| Lake Baikal - a gem of Siberia

In Tartarian language Siberia means "a sleeping land", an eastern part of Russia that stretches for 7 thousand kilometers from west to east and for 3.5 thousand kilometers from north to south. And today, 400 years since Russian travelers had discovered it, this piece of land still remains mysterious, magnificent and attractive for tourists from all over the world.

70 kilometers off Irkutsk, the capital of Siberia, there is Lake Baikal, the largest (It is about 636 km long and about 80 km wide), deepest (1 641 m) and very ancient (25 mln years old) lake in the world that holds 23% of the world fresh water resources. Lake Baikal is included, since 1996, in the official UNESCO list of the World Heritage. Salubrious microclimate there is one of the values of the region.

One can travel through the Lake Baikal region in various ways - hiking tours along the lakeshores, cruises on comfortable vessels, diving to the lake bottom, or climbing up the mountains surrounding the lake with stony ring. The Krugobaikalskaya Railway that for many years was a part of the well-known Transsiberian Railway is a unique monument of the late 19th and early 20th centuries railway architecture.

Traveling to Baikal is not only a mere holidaymaking. It can be combined with taking treatments at the Centre of Oriental Medicine where patients can obtain advice of renowned specialists, tibetologists and emchy-lamas, and get cure based on unique capabilities of untraditional Tibet medicine. Comprehensive diagnostics is carried out by unusual but rather effective methods - by pulse and iris.

Among other fresh-water lakes Baikal is also unique in the diversity of its biota. The northwestern and northern lakeshores are a happy hunting ground where shooting for bears, reindeers or other wild hoofs. Particularly interesting and enthralling hunting Manchurian deer "at bell" in leaf-fall season and sable, world famed for its valuable fur. Fishing is also a nailing thing here.

Fishing on Baikal is a peerless pleasure. In summer time one can both spin fish while cruising on a launch and angle staying on the shore. Subglacial fishing in wintertime is no less popular. Since Lake Baikal is frozen rather late the best month for such fishing is March.

The tours last from several days to two to three weeks. But even the most long lasting traveling on Baikal, its surroundings and Siberia doesn't seem tiring. There you'll find a unique and still virgin animal kingdom and foliage in a state they have been created by Nature.

| Helicopter flight over Lake Baikal

It is the most expedient way to observe the broad and majestic expanses of the lake and to make photographs. The route goes over hot springs in the Shumak River bottomland. In this place landing is envisaged to see the springs, take a hot radon or mineral bath and Russian banya.

| "Golden Yarns" of Lake Baikal

The round-Baikal railway which is a part of the well-known Trans-Siberian main line is a unique monument of the 17th - early 20th century railway-tracking technology. This is a real work of engineering and architecture that has no equals in the world.

| Round-Baikal cruises

In the course of the 10- to 14-day cruise on a comfortable motor vessel tourists can see the most remarkable sights of the lake - the round-Baikal railway, the Olkhon Island, thermal springs, the Baikal National Park.

| In the wake of old-time religions

The tour includes exiting excursions around the Buryatia lands, visiting the Ivolginsky Datzan - the Central Clerical Administration of Buddhists, ancient sanctuary in the Yangazhinskaya Valley, Tamchinsk and Atsagatsk datzans.

| Birds of Baikal

For those who love birds and professional ornithologists special ornithological tours are arranged. The diversity of local landscapes determines the specific variety of the bird world comprising Siberian taiga, Mongolian step, Alpine, Amur-Ussuri, Tibet, and European specious. The Baikal region is on the way of migration of many birds from the North Latitudes.

| Remedial tours "Tibet Medicine"

In course of the tour one can combine holiday-making with taking a special Tibet-methodology treatment course at the Oriental Medicine Center where patients can obtain advice of renowned specialists, tibetologists and emchy-lemas, and get cure based on unique capabilities of untraditional Tibet medicine. Comprehensive diagnostics is carried out by unusual but rather effective methods - by pulse feeling and iris observing. Treatments are based on phytotherapy, acupuncture, cautery, bloodletting, biocorrection, manual therapy, point massage, Tibet baths, and many other methods.

All the tours have been worked out by Baikal Travel agency.