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Lake Baikal: to Ulan-Ude

Why Go? Includes If you’ve made it this far from or Běijīng, this Krasnoyarsk...... 172 1500km ribbon of rail and sleeper is where things get in- Divnogorsk...... 179 teresting. Arguably the most varied stretch of the line, bid ...... 179 farewell to your provodnitsa (carriage attendant) along its Listvyanka...... 188 length for some of the most memorable experiences Siberia has to offer. Port Baikal...... 192 Most travellers making only a single stop on their Trans- Olkhon Island...... 193 Sib odyssey do so in Irkutsk, surely Siberia’s most engag- South Baikal & the ing city. Only a smidgen over 350 years old, this grand city Tunka Valley...... 195 packs in heaps of history. When you tire of ornate facades, Ulan-Ude...... 197 stuccoed palaces and streets of traditional timber dwellings, Eastern Baikal...... 203 glorious , the unrivalled highlight of any rail trip across , is just a short bus ride away. When the tracks finally peel away from Baikal’s mind-­ boggling vistas, Trans-Sibbers find themselves in the Re- public of Buryatiya, an exotically Asian retreat of Buddhist Route Info temples and shamanist traditions, increasingly coming un- ¨¨Distance: 1544km der the gravitational pull of southern neighbour Mongolia. ¨¨Duration: 24 hours ¨¨Time zones: Moscow +7, Moscow +8 When to Go Irkutsk °C/°F Temp Rainfall inches/mm 30/86 6/150 Best Places to 20/68 Stay & Eat 10/50 4/100 0/32 ¨¨Belka Hostel (p190) -10/14 -20/-4 ¨¨Iris (p176) 2/50 -30/-22 ¨¨Mergen Bator (p200) -40/-40 ¨ -50/-58 0 ¨Nikita’s Homestead (p194) J FDM A M J J A S O N ¨¨Kochevnik restaurant Snuggle Go ice fishing Join (p185) Nov–Mar Mar Jul & Aug into a Russian on Lake Baikal holidaying Rus- ¨¨Rassolnik (p186) Railways blanket when Siberia’s sians on the sandy and watch the harsh winter turns beaches of Lake snowbound Sibe- its surface hard as Baikal’s eastern rian landscapes. steel. shore.  Lake Baikal: Krasnoyarsk to Ulan-Ude 169 n Valley Island; Barguzi

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ni the Gazing out across Taking the ultimate the ultimate Taking Ye TheRoute 8 Territory Krasnoyarsk Yergaki Main Trans-Siberian Route Main Trans-Siberian Alternative Routes Trans-Sib branch line trip on branch Trans-Sib Railway the Circumbaikal stunning some for (192) vistas Baikal 2 Krasnoyarsk to Ulan-Ude Highlights 1 southern shores of Lake Lake of shores southern train a slow from Baikal and Ulan- Irkutsk between the most possibly Ude, the of section attractive line Trans-Sib entire Mountains Krasnoyarsk To Divnogorsk (5km) 0 0 KRASNOYARSK TO TAYSHET TO KRASNOYARSK 4098km from Moscow eastHeading out of Krasnoyarsk your fellow travellers will not have even fathomed there’s a foreigner in their midst before the train crosses 8