Baikal Lake Cruises
Cruises on Lake Baikal - the unique opportunity to visit the most spectacular and pristine places and explore the wild and untouched nature of the lake, rocky shores and sandy bays in which there is NO WAY to travel by land. Those places of Baikal that can easily be reached by car or by train have already experienced too much of human influence to display all the wonders of the sea-lake.
The journey will give you a chance to daily observe changing of rich coastal landscapes, to feel the Baikal power touching you, to sense its sternness and generosity. The low set of our motor-ship enables to pull in to places almost unaffected by the civilization, while experienced and friendly crews will take care of interesting programmes and comfort aboard the ship. If a fishing place should be come across, there will certainly be fishing with subsequent tasting of the catch. The captain will reduce to a minimum the danger of the stern and changeable Baikal’s character.
There are different cruises programs:
- By small ship "Sibiryak" (up to 12 person):
- By ship "Alexandr Vampilov" (up to 32 person):
- By Yacht:
- By ship "Imperia" (up to 48 persons)
Cruises Highlights:
- Circum Baikal railway - the unique monument of engineering architecture of the beginning of the 20th century.It’s at the same time the shortest and the most complicated (in terms of construction) part of Trans-Siberian railway. Relatively short piece of railways (84 km) from Port Baikal to Kultuk has 39 tunnels, lots of viaducts, bridges and stone galleries. This short piece of railways was called a “golden buckle on the steel belt of Russia”. A “buckle” – because Circum Baikal Railways joined broken by the lake Trans-Siberian railway, and “golden” – because the construction of it took up much more money than any other railway in Russian Empire in those days.
- 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.
- 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.
- Ushkany Isles - are famous as a protected area with breeding-grounds of seals. The Ushkanii Islands with their natural and climatic conditions; this is an exceptional wonder for Baikal. One could say that here is uniqueness within the unique.
- Chivyrkuysky Bay - is a picturesque bay in the Eastern part of the Baikal Lake. The bay is shallow, gets warmed thoroughly and possesses huge hydro biological resources. The territory belongs to Zabaikalsky National Park.
- Saagan Zaba – the white-marble rocks with ancient paintings of primitive people.
