of Baikal and travel to the eastern one – to Buryatia. The route will go across the lake; on your way there you’ll see ice bars and snow fields giving way to open ice. You’ll start out on an air-cushion vehicle (“Hivus”) which is ideal for distance travel across Baikal (100 km, time spent travelling is 4 hours).
You’ll get off in Gremyachinsk and have lunch in the hotel restaurant in the village.
Individual minivan/minibus transfer to Ulan-Ude (145 km, time spent travelling is 2, 5 hours). A guided car tour around the capital of Buryatia (1, 5 hours). You’ll be accommodated at a comfortable hotel in the center of Ulan-Ude. Enjoy dinner in the hotel restaurant.
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Day 5
Enjoy breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Today you’ll learn about Buddhist relics and the traditions of Old Believers of Transbaikalia.
By early afternoon you’ll visit Ivolginsky Datsan – the complex represents 10 temples of unusual architecture, 5 stupas-suburgans, a university, a greenhouse of the sacred Bodhi tree, an enclosure for roe deer, lamas’ house and one of the Buddhist relics – the imperishable body of the lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov.
You’ll perform Gorro – a prayer go-around the Datsan, see the main temple of the complex and take part in the morning service.
After the excursion, enjoy Buryat national dishes for lunch. After lunch there is a transfer to Tarbagatai village – the old village founded by Old Believers exiled by the Russian Empire government to these lands back in 18th century.
You’ll be offered a guided tour to the Museum of culture and daily life of Old Believers of Transbaikalia and Old-Orthodox Church. You’ll learn about Old Believers’ folk art and take part in some of their rituals and games. After that you’ll have a wonderful opportunity to have your pictures taken in Old Believers national costumes with a folk music group in the background.
At the end of this eventful day enjoy old Russian cuisine dishes for dinner. In the evening you’ll be transferred to the hotel in Ulan-Ude.
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Day 6
Breakfast in the hotel restaurant.
Hotel – Ulan-Ude airport transfer, flight check-in assistance.
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