Is Lake Baikal fun? A travel guide to Lake Baikal

“You are clear and mysterious, like the shore of Lake Baikal.” Li Jian’s song “Lake Baikal” brought yearning to many people. Lake Baikal was once part of China in ancient times, but later it became part of Russia after an agreement was signed. It is also not far from us. Is Lake Baikal really as Li Jian sang in his song? If you don’t know, let’s take a look with the editor!

Frost descent, it’s already late autumn. Since the beginning of autumn, many friends have asked me what good places there are to go to. Thinking about it, Lake Baikal is the most recommended place in autumn.

About Lake Baikal, geography textbooks introduce it as the deepest and largest freshwater lake in the world;

History books say it is the North Sea of the Han Dynasty, where Su Wu herded sheep;

For Russians, it is their “Siberian blue eyes”;

And for fans of Jian Ge, it is probably a holy place for pilgrimage.

In 2011, Li Jian went to Lake Baikal to travel and wrote a song “Lake Baikal”, which gradually became popular, letting more Chinese people know about this place.

Lake Baikal is located in Irkutsk Oblast, Eastern Siberia, Russia. Hainan Airlines has direct flights from Beijing to Irkutsk, with a flight time of about three hours and no time difference.

There are often flight and hotel packages to Lake Baikal on QiongYou.com, which are economical and practical. You can choose them if the time is right.

The benefits are:

1. The price of air tickets + hotels is sometimes lower than the price of single air tickets that we see on the Hainan Airlines website;

2. Russia is visa-free for Chinese groups. This kind of package on the website is similar to a travel agency’s free travel product, which is equivalent to group travel. Accordingly, you can save more than 500 yuan in Russian visa fees.

The disadvantages are:

1. The flight time may not be very good;

2. Don’t have high expectations for the hotel. Although Irkutsk is the largest industrial city in Siberia, the economic conditions are relatively not as good, and the hotel facilities are also relatively old.

At that time, the package we chose claimed to be a three-star hotel. When we arrived, they said that to improve everyone’s accommodation conditions, they changed it to a four-star hotel in the city center (when I was writing this article, I took a look at booking.com, where is there any star rating), and the result… hehe, the facilities in the room were even worse than domestic express hotels.

It is recommended that friends who have requirements for accommodation can book the hotel separately or go directly to Listvyanka (where Lake Baikal is located) by bus after arriving in Irkutsk. There are also many hotels to choose from by the lake.

Because of the sharp decline of the ruble, the prices of better hotels are actually not very expensive.

We stayed in a real four-star hotel by the lake for one night due to unexpected circumstances. A large double room was only 4800 rubles, which is less than 500 yuan at the exchange rate at that time.

How to get there?

Fly to the city – Irkutsk, from Beijing, the flight time is three hours;

Direct flights include Hainan Airlines and Siberia

When to go?

If you want to see the blue ice, you must go during the coldest time of year, the best time is February-March;

Moreover, the entire lake surface is frozen at this time, and only hovercrafts can pass. In the case of half-frozen, neither normal ships nor hovercrafts can operate, which will lead to the inability to get to the island.

Visa

Photo + passport

Trip recommendation

Irkutsk (1 night), charter car for one day of sightseeing;

Olkhon Island (3 nights), stay in Khuzhir village, one full day for the northern route and one full day for the southern route;

If you have plenty of time, you can stay in Listvyanka for one or two nights (dog sledding, dense birch forests, lakeside cabins);

Irkutsk Airport transition for one night (if you are taking Siberia Airlines back in the early morning);

The most characteristic way to visit Lake Baikal is to take the Circum-Baikal Railway and enjoy the lake views along the way. However, you need to book in advance.

There are more trips in spring and summer, with trips every day.

The frequency of trips decreases in autumn and winter, and there are only trips on weekends.

Lake Baikal has a largest island called Olkhon Island. It takes six hours by car from Irkutsk.

It is said that the island has beautiful vegetation and vast grasslands, and the scenery is exceptionally vast and magnificent.

The local Buryats believe in shamanism, so there are some shaman stones and shaman pillars left on the island.

Friends who have plenty of time can go and see them.

It is said that in summer, you can take a boat from Irkutsk to Listvyanka and Olkhon Island, which is also very pleasant.

There is a visitor center by the lake. I went in and asked and learned that a mountain by the lake is the Baikal National Park, and there is a famous hiking route that goes up the mountain. The volunteer boy at the visitor center said it was easy, it takes only two or three hours to get down. So two hiking enthusiasts took their backpacks and went up the mountain, completely forgetting that their phone had no signal…

We set off up the mountain at around ten o’clock in the morning. Initially, everything was beautiful, with clear skies, bright sunshine, and birds singing in the mountains.

My companion is an experienced hiker, very calmly said, “Go down to the lake and walk back along the lake.” So we went half-walking and half-sliding down the forest without a path, and after walking dozens of meters, we found that there was a steep cliff ahead, which we couldn’t get over. My companion looked around and decided to go up the mountain again, thinking that if we went over the mountain ahead, we would be in the town.

At this time, there was absolutely no path on the mountain, only trees and thorns. After climbing up for hundreds of meters with difficulty, we found, in despair, that it became more and more steep, and we couldn’t get over it. So we decided to go back down and ask for help at the lake.

The two of us were struggling to climb down on the road covered in sand, rocks, leaves, and dead branches. Many times, I saw the rocks that my feet had kicked out rolling down the mountain.

After sliding down for another ten meters, we found that the road became even more dangerous. At this time, it was already close to five o’clock in the afternoon. We were worried that we would not be able to ask for help after dark, so we quickly stopped my companion and decided to find a famous Chinese guesthouse nearby for help.

At that time, I was still naive and thought it was simple to ask for help. We struggled to get down to the lake, and they would find a boat to come and rescue us.

After making several rounds of calls, we found that no one answered. They just asked me to clarify my location or find a local to ask about the location, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to help.

We were very unfortunate this time. We didn’t get a local SIM card or a portable Wi-Fi, so we couldn’t tell our location. Of course, people couldn’t help us.

We saw a few scattered boats passing by on the lake from time to time, so we decided to put down the phone and get down to the lake before dark to ask for help from the passing boats.

The sun had already set when we got down to the lake. We turned on our phone flashlights and gestured at the passing boats for a long time, but no one paid any attention. We had no choice but to climb back up to the foot of the mountain and try to walk forward.

After walking a short distance along the foot of the mountain, it became completely dark. The two of us fumbled forward in the darkness. Suddenly, we saw the light of a flashlight. We walked closer and asked, and found that it was a Spaniard. He said to go forward along this road, and we would arrive. As we walked, we reached the shore where there was no way out. We met a Russian guy and a Spaniard setting up a tent. Fortunately, the Russian guy was very friendly and took us to find the way. He pulled us up a one-foot-wide ladder made of two thin steel bars, and then asked us to walk along the mountain road on the left. It would be very steep, and we would be able to go out after crossing another mountain. It would take about an hour and a half. He also jokingly said, “If you can’t find the way, you are welcome to come back and spend the night with us.”

So, we had no choice but to walk forward with the faint light of our phones, braving the danger. The road was all cliffs, and the wind was strong at night. I was so nervous that my legs were shaking and I didn’t dare to look down. Except for the simple breakfast at the hotel before we set off, we didn’t eat anything all day. At that time, I didn’t feel tired or hungry. Only the instinct of survival remained.

After fumbling for about another hour and a half, we finally saw lights. We walked over and asked for directions. We learned that we would be able to reach the town after walking a few dozen meters forward, but we didn’t want to take another step. After asking about a hotel with a restaurant, we disregarded the price of 4,800 rubles and checked in on the spot.

Thank this four-star hotel called Gold Hotel for not despising us who were covered in dust and dirt. It was rare to find toiletries in a Russian hotel.

It was already nine o’clock at night…

Lake Baikal is known as a world-class hiking destination. The GBT organization in Russia built the Great Baikal Trail, a hiking route from Listvyanka to Bolshie Koty, in 2003.

According to the official website, the hiking route is 22 kilometers long and takes about 5-8 hours to complete.

You will see magnificent Siberian forests and can also overlook Lake Baikal from a high vantage point.

There are some sections where you need to wade through rivers, but don’t worry, there will be GBT volunteers who will build pedestrian bridges for you (Where?!) to ensure that your trip is safe and enjoyable (vomiting blood!)…

Friendly emergency tips on this website:

1) Emergency hotline 112, can be called from any phone.

2) Please do not rely on your phone during the hike, as there is no signal coverage here! (Seeing this, I can’t help but wonder, in this place where there is no signal coverage, can you dial the emergency hotline in the first item?)

3) The nearest hospital is in Listvyanka town.

There is also a special reminder:

English is not widely spoken on the shores of Lake Baikal!

I wrote this originally to reflect on my own unreliability and warn future travelers.

After seeing this information, I had to start thinking. As someone who has received education in the language of the fighting nation for so many years, maybe I can blame the source of my unreliability?

What’s even more exaggerated is that during the research process, I discovered that I was not the only one who got lost there…

There was a young man from the fighting nation who died on this road at the age of 24, and his tombstone was erected on the mountain as a warning;

There are also experienced friends from the QiongYou forum who also walked to the water’s edge and found no way out. They went up and down many times, and finally, they had to wade through the water many times in the cold. Finally, they were lucky enough to meet a local who helped them rent a fishing boat to return.

And in the forum, we see that although there are already detailed descriptions of previous adventurers’ experiences, there are still endless new adventurers who want to give it a try…

(I just want to say four words: Good riddance.)

I still want to say that unless you are looking for this kind of adventurous experience, ordinary people should be cautious about choosing the hard mode. It’s good to just walk around the lake, look around, and lie down in the sun.

If you really want to go, it’s best to find a local guide to take you, which is safer.

There are many Chinese students who are studying in Irkutsk who lead tours to Lake Baikal in their spare time. They can also arrange hiking trips to the mountain.

In this place where English is not widely spoken, it is still necessary to have a guide who speaks Russian and is familiar with the local area.

The next morning, I found that my fleece windbreaker had been worn through. All the muscles in my body were sore. So that day, I rode a rented bicycle and wandered around the lakeshore, enjoying the lake views at will.

There are also a few museums by the lake. The log cabin museum is a bit far away, so I didn’t go. I went to the Baikal Museum. The museum has introductions to animals and plants unique to the Lake Baikal region, including freshwater seals, Omul, and other fish and plants.

There is also a special exhibition room where you can virtually experience taking a submarine to dive to the bottom of Lake Baikal and view the scenery at different depths of the lake.

There is also a market by the lake, selling Russian handicrafts and local specialties, as well as a dedicated fish market, where you can see various large fish and dried fish caught from the lake.

This is the lesson learned from my irresponsible, unprepared, and impulsive trip. Fortunately, I didn’t stay there forever.

I hope everyone is more reliable than me.

Later, some friends invited me to see the cracked lake surface and the Baikal Ice Marathon during the coldest time of winter, but I waved them off.

If I go again, I will probably just find a better hotel by the lake, sit by the lake, have tea, chat, and watch the sun.

I remember that there was an elderly gentleman from Guangdong and an aunt on the same flight as me. They said they had found travel companions on a travel website.

The old gentleman didn’t like to fly, so he took a green train for twenty-odd hours to Beijing, and then flew for three hours from Beijing to Irkutsk.

After arriving in Irkutsk, he had to give up the Circum-Baikal Railway trip because he was not feeling well.

At that time, I felt very emotional. Enjoy the scenery while you are young, because if you wait too long, it won’t be as interesting.

About impulsive trips – often friends will suddenly tell me, “I don’t want to work anymore, let’s go travel.”

I often also want to travel without a second thought.

This is how the legendary impulsive trips come about.

What often follows is that I book a plane ticket and leave without any hesitation.

I arrive at my destination without any plans, only to find that my mood hasn’t improved because of the change of environment. Sometimes, it even worsens because of bad moods, and I can’t see the beauty of the scenery.

Unless you just want to feed pigeons in London or sunbathe and relax in Hawaii, you still need to do a little planning.

At least learn something about your destination, so you won’t be caught off guard by problems, or even put yourself in unnecessary danger.

And if the purpose of your trip is just to escape reality, it probably won’t have much effect.

To use a popular sentence structure, if you can’t adjust your mood in a familiar environment, you won’t magically get a good mood in an unfamiliar environment.