Tra­vel Rou­te and Tra­vel Hints

BAIKAL INDIVIDUAL TOUR - SOUTHWEST BAIKAL

A pos­si­ble Tra­vel Rou­te

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The Inten­ti­on

In our first plan­ning, we also wan­ted to trans­la­te to the east coast of the Bai­kal to the → Uzhka­ni Islands and from the­re to Ulan Ude. It would have been too much of the good.

Accor­ding to the mot­to “less is more”, we con­cen­tra­ted on the south-west coast of the lake bet­ween Slud­jan­ka and the island of Olchon. Thus the­re was more space for indi­vi­du­al, natu­re, human encoun­ters, spi­ri­tu­al places full of secrets, archeo­lo­gi­cal finds, shama­nism and Rus­si­an tra­di­ti­ons, but also for peace and rela­xa­ti­on.

The eas­tern or nor­t­hern Bai­kal could be the sub­ject of fur­ther jour­neys.

This is how we made the fol­lo­wing decis­i­on for our jour­ney, which can be recom­men­ded here as an exam­p­le for tho­se inte­res­ted.

The Blue­print

Day 1 - Tra­vel to Irkutsk

• Mor­ning train trans­fer to Ber­lin Air­port - depar­tu­re in the after­noon
• Flight Ber­lin Schö­ne­feld to Moscow (about 2.5 hours)
• Inter­me­dia­te stay in Moscow and flight to Irkutsk (about 5.5 hours)
• Fly through a short night (on this day 6 hours less)

Day 2 - in Irkutsk

• Arri­ve in Irkutsk in the mor­ning
• In Irkutsk Refe­rence Hotel “Irkutsk” with view direct­ly to the Anga­ra
• In the after­noon, first sight­see­ing tour - e.g. churches, thea­ters, the sta­tue of Czar Alex­an­der III
• Over­night stay in Irkutsk at hotel “Irkutsk”

Day 3 - Explo­ra­ti­on Tal­zy and List­v­jan­ka

• Visit of the open-air muse­um → “Tal­zy” (archi­tec­tu­ral monu­ment of an old Rus­si­an vil­la­ge type) on the banks of the river Anga­ra
• In Tal­zy visit of anci­ent Sibe­ri­an cour­ty­ards, inte­ri­or instal­la­ti­ons, muse­ums, work­shops - Expe­ri­ence art of wood, clay, stone and pre­cious stone
• Then dri­ve to List­v­jan­ka at the “Gate to Bai­kal”
• In List­v­jan­ka visit the fish and sou­ve­nir mar­ket
• Return to Irkutsk and over­night at hotel “Irkutsk”

Day 4 - Train ride on his­to­ric Rou­te

• Tra­di­tio­nal train ride and Trans­sib flair with the old rail­way “Krug­obai­kal­ka”
• Dri­ve from Irkutsk towards the sou­the­ast on the Trans­sib rou­te to Slud­jan­ka, at the sou­thern­most tip of Bai­kal
• Inter­me­dia­te 45 minu­tes in Slud­jan­ka with lock chan­ge
• Con­ti­nue from Sljud­jan­ka along the wes­tern Bai­kal to north to Port Bai­kal - with stops in small places
• In Port Bai­kal tra­di­tio­nal recep­ti­on with Rus­si­an folk­lo­re
• At the “gate to the Bai­kal” with fer­ry crossing of the Anka­ra (the Bai­kal run­off) to List­v­jan­ka
• Over­night and din­ner in the small base camp “Niko­la” in List­v­jan­ka

Day 5 - Dri­ve to the Island of Olchon

• After break­fast in List­v­jan­ka visit the fish and sou­ve­nir mar­ket as well as the lim­no­lo­gi­cal Bai­kal Muse­um
• Con­ti­nue to Irkutsk - lunch at the Mon­go­li­an restau­rant
• Then con­ti­nue to the island of Olchon (about 240 km), the lar­gest island of the Bai­kal and the uni­que resort
• Accom­mo­da­ti­on in Olchon in a base camp with cozy twin rooms (with TV, toi­let and show­er) in Chuz­hir only 150 meters from the san­dy shore of the Bai­kal
• Direct­ly in the vici­ni­ty is the famous Shaman Rock

6th, 7th, 8th, 9th day - Stay on the Island of Olchon

• Excur­si­ons in the island north and south with a chan­ge from rest and rela­xa­ti­on
• 2 hour boat trip along pic­tures­que rock for­ma­ti­ons
• Excur­si­on by mini­bus to the nor­t­hern tip of Olchon to Cho­boj, whe­re you can expe­ri­ence a pic­tures­que land­scape, untouch­ed natu­re, shama­nic stone for­ma­ti­ons - mee­ting points of shama­nic ritu­als and wor­ship of the gods of Bai­kal - lunch with deli­cious fish soup from the omul, the baikal-typical salmon-related fish
• Visit the bay by “Uzu­ry” with the view of the gre­at Bai­kal
• Excur­si­on to the “Spa­ring Moon Land­scape” in the south of Olchons
• Day trip in the sou­the­ast part of the island with a visit to the Kury­ka­nen wall and the moun­tain of spi­rits
• Day boat trip in the Small Seas with visits to the Holy Places of the Bai­kal - excur­si­on to the Bud­dhist island “Ogoj” as well as the Holy Bai­kal source on the west coast
• Bet­ween indi­vi­du­al lei­su­re with peace, bathing, rela­xa­ti­on
• Visit the local muse­um and meet with the shaman

Day 10 - Lea­ve the Island of Olchon and dri­ve to the Base Camp “Da-Shi”

• On the Litt­le Sea Trip to the “Rivie­ra of Sibe­ria”, the “San­dy Bay” to the base camp “Da-Shi”
• Here in sum­mer the water is war­mest with up to 22 degrees
• Accom­mo­da­ti­on in 2-bed rooms (with WC, show­er, TV)
• The accom­mo­da­ti­on with Bai­kal view is only 50 meters from the beach

11th, 12th, 13th, 14th day - Stay at the “Litt­le Sea”

• Also here with chan­ge from open space e.g. For hiking, recrea­ti­on, ban­ja, camp fire with fish grills and excur­si­ons to dif­fe­rent uni­que desti­na­ti­ons
• Excur­si­on to the legen­da­ry “Sar­ma Val­ley” whe­re, in the autumn and spring sea­sons, the stron­gest wind of the Bai­kal is crea­ted, which all sail­ors fear - gui­ded by a wild, pri­mi­ti­ve natu­re
• Expe­ri­ence the “Kur­ma Bay”, a spi­ri­tu­al place full of secrets, anci­ent archaeo­lo­gi­cal finds, heal­ing springs, incom­pa­ra­ble moun­tain sce­n­ery, ori­gi­nal natu­re, bota­ni­cal relics and stone for­ma­ti­ons and important places of shama­nism
• Visit the pic­tures­que “Aya Bay” with the world famous anci­ent cave sys­tem - visit a cave sys­tem, whe­re a man’s face crystal­li­zes out of the rock
• Visit the “Stone Ghosts Val­ley” with its fan­ta­stic crea­tures, the ruins of a for­got­ten city men­tio­ned in local legends and legends - din­ner at the foot of the “Sibe­ri­an Sphinx”
• Excur­si­on to the Tage­ran step­pe

Day 15 - Return to Irkutsk

• After break­fast return
• Accom­mo­da­ti­on in the hotel “Irkut”
• Evening walk through Irkutsk

Day 16 - Excur­si­on to Irkutsk

• Excur­si­on to the Muse­um of Decem­brists
• Mar­ket visit, shop­ping, sou­ve­nir shops and much more.
• Cere­mo­ni­al din­ner accor­ding to Rus­si­an tra­di­ti­ons

Day 17 - Return jour­ney

• Break­fast and trans­fer to Irkutsk Air­port
• Return via Moscow to Ber­lin

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Notes on Tra­vel & Visa Appli­ca­ti­on

Ques­ti­ons about Stay and Tra­vel

It is recom­men­ded to use per­so­na­li­zed per­so­nal belon­gings, shoes and equip­ment.

A mas­tery of some Rus­si­an or Eng­lish is not bad, but not com­pel­ling, as a Russian-speaking tour gui­de is the­re.

What is the best way to tra­vel on tech­no­lo­gy? The­re are no rest­ric­tions.

The­re are also no rest­ric­tions on the exch­an­ge of money.

Pay­ments are pos­si­ble in the city as a rule with VISA-Card.

Are the­re any cul­tu­ral spe­ci­fi­ci­ties to deal with the locals? No worth men­tio­ning - except for com­mon usa­ge in human inter­cour­se.

What should be obser­ved when shoo­ting in public? Insert enough memo­ry cards and ask peo­p­le befo­re taking pic­tures.

In an emer­gen­cy, tele­pho­ne calls with a Ger­man tele­pho­ne card are pos­si­ble.

Are the­re mos­qui­toes? Mid to end of August hard­ly - except in the forest.

Is addi­tio­nal vac­ci­na­ti­on pro­tec­tion neces­sa­ry? We had the health office months befo­re tra­vel advice. This is recom­men­ded. The­re were howe­ver no spe­cial fea­tures - pos­si­bly tick pre­ven­ti­on and any­way the other­wi­se usu­al in Ger­ma­ny usu­al pre­cau­tio­na­ry ino­cu­la­ti­ons.

Is the­re medi­cal care on site? Yes - the­re are medi­cal sup­pli­es ever­y­whe­re.

Visi­ting Appli­ca­ti­on

The VISA appli­ca­ti­on should be han­ded over to a com­pe­tent tra­vel agen­cy. Such an office con­trols ever­y­thing.

For the appli­ca­ti­on, the fol­lo­wing docu­ments are to be sub­mit­ted to the tra­vel agen­cy:

1 x »Form “Visum Appli­ca­ti­on”- careful­ly and com­ple­te­ly fil­led out.

1 x pass­port (ori­gi­nal, mini­mum 6 months after end of trip, no loo­se pages, two oppo­sing free pages, no “crumpled” outer enve­lo­pe).

1 x bio­me­tric pass­port pho­to (3.5 x 4.5 cm, ori­gi­nal).

1 x inco­me state­ment: e.g. Latest tax assess­ment, other­wi­se pen­si­on or other pro­of of inco­me.

1 x Tra­vel insu­rance for Rus­sia abroad with a spe­ci­fic date con­fir­ma­ti­on for vali­di­ty during the trip - accor­ding to »accep­tance list of appro­ved insu­rance com­pa­ny of the Rus­si­an Embas­sy.

1 x tra­vel con­fir­ma­ti­on by the Rus­si­an orga­ni­zer - date con­fir­ma­ti­on for the trip - ori­gi­nal invi­ta­ti­on for pri­va­te or busi­ness visas - this is pro­vi­ded by the tra­vel agen­cy.

The gene­ral visa pro­ce­du­re can be found on the Rus­si­an Embassy’s online pre­sence at → Rus­si­an Embas­sy - Con­su­lat - Visa­fra­gen. → Rus­si­an Embas­sy – Con­su­lat – Visa Thinks.

Cost Cal­cu­la­ti­on

The total cost of the trip (tra­vel expen­ses) is inclu­si­ve of all tra­vel expen­ses, all trans­port (flight and on the spot), 2-bed room, all meals, muse­ums, Ban­ja, etc ..

Exclu­si­ve cos­ts exist for (a) Visa pro­cu­re­ment in accordance with visa requi­re­ments, (b) for indi­vi­du­als in the form of hig­her accom­mo­da­ti­on cos­ts, (c) Train trans­fer to Ber­lin Air­port Schö­ne­feld, (d) addi­tio­nal meals / drinks, drin­king, (e) non-compulsory tra­vel can­cel­la­ti­on insu­rance - and (f) the neces­sa­ry foreign-exchange insu­rance.

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