Any self-respecting traveler cannot ignore such a phenomenon as Baikal. Children are told about the largest freshwater lake from a small age, and foreigners are shown on postcards and in documentaries as a miracle of nature. Interest in Baikal is constantly growing. According to statistics, in 2024, 10% more tourists will come to its shores than a year earlier. And how can it be otherwise - other people's photos from the transparent ice cause an attack of envy and a desire to get to the crystal edge of the Siberian sea by all means. How to combine the comfort of the city with trips to its majesty Baikal in winter - in the report by Izvestia correspondent.
Running around Irkutsk
Irkutsk is convenient because the airport is located within the city limits. It takes 15 minutes by car or bus from the airport and you are almost in the center.
Monument to Babr in Irkutsk
Today the regional capital is of great interest for investors on the background of the growing popularity of the destination. There is a rapid development of hotel cluster, high-rise buildings and related infrastructure are being built. Already from the window of a sightseeing minibus you can see other changes: new roads, bustle of small business - cafes with stylish banners, stores, cabs and branded vans with building materials are working from early morning. Of course, the transformation is also focused on the hospitality industry. In 2024, 1.8 million tourists will vacation in the Irkutsk Region, according to the data of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.
Visiting a seafarer
One of those actively involved in the development of the region's tourism cluster is entrepreneur and traveler Anatoly Kazakevich; his company built the Baikal-Alaska park-hotel, where journalists and bloggers from the capital stayed.
The Izvestia correspondent had heard about Kazakevich from Siberian friends even before meeting him personally. In Irkutsk he is a well-known personality - together with like-minded people he repeated the way of Russian merchants two hundred years ago to Cape Dezhnev. The expeditions that Kazakevich undertook from 2007 to 2019 on the trimaran "Iskatel" from Irkutsk to Sitka brought him fame. After returning from his wanderings on cold seas and rivers, the traveler had an idea to develop the tourist attractiveness of Siberia in general and Baikal in particular through the prism of his own experience. This is how a private project of popularization of the Far East "Baikal - Alaska" appeared. Actually, the thematic hotel with the same name is one of the components of this concept.
- The super task lies beyond the limits of life - I would like tourism to develop in my native land and transportation to be perfect, - says Anatoly about his mission.
Lodging for a traveler
One of the most successful models of recreation on Baikal Kazakevich considers accommodation in the city with trips to Baikal. This approach allows combining a city-tour with trips to the most picturesque points of the lake from the Irkutsk side. The distance to them makes it possible to make an outing in one day, plus in case of bad weather or ice disturbance you can always choose an alternative direction. And there are dozens of routes - the maximum trip will take one day. Tourists from the city can be taken to Peschanaya Bay, to the tunnels of the Circum-Baikal railroad, to the peaks of Khamar-Daban, to the Buryat ethnopark "Golden Horde".
The format of radial trips to Baikal from Irkutsk is suitable for a wide range of tourists, including families with children, honeymooners, retirees. The park-hotel "Baikal-Alaska", where the Izvestiya correspondent stayed, successfully fits into such a concept. Everything here reminds of the expedition to the shores of the New World and natural treasures of the Far East and Alaska. The hotel has several two-storied buildings on the bank of the Angara River. Each block is named in honor of the area or water area where Kazakevich's catamaran passed: "Alaska", "California", "Baikal", "Kamchatka", "Chukotka", "Sea of Okhotsk", "Yakutia". The numbers also have individual names - in honor of a unique natural object or a geographical point on the expedition route. The author of Izvestia received the Hubbard Glacier.
But Baikal is also developing an offer for those who prefer privacy in close proximity to the lake and ski slopes. For example, the complex for family recreation and ecotourism in Listvyanka "Valley of Dreamers" offers its guests spacious cottages and "hugge-houses" ("hush houses"), as well as exotic snow houses during the winter season. Inside, the temperature is maintained at about 22 degrees, there is a comfortable bed, furniture. A serious disadvantage of such accommodation is that the bathroom is located in a separate structure within walking distance. The inconvenience is associated with compliance with environmental legislation.
In the cafe with a panoramic view of the valley serves dishes of Russian, northern and European cuisine. The chef is especially good at smoked solyanka and lingonberry pie.
Merchant Irkutsk
It will be right to start acquaintance with the region from the historical part of Irkutsk. The streets of the center are built up with low-rise buildings of the late XIX - early XX century with stucco and porticoes. We were lucky to walk around the city in sunny frosty weather.
A few years ago in the center of Irkutsk a whole street was reconstructed in the spirit of pre-revolutionary Russia. The island of merchant Siberia in the modern city is called the 130th quarter, it is located at the foot of the Cross Mountain. The corner of antiquity is enclosed in a triangle of streets - Sedov (flowing into 25 October), Kozhova and 3 July. There are wooden houses with "laces", mansions with mezzanine on high foundations. Windows with platbands and shutters are works of arts and crafts of Siberian masters. There are thematic museums, souvenir shops, restaurants, cafes and a business center "Fashionable Quarter", which is a bit out of the architectural composition. Good news: the entire Irkutskaya Sloboda (the second name of the quarter) is a pedestrian zone.
Another place of attraction is the Lower Embankment. It can be reached from 130th along Lenin Street by public transportation or on foot. Here is the Vampilov Young Spectator Theater, monuments to aircraft designers Kamov and Mil, writer Gorky. On the way Sukachev Art Museum and Geological Museum of Irkutsk State University. From Kirov Square you go straight to the observation deck, which offers a marvelous view of the place where the Irkut flows into the Angara River. The main monument on the embankment is "To the Founders of Irkutsk" The central figure of the composition is a collective image of the pioneers of Siberia.
The city has its own special fast food, focused on local cuisine and ingredients. While strolling around the iconic sights, you can snack on famous Buryat or buuzas, or in the Russian manner "posami" (large dumplings with meat). There should be strictly 33 zapapas on the dough - count them if you suspect a fake! And in cafes you can enjoy desserts with pine nuts and drink tea with local herbs. A new specialty of the region is "New Zealand" pies. The pastry is just like pastry, only there are three times as many fillings: berries, mushrooms, meat.
"Parketnik" of the Siberian sea
The city is interesting, original, but with all respect to it people come here for the sake of the lake. The acquaintance with Baikal usually starts from Listvyanka settlement. In winter the ice here turns into a huge parking lot for hovercrafts - "khivus".
Today it is hard to imagine winter Baikal tourism without the main means of transportation on the ice - amphibious boat "Khivusa". It is difficult to make beautiful photos of skating on the transparent ice near the shore - a fast "Khivus" delivers to the glassy abyss, blown by winds.
- It is not easy to drive it. You need experience, otherwise you will fly out on the hummocky field, and it is difficult to move on it, and the car can freeze there quickly, - our guide Roman explains. - Evacuation will be required, and it is a long wait in the cold.
Baikal does not tolerate arrogance and respects prepared tourists. Reliable guides have their own scouts in each region, who will warn in time that, for example, the ice in the right place has cracked or melted or a terrible wind will not allow the "Khivus" to move (the car can simply be blown away).
Due to the vagaries of weather in our trip there was a change of route: instead of Peschanaya Bay we went to the tunnels of KBZhD, built at the turn of XIX-XX centuries.
Beauty is beauty, but lunch should be on schedule. Eating on Baikal in camping conditions is worth special attention. At our place, a smiling guy in a kosmata ushanka was in charge of the cooking. Most of the time, Maxim is the chef at the restaurant "Kayut Kompaniya", where classic Siberian dishes and European cuisine are served. But in special, if not extreme cases, he is the cook. While we were admiring the tunnels, the chief created a feast in the barbecue zone near the Serebryany Klyuch station of KBZhD. Hot solyanka, omul, stroganina ... In the finale hot tea with Siberian dessert - cranberries with pine nuts under honey, decorated with pine branches.
Lake Museum
Not every traveler can be persuaded to look in a museum of natural history, often such places, especially at a distance from big cities, bring boredom: duty stories about unfamiliar creatures, dusty stuffed animals, cardboard stands. Here, in Listvyanka, everything is different - bright, interactive and lively. The name obliges - the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Baikal Museum".
The queen of the exposition is the guide Anna Nizhegorodtseva. In her story she will add drama even to the history of reproduction of protozoan organisms. The Izvestia correspondent learned from her that 2500 species coexist in the lake and near it. And unlike other large lakes, Baikal is saturated with oxygen from the surface to the very bottom. Anna not only humorously talks about her exhibits, but also conducts practical scientific work. She even dives into the waters of Baikal, where she finds samples for research. She also has a funny blog, where she popularizes science, her favorite lake and charming seals, about which she can talk for hours.
- It is estimated that about 100,000 people live around the lake, and there are about 130,000 seals. There are more of them here than there are of us," says the guide.
For fish
We were warned at once that prices in Irkutsk are lower at the market. But to deny ourselves the pleasure to wander between the stalls of the fish market would be a wrong decision. The bazaar in Listvyanka and its permanent inhabitants are cultural heritage sites.
A ruddy woman wrapped in a tulup looks invitingly at fashionable people with cameras from Western Russia.
- Well, buy something from me, don't pass by.
We are standing, evaluating. And, of course, we buy half the counter. Yes, before a trip to Baikal you should take care of spacious luggage for the return trip - the Siberian land will not let you go without presents.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
