Olkhon Island is the fourth largest lake bound island in the world. It is by far the largest island in Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia, with an area of 730km2.
The indigenous Buryats, adherents of shamanism, believe the island to be a spiritual place; one of the groups of deities revered in Buryati yellow shamanism is called the oikony noyod, the "thirteen lords of Olkhon".On the western coast, close to Khuzhir, is Baikal's most famous landmark, the Shamanka, or Shaman's Rock.
Things to be prepared and pay attention to:
We will catch late night train at 20:30 and oversleep on the train. Train stops at Sukhbaatar, Selenge aimag, so you will have chance to go out to buy a drink or grab a food. The whole trip takes 2 night and 1 day
We will cross Russian border; therefore, we have to go through passport check and custom control. We will stop at Naushki for 4 hours so again plenty of time to go out of train to explore Naushki. Overnight on the train.
A guide will pick you at the train station, and we will directly will head to the Olkhon. Destination to the Island is 270km and it will take 6 hours approximately as we will stop to have lunch at Buriyat eatery along roadside, and waiting for ferry to enter the Island and it takes time. Once we settled at the hostel, after cup of tea to warm up we will go walking along the beach to see lake and sacred Burkhan rock and introduce to history of Burkhan rock and how Lake Baikal formed in time. Then you will have welcome dinner to be introduced to the people joining your trip.
After breakfast around 10 o’clock we will head to east to see Khaboi which is the highest point on the island. View from Khaboi is breathtaking as you can experience panoramic view of the entire island as well as seeing to the open water. In Khaboi you we have activities such as trekking, swimming and fishing if you want.
Olkhon is famous for its fish omul, so how is it sound? You will have local delicacy fish soup in open air in the forest? When we back in Khuzhir, before dinner you will have free time of your own so you can go out and explore Khuzhir and take pictures.
Today is a free day so you can enjoy your own time. You may go walking, taking pictures or stay in your room for rest or read book. It’s all up to you. Also you can lease skates and sledge and go skating, and hockey. Dinner will be served at 6 o’clock.
Olkhon Island is famous for its fish Omul as the water surrounding the Island is pristine, therefore taste of the fish is finest around here. So when you are on Olkhon you have to try fish soup and appetizer made of Omul. So today’s activity is go ice fishing on Lake Baikal. There is a small game among group that whoever catch the fish first will receive small prize and cook will prepare fish soup for that person especially. This night is the last night on Olkhon Island so this night you will have special dinner that says goodbye to you all.
Today will have early morning breakfast, and after breakfast we will head to the Irkutsk. Once we are in Irkutsk you can go shopping as well as have lunch in Russian restaurant. After that we will go to the train station. Overnight on the train.
Whole day we are on the train, but there is times that we can go out for a drink or food while train stops at some mail stations, such as at Ulan-Ude, Naushki and Sukhbaatar.
We will arrive in Ulaanbaatar around 8am at train station.
Cancelation policy: moderate: could cancel 2 weeks before without any deduction, but should pay bank transfer charge by yourself