Lake Baikal Jeep&hovercraft 7 Days Tour (winter 2021)

Itinerary

Day 1: Irlutsk city tour

Stop At: Irkutsk, Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast, Siberian District
12:00-16:00 Guided excursion around the historical center of Irkutsk city.
You will see several Orthodox churches with beautiful indoor paintings, the central city square decorated with fantastic sculptures made of transparent ice of Lake Baikal and the central food market, an original Siberian bazar. Also, you will be offered to visit local history museum where you may learn a many interesting things about aboriginal civilizations of Lake Baikal, Trans-Sib railway building and Siberia are settling history.
Lunch will be served in one of the local traditional restaurants where you could try several tasty dishes of Russian cuisine.
Duration: 4 hours

Meals included:
• Lunch: Lunch will be served in the local traditional restaurant where you could try several tasty dishes of Russian cuisine
Accommodation included: Overnight at North Sea Hotel Irkutsk 4* stars
(twin room with private bathroom)

Day 2: Baikal's west cost (Irkutsk- Buguldeika - MRS(Sakhurta village))

Stop At: Buguldeyka, Buguldeyka, Olkhonsky District, Irkutsk Oblast, Siberian District
Today we will drive through the snow-covered fields and mounts covered with Taiga woods towards to Lake Baikal. On our way to the little village Buguldeika hidden at the picturesque valley of the western shore of the Lake Baikal we will have a stopover at quarry, where the locals cut out cubes of snow-white marble stone. In Buguldeika we will get on the ice shield of frozen Lake Baikal and start our exiting ice driving journey. Today you will see several ice grottos and rocks covered with amazing ice structures and visit the famous ancient rock drawings on high gorgeous rocky cliff of Sagan Zaba bay.
Lunch will be served for you as the picnic on ice with a barbecue.
Duration: 4 hours

Stop At: Olkhon Gate, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, 666135
This afternoon on our way you will see ancient stone-build walls on the top of gorgeous Shibite Mount. Those walls remaining here from the late iron age and belong to the civilization of enigmatic Kurikan people, nomads who settled around Baikal in a past. Also you will definitely enjoy breathtaking panoramic view to the endless spaces of the frozen Lake Baikal and valley of Anga River opening from this summit. From here we will get in land to see main destinations of this area – sacred Mount Erd – place of the annual Nomadic games and valley of the Stone Spirits – tight group of unusually shaped rocks in the middle of steppe plateau. This evening we will arrive to the settlement Sukhurte located right opposite to the southern extremity of Olkhon Island. We will get accommodated at the hotel with a nice opened view to snow covered mounts and Olkhon’s Gate straight.
Duration: 4 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast: Hotel buffet
• Lunch: Lunch will be served for you as the picnic on ice with a barbecue
• Dinner: Dinner at the hotel (about 7-8 pm)
Accommodation included: Overnight at Eldorado Hotel Sakhurta Baikal
(twin room with private bathroom)

Day 3: MRS (Sakhurta village) – Khuzhir, Olkhon Island

Stop At: Olkhon Island, Olkhon Island, Olkhonsky District, Irkutsk Oblast, Siberian District
Right after the breakfast at the hotel we will continue our ice driving trip. First we will drive across the Olkhon’s Gate straight and get close to island. First stop would be taken at one of the most spectacular local place – Horse Head Cape. This is long, deeply sticking out cape has overhanging rocky walls with ice grottos. From here we will enter a Small Sea – part of Lake Baikal framed by mountains of Baikal’s western shore and Olkhon Island. This area is famous for its small islands. We will take a special stopover at the picturesque island Ogoy, which has a Buddhist monument. We will walk to the top of the island to take close look tell on the monument and colorful pray flags decorating this area. Here your guide will tell you about Buddhism religion and suggest you to do a traditional circle walk around the monument.
Later on will discover fascinating ice caves and other islands of the Small Sea between the island Olkhon and the mainland.
Duration: 4 hours

Stop At: Cape Burkhan/Shamanka Rock, Western bank of Olkhon island, Olkhon Island 666137 Russia
Upon arriving on Olkhon Island, you?ll see local port with many frozen ships and rocky Cape Burhan, which is still a sacred spot for all local Shamans. This cape has cave in it, with a help of the guide you could climb from one side of the cape to another. Finally we arrive to the main settlement of the island – Khuzhir and get accommodated at the local hotel.
This evening you will have an experience of Russian seam sauna – Banya! Dinner served at the hotel will complete this day.
Duration: 2 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast: Hotel buffet
• Lunch: Lunch will be served for you as the picnic on ice with a barbecue
• Dinner: Dinner at the hotel
Accommodation included: Overnight at 4* Villa Malina Hotel Olkhon
(twin room with private bathroom)

Day 4: Khuzhir, Olkhon Island – Cape Khoboy - Goryatchinsk, East cost of Lake Baika

Stop At: Olkhon Island, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia
Along your ice drive route today you'll see huge icicles, hanging like sharp teethes from the sailings of the rocky grottos of Harazy Island and several quite deep ice caves located at the bottom of the huge cliffs of Three Brother Cape. We will head to the most northern cape of Olkhon, locally called “Hoboy” (means fang tooth in translation) which is a most spectacular place of the whole Olkhon area. At this spot island ends by a high rocky cliff surrounded by endless ice fields with a plenty of ice cracks focusing to the bottom of the Khoboy cliff. Lunch will be prepared over a campfire, directly on the ice.
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Baikal, Baikal, Irkutsk Oblast, Siberian District
This afternoon we will take a jeep drive across Lake Baikal towards to its eastern coast line. On the way we will take a stop at the deepest spot (1682 m) of Lake Baikal located not far from Olkhon Island. From here you could clearly observe all northern part of the Olkhon Island including its heist summit – holy mount Izjimey.
Usually driving across Lake Baikal is quite challenging: we’ve got to face to the opened ice cracks, rough fields of pack ice, deep snow and many other obstacles. Drivers experienced in ice driving taking their own unique line following current ice conditions and intuition fillings. There are no practical ice roads at this remote part of Lake Baikal, so chances to meet someone’s tracks and other cars are minimal.
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Goryachinsk, Goryachinsk, Republic of Buryatia, Siberian District
On the way across white arctic desert you'll observe snow covered mounts of peninsula Holy Nose, southern part of the rocky Barguzin Mountain range and whole Island Olknon. This evening we will arrive to the eastern cost of Lake Baikal in a region of Turka settlement. Then we’ll take a short drive along the road to Goryatchinsk village.
Duration: 2 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast: Hotel buffet
• Lunch: Lunch will be prepared over a campfire, directly on the ice.
• Dinner: Dinner at the hotel's restaurant
Accommodation included: Overnight at 4* Victoria Hotel Goryachinsk
(twin room with private bathroom)

Day 5: Goryatchnisk – Ulan-Ude

Stop At: Goryachinsk, Goryachinsk, Republic of Buryatia, Siberian District
Today morning you will have a guided walking excursion around Goryatchinsk village which is a good sample of Siberian genuine log architecture. Majority of the houses are done in a traditional log style with a plenty of the wood curving.
Also, we will visit main local destination – open air hot springs and take a pleasant foot bath in a hot mineral creek!
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Berezovskiy Regional Museum, Druzhby, 1V, Berezovka 662520 Russia
After that we will load our luggage in a car and take a drive on a main road to the capital of Buryatia Region – Ulan Ude. On the way we will take a stop for lunch in a road cafe where you could try one of the local dishes – Posy – meat dumpling cooked on steam.

After lunch we will continue our drive southwards through the wintry Taiga woods passing a mountain range. Just before Ulan-Ude city we will take a special stopover for visiting open-air ethno-geographic museum in Beresovka village. Here you can learn a lot about the culture of the Buryats, local ethnicity which descends from Mongolia, and live in the republic of Burjatia on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal. Also, there is a small zoo here where you could take a look on local animals – bears, wolfs, lynx, deer and many others.
Duration: 3 hours

Stop At: Ulan-Ude, Ulan-Ude, Republic of Buryatia, Siberian District
Afterwards we will cover the rest of the way to the capital of Buryatia – Ulan-Ude town. A city excursion in the afternoon and dinner at the restaurant will complete the day.
Duration: 2 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast: Hotel buffer
• Lunch: Lunch in a road cafe
Accommodation included: Overnight in 4* Plaza Hotel Ulan-Ude
(twin room with private bathroom)

Day 6: Ulan-Ude – Bolshoe Goloustnoe

Stop At: Ivolginsk Datsan (Buddhist Monastery), Ivolginsk 671050 Russia
This day we will leave Ulan-Ude city and take a driving excursion to the main Buddhist temple of this area - Ivolginsky Monastery, which is located in the middle of the steppe not far away from Ulan-Ude. Here you could see how local monks reading mantras and doing other sacred ceremonies in a main richly decorated temple hall.
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Posolskoye, Posolskoye, Republic of Buryatia, Siberian District
Then we'll drive along the Selenga River valley towards to Lake Baikal and in a while will arrive to the village Posolskoye, where the oldest church of the Russian Orthodox Convent stands. This place is also known as a one of the best fishing spots at the lake, so we have a good chances to meet there local fishermen on work to see local ice fishing technique.
Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Bolshoye Goloustnoye, Bolshoye Goloustnoye, Irkutsk Oblast, Siberian District
Today we’ve got to cross Lake Baikal in opposite direction, back to the western coast on hovercraft. Here, close to delta of Selenga River Lake has minimal width, just about 25 km in a direct line. This evening we are should to arrive to Goloustnoe settlement at the western cost of Lake Baikal. This place is famous as one of the oldest Russian settlements along the historical trading Silk &Tea route.
Duration: 2 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast: Hotel buffet
• Lunch: Lunch in a road cafe
• Dinner: Dinner at the hotel
Accommodation included: Overnight in 4* Iden Gol Hotel Bolshoye Goloustnoye
(twin room with private bathroom)

Day 7: Coming back to Irkutsk city by west cost of Lake Baikal (including Listvyanka village)

Stop At: Bolshie Koty, Bolshie Koty, Irkutsk Oblast, Siberian District
Today we will continue our ice driving venture by driving our hovercraft southwards along the western shore to the headwaters of Angara River. On the way you could see several interesting local attractions – caves of the Kadilniy cape and rocky cliff Screeper . Special stop will be taken at the spectacular high cliff named Devil’s Bridge. Here you could take a walk along an interesting artificial trail which goes across the cliff wall. Other stopover will be taken at the village Bolshie Koty – Old Russian settlement settled here at the golden rush times.
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Listvyanka, Listvyanka, Irkutsk Oblast, Siberian District
After visiting this village we will continue our drive and in a short while arriving to Listvyanka – small town at the source of Angara River – the only river which flew out of the Lake Baikal. Lunch will be served in one of the local restaurants with dishes of the local fish cuisine – so you could have a taste of famous Omul fish.
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Baikal Museum, Listvyanka rp, Listvyanka 664520 Russia
This afternoon you will have an excursion to the Baikal Nature Museum where you could see Seals – “Nerpa” and nearly all local fishes species collected in a museum aquarium. After excursion you'll take a drive back to Irkutsk along the main road.
Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Taltsy Museum, Baykalsky highway 47km, Taltsy 664518 Russia
On the way you'll stop at the open-air log architecture museum of Talzy. Here you could see a rich collection of the original log constructions typical for a Russian settler’s era of the Baikal area. Upon your arriving to Irkutsk city you'll be accommodated at the hotel at the city center
Duration: 1 hour

Meals included:
• Breakfast: Hotel buffet
• Lunch: Lunch in Mayak Hotel restaurant (Listvyanka village)
Accommodation included: Overnight at 4* North Sea Hotel Irkutsk
(twin room with private bathroom)

Day 8: Departure for the airport/train station

Stop At: Irkutsk, Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast, Siberian District
Dear travelers! We will take you to the airport/train station in the last day in any time of the day
Duration: 1 hour

Meals included:
• Breakfast: Hotel buffet
No accommodation included on this day.