New Year holidays on Lake Baikal

The recreation center offers to spend the first day of the New Year actively and informatively. 

You will have the opportunity to participate in folk festivals, get acquainted with the beauties of the Malomorsky coast, skate on the smooth ice of the lake, visit the Russian bathhouse, play table air hockey and much more (additional).

After a busy day, you will have a festive dinner and a fun party with a competitive program.

(including meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner).

Having welcomed the new year well and spent the old one, we will say goodbye to the shores of the Small Sea and return to Irkutsk along the familiar road, where you will again see the picturesque mountains of the Baikal range, covered with a forest thicket.

In the evening, after staying at the hotel and relaxing from the road, you can walk around the New Year's Eve Irkutsk among the ice sculptures in the city center, ride a slide and just watch how the New Year is celebrated in this Siberian city.

(incl. meals: breakfast).

Transfer to Irkutsk by private transport.

Today we are going to the village of Listvyanka.

Perhaps one of the oldest Russian settlements on the shores of the great lake has turned into a tourist center, where for every inhabitant there are several attractions, cafes and hotels, and several hundred tourists to them. 

On the way, we recommend visiting the architectural and ethnographic museum "Taltsy" (additional fee), where you can not only see the wooden architecture and life of the peoples of the Baikal region, but also participate in traditional winter fun: ride on skins from a real Russian slide, ride a sleigh or a troika, or walk on stilts. 

In Listvyanka, we suggest you take a sightseeing tour of the village with a visit to the observation deck at the famous Shaman stone, listen to the romantic legend of Lake Baikal, visit the current Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is the patron saint of all travelers and navigators. 

Those who want to learn more about Lake Baikal can go on an excursion to the Baikal Ecological Museum (additionalthe fee), where there are many exhibits telling about the inhabitants of Lake Baikal, they can even be seen live in aquariums located in the museum. 

It is worth finishing the day with a visit to the souvenir market adjacent to the fish rows, where you will be offered all the variety of Baikal fish cooked in various ways.

(including meals: breakfast, lunch).

Today you have free time in the morning, and everyone can choose the entertainment they like. We recommend you to get acquainted with cute sled dogs and, under the guidance of an experienced instructor, try yourself in the role of a kayak (additional), ride through the snow-covered forest on horseback (additional), spend time in the ski complex (additional), make yourself a souvenir at one of the original master classes – blacksmithing, pottery or creative needlework (optional), or just take a walk along the shore of Lake Baikal. 

And after lunch, transfer to the city and get acquainted with the capital of Eastern Siberia – the ancient city of Irkutsk.  

During a sightseeing tour of the city, you will visit the historical center, the embankment of the Angara River, architectural monuments, take an excursion to the Znamensky Monastery with one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Siberia, famous for its iconostasis and burials on the territory (graves of the Decembrists, Grigory Shelikhov, etc.).

(including meals: breakfast, lunch).

Today you will have to drive by car: first along the picturesque Kultuk highway to the village of Kultuk, and then along the road passing through a wide valley between two mountain ranges: on the left – Khamar–Daban, on the right - the Eastern Sayans. 

In this unique Tunka Valley, you can see young volcanoes and old Buryat yurts, the gray peaks of the Tunka Loaches against the piercing blue sky. 

After driving 120 km through the valley, we get to the village of Arshan, located at the foot of overhanging mountain peaks.

Arriving in the village of Arshan, you will spend the rest of the day getting to know the village and its surroundings. 

It is better to take a tour of the village on foot, then you can see those details and little things of the local way of life that are not visible from the bus window. 

You will walk along the forest road to the datsan Buddhist temple, where you will be told about its history, the rules of conduct in datsans, Buddhism in Buryatia. Then visit the healing mineral springs (take a mug or even a plastic bottle with you), the picturesque mountain river Kyngarga, walk through the park of the Arshan resort with its natural monuments, pick up a souvenir in an entertaining market where souvenir rows are adjacent to sellers of local medicinal herbs for literally all diseases. 

A simple trekking along the Kyngargi Canyon will allow you to enjoy landscapes that can only be seen in winter: a rushing river bubbling under a layer of transparent ice, bizarre splashes on rocks resembling fairy-tale palaces, bridges and grottoes.

(including meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner).

Boarding and transfer by bus Irkutsk – Arshan (210 km).

Today we continue to explore the picturesque surroundings and get acquainted with the amazing Tunka Valley. 

You will visit the crater of the extinct Talskaya Vershina volcano, see the cones of the Chersky and Kovrizhka volcanoes.

You will hear about the distant past of the Tunka Valley since the Jurassic period, as well as exciting legends about the ancestor of the Buryat tribes of Bukha-noyon, the beautiful Kyngyrga. 

The Tunka Valley is often called the "Land of healing narzans" because of the abundance of mineral springs, which in their healing properties are not inferior to the famous waters of the Caucasus and the Carpathians. 

The methane baths of the Pearl spring are unique in their chemical composition. 

The hospital is located in a picturesque place on the right bank of the Irkut River. 

You can swim in the pool with mineral water (for an additional fee), drink healing phyto tea, and taste Buryat cuisine (for an additional fee). 

And in the late afternoon, before returning to Arshan, we will have an excursion to the maral farm. 

Marals are primarily known for their horns, from which various medicines, vitamins, cosmetic products, etc. are made. 

You will be told about the features of harvesting antlers and their benefits for the body. 

The deer on the farm are mostly wild, but some individuals have already been tamed, and everyone can pet them and even feed them.

(including meals: breakfast, dinner).

Breakfast at the hotel.

After that, transfer by bus to Irkutsk (~ 5 hours)..

Upon arrival in the city, the end of the program (~15:30 hours).

(incl. meals: breakfast).