BDA3. Baikal Riviera

 

Day 1. Arrival in airport of Irkutsk. Transfer to Listvianka. Accommodation at the Baikalskiye Terema hotel ***. After the rest of short duration you will begin Listvianka settlement walking tour. First of all you will visit Baikal Ecology museum. At the museum aquariums you can see fishes of the Baikal Lake, famous nerpa (Baikal seal) and dive to the bottom of lake by virtual bathyscaphe. Walking tour for the Tchersky Stone panoramic platform (700 m high) with picturesque view for the Baikal Lake and the Angara River source. Lunch at local restaurant. After lunch you can visit local market where you have a chance to purchase souvenirs made by Siberian skilled workmen with stone, wood, birch, glass and to taste smoked Baikal Lake fish (omul, grayling, whitefish). Free time. Banya (Russian traditional bath-house) at the hotel is recommended (to pay on spot). (L)

Day 2. Breakfast. Circum Baikal Railroad fullday tour (the most picturesque part of Transsiberian Rail Road where tourists have a chance to watch rail road engineering works of the beginning of the 20^th century) by rail bus with lunch in box included. Arrival in Irkutsk about 22:00. Transfer to the Irkutsk hotel ***. Accommodation. (BL)

Day 3. Breakfast. 13:00 transfer to Bolshoye Goloustnoye settlement (2 hours, 120 km including 80 km by unmetalled road). Then transfer by motor boat to the Peschanaya (Sandy) Bay (2 hours). Accommodation at the Baikalskiye Dyuny (Baikal Dunes) tourist sentre located at one of the most picturesque places of the Baikal. Dinner. (BD)

Days 4-5. Breakfast. Free time: recreation at excellent beaches (small quartz pebbles), guided hiking. (BLD)

Day 6. Breakfast. After lunch transfer to the Olkhon Island (vehicle, “Barguzin” regular motor ship). You will have a chance to take pleasure in picturesque views during you boating. Accommodation at the Zhemchuzhina Olkhona (the Pearl of Olkhon) tourist centre at the Olkhon Island (out-door toilet!). Dinner at the tourist centre. Banya (Russian traditional bath-house) at the hotel is recommended (to pay on spot). (BLD)

Day 7. Breakfast. Excursion to one of the most picturesque places at the Baikal - the Khoboi Cape, top Northern point of the island with fantastic view for the Svyatoy Nos Cape. During the excursion you will have possibility to admire majestic landscapes of lonely bays and beaches. Picnic lunch is included. Dinner at the tourist centre. (BLD)

Day 8. Breakfast. Fullday tour bu motor ship to the Ogoy Island. Visiting Buddhist stupa (a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship) built in 2005. Dinner at the tourist centre. (BLD)

Day 9. Breakfast. Transfer by vehicle to Irkutsk. Accommodation at the Zvezda hotel ***. Farewell dinner at the hotel. (B)

Day 10. Transfer to airport or railway station. Departure from Irkutsk. (B)

Legend: B – breakfast, L – lunch, D – dinner.

All the times are local

Highlights:

• Peschanaya Bay - one of the most famous and scenic places of the lake. The Bay was given the name of Siberian Riviera, moreover, it is declared to be under protection as a part of natural treasury. Coming here you feel as if the Creator while working on lake Baikal felt special inspiration exactly here and put all his love into the made by him cliffs, smooth slopes of the hills and perfectly shaped semi-oval of bay beach. Wind and water constantly blow out and wash out sandy soil from under the roots of famous “walking” trees, which grow on the sandy slope in the northern part of the bay.

• Olkhon Island - the geographical, historical and sacred center of the Baikal Lake. It is the treasury of ancient legends and historical traditions. With its position in the central part of Baikal, near the maximum depth point (1637m), Olkhon has got the whole variety of natural Baikal landscapes. Olkhon has steppe landscapes with long and well warmed-up bays, rare for these areas sandy patches with dunes and hills, mixed deciduous forest with relic fir-groves, amazing marble cliffs covered with red lichen. For those who love wild nature and photographers it’s a real fount of immensely various landscapes and majestic sceneries.

• Ogoy Island located in the heart of the Small Sea (part of the Baikal Lake located between the Olkhon Island and Western shore of the Baikal). The contour of the Ogoy Island resembles crescent-shaped contour of the Olkhon Island. In 2005 the Buddhist "Stupa of enlightenment and conquering demons" was built there.

• Shaman Rock – one of the nine Asian places of worship, located not far from Khuzhir settlement, has become a kind of visiting card of the lake, one the most famous key images of Baikal: there is no film or photo album about the lake, which can do without the picture of this place. The cave in the cliff of this cape is called Shamanka and it’s one of the most worshipped sacred places, where they made sacrifices and swore oaths since the time immemorial. Sacred Shaman Rock with the cave going through it and with access to it only for a shaman has been prohibited area for a long time, so nobody could go through the cave and even approach it.

Fixed dates in summer 2012:

11-20/07, 08-17/08.

Costs for tourists – 2012:

€1215 per person for joining in a fixed group.

Included:

• TWN accommodation in STD rooms

• meals per program

• all transfers per program

• excursions by vehicle with English-speaking guide (other languages on request)

• 1^st class ticket for tourist rail bus on Circum Baikal Rail Road tour

Not included:

• visa

• insurance

• luggage rooms in hotels, airports and train stations

• spirits

• banya

Supplements:

• Single accomodation — +273 EUR per person.

All the costs are valid at the date of publication and are subject to reconfirmation at the time of booking