: to Ulan-Ude

Why Go? Krasnoyarsk ...... 180 If you’ve made it this far from or Běijīng, this 1500km ...... 187 ribbon of rail and sleeper is where things get interesting. Western Lake Baikal ...... 197 Arguably the most varied stretch of the line, bid farewell to your provodnitsaa (carriage attendant) along its length for Listvyanka ...... 197 some of the most memorable experiences Siberia has to off er. Port Baikal ...... 201 Most making a single halt on their Trans-Sib odyssey do Bolshie Koty ...... 202 so in Irkutsk, surely Siberia’s most engaging city. Only 350 Olkhon Island ...... 202 years old in 2011, this grande dame packs in heaps of history, South Baikal & the and when you tire of ornate facades, stuccoed palaces and Tunka Valley ...... 204 streets of traditional timber dwellings, glorious Lake Baikal, Ulan-Ude ...... 206 the unrivalled highlight of any rail trip across , is just Eastern Baikal ...... 213 a short bus ride away. When the tracks fi nally peel away from Baikal’s mind- boggling vistas,Trans-Sibbers fi nd themselves in the Republic of Buryatiya, an exotically Asian retreat of Buddhist temples and shamanist traditions, increasingly coming under the Route Info gravitational pull of southern neighbour Mongolia. » Distance: 1544km » Duration: 24 to 26½ hours When to Go » Time zones: Moscow +4, Moscow +5 Irkutsk °C/°F Temp Rainfall inches/mm 30/86 6/150 Best Places to 20/68 10/50 4/100 Stay & Eat 0/32 -10/14 » Baikaler Eco-Hostel (p 199 ) -20/-4 2/50 » Hotel Sayen (p 192 ) -30/-22 -40/-40 » Derevenka (p 200 ) -50/-58 0 » Nikita’s Homestead (p 204 ) J FDNOSAJJMAM » Kochevnik restaurant Nov–Mar Snug- Mar Take a stroll Jul & Aug Join (p 193 ) gle into a Russian on Lake Baikal holidaying » Baatarai Urgöö restaurant Railways blanket when Siberia’s Russians on the (p 211 ) and watch the harsh winter sandy beaches snowbound Sibe- turns its surface of Lake Baikal’s rian landscapes. hard as steel. eastern shore. 177

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v Irkutsk er sey Region eni Y ver Kansk Ri (Padunskie Krasnoyarsk Ilansky Porogie) Bratsk Gidrostroitel Zaozernaya Bratsk Anzyobi Tsentralny To Divnogorsk (5km) Bratsk ver Ri er Sea v im

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ver Ri a Sayany Ly Krasnoyarsky Mountains Territory er Riv To Olkhon Island; Yergaki Barguzin Mountains Polovina Valley Usole-Sibirskoe Tuva Republic LAKE BAIKAL: KRASNOYARSK TO ULAN-UDE Tunka Listvyanka LAKE BAIKAL: KRASNOYARSK TO ULAN-UDE Valley Irkutsk Circumbaikal Railway Arshan Nilova Kultuk Pustyn enisey Mondy Maly Y Kyren Baikalsk MONGOLIA Port Baikal To Ivolginsky (Ivolga) Datsan Lake Baikal

Krasnoyarsk to Ulan-Ude Highlights 1 Gazing out across the 3 Admiring the 6 Navigating a section southern shores of Lake ostentatious 19th-century of the Great Baikal Trail Baikal from a slow train architecture of Irkutsk between Listvyanka (p 197 ) between Irkutsk and Ulan- (p187 ), once known as the and Bolshie Koty (p 202 ) Ude (p 179 ), possibly the ‘Paris of Siberia’ 7 Enjoying a couple most attractive section of 4 Walking, cycling or of meditative days on the entire Trans-Sib line hitching a lift across frozen wonderful Olkhon Island 2 Taking the ultimate Lake Baikal (p 197 ) (p202 ) or getting away from Trans-Sib branch line trip on 5 Mooching with the it all in the often overlooked

the Circumbaikal Railway monks at Buddhist temple Barguzin Valley (p214 ) (p203) for some stunning Ivolginsky (Ivolga) Datsan Baikal vistas (p213 )

The Route medal at the 1900 Paris Expo (along with the Eiff el Tower). The Yenisey traditionally marks the unoffi - Krasnoyarsk to Tayshet cial border between Eastern and Western Siberia. 4098KM FROM MOSCOW Heading east out of 4229KM There’s no stop for the Rossiya, but Krasnoyarsk your fellow travellers will not have most other trains do shudder to a halt at Uyar, even fathomed there’s a foreigner in their midst where you can admire the dinky cream and green before the train crosses the 1km-long Yenisey art nouveau–style station. Understandably the River bridge, whose 1898 original won a gold