Lake Baikal, the blue eye of Siberia, can hardly be likened to a simple lake. And how can it be otherwise? The world's oldest at more than 25 million years old, 636 km long Lake Baikal is known for its depth and the purity of its waters. Indigenous peoples have not deceived by calling it the Sacred Sea. It is feared and revered. We must say that shamanic and earth spirits are everywhere here. The Baikal is inhabited by Burkhan (meaning God). Its residence is located on Olkhon Island. This treasure is considered to be the heart and the energetic center of the lake. Lake Baikal is a real celebration of diversity. It is rich in flora and fauna, two thirds of the animals are endemic. The lake is adorned with the picturesque shores. Steppes, meadows, marshes, tundra and high mountains stretch for 2,000 km of the shoreline. Moreover the Baikal itself also changes. Each season gives a whole new face. We, who live near the Baikal, have real passion for it. Come and share our feelings!
Country: Russia
Federal subjects:
- Irkutsk Oblast (capital: Irkutsk),
- Republic of Buryatia (capital: Ulan-Ude),
Location: Central Siberia,
Age: 25 million years,
Maximum depth: 1 637 m,
Area: 31 500 sq km,
Volume of water: 23 000 km3,
Length: 636 km,
Maximum width: 79.5 km,
Minimum width: 27 km,
Length of coastline: 2 000 km.
Year of adding to Unesco's World Heritage List: 1996,
Climate: Continental. Cold winters, mild summer,
Time difference :
Arshan Settlement
The settlement of Arshan is situated at 250km from Irkutsk, on the territory of the republic of Buryatia, at the foot of the Eastern Sayans at a high of...
Baikal Climate
Lake Baikal is situated almost in the centre of Asia and it is considerably distant from all oceans. Vast plains and plateaus are located to the north...
Baikal Depth and Bottom Features
For the first time the depth of the Baikal was measured probably by the first people catching the fish there. First bathymetrical investigations of Lake...
Baikal Fauna
Fauna of the Baikal coast is typical for East Siberian region. A relational integrity of the nature, a small number of tourists and large forest spaces...
Baikal Flora
Lake Baikal is located in the zone of a temperate sharply continental climate, it has an influence in the first place on the flora along the shores of...
Baikal Ice
The Baikal is icebound for about 4 months a year. Usually the lake freezes in late December – early January, and rarely in early February. The break...
Baikal National Parks
The Zabaikalsky National Park is located on the territory of the Republic of Buryatia, on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal. In the north the National Park...
Baikal Nature Reserves
The Baikalsky Nature Reserve is situated on the south bank of the Baikal, within the mountain system of the Khamar-Daban Range. The state reserve was found...
Baikal Seal
The only mammal that lives in Lake Baikal is nerpa or the Baikal seal. Till now it stays unknown how seals could appear in the lake, a very remote place,...
Baikal Water
The Baikal water. This word-combination has already become a global brand, standard of purity and quality of potable water. The water of Lake Baikal has...
Baikalsk City
Baikalsk has been built at the Trans-Siberian Railroad. The highway Irkutsk-Ulan-Ude (Moscow Highway) crosses the city. The railroad distance between Baikalsk...
Barguzinskaya Valley
Barguzinskaya Valley is famous for its numerous mineral springs as well as the scenic rocks on the Ikatsky Range slopes. The length of the Barguzin crater...
Barguzinsky Gulf
Barguzinsky Gulf is the largest gulf on Lake Baikal. It entrenches 30 km into the continent and covers about 700 km². Along the shore stretches a huge...
Bolshiye Koty Settlement
The settlement of Bolshiye Koty is situated at 18km from the village of Listvyanichny, the big touristic center at the Baikal. Bolshiye Koty is closely...
Bolshoye Goloustnoye Settlement
In the 17 century the settlement at the western shore of Lake Baikal, in the delta of the Idin-Gol River, was found owing to the trade road from Russia...
Buddhism
Buddhism, one of the most ancient religions in the world, was based by Gautama Buddha in VI before Christ. However according to the opinion of the Indian...
Buryatia
The Republic of Buryatia is democratic jural state, a constituent of the Russian Federation. It belongs to the Siberian Federal District. The capital of...
Chivyrkuysky Gulf
Chivyrkuysky Gulf is one of the coziest and scenic spots at Lake Baikal. It extends deeply into the land between the mainland and Svyatoy Nos peninsula...
Circum-Baikal Railway
The Circum-Baikal Railway is considered to be the unique monument of engineering architecture. On May 17, 1891 Tsar Alexander III issued the edict to construct...
Discover Olkhon
The largest island of the Baikal - Olkhon is situated in the middle part of the lake, nearby the western coast. Its length reaches 71km, a maximal width...
Discovery of Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is a unique lake of our planet. Lake Baikal is a place of superlatives: the deepest, the oldest, the clearest, the cleanest, the highest level...
Exile in Siberia
After joining Russia, Siberia at once became a principle location for imprisonment at hard labor and exile. There were being exiled the most dangerous,...
Irkutsk and its history
Irkutsk is not only the capital of Eastern Siberia but also the city- museum that could keep the romantic face of antiquity. Ornate and solemn Siberian...
Legends of Lake Baikal
Following the legend, peoples in the Siberian lands appeared long time ago. At once they found that lands attractive owing to the rich forests and vast...
Mount Munku-Sardyk
Munku-Sardyk is the highest point of the Estern Sayans, the mountains in the south of Siberia. Its name in Buryat language means “all-time white goltsi”...
Old Believers
In the second half of the 17th century, at the time when the Russian Orthodox Church attained the highest dignity its division occurred. The reason for...
Origin of the Lake's Name
Within many centuries, peoples populated the territory of Pribaikalia, called the lake differently. The Chinese people named it “Khan’-Khay” or “Bey-Khay”...
Peoples of Lake Baikal
In the first millennium A.D. Pribaikalie was inhabited by a tribal union consisted of three families – the Turks, the Evenks and the Protoburyats that...
Peschanaya Bay
Peschanaya Bay (“Sandy Bay”) is one of the Baikal’s symbols. Its picture is met in many printed publications worldwide. It is a wonderful and impressive...
Posolsky Sor Bay
It is the only bay at Lake Baikal hidden from the main water area where the dynamic water cycle happens usually during the storms. The Posolsky sandy spits,...
Selenga Delta
The unique natural formation comprises an area of 1,120 km². Every year the Selenga brings to the Baikal about 3 million tons of solids that contributes...
Severobaikalsk City
Severobaikalsk is situated at the northern edge of Lake Baikal. It was found in 1974 owing to the Baikal-Amur mainline construction. That time it was regarded...
Shamanism
Shamanism is one of the oldest religious traditions of the mankind, which preceded other world religions. Shamanism, as such, is considered to be primarily...
Shumak Springs
The wild Shumak springs represent a unique nature phenomenon. Peculiar thermal springs are pouring out at the foot of the mountains at 1500m above sea...
Slyudyanka Town
The town of Slyudyanka was found next to the railway station of Slyudyanka that is the only station built of marble in the world. The Slyudyanka station...
Svyatoy Nos Peninsula
Svyatoy Nos Peninsula is the biggest one at the Baikal. It is an extension of the Akademichesky Range. Its length is equal to 53 km, and its width attains...
Tazheranskaya Steppe
Tazherankaya steppe or steppe of the Olkhon area is a unique relic natural place, which comprises the territory from the Anga River to the Olkhon Gates,...
Tunkinskaya Valley
The Tunkinsky intermountain degradation spread by 200 km is located in the south-west of the Republic of Buryatia at 40 km from the Baikal. The valley...
Ulan-Ude and its history
Ulan-Ude is a city with the three-century history, particular culture and unique architecture that preserved the antiquity and absorbed the modern features....
21 day / July - August / BaikalNature Original Tour
12 days / February - March / BaikalNature Original Tour
20 days / July - September / BaikalNature Original Tour
12 days / July - August / BaikalNature Original Tour
15 days / July - August / BaikalNature Original Tour
17 days / May - December / BaikalNature Original Tour
6 days / May - October / Discovery tour
12 days / June - October / Discovery tour
8 days / April - April / Discovery tour
6 days / February - March / Discovery tour
12 days / June - August / Discovery tour
11 days / May - June / Discovery tour
6 days / January - January / Discovery tour
4 days / June - September / Discovery tour
4 days / July - August / Discovery tour
10 days / January - March / Discovery tour
11 days / Year round / Discovery tour
3 days / July - August / Discovery tour
8 days / December - January / Discovery tour
7 days / December - January / Discovery tour
9 days / December - January / Discovery tour
16 days / February - April / Discovery tour
12 days / February - March / Discovery tour
6 days / July - August / Discovery tour
8 days / May - September / Discovery tour
12 days / June - October / Discovery tour
9 days / February - April / Discovery tour
3 days / May - September / Stopover Tour
4 days / May - September / Stopover Tour
6 hours / May - October / Stopover Tour
4 days / February - April / Stopover Tour
5 days / July - August / Stopover Tour
8 hours / May - November / Stopover Tour
1 day / January - April / Stopover Tour
2 days / January - April / Stopover Tour
3 hours / Year round / Stopover Tour
7 hours / Year round / Stopover Tour
4 hours / Year round / Stopover Tour
7 days / February - April / Stopover Tour
6 hours / May - October / Stopover Tour
4 hours / Year round / Stopover Tour
2 days / Year round / Stopover Tour
8 hours / Year round / Stopover Tour
5 days / July - August / Stopover Tour
4 days / Year round / Stopover Tour
8 hours / Year round / Stopover Tour
7 hours / May - October / Stopover Tour
10 hours / June - September / Stopover Tour
10 hours / Year round / Stopover Tour
2 days / May - September / Stopover Tour
4 days / May - October / Stopover Tour
2 hours / Year round / Stopover Tour
7 days / February - April / Stopover Tour
3 days / February - April / Stopover Tour
2 days / February - March / Stopover Tour
1 day / January - October / Freedom Tour
3 days / July - August / Freedom Tour
10 hours / May - October / Freedom Tour
3 days / May - September / Freedom Tour
2 days / Year round / Freedom Tour
4 days / Year round / Freedom Tour
17 days / Year round / Freedom Tour
2 days / Year round / Freedom Tour
12 days / February - April / Family Tour
9 days / February - April / Family Tour
11 days / May - June / BaikalNature Limited Edition tour
18 days / January - April / BaikalNature Limited Edition tour
|
Ask a question about this destination
Destinations map
Accommodation Arshan, Baikalsk, Bolshiye Koty, Bolshoye Goloustnoye, Buguldeyka, Chivyrkuysky Gulf, Circum-Baikal, Enkhaluk, Gremyachinsk, Irkutsk, Listvyanka, Maloye More, Maximikha, Nilova Pustyn, Olkhon Island, Peschanaya Bay, Port Baikal, Posolsky Sor, Severobaikalsk, Shelekhov District, Shumak, Slyudyanka, Tankhoy, Ulan-Ude, Ust-Barguzin, Utulik, Zama Landmarks Arshan, Aya Bay, Ayaya Bay, Barguzinskaya Valley, Chivyrkuysky Gulf, Circum-Baikal, Dzelinda, Irkutsk, Kadilny Cape, Khakusy, Khamar-Daban, Kotelnikovsky Cape, Krestovsky Cape, Lake Frolikha, Listvyanka, Maloye More, Munku-Sardyk, Olkhinskoye plateau, Olkhon Island, Peschanaya Bay, Pokoyniki Cape, Port Baikal, Posolsky Sor, Sagan-Zaba Cape, Shumak, Slyudyanka, Svyatoy Nos, Tazheranskaya steppe, Tunkinskaya Valley, Turali Cape, Turka, Ulan-Ude, Yarki Island Airports Irkutsk Airport (ikt), Lake Baikal Airport (uud), Nizhneangarsk Airport (uiun) Railway Stations Baikal Railway Station, Irkutsk Railway Station, Kultuk Railway Station, Marituy Railway Station, Mysovaya Railway Station, Slyudyanka 1 Railway Station, Tankhoy Railway Station, Ulan-Ude Railway Station, Ulanovo Railway Station, Vydrino Railway Station
|
