Which season to choose?

So you are going on a journey to Lake Baikal and, of course, you have plenty of questions. And one of the main questions is what season to choose. We would like to tell you how beautiful the lake is all the year round and what you can remember most of all depending on season.

Summer

Of course, most people prefer having a rest and travelling in summer.

Summer is the time when people take a leave, sunbathe, swim, spend much time in the open air and enjoy birds singing. We offer you various summer tours: cruises, trips around Lake Baikal, hiking tours along-shore and climbing mountains of southern Pribaikalye, cognitive excursions and short visits to the most interesting places.

Summer is late in our region and snow covers the coastal mountains early in July and late in August. But there are more sunny days here than on the Black Sea coast. Of course, it is rather cool on the shore at night, but in the daytime air temperature is 25-30 ° C. The water temperature in bays is up to 20-25 °, and you can swim and bathe as much as you like.

Pribaikalye is known best of all for its unique untouched nature. Indeed, nowhere else you can see such abundance of colours, as you see when shrubs and herbs on the lakeside are in blossom. Vast fields of watersheds and anemones, extending as far as eye can see, sweet smell of honey and Parnassians hung over flowers will be etched in your memory forever.

Having climbed the mountains you will see endless tundra with bright blue eyes of tarns, snowfields, wild Alpine meadows.

Summer is really a delightful season, and you should spend it so that you have something to remember during a long cold winter.

Autumn

If you have nothing to remember, because all the summer you were sitting in the stuffy office, you have autumn months at your disposal. Despite the opinion that winter in Siberia begins somewhere in the middle of September, it is the “velvet” season at that time. It is not so hot, the days are shorter, but still warm. Lake Baikal, like a huge battery, was absorbing warm during the summer in order to give it back until the middle of winter. On the lakeside you can find some flowers, hear birds chirping among the trees, and enjoy the sun shining brightly until the end of September. It is a good time for going on a cruise, visiting Olkhon Island or short hiking.

Yellow birches and larches - unique trees, which shed their needles for the winter – make forests golden. You should seize the moment to enjoy this spectacle before a strong wind blows, and only bare branches and dark trunks can be seen against the background of the faded sky.

In October late autumn comes and it is also a wonderful time. In the bright northern sun rays Lake Baikal, framed with already snow-covered, sparkling mountains, plays with all tints of blue. It is an excellent time for cultural and cognitive tours.

In November winter comes to their rights, even the daytime temperature is rarely above 0 ° C. But despite this the lake will be still open for a long time allowing short trips by water. And in the mountains it has already snowed and one can prepare skis and snowboards to be the first to have to leave the track on the pristine sparkling surface.

Winter

Winter comes with its frost, its snowfalls and its fairy charm ...

In December Lake Baikal is not yet so cold to freeze up. In combination with low temperatures this provides a unique phenomenon - the soaring lake. A mist is rising from the surface of the lake forming an impenetrable shroud and covering everything with kurzhak – hoar-frost. Houses, trees, boats – everything is covered with snow flakes and looks impressive and unrealistic. Even eyelashes of a passer-by get white, making him resemble a north resident - Eskimo.

New Year is coming. The bays get frozen, the first fishermen go ice fishing. It happens that firm and thick ice sheet by sight is broken with waves at night, forming hummocks. Or the wind can tear ice fields from the shore and carry them in the open sea ... On the spot where one could skate yesterday only dark waves can be seen today.

In January it is hard frost, but the whole lake gets frozen only in the second part of the month. Immediately the temperature goes down, and the air becomes drier and more transparent. There comes a time for best winter tours in the arctic desert conditions.

We invite you to our many days’ tours, combining travelling by car with hiking, only hiking tours, which allow you to became a hero of Jack London stories, and short one-day walks on the ice sheet, which do not require great physical efforts, but at the same time acquaint you with the Siberian winter in full measure. During all trips you will be able to observe the ice in all its manifestations: endless, smoothed with winds ice fields, risen hummocks near the shore, trough cracks where one can see the thickness of ice. And the most important spectacle awaits you at sunset, when the sun disappearing from the scene covers with its gold, pink, red rays every piece of ice making it sparkle and play.

Spring

March and April, despite the fact that spring is already on the calendar, can be easily called winter months. Ice sheet continues to be reliable for the movement, but the sun shines more brightly and warms so that one can wear only T-shirt receiving a dose of UV light. And, of course, there is a unique opportunity to observe the nerpas - freshwater seal, which give birth to their young at that time!

March and April are ideal for skiing and climbing the mountains, as it is a period of high snow cover, warm, sunny weather and the long day light.

In May ice sheet becomes thin, porous and it absorbs water of melting snow. At that time moving on the surface is forbidden. There comes a moment when you go to bed looking at gray melting ice and the wind bringing the smell of clean, blue, and perfectly motionless sea wakes you up in the morning.

No piece of ice on the surface! Ice splits into small needles and disappears in the water, making it the most transparent as compared with other seasons. Melting begins from the south lake, in the north floating ice sometimes with seals proudly lying on it can be still observed. This unique period is short. That’s why in late May we offer you to go on cruise to the north, following the outgoing ice to see all the splendor contrasts, when the last ice crumbles under the pressure of the ship, while the shores are already green. This is really an excellent time! And you have a unique opportunity: from the board to watch bears, which have just awoken after winter hibernate, and went to the shore searching fresh food - plants and insects.

That is our Baikal, a beautiful, unique, mysterious lake regardless of season or weather. Have you already wished to visit it in each of the seasons? Good! Just contact us and our team and the nature itself will see about your unforgettable impressions...