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 is over 200 km with the maximal width of 35 km in its middle part near the village of Barguzin. The overall square of the crater attains 3,100,300 ha. The Dzerzhisky State Nature Reserve (238,700 ha) is situated on the territory of the Barguzin crater among with the State Hunting Nature Reserve of 9,000 ha (found in 1973) and the Ulyunsky State Reserve that is of 35,000 ha (found in 1984).

The Barguzin river flows in the valley. It is the third water inflow of the Baikal by its volume, after the Selenga and the Upper Angara rivers. The river’s length attains 1,344 m with the average slope by 2.8%. The Barguzin river bifurcates into several branches creating a common river net with impassable bogs, high reed boscage that is inhabited with a great amount of the waterfowl birds. The boggy lowland is rich in lakes. The majority of them has an area that varies from 2 to10 ha. The number of such valley lakes runs to 1,067. There are about 20 bitter-salt lakes.

The valley is limited with very sharp slopes of the Barguzin Alpes (2,840 m) in the north-west, and with, mostly, flat wood slopes of the Ikatsky Range (2,558 m) in the south-east. The mountain part of the Barguzinsky Range is very attractive for the mountain tourists and alpinists as well. The good paths are laid on within the valleys of the mountain rivers up to the passes and peaks. The picturesque waterfalls, glacier cirques and lakes are there as well. The mountain taiga is represented by the cedar and fir trees wood.  The elfincedar wood and goldy rosebay are frequently met upon the grass cover of the dense boscage formed of the large bergenia’s leaves.

One of the most beautiful places of the Baikal is Chivyrkuysky Gulf that is the second one by its size after Barguzinsky Gulf. Its area attains 270 square kilometers. The bay’s shore is quite tortuous. There is a plenty of the small bays that are deep in land with the magnificent and unrepeatable capes. The shoreline is covered with the light-coniferous forest.