One of the oldest souvenir shops in Irkutsk located on the road cross of Lenin and Karl Marx street offers 10% off for the visitors of our website. Khudozhnik shop, which means ‘artist’ in English.
They have a great variety and prices, Russian and Siberian souvenirs, and the most welcoming sales staff even though they don’t speak English.
The coupon is available at this link: https://irkutskfreetour.ru/souvenirs-with-discount/
The season of dogsledding in Irkutsk and Lake Baikal has started, so welcome to experience this exciting activity.
We offer private and group trips to dogsledding locations. The prices start from 1800 RUB per person for a 10-minute ride. There are 3 main locations, later we will create a special page for that.
But if you don’t want to wait, just call us or write a letter and we can discuss the price and make it happen. Everyday availability. Dogs are waiting and happy to run!
Every dogsledding company is unique and located in a great natural place with forests, rivers, lakes. And lots of snow. Great stuff for nature lovers.
It is really one of the most beautiful cities in Russia. Maybe because it is a well-traveled location for the last 100 years since Transsiberian Railroad was finished. Even before it had more attention from the government, church, and people because everybody understood that this place is unique. Travelers stopped here more than anywhere in Russia to visit Lake Baikal shore, except the two capital cities.
It feels like local people always wanted their city to look pleasant and in some way decorated. It is the tradition of Irkutsk.
Even when you see these destroyed wooden houses you can imagine easily how beautiful they once were and how skilled and creative were the builders.
The details of the churches are so interesting and some of them are almost ancient.
Angara River is one of the cleanest rivers in Russia. Enjoy a boat ride around the island and learn about the city from the water. Very nice solution on a hot summer day. There are several islands in the center of the city. Some of them are connected by the excursion railroad. Some of them have restaurants. One has an observation weel.
People from all over the world travel to see Lake Baikal. All types of transportation. Starting from people who just like to walk finishing with exotic ways like hot air balloon to travel across Baikal, or submarine to go to Lake’s depths.
All year round Baikal is well-traveled and different travel-related events happen all the time organized by companies and individuals. Scientists, schoolchildren, bikers, hikers, runners, religious groups, sportsmen, artists, name any, there is always a chance to meet interesting people around this magical Northern Sacred Sea of Russian Siberia.
And of course, it is great to learn how local people live in this hard climate.
The main reason is that Irkutsk is near Lake Baikal. From Irkutsk, it is just a 1-hour car ride to the shore of the lake to the most popular Listvyanka settlement.
But Irkutsk is also worth of visit on its own. A good example of Siberian city.
Much warmer than the rest of Siberia. It is never too cold like you would expect it to be. Because of the big body of water of Baikal and Angara water reserve temperatures are 10 degrees warmer on average compared to other regions of Siberia.
It takes a long time for Baikal to freeze over. It is covered with 1-meter ice only at the end of January, and then winter starts to get warmer during February. It is usually very sunny and cold is not that hard after everything freezes over, and the weather becomes less windy.
Tasty, healthy and super easy to prepare. Get it as soon as you reach Irkutsk city. Great for all kinds of travel. Fall in love with your Trans-Siberian Train even more.
The following information significantly improves the quality of your train travel and other trips in Russia, Mongolia, and China.
Made in Irkutsk, here space technologies meet the best culinary traditions.
Made in the downtown of Irkutsk. Factory’s high tech kitchen is inside a traditional Siberian mansion. Design of the 19th century.
It is a soft container 15 x 20 cm (6 x 7 in) made of hard metal-plastic material. Designed to keep the meal inside for 1 year.
The meal that is inside is ready to eat.
300 grams per pack
300 grams per pack
250 grams per pack
Just warm up the container. It is super easy, but don’t use a microwave oven, the packing material contains metal.
Tip: On the train, use a hot water boiler which is in every wagon and is free for all. Just put packs on top of the boiler, 3 minutes should be enough, 4 packs usually fit just perfect. Keep them up there for more time, if you like your soup to be hot. Be careful, in some trains the top of the boiler is very hot!
A unique product, cooked from natural ingredients. No chemical preservatives are used. It is the technology of cooking and packing that keeps food good for 1 year.
The package will keep your food safe in a wide range of temperatures from -30 to +50 Celcius. The material is hard to break and it can be transported in very difficult conditions.
In Irkutsk, this product is sold in Slata (Слата) supermarkets. They are located all over the city and usually work 24 hours every day. Angara Hotel, Karl Marx Steet, 130-th District all these and many other locations have Slata supermarket where Factory’s products can be found.
Welcome to visit Factory of Healthy Food, doors are open from AM 10:00 to PM 6:00 every working day, closed on Saturday and Sunday. Availability is usually much better at the Factory and the price is lower.
Russian name: Фабрика Здоровой Еды
Pronunciation: Fábrika Zdoróvoi Yedí
Meaning: Factory of Healthy Food
Address: Тимирязева, 5Б (Timiryazeva 5B)
Enjoy your meal.
During these days everybody has a powerful tool in their hand. And it comes in very handy when you travel. How can you travel without it now?
Now its the new level. We have apps which become guides to the cities we visit. And this is great!
All these products are still kind of raw, and time will pass when they will be full of content, or other powerful players will enter the market.
Here is an example 1
https://izi.travel/en/russia/city-guides-in-irkutsk
And here is an example 2
https://www.gpsmycity.com/gps-tour-guides/irkutsk-3867.html
Check out two different approaches. Both projects have apps both for Android and Apple.
I like the idea that anybody can create his own tour. It is like the youtube for local guides. Let’s see how it is developing.
There is not much spicy food in Russia. Usually, people just add fresh garlic or onions to their meals. But be careful, homemade spicy mustard is as spicy as Japanese wasabi. Usually spicy mustard is served as a sauce for lard or meat jelly. Some people who like a lot of spicy put mustard on a piece of bread.
Try just a little bit in the beginning. Because if used too much it may hurt a lot. Sometimes people even cry and become and have a red face.
Usually, 1 tablespoon is enough for several people. The potency of mustard is defined by its freshness. If mustard is purchased in the shop it will never be as spicy as fresh homemade.
How to use taxi services in Russia? Is there Uber in Russia?
There is a very simple solution. Using the application on your smartphone you can easily call for a taxi in almost every city in Russia. It is very similar to Uber, it is called Yandex Taxi. Application is available for Android and iOS.
Yandex is one of Russia’s top IT companies, they develop services similar to Google. It is a trustworthy application which is very popular right now in all Russia.
Don’t worry, it is well translated into English. Prepare small change to pay for your rides without extra, because often drivers don’t have enough change. Or simply use the card to pay online in the application. Payment happens when you finish your ride, and you can even tip the driver with one tap on the screen if you like.
Enjoy your rides in Russia.
On August 2 and 3, 2019, an international aquabike festival will be held.
The second international Baikal Jet Fest aquabike festival will be held on August 2 and 3 in Irkutsk, in the water area near the Angara icebreaker. Amateurs, athletes, reigning champions and freestyle stars will come to Baikal from 15 countries to show their skills and exciting stunts on jet skis and flyboards.
Russia will be represented by more than 40 athletes from all over the country, including Primorye. And the festival will end with a unique night flyboard show with flamethrowers and concerts of stars.
Their participation in the event was confirmed by the world stars of a jetski: Rashid Ali Al-Mulla (UAE), Alessander Lenzi (Brazil), Tanner Thomas (USA), Niels Willems (Belgium), Abraham Hochstrasser (Mexico), and world champion Lee Stone ( Great Britain).
Competitions will be held in three spectacular disciplines:
On the official website of the festival you can still have time to apply for participation. For the audience there are many entertainment areas that will operate on both days of the festival. Active fans are waiting for the SUP RACE BJF support race. You can participate alone, as a couple, as a company or as a family. Register online at www.baikaljetfest.com. A series of workshops awaits professional athletes from Nikita Martyanov, 13-time champion of Russia, European champion and bronze medalist of the World Wakeboard Championship, as well as the current world champion in aquabike Lee Stone. Anyone can attend the event as a spectator for free from 11:00 in the morning until the evening. See you on August 2 and 3!
