COMBINED TOURS ALONG BAIKAL #2  (SUMMER)

Route: Irkutsk city – Slyudyanka town - Hamar-Daban – Slyudyanka town - All-around Baikal railway – Baikal port - Lystvyanka settlement – Tazheranskaya steppe – Olhon Island – Irkutsk city.
Route type: excursion-tourist's
Daistance: 690 km by auto, 90 km by tourist's train, ferries, hiking
Difficulty:
Time of the year: May-September
Duration: 10 days/9 nights
Dates of groups that you can join: by request
   !!! Tour must start on Wednesday or Sunday due to tourist train timetable.

   This route is interesting for visiting different parts of Baikal. You will see Tazheranskaya steppe warm shoal and sandy beaches. There are hiking trails, auto excursion, tourist train and short walks along route. The nights in the tents alternate with staying in tourist centers and hotels. Museums and souvenir’s and fishing markets, cutters and yachts of Lystvaynka. Life of Olhon locals and uninhabited silence of Hamar-Daban mountains.

PROGRAM 1st day:     Arriving to Irkutsk. Meeting in the airport (railway station) with "Baikal-eco" nameboard. Gathering of participants in the “Baikal-Eco” office at 9 o'clock. Meeting with guide. Going to Slyudyanka town - the most south end of Baikal. Breakfast on the way (on your own). Hiking to the Cherskyi peak. This is most active part of the travel. Distance is 55 km. Climbing is 1500 m. This is most popular route along Hamar-Daban. We will walk through cedar massives and climb higher forest zone to see the beauty of mountain lakes, Baikal and hundred kilometers of dense taiga from height of 2000 metres. Partial transfer by auto or by horse. Going up along Slyudyanka River to Krasnaya (Red) meadow. Picnic on the way in beautiful place. Meteostanciya (weather station) is located upper. (Distance is about 20 km). Camping. Accomodation in the tents. (“Emergency” night in the taiga house is provided in case of rain.) Dinner. 2d day:      Breakfast. Climbing at the main object of our travel – Cherskyi peak. (Height of the peak is 2195 m). Picnic on the top, visiting picturesque waterfalls of Podkomarnaya river and mountain lake "Serdce" (Heart). Coming down to the base camp. (Distance is 10-15 km). Dinner. Optonal: sauna  3d day:      Breakfast. Coming back to Slyudyankra town. Lunch. Accomodation in the tourists’ refuge. Visiting Mineral museum. Walk around the town. This small and tidy town of railway workers and stone getters is located on the very shore of Baikal. Town is famous for some luxurious architecture. For example, ancient railway station was built completely of marble. Even splintered white and rose marble instead of usual gravel is added to asphalt roads. Dinner. Sauna. 4th day:      Breakfast. Boarding on the tourist train going along Baikal shore by the old all-round Baikal Railway at 10 o'clock. Lunch on Polovinnaya station (on your own). Train arrives at the station Port Baikal in afternoon. The motor ship there takes passengers to the Listvyanka village. Accommodation in the privite hotel. Dinner. !!! The old all-round Baikal Railway is a historical monument and architectonic-landscape reserve where 424 engineering constructions were built in the beginning of XX century on the distance of 84 km. Many tunnels, relieving walls and stone galleries are unique and extremely picturesque. This short section has no equal among other Russian railways by the volume of complexity and cost of work. Only tourist trains with soft armchairs and modern tele- and audiosystem go by the railway. The train has a bar. Guide tells about the history of building of all-round Baikal railway during stops in the most interesting and beautiful places.

5th day:
     Breakfast. Walking around Listvyanka.  Walking excursion to the air view spot “Cherskiy stone” (taking a lift), the source of Angara river and Shaman stone. Visiting Baikal limnological museum (aquarium with lakes’ inhabitants, nerpas, virtual diving to the Baikal bottom.). Walking to the central dock along embankment. Lunch on the way in a cafe (on your own). Visiting the fish and souvenir market near the dock.   If you have time, you can go by boat or walk to solar observation, or just sit at any little restaurant. Dinner in the hotel
     !!! Listvyanka lies along the shore for several kilometers. So tourists can walk more then 10 kilometers around the village without even noticing it.

6th day:
     Early breakfast. Transfer from Listvyanka to tourist camping in one of the gulfs of Maloe Sea. (Distance is 290 km, it takes about 6-7 hours to get where with stops for relaxation and short walks). Visiting ethnographic museum of wooden arts Talcy on the way. Lunch on the way (on your own). Tazheranskaya steppe begins nearer to central Baikal. Visiting ancient petroglyphs near Buryat’s village Anga. After arriving to a camp and accommodation you will have short excursion to an ancient settlement of Kuerkans, to a settlement of primitive man and take a look at surrounding bays. You can climb at the Shibete peak. Beautiful view is opened from it top.   You also can swim, fish or climb artificial rocks at free time. Dinner. Evening fire.

7th day:
     Early breakfast. Traveling along Tazheranskaya steppe to the “Mechta” (Dream) cave. Total distance is 20 km. (Transfer by UAZ auto. Coming back by foot). After visiting cave we will come down to Baikal to make lunch. Shores in this part of the lake are very high. So we will walk one and a half kilometers to a small quit bay “Arso”. After rest we will come back to the camp on the steppe along the steppe and abrupt bank. If group is physically strong, we can climb on top of a cult mountain “Tanhan” (970 m total, climbing 500 m), and come down through the larch forest. We can meet fox, musk-deer or wild goat there. Dinner. Evening fire. Tourist sauna at Baikal shore.

8th day:
     Early breakfast. Then we will come by ferry to Olhon Island. Going by minibus to Huzhir village (35 km). Accommodation at the tourist's base. Lunch at the base. Walking to holy cape Shamanka. It means White Rock. It is “visiting card” of Baikal. There are famous sandy beaches. There is local regional museum with collection of ancient household goods reflecting life and culture of islanders. Free time. Dinner.
     Optional: ride bicycles, horses, sauna.

9th day:
     Breakfast. Jeep-excursion to the north end of Olhon island (about 60 km). Walking in picturesque places: Sagan-Hushin (Three brothers), Peschanaya bay (where GULAG camp was located); tracking to the end of island - Hoboi cape; observing gull rookery. Lunch in the Uzury village. Omul fish-soup. Coming back to the base. Dinner.

10th day:
     Breakfast. Leaving the island and coming back to Irkutsk (300 km). If you will have to wait for the ferry on the way, you can visit Sinners’ Mountain. Take a stone with you as the legend tells that every stone left there means leaving some sin. The bigger stone the heavier sin. Lunch in a roadside cafe on your own. Arriving to the office of "Baikal-Eco".

Photos: from different tours, here photos of Novosibirsk’s group .

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