Walking on transparent blue ice, dog sledding, fishing for omul - this and much more awaits you at Lake Baikal. We will tell you how to celebrate the New Year on the lake, what to do and how much it costs in 2021.
To visit the deepest and cleanest Lake Baikal in winter is the dream of many travelers. The endless ideal surface of the lake sparkling in the sun, huge ice floes on the shores of the most bizarre shapes and shades are amazing. According to local belief, a wish made here on New Year's Eve will certainly come true.
How is the New Year celebrated at Lake Baikal?
Tourists are offered several places for celebrating the New Year on Lake Baikal: the most popular are the hotels of the Baikalsky tract, the village of Listvyanka and the Maloye More. The mysterious island of Olkhon also offers accommodation options on New Year's Eve, but the infrastructure here is not as well developed as we would like.
Listvyanka is a popular tourist village at the mouth of the Angara River, the only one flowing out of the lake, therefore this village is often called the gateway of Lake Baikal. Listvyanka has a well-developed infrastructure, there is a diving center and a museum with a sealarium and an aquarium, where you can make virtual dives to the bottom of the lake in a bathyscaphe.
On the way to the village, all tourists drop by the architectural and ethnographic museum. "Taltsy"... Here you can see the buildings of the peoples who inhabited Siberia in the 17-19 centuries - Russians, Buryats, Evenks and Tofs. In total, several thousand exhibits are presented. On New Year's holidays, folk festivities unfold here - you can ride skins down the hill with everyone, take part in sack fights, play snowballs and drink fragrant herbal tea. Folk celebrations with mummers are also held at Mount Sobolina Is a ski resort in Baikalsk.
In Listvyanka, you can buy delicious Baikal omul and stay in one of the hotels or recreation centers. Some of them offer their own holiday program. So, the hotel complex "Baikal" offers to celebrate the new year 2021 in the style of the Wild West, and "Baikal Terema" - a classic Russian feast with music and dances.
Small sea in winter it is a favorite place for fishermen on the lake. The camp sites of the Maloye More are already significantly removed from Irkutsk - 250 km from the city, but there are also many year-round recreation centers with comfortable conditions for living in winter. On Baikal, for the new year 2021, the Hadarta base promises a luxurious banquet with karaoke and fireworks, and the Altan base promises a festive program in the Soviet style a la "Blue Light" and a disco.
Rest on Lake Baikal for the New Year - 2021. What to do?
During the winter holidays, lovers of extreme sports and outdoor activities come to Lake Baikal. Jeeping, skiing, snowmobiling, dog sledding, a real Siberian bath and omul fishing are the main attractions of tourists. For skiers and snowboarders, several tracks of different difficulty levels are organized, there are training slopes for beginners, and an ice rink in Listvyanka stretches along the entire village. Traditionally, on New Year's Eve, divers put a Christmas tree under the water, and daredevils who dare to dive under the ice will be able to see it.
Find out what to do on Lake Baikal in winter.
Tourists are especially delighted walk on the lake: Baikal is so transparent that in some places you can see the rocky bottom of Baikal and its underwater inhabitants. And what beautiful splash formations! Extremists dare to walk on the lake and even ride a car (bicycle), although in January this is a rather dangerous activity, the strongest ice will be only in February.
Weather permitting, you can take a short trip around Circum-Baikal Railway, recognized as one of the most beautiful in the world, to see historic tunnels and architectural structures. Vacationers in Listvyanka can take a lift to the observation deck of the mountain "Chersky Stone" and admire the magnificent panorama from there.
What else can you do after celebrating the New Year - 2021? Interesting to visit mystical Olkhon - the most mysterious island on Lake Baikal, or go to a resort with mineral waters and hot springs. Most of the thermal springs are located in the north of Lake Baikal, you can get there by train from Severobaikalsk. The springs are equipped with heated changing rooms, there are lodges nearby, and ski and skate rental is organized. Completely free and quite extreme, given the frost on the street, you can swim in the hot springs of the Chivyrkuisky Bay, there are also fonts and wooden locker rooms here.
History lovers will find it interesting to visit Irkutsk with a sightseeing tour: see the embankment, temples, the central square and streets of the old city, a monument to Kolchak. Children will be delighted by the ice town built on the occasion of the holiday.
Find out what other interesting places of Lake Baikal can be visited on vacation. Perhaps you will be interested in reading about vacationing on Lake Baikal in the summer and how to get to the lake by car.
Weather
On New Year's holidays, a real Siberian winter reigns on Lake Baikal. Dazzling drifts of snow, sparkling ice and frost in the sun: -10 ... -15 ° С during the day, at night the temperature drops below -20 ° С. Despite the cold, the air here is dry, the sun often shines, and frosts are easily tolerated. However, warm clothing and thermal underwear are a must, plus sunscreen and glasses.
Prices on Lake Baikal for the New Year - 2021
Prices in cafes and hotels on Lake Baikal traditionally rise during the New Year holidays. A New Year's banquet in a restaurant will cost from 3 to 10 thousand rubles per person. Entrance to museums costs 200-300 rubles, nerpinarium - 500 rubles. In 2021, accommodation with meals in a hotel or in a recreation center starts from 2500 rubles. per person. Rooms in budget guest houses - from 1200 rubles for two. A vacation home can be rented from 1400 rubles on New Year's Eve, a chalet - from 2000 rubles.
We recommend looking for recreation centers, hotels and other accommodation options on the Roomguru service - the earlier you book, the cheaper the accommodation will cost you.
Reviews and impressions of tourists about the rest on Lake Baikal
Celebrating the New Year on Lake Baikal is to get some of the most vivid impressions in your life: here is a completely extraordinary nature, bright winter sun and a lot of entertainment for every taste. In summer, the charm of the lake is unwittingly lost due to the flickering crowds of tourists, and in winter there are fewer vacationers, and most of them are true fans of Lake Baikal. In addition, as tourists note in their reviews, a smaller number of vacationers has a positive effect on the quality of service, and the prices are surprising with their loyalty.
