New Year on Lake Baikal

We will not spend today slicing Olivier salad, searching for mayonnaise or watching "Irony of Fate", but we will devote it to exploring Lake Baikal. 

After breakfast, at 9:30 we will go to the Baikal Museum, where we will get acquainted with the main endemic of the lake – the Baikal seal. 

At the end of the tour, we will take a virtual dive to the bottom of the lake. 

After a rich scientific and educational program, we go to lunch with traditional Baikal cuisine. 

Let's try sagudai, signature fish soup, freshly caught fish stewed in cream with vegetables (each dish is made only from Baikal fish) and Siberian pancakes with honey / sour cream. 

Next, we will take a chairlift to the Chersky Stone observation deck, which offers stunning views of the soaring Lake Baikal, the source of the Angara River and the opposite shore with snow–capped ridges. 

Having felt the frosty breath of Lake Baikal, we are going to prepare for the new year, because today we will meet him in the restaurant of the Baikal hotel in the cheerful company of Santa Claus. 

Meals: breakfast, lunch, New Year's banquet.

After celebrating the new year, we will get a good night's sleep and gain strength to feel cheerful and cheerful, because there is a very interesting and active day ahead. 

At 13:00 we go for lunch to a restaurant with a panoramic view of the soaring Lake Baikal. 

Having refreshed ourselves, we go to a meeting for winter fabulous adventures! 

First, dog sledding in the snowy Siberian taiga awaits us. 

The unforgettable feeling of riding with the wind on a snow-covered road, as if I found myself in distant Lapland, but no, this is our native Baikal!

Further – more: a breathtaking snowmobile ride through the winter forest awaits us. 

On the way, we will make stops in the most beautiful places to take unique winter photos, lie in soft snowdrifts or bring down snow enveloping mighty trees. 

Having had fun from the bottom of our hearts, we go to relax at the hotel and prepare for a meeting with the Baikal ice. 

Meals: breakfast, lunch.

Today we have a long, but interesting, road ahead – we are going to the Small Sea. 

Therefore, we get up early, have a hearty breakfast and hit the road. 

9:30 a.m. – start of the route. 

On the way, we will visit a unique collection of historical and architectural monuments of the peoples of Eastern Siberia of the 18th and 20th centuries – the Taltsy Museum.

During the tour, we will learn about the cultural and everyday features of the life of the Baikal peoples, as well as walk in giant skis and arrange a race on stilts. 

After having fun at the museum, we return to Irkutsk, meet a new group of travelers and go to get to know each other and Lake Baikal on the Small Sea. 

Along the way, we are waiting for the most beautiful landscapes for photos: this is the dense Siberian taiga, rich meadows, and endless steppes.

In total, the journey will take 5-6 hours, but in our comfortable transport, this time will fly by unnoticed. 

In addition, we will often stop to "get drunk" (the famous Buryat ritual of appeasing spirits). 

Also on the way there will be a stop for lunch at a roadside cafe of national Buryat cuisine (self-paid). 

In the late afternoon, arrival at the recreation center "Fregat", located on the shore of Lake Baikal, where you can walk on the very fresh, but already so durable Baikal ice.

Meals: breakfast.

Everyone is looking forward to today, because we are going to meet with the Baikal ice. 

We will explore the Strait of the Small Sea. 

After a hearty breakfast at 11:00 we will start on a tour of the Maly Ice on a miracle technique - the hovercraft Hivus.

The duration of the tour is 3 hours. 

This time is enough to enjoy the purest Baikal ice, watch the splashes, find ice caves and arrange an unforgettable picnic on the ice of Lake Baikal, as well as try the signature cocktail "Kiss of Lake Baikal".

In the evening, if desired, you can order a Russian bathhouse yourself with the opportunity to plunge into the fresh snow. 

Attention! Important! Baikal weather, and especially the formation of Baikal ice, is one of the most unpredictable things in the world. The ice situation is changing not only from year to year, but from day to day. Where there is strong ice today, after a windy night, water may come out or impassable hummocks may form (a pile of ice fragments up to 3-4 meters high). During the tour, we monitor the situation daily and choose the safest route, but at the same time we always try to fulfill the designated program as much as possible. Therefore, when choosing a tour, be prepared for the fact that the program may change at any moment, because Baikal itself has the last word on Baikal. 

Meals: breakfast, lunch-picnic.

In the morning, we will definitely meet the most beautiful sunrise on Lake Baikal and once again go for a walk on the purest transparent ice, because after breakfast we will go to Irkutsk.

We set off at 10:00. 

Today's day will be dedicated to getting to know the culture of the indigenous peoples of Lake Baikal – the Buryats. 

On the way we will visit a very interesting place – the ethnopark "Golden Horde". 

The owner of the yurt (Buryat dwelling) will meet us and greet us with white food, as well as conduct a fire purification ceremony. 

Next, the owner of the yurt will tell us about the life of the Buryat people and teach us how to cook the main national dish – buuz, and the owner of the yurt will play for us on the national instrument Maureen Hur and sing an amazing song about a lone wolf with throat singing. 

And in the end, we will all start dancing and dance a circular dance round dance.

After the spiritual food, we will have delicious physical food, Buryat national. 

Let's try the very buuzes that were recently made by themselves. 

After eating our fill, we go to Irkutsk. 

16:30 – estimated time of arrival at Irkutsk airport. 

You can choose an evening flight and fly home as soon as possible, or check into a hotel on your own, leave your things in the room and wander through the souvenir shops of Irkutsk, enjoying the atmosphere of a festive winter city. 

Additionally, we can arrange an individual transfer to the airport and hotel accommodation in Irkutsk. 

Meals: breakfast, lunch.