tours | Irkutsk Free Tour

Best Value Tour to Lake Baikal

Irkutsk Free Tour introduces HOT tour to Lake Baikal.

Only 9900 RUB (approx. 150 USD on the date of publication) per person for a 3-day tour to Olkhon Island with transportation, excursion, accommodation and food included. This is the lowest price on the market.

Travel like a local on a public bus to Olkhon Island. Door to door transfer. English speaking manager who will take care of your trip, contact on the phone, sms or any electronic means you may prefer (like Whatsapp or Facebook).

Stay in a local family and eat home-style food. Delicious and fresh cooking from local ingredients.

Go and see the most beautiful part of Lake Baikal in all-day off-road trip with a traditional Russian picnic lunch.

Don’t worry about anything. Everything will be organized and managed precisely.

Travel and have fun!

Page with details and booking

Shamanka Hike

3-hour hike in 1-hour drive from Irkutsk. Totally the trip takes 6 hours, from downtown of Irkutsk and back.

Map of the location

Shamanka settlement

Photos along the trip

1 DAY Trekking EVENT 27/10

Irkutsk Free Tour invites to spend a day out in the nature visiting autumn Siberian forest.

We meet in Irkutsk at the train station main entrance.
At AM 10:20 we take local train to the direction of lake Baikal. In about 1 hour and 20 minutes we get off at a station near small village.

Starting our journey into the woods, walking to our destination for about 1,5 hours. Nature views along the way. Walking along the forest river.

Beautiful wild nature locations. Great opportunity if you want to enjoy fresh air and friendly atmosphere

Picnic lunch and rest by the fire. Explore the location and walk back to the train tracks.

Return by local train back to Irkutsk train station.

DETAILS

Start (meeting) time: AM 9:50 / October 27, 2018
Finish time: PM 7:30 / October 27, 2018
Start and finish location: Train station in Irkutsk city
Bring your own food and drinks
Difficulty: Easy. Kids allowed
Total walking: 15 kilometers

Price: 1800 RUB per person, cash only.

destination LOCATION

Photos

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All in one: Irkutsk, Baikal, Olkhon Island, Arshan

River Ehe-Uhgun' near Arshan — River Ehe-Uhgun’ near Arshan

Bridge across the beginning of Irkut river

Travelers meet travelers in Irkutsk. Chile and Italy.

Nice cafe in the shadow of Courtyard by Marriott in Irkutsk.

Google Maps link to Incognito cafe: https://goo.gl/maps/BnP4GiPopuw

Cape Burkhan (Shamanka) on Olkhon Island near Khuzhir.

Helicopter landing field spot on Olkhon Island.

Evening road to Arshan

My friend share some photos of the evening road to Arshan. They stopped at Kultuk town to have dinner in a place with amazing view on the very south part of lake Baikal.

One day tour to Arshan

It is possible to go to Arshan and return in Irkutsk in one day. The trip takes about 12-14 hours. Yesterday, my brother and his wife took two traverlers to Arshan. Good scenery at Kultuk village, great road to Arshan. Hot summer day.

Lunch in a local cafe started Arshan adventure. Visit to sacred waterfall, stone river and buddhist datsan temple. After exploring Arshan they went to Zhemchug village, where travelers went to take a swim in a hot water pool. Suddenly there was nobody there. Swimming in hot water is more popular in winter 🙂

Then return back to Irkutsk, with dinner stop in a road cafe with great view on Kultuk village and south spot of Lake Baikal.

Holy waters of Arshan

Yesterday me and Natasha came back from Arshan, which is 200 Km from Irkutsk city. It is a great trip to the place of great beauty and most fresh air in the world. The nature was welcoming us. It is early spring now, but it was very warm and sunny on Saturday, when we had a great walk around the village and a little bit into the forest.

Arshan is famous for its holy healing waters that flow from underground in countless spots in and around the village. You can take some water for drinking, in some spots you can even take a swim in hot mineral waters.

Lake Baikal in March

Irkutsk city is the gate to lake Baikal. Starting by exploring the city and its surroundings it turns into search of the way to get to the lake, to Listvyanka.

This is a small village 60 kilometers from Irkutsk on the shore of the lake. Cozy, compact and full of places to visit and stay. What is the most important here? Lake Baikal Museum with cool aquarium and great guides. Dog farm where you can get a ride and visit real Russian blacksmith workshop. Local fish and suvenir market and other cool places that can make someone miss the last minibus back to Irkutsk.

After that one just wants to see more and just can’t get enough. So the road leads to more distant but closer to the lake place. Olkhon Island is the biggest and only inhabitant and tiny town of Khuzhir is waiting for travelers all year round.

March is the best time to go to the island across the ice driving a car or minibus. Frozen lake opens a full spectrum of ice roads that can be taken to the places not available in summer.

During few days it is possible to exlore a huge variety of different destinations around Olkhon Island. Fresh air, adventures on ice, great company of fellow travelers, warm welcoming hosts and great fresh local food. Simple, healthy and fun times guaranteed.

Olkhon Island Trip

Visiting Irkutsk can be fun, but it’s even more impressive to take a 3 day tour to Olkhon Island. At first it’s 5 hour ride on a minibus, including 2 kilometer drive across ice to reach the island.

After arriving and checking into hotel its nice to ralax and explore surrounding area on foot a little bit, have a dinner. Next morning wake up to have a great walk before ice safari starts.

Weather is usually sunny and you get to see sunlight playing with Baikal ice and landscape. Some people go on foot, but we prefer old style offroad minivans that local ice captains run across snow deserts.

Even there was a great outdoor lunch during ice trip, eating dinner will be the top priority. Excited, it is easy to get tired fast. Local steam cooked buns and bakery with various fillings will keep you up and running. The food is simple and mostly natural.

There are plenty of spots to warm up, eat and socialise. There is a post office, few shops, bicycle rental and many guesthouses. Electricity appeared here only in 2005, so the place is still developing. People are very kind and welcoming.

Great Sunny Day

Today it was the first Irkutsk free tour day for two cool German travelers. Actually they have discovered the city center by themselves few days before, so it was necessary to come up with something else. No problem!

We went to have fun in another part of the city, where travelers usually don’t go. Taking an electric trolley bus from downtown we reached a very nice area with access to a great walk on the ice-frozen Angara river and see icebreaker ship that is more than 100 years old.

Also it was a just super great sunny day! Russian-style winter fun activities made everybody super happy.