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The Baikal Lake is beautiful in any season and any hour. You can not see it twice the same. It changes its colors and shades, weather and motions…
The program in the winter time is not so rich as in the summer, but if you want to have a rest from civilization and enjoy the ancient beauty of the Lake Baikal, you can not find time better.
We are glad to offer you the ecological winter tours on the Baikal Lake. The tour programs last 2—7 days; individual tours are available on request.
Day 1. Departure from Irkutsk. Arrival in Khuzhir settlement. Accommodation in the wooden cottages for 2, 3, 4 persons, wood burning stove. Dinner, Russian Banya.
Day 2. Departure from the camping to the Burkhan cape, one of the 9 Asian sacred places. Offering the gifts to the God Burkhan. Visit to the ice grottos and caves. Lunch (ration and hot tea). Skating and ice boat driving. Back transfer to the camping. Dinner, Banya. There is different literature and video films about the Lake and Olkhon Island for the persons interested in.
Day 3. Breakfast. Departure to the fisher village in the Northern part of Maloe Sea. Acquaintance with winter methods of omul fishing. Fish soup. Acquaintance with local customs and religions about the omul fishing. Rest in the fisher houses. Return to the camping. Dinner, Banya.
Day 4. Breakfast. Departure to the Northern part of Olkhon Island. Walking along the shore and in the area. Photo stops in the most picturesque places of the island. Winter views of the cliff complexes in Sagaan-Khushin, Budun and Khoboi capes. Legends of the ancient Baikal. Visiting to the sacred places of Shamanism and meeting with shaman. Return to the camping. Dinner, Banya.
Day 5. Breakfast. Individual program for fans of under ice fishing (omul fish, white fish). Visiting to the local lore museum. Walking in the settlement Khuzhir. Dinner. Banya.
Day 6. Breakfast. Horse-riding. Lunch. Video films about the Lake. Evening fire and farewell dinner.
Day 7. Breakfast and departure to Irkutsk.
Tour budget (based on double occupancy):
| Number of PAX | Price per person (in RUR) |
| 6 and more | 8550 |
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Duration: 4 days / 3 nights; period: 29 January — 1 February
Following the lunar Calendar the main Buryat holiday is the so-called Sagaalgan, the holiday of White moon or the New Year’s day. Eastern New Year is believed to set in late winter with the new moon. People see the holiday in not at midnight but at dawn on the first day of the year.
White (dairy) food is an integral part of the feast. White is the color of prosperity, health and well-being. Sagaalgan with its century — old tradition is closely connected with the Buddhist philosophy and the Buryat way of life.
According to the old traditions a great number of people come to the Buddhist monasteries to celebrate the holiday. There is the ritual fire on the territory of Ivolginsky Datsan — “Dugzhuuba”. People must throw pieces of the old clothes into the symbolic fire to burn all the man’s sins.
You will never forget your visit to the land of the ghosts, Shamans and the Buddhist lamas — the brightest impression of winter Siberia.
The fascinating interlacement of cultures and nations will always be a part of your soul.
Joyful celebration of Sagaalgan will bring you happiness and flourishing in the coming year.
Sagaalgan! Happy New Year!
Tour programm:
Day 1. Meeting and assistance at the Irkutsk airport/railway station. Transfer Irkutsk — Ulan-Ude. Lunch (not included). Arrival to Ulan-Ude, accommodation in the hotel/homestay.
Day 2. Breakfast at the hotel/homestay. City center sightseeing tour. Lunch. Excurcion to the Ivolginsky Datsan* (35 km from Ulan-Ude). Fire “Dugzhuuba” in front of the gate of the Datsan. Dinner at the restaurant with traditional buryat cuisine.
Day 3. Breakfast. Excursion to the Ethnographical Museum of the Zabaikalie People**. New Year’s lunch at the Buryat family***. Free time for rest. Dinner.
Day 4. Breakfast. Visit to the secret shaman place “obo”. Transfer to Irkutsk.
* Ivolginsky Datsan — the only Buddhist monastery that survives during the Communism time. At present the datsan is a complex monastery and it is a residence of Russia’s Buddhist’s Head Pandito Khambo Lama. It has more than 1,000 statues of Buddha, some of them were 2 meters high. In 1991 on the datsan’s grounds a Buddhist “Dashi Choykhorlyn” Philosophical university was opened. About 100 khuvaraks (students) from all over Russia study there.
Except ceremonial activities the datsan also provides medical service to its congregation. Treatment is based on Traditional Tibet medicine based on a long lasting tradition of using medicinal herbs. A special diagnosing method is used sphygmic (pulse method). Treatment methods vary and include compound powders, with plants, animals and minerals and metals as components. Most resources for Emchi-Lama (a doctor) are supplied from India, China and Tibet.
** The museum is divided into a few complexes: archeological, Evenki, Buryat of west of Baikal (Pribaikalye) and east of Baikal (Zabaikalye) areas, old-timers, old believers and urban.
Each complex exposition is composed of a few typical buildings with household tools, things and furniture. Outdoor ensembles of complexes in combination with the natural landscapes form an original and diverse site of the beginning of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th centuries Evenki, Buryats and Russians traditional lifestyles.
In the museum once can see traditional Zabaikalye (the area east to Baikal) houses — Evenki tent houses (choum), Buryat tomentose yurts (nomads houses).
*** You have a good opportunity to taste traditional buryat cuisine: pozy, buhuler (Noddle soup), green tea, shangi, salamat, white food.
The price of the tour includes: accommodation according to the plan; meals according to the plan; transportation along the tour; visiting national parks and nature reserves, excursions included in the plan; guide and instructor’s services.
The price does not include: way to Irkutsk and from Irkutsk to the next destination after accomplishment of the tour; medical and trip insurance; banya, sauna; additional services listed in the plan that must be extra paid or that are not listed in the plan.
Private talks by satellite telephone are paid according to current tariffs.
Tour budget:
| Number of PAX | Price per person (in RUR) |
| 6 and more | 8850 |
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| Tour 3. Winter photosafary |
Duration: 5 days / 4 nights; period: January — April
Day 1. Meeting at the Irkutsk airport/railway station, departure to the village Khuzhir (the centre of Olkhon Island) by minivan. On the way there is a visit to the Ethnographical Museum in Ust-Orda. Acquaintance with local people’s culture. Lunch. Brief stop at the observation platform where is wonderful view of Baikal. Further travel on Baikal ice to Olkhon Island. Arrival to the village Khuzhir. Accommodation in the hostel “Solnechnaya” in the wooden cottages for 2, 3, 4 persons, wood burning stove. Dinner. Banya (additional service — for interesting).
Day 2. Breakfast. Visit to the famous shaman place — the Burkhan cape, one of the 9 Asian sacred places. Acquaintance with ancient legends and customs. Lunch. Excursion to the local museum. Dinner, Russian Banya (additional service — for interesting).
Day 3. Breakfast. Excursion to the northern part of the Island, to cape Khoboy (50 km). Lunch. Enjoy Baikal panoramic views! You’ll see majestic mountain Izhimey, where Khan Gute-baabay lives (according to the ancient legend he is the owner of Olkhon Island). Visit to the cape Sagan-Khushun. Return to Khuzhir. Dinner. Banya (additional service — for interesting).
Day 4. Breakfast, packing up. Traveling across Small sea (water space separated from the Baikal by the Olkhon Island) to the place called Zama. Lunch. Photosafary. Winter beauty of Baikal. Wild nature and absolute silence. Dinner.
Day 5. Sunrise meeting on Pribaikalsky mountain range. Breakfast. Departure to Irkutsk.
Attention! Participants of the tour must have necessary warm clothes for winter expedition and additional outfit including a sleeping-bag, downy coat, extra warm overall, a jacket of warmth keeping sports cloth, warm cap, 2 pairs of warm socks and gloves, winter boots, sun glasses, sunscreen, individual flashlight, individual medicines kit corresponding to special needs of a participant, a big towel for bathing in the springs. In case of bad weather (strong winds, snow storms, etc.), the tour operator reserves the right to change the plan after informing the participants; the service that is impossible to render is to be replaced with another one equal in price and quality.
The price of the tour includes: accommodation according to the plan; meals according to the plan; transportation along the tour; visiting national parks and nature reserves, excursions included in the plan; guide and instructor’s services.
The price does not include: way to Irkutsk and from Irkutsk to the next destination after accomplishment of the tour; medical and trip insurance; banya, sauna; additional services listed in the plan that must be extra paid or that are not listed in the plan.
Tour budget:
| Number of PAX | Price per person (in RUR) |
| 6 and more | 8850 |
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| Tour 4. “Ushkan’i Islands” |
Duration: 7 days / 6 nights; period: January — April
Day 1. Meeting at the Irkutsk airport/railway station, departure to the village Khuzhir (the centre of Olkhon Island) by minivan. On the way there is a visit to the Ethnographical Museum in Ust-Orda. Acquaintance with local people’s culture. Lunch. Brief stop at the observation platform where is wonderful view of Baikal. Further travel on Baikal ice to Olkhon Island. Arrival to the village Khuzhir. Accommodation in the hostel “Solnechnaya” in the wooden cottages for 2, 3, 4 persons, wood burning stove. Dinner. Banya (additional service — for interesting).
Day 2. Breakfast. Visit to the famous shaman place — the Burkhan cape, one of the 9 Asian sacred places. Acquaintance with ancient legends and customs. Lunch. Excursion to the local museum. Dinner, Russian Banya (additional service — for interesting).
Day 3. Breakfast. Excursion to the northern part of the Island, to cape Khoboy (50 km). Lunch. Enjoy Baikal panoramic views! You’ll see majestic mountain Izhimey, where Khan Gute-baabay lives (according to the ancient legend he is the owner of Olkhon Island). Visit to the cape Sagan-Khushun. Return to Khuzhir. Dinner. Banya (additional service — for interesting).
Day 4. Breakfast, packing up. Traveling to the Ushkan’i Islands — the favorite rookery of Baikal seals — nerpa. Lunch. Walking around islands, visit to the ice grottos and caves. Dinner. Banya (with swimming in ice water — for extremals). Spending the night by the forester on the Big Ushkany island.
Day 5. Breakfast. Departure to the Chivyrkuysky bay; ice fishing. Visit to the Zmeinaya bay (Snake bay), bathing in hot springs. Lunch on ice. The Chivyrkuysky bay is the second largest at the Baikal, its shores are carved with picturesque small creeks harboring hot springs and grottos. There are seven islands in the bay neither of which looks like another. The shores demonstrate landscape diversity of sand beaches, mountains, coniferous forests, swamps to meet any taste. It is one of the richest in fish places at the Baikal. Return to the Ushkan’i islands to have dinner and spend the night.
Day 6. Breakfast. Departure back to Olkhon. Lunch on ice, fish soup. Meting with fishermen. Taking part in the ice fishing. Arrival to the hostel “Solnechnaya”. Dinner.
Day 7. Breakfast. Departure to Irkutsk. On the way there are stops ithe most picturesque places you like. Arrival to Irkutsk.
Attention! Participants of the tour must have necessary warm clothes for winter expedition and additional outfit including a sleeping-bag, downy coat, extra warm overall, a jacket of warmth keeping sports cloth, warm cap, 2 pairs of warm socks and gloves, winter boots, sun glasses, sunscreen, individual flashlight, individual medicines kit corresponding to special needs of a participant, a big towel for bathing in the springs. In case of bad weather (strong winds, snow storms, etc.), the tour operator reserves the right to change the plan after informing the participants; the service that is impossible to render is to be replaced with another one equal in price and quality.
The price of the tour includes: accommodation according to the plan; meals according to the plan; transportation along the tour; visiting national parks and nature reserves, excursions included in the plan; guide and instructor’s services.
The price does not include: way to Irkutsk and from Irkutsk to the next destination after accomplishment of the tour; medical and trip insurance; banya, sauna; additional services listed in the plan that must be extra paid or that are not listed in the plan.
Tour budget:
| Number of PAX | Price per person (in RUR) |
| 6—9 | 18100 |
| 10 and more | 15200 |
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| Tour 5. Winter on Olkhon Island |
Duration: 5 days / 4 nights; period: January — April
Day 1. Arrival to Irkutsk (accommodation in the hotel/hostel — upon request). City center sightseeing excursion. Lunch. Visit to the Nerpinariy (here you can see Baikal seal — nerpa). Dinner. Free time.
Day 2. Breakfast. Departure to Olkhon Island by minivan. On the way there is a visit to the Ethnographical Museum in Ust-Orda. Acquaintance with local people’s culture. Lunch (traditional buryat cuisine). Meeting with winter Baikal. Further travel on Baikal ice to Olkhon Island. Arrival to the Island. Accommodation in the hostel “Solnechnaya” in the wooden cottages for 2, 3, 4 persons, wood burning stove. Dinner, Russian Banya (additional service — for interesting).
Day 3. Breakfast. Visit to the famous shaman place — the Burkhan cape, one of the 9 Asian sacred places. Acquaintance with ancient legends and customs. Offering the gifts to the God Burkhan. Lunch. Excursion to the local museum. Walking in the settlement Khuzhir. Dinner. Banya (additional service — for interesting).
Day 4. Breakfast. Excursion around Maloe sea along Olkhon Island, to the northern cape Khoboy. Lunch with fishermen on Baikal ice. Visit to the famous places of the Island: cape Sagaan-Khushun, Khoboy, Shunte. Dinner. Banya (additional service — for interesting).
Day 5. Breakfast. Parting with Olkhon at the Burkhan cape. Departure to Irkutsk.
The price of the tour includes: accommodation according to the plan; meals according to the plan; transportation along the tour; visiting national parks and nature reserves, excursions included in the plan; guide and instructor’s services.
The price does not include: way to Irkutsk and from Irkutsk to the next destination after accomplishment of the tour; medical and trip insurance; banya, sauna; additional services listed in the plan that must be extra paid or that are not listed in the plan.
Private talks by satellite telephone are paid according to current tariffs.
Tour budget:
| Number of PAX | Price per person (in RUR) |
| 6 and more | 6460 |
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