Olkhon Island & Lake Baikal

You arrive in Irkutsk. You will be met, greeted, and escorted to Marriott hotel. Check-in.

After lunch, take a leisurely walking tour and explore the center of the city. Visit the magnificent Kazan Cathedral and the historic Irkutsk Museum. Stroll down the pedestrian streets of the 130th district famous for its unique and beautiful wooden architecture, with lots of cafes and shops.

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.

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. After lunch you can shop at the vibrant and bustling local fish market.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

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.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

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

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.

Lake Baikal is inhabited by Nerpa seals, which have a uniform grey coat. If you are lucky, you could spot them sunning on the rocks along the shore during the day.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

In the morning visit the northern part of Olkhon Island and Cape Khoboy. You will 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!

Have a picnic lunch and taste Ukha, the local fisherman’s soup made from Omul whitefish. Ukha is prepared with fish heads, bones, and fillets, and it is famous for it’s taste and high nutrition value.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast depart to Irkutsk. Walk the historical part of the city and do some souvenir shopping. Then depart to the airport for your flight.

Meals: Breakfast