How many kilometers is Lake Baikal. Where is Lake Baikal located? Studying the map of Russia

Baikal(bur. Baigal dalai, Baigal nuur) - a lake of tectonic origin in the southern part of Eastern Siberia, the deepest lake in the world and the largest (by volume) reservoir of watery fresh water. It contains about 19% of the global supply of fresh water. The lake is located in the rift plain in Eastern Siberia on the border of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia. 336 rivers flow into it, many of which are the Selenga, Upper Angara, Barguzin and others, and one river flows out - the Angara.

Information about Baikal:

Geographical location and dimensions of the basin

Baikal is located in the center of Asia, in Russia, on the border of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia. The lake stretches from northeast to southwest for 620 km in the form of a huge crescent. The width of Lake Baikal ranges from 24 to 79 km. There is no other deepest lake on earth. The bottom of Baikal is 1167 meters below the level of the World Ocean, and the mirror of its waters is 453 meters higher.

The area of ​​​​the aquatic surface is 31,722 km² (excluding islands), which is approximately equal to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bsuch states as Belgium, the Netherlands or Denmark. Baikal ranks sixth among the largest lakes in the world in terms of the area of ​​its water surface.

The lake is located in a specific basin, surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges and hills. With all this, the western coast is rocky and steep, the relief of the eastern coast is more gentle (in some places the mountains recede from the coast for 10 km).

Depth

Baikal is the deepest lake on the planet Earth. The modern value of the greatest depth of the lake - 1637 m - was established in 1983 by L.G. Kolotilo and A.I. Sulimov during the performance of hydrographic work by the expedition of the GUNiO of the USSR Ministry of Defense at the point with coordinates 53 ° 14 "59" N. latitude. 108°05"11" E

The greatest depth was mapped in 1992 and proved in 2002 as a result of a joint Belgian-Spanish-Russian project to create the latest bathymetric map of Baikal, when the depths were digitized at 1,312,788 points of the lake’s water area (the depth values ​​were obtained as a result of recalculation acoustic sounding data combined with additional bathymetric information, including echolocation and seismic profiling; one of the creators of the discovery of the greatest depth, L.G. Kolotilo, was a participant in this project).

If we take into account that the water surface of the lake is located at an altitude of 453 m above sea level, then the lower point of the basin lies 1186.5 m below the level of the world ocean, which makes the Baikal bowl also one of the deepest continental depressions.

The average depth of the lake is also very large - 744.4 m. It exceeds the greatest depths of many very deep lakes.

Apart from Baikal, only two lakes on Earth have a depth of more than 1000 meters: Tanganyika (1470 m) and the Caspian Sea (1025 m). According to some data, the subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica has a depth of more than 1200 m, but it must be taken into account that this subglacial “lake” is not a lake in the sense that we are used to, because there are four kilometers of ice above the water and it is a kind of closed container, where the water is under tremendous pressure, and the "surface" or "level" of water in different parts of this "lake" differs by more than 400 meters. Consequently, the concept of "depth" for the subglacial Lake Vostok is fundamentally different from the depth of "ordinary" lakes.

Water volume

The water reserves in Baikal are huge - 23,615.39 km³ (about 19% of the global fresh water reserves - all fresh lakes in the world contain 123 thousand km³ of water). In terms of water reserves, Baikal occupies the 2nd place in the world among lakes, second only to the Caspian Sea, but the water in the Caspian Sea is salty. There is more water in Baikal than in all 5 Great Lakes taken together, and 25 times more than in Lake Ladoga.

Tributaries and runoff

336 rivers and streams flow into Baikal, but this number takes into account only constant tributaries. The largest of them are Selenga, Upper Angara, Barguzin, Turka, Snezhnaya, Sarma. One river flows out of the lake - the Angara.

Water characteristics

Baikal water is very transparent. The main characteristics of Baikal water can be briefly described as follows: it contains very few dissolved and suspended mineral substances, negligible organic impurities, and a lot of oxygen.

The water in Baikal is cool. The temperature of the surface layers even in summer does not exceed +8…+9°C, in some bays - +15°C. The temperature of the deep layers is about +4°C. Only in the summer of 1986 did the surface water temperature in the northern part of Baikal rise to a record 22-23°C.

The water in the lake is so transparent that individual pebbles and various objects can be seen at a depth of 40 m. At this time, the Baikal water is blue. In summer and autumn, when a mass of plant and animal organisms develop in the water warmed by the sun, its transparency drops to 8-10 m, and the color becomes blue-green and green. The purest and most transparent water of Lake Baikal contains so few mineral salts (96.7 mg/l) that it can be used instead of distilled water.

The freezing period is on average January 9 - May 4; Baikal freezes completely, not counting a small, 15-20 km long section located at the source of the Angara. The sailing period for passenger and cargo ships is usually from June to September; research vessels begin navigation right after the ice breaks up the lake and complete it with the freezing of Lake Baikal, in other words, from May to January.

By the end of winter, the ice thickness on Lake Baikal reaches 1 m, and in the bays - 1.5-2 m. In severe frost, cracks, which have the local name "stanovo cracks", break the ice into separate fields. The length of such cracks is 10-30 km, and the width is 2-3 m. Breaks occur once a year in approximately the same areas of the lake. They are accompanied by a sonorous crack, reminiscent of thunder or cannon shots. It seems to a person standing on the ice that the ice cover is bursting just under his feet and he will currently fall into the abyss. Thanks to the cracks in the ice, the fish in the lake do not die from a lack of oxygen. Baikal ice, in addition, is very transparent, and the sun's rays fall through it, therefore planktonic aquatic plants that produce oxygen rapidly develop in the water. Along the shores of Lake Baikal, it is possible to watch ice grottoes and splashes in winter.

Baikal ice presents scientists with many mysteries. So, in the 1930s, specialists from the Baikal Limnological Station found unusual forms of ice cover, corresponding only to Baikal. For example, “hills” are cone-shaped ice mounds up to 6 m high, hollow inside. Outwardly, they resemble ice tents, “open” in the opposite direction from the coast. The hills can be placed separately, and from time to time they form small "mountain ranges". There are also a number of other types of ice on Baikal: “sokuy”, “kolobovnik”, “autumn”.

In addition, in the spring of 2009, satellite images of various parts of Lake Baikal were widely distributed on the Internet, on which dark rings were found. According to scientists, these rings appear due to the rise of deep waters and an increase in the temperature of the surface layer of water in the central part of the ring structure. As a result of this process, an anticyclonic (clockwise) direction appears. In the zone where the direction achieves the highest velocities, the vertical water exchange increases, which leads to accelerated destruction of the ice cover.

Bottom relief

The bottom of Lake Baikal has a pronounced relief. Along the entire coast of Baikal, coastal shallow waters (shelves) and underwater slopes are developed to a greater or lesser extent; the bed of 3 main basins of the lake is expressed; there are underwater banks and even underwater ridges.

The Baikal basin is divided into three basins: Southern, Middle and Northern, separated from each other by 2 ridges - Akademichesky and Selenginsky.

More expressive is the Academic Ridge, which stretches along the bottom of Lake Baikal from Olkhon Island to the Ushkany Islands (which are its highest part). Its length is about 100 km, the highest height above the bottom of Baikal is 1848 m. The thickness of bottom sediments in Baikal reaches about 6 thousand m, and as established by gravity survey, one of the highest mountains on Earth, more than 7000 m high, is flooded in Baikal.

Islands and peninsulas

There are 27 islands on Baikal (Ushkany Islands, Olkhon Peninsula, Yarki Peninsula and others), the largest of them is Olkhon (71 km long and 12 km wide, located almost in the center of the lake near its western coast, the area is 729 km², according to according to other sources - 700 km²), the largest peninsula is Svyatoy Nos.

seismic activity

The Baikal region (the so-called Baikal rift zone) is one of the areas with the highest seismicity: earthquakes constantly occur here, the strength of most of which is one or two points on the MSK-64 intensity scale. But there are also strong ones; So, in 1862, during the ten-point Kudarinsky earthquake in the northern part of the Selenga delta, a land area of ​​​​200 km² with 6 uluses, in which 1300 people lived, went under water, and Proval Bay was formed. Strong earthquakes were also recorded in 1903 (Baikal), 1950 (Mondinskoe), 1957 (Muiskoe), 1959 (Middle Baikal). The epicenter of the Middle Baikal earthquake was located at the bottom of Baikal near the village of Sukhaya (southeast coast). His strength reached 9 points. In Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk, the force of the head shock reached 5-6 points, cracks and minor damage were observed in buildings and structures. The last strong earthquakes on Baikal occurred in August 2008 (9 points) and in February 2010 (6.1 points).

Climate

Baikal winds often raise a storm on the lake. The water mass of Baikal influences the climate of the coastal area. Winters are milder here, and summers are cooler. The arrival of spring on Baikal is delayed by 10-15 days compared to the surrounding areas, and autumn is often quite long.

The Baikal region is distinguished by a large total duration of sunshine. For example, in the village of Huge Goloustnoye, it reaches 2524 hours, which is more than in the Black Sea resorts, and is a record for Russia. There are only 37 days in the absence of the sun in the same inhabited Friday, and 48 on the Olkhon Peninsula.

The special features of the climate are justified by the Baikal winds, which have their own names - barguzin, sarma, verkhovik, kultuk.

Origin of the lake

The origin of Baikal still causes scientific controversy. Scientists usually determine the age of the lake at 25-35 million years. This fact also makes Baikal a unique natural object, because most of the lakes, separately of glacial origin, live on average 10-15 thousand years, and later they are filled with silty sediments and become swampy.

But there is also a version about the youth of Baikal, put forward by A.V. Tatarinov in 2009, which received circumstantial evidence during the second step of the Mirs expedition to Baikal. Namely, the activity of mud volcanoes at the bottom of Lake Baikal allows scientists to believe that the modern coastal strip of the lake is only 8 thousand years old, and the deep-water part is 150 thousand years old.

Of course, only that the lake is located in a rift basin and is similar in structure, for example, to the Dead Sea basin. Some researchers explain the formation of Baikal by its location in the transform fault zone, others imply the presence of a mantle plume under Baikal, and others explain the formation of the basin by passive rifting as a result of the collision of the Eurasian plate and Hindustan. Be that as it may, the transformation of Baikal continues to this day - earthquakes constantly occur in the lake districts. There are speculations that the subsidence of the basin is associated with the formation of vacuum chambers due to the outpouring of basalts on the surface (Quaternary period).

Additional information on the site about lakes:

Baikal is recognized as the deepest freshwater lake in the world, whose bottom has different depths and is uneven. The maximum depth of Lake Baikal from the surface of the water to the lowest point of the reservoir is 1.642 kilometers.

The second deepest lake after Lake Baikal is Taganika, which is located in Africa. Its depth is about 1.5 kilometers.

Such majestic reservoirs - Baikal and Taganika - have not yet been fully studied by geologists, so the depth of the lakes may still change.

Baikal is the deepest lake in the world

To find out how deep Lake Baikal is, several hydrographic expeditions were carried out. One of the most significant was the study of the lake in the late 1950s, carried out near the coast of Olkhon.

According to the results obtained, the maximum depth of Lake Baikal was 1,620 meters. This depth was recorded in the section of the Izhemei and Khaara-Khushun capes.

For more than 20 years, these results were not disputed by scientists, but in the early 1980s. another expedition was organized, the measurements of which established that the deepest lake in the world is Baikal.

Then it was found that the maximum depth is 1642 meters. This mark has not changed until now, although other attempts at deep-sea expeditions have been made.

All of them allow you to very carefully explore the bottom of Baikal, since the depth of the lake can change due to seismic activity and earthquakes.

But so far, the data do not change the fact that Lake Baikal is 1,642 kilometers deep. Australian, European, Asian, American scientists take part in the study of the bottom of the reservoir.

Thanks to all the efforts, the bathymetric map of Baikal was significantly refined and improved. The latest research is based on the fact that not only immersion is carried out, but also an acoustic study.

Mysterious depths of Baikal

Lake Baikal is the deepest in the world, which scientists could not explain for a long time. The research results showed that the main reason for this phenomenon is a large number of rivers, tributaries, powerful river flows, streams.

Due to this, the water area of ​​​​the reservoir occupies a huge area on which Denmark or Belgium can easily fit. At the same time, the average depth is 730-745 meters, and this value can increase or decrease near the coast, islands, bays.

Other dimensions that distinguish Baikal as the deepest lake from other similar reservoirs:

The bottom of Baikal is located below the level of the World Ocean (at 1.167 kilometers);

In the southern part of the lake, the depth reaches 1,432 kilometers;

The depressions between the capes are rather shallow - within 259 meters.

In the Barguzinsky Bay - almost 1.3 kilometers.

The deepest depressions are located near the western shore. The bottom of the reservoir is represented by shoals, rocks, reefs, terraces, gorges, canyons, plumes, plains, and ridges.

The bottom is not only sandy or muddy, but strewn with large and small boulders, gravel, marble, limestone, pebbles, clay.

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Lake Baikal is one of the most beautiful and picturesque places not only in the Asian part of our country, but on the whole planet. This ancient lake (its age is approximately 25-35 million years), lying in a rift basin, is located in the southern part of Eastern Siberia. It is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth, 22% of all the purest and most transparent water in the world and 85% of Russia are concentrated here. The volume of water is 23 thousand km 3 (these are the five Great Lakes in the United States taken together). In addition to the value of huge fresh water reserves, which due to its low mineralization (100 g/l) can be safely equated with distilled water, it should also be noted that Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and since 1996 has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Geographical position

Lake Baikal, which has the shape of a crescent elongated from southwest to northeast, is located almost in the very center of the Eurasian continent, in Central Asia, in the southern part of Eastern Siberia. The ancient rift basin of glacial origin, in which the lake basin is located, lies in the Baikal mountain region, surrounded by high peaks of mountain ranges and hills overgrown with dense forests (the border of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia in the Russian Federation).

Characteristics of Lake Baikal

The area of ​​the lake is 31.7 thousand km 2, this is the seventh place in the world after the Caspian Sea-lake, lakes Victoria, Taganika, Huron, Michigan, Upper or the area of ​​the countries of Belgium or the Netherlands. The lake is 636 km long, it is widest in the center (81 km), narrowest - near the delta of the Serenga River (27 km).

The average depth of the lake is 744.4 m higher than the maximum depths of many lakes in the world, its maximum depth, measured by Soviet scientists Kolotilo and Sulimov in 1983, was 1640 m, which made Baikal the deepest lake in the world.

The lake lies in a glacial rift basin, surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges and hills. The length of the coastline is 2 thousand km, the western coast is rocky and steep, the eastern coast is more gentle, the mountains are located tens of kilometers from the coast. The water area of ​​​​the lake has six bays (Barguzinsky, Chivyrkuisky, Proval, Posolsky, Cherkalov, Mukhor), two dozen bays (Listvennaya, Peschanaya, Aya, many closed shallow bays called sory. The only river flows out of the lake - the Angara, flows into more than 336 rivers and rivulets, among the large ones one can name the Selenga, Upper Angara, Barguzin, Snezhnaya, Kichera, etc.

Temperature regime of water

Water, due to its low mineralization, is distinguished by amazing purity, transparency (can be seen to a depth of 40 meters), oxygen saturation. In spring, the water is especially transparent and has a rich blue-blue color; in summer, as a result of the development of organic matter, the transparency decreases and the waters acquire a blue-green tint. The average annual temperature of the water surface is about +4°С, in summer the water is +16, +17°С, in the sors it reaches +22,+23°С.

Baikal is almost completely covered with ice (1-2 meters) from January to May (with the exception of a small area 15-20 km at the source of the Angara). One of the amazing mysteries of Lake Baikal is the appearance in winter of huge dark rings on the ice, which are visible only from a height. Presumably, they are formed as a result of the release of methane from the depths of the lake, and this contributes to the formation of huge steams with a diameter of hundreds of meters with a very thin layer of ice.

Winds on Baikal

Distinctive features of Baikal's climate are its winds, they blow almost always, their maximum wind speed is 40 m/s. There are more than 30 names of the winds blowing there: the wind of the northwestern direction is mountainous, the northeastern wind is barguzin, verkhovik), the southeastern wind is shelonnik, the southwestern wind is kultuk, the sarma is the wind blowing in the center of Baikal. They blow mainly along the coast, on which there are practically no places to hide from such a piercing and strong wind.

Nature of Lake Baikal

The flora and fauna of the lake is diverse and unique. Oxygenated water allows a large number of living organisms to live here, more than 2600 species and subspecies of aquatic inhabitants live here, most of them are endemic. More than 58 species of fish live in the water column, such as omul, grayling, whitefish, taimen, Baikal sturgeon, lenok, golomyanka (a unique fish consisting of 30% fat).

The coast is covered with more than 2,000 species of plants, about 2,000 species of birds nest here, a unique marine mammal lives here - the Baikal seal, in the mountainous part of the Baikal region - the smallest deer in the world - the musk deer.

(Olkhon - the largest island of Lake Baikal)

The northeastern coast of the lake is part of the protected area of ​​the Barguzinsky State Natural Biosphere Reserve, since 1996 Baikal has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Settlements and cities

Large cities located a few dozen kilometers from the lake are Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude (130 km east of the lake) and Severobaikalsk (in the northern part of the lake coast). From Irkutsk (70 km from Baikal), the closest to the oldest Baikal settlement at the headwaters of the Angara - Listvyanka, it is over three hundred years old. The tourist infrastructure is well developed here and there is the Lake Museum dedicated to the history of Baikal, its flora and fauna. Also in the village there is a nerpinarium, where they show an exciting water show with the participation of Baikal seals and the legendary Shaman-stone, a reserved rock at the source of the Angara, ancient shamanic rites were held here in ancient times.

Climate and seasons

(Clear water of Lake Baikal in summer)

Eastern Siberia lies in a temperate sharply continental climatic zone, however, the huge masses of water contained in Lake Baikal have a special effect on the climate of the coast and due to this, unusual microclimate conditions are formed with warm mild winters and cool summers. The water masses of the lake act as a huge natural stabilizer and make winters warmer and summers cooler than, for example, in the same Irkutsk, located at a short distance from the lake (70 km). The air temperature in summer can reach up to +35°C.

(Transparent ice on Lake Baikal in winter)

In winter, the waters of Lake Baikal are bound by incredibly transparent and smooth ice. The temperature above the surface of the lake in the middle of winter is about -21°С, and on the coasts it is 5-10 degrees higher, on average -10°С - 17°С. Due to the slight evaporation of cold water from the surface of the lake, clouds are very rarely formed here, so the area of ​​​​Lake Baikal is characterized by a high total duration of sunshine, cloudy and cloudy days are infrequent.

- the deepest lake. Depth of Baikal about 1700 meters. In the world only one lake can be compared to depth with Lake Baikal. This lake Tanganyika in East Africa. Its depth is about 1400 meters. Depth of Lake Baikal comparable to the depth of the Arctic Ocean, the average depth of which is 1220 meters.

Baikal - most big lake in Asia. Water surface area Lake Baikal over 30 thousand square kilometers.

Lake Baikal water is its main value. Lake Baikal – most large reservoir of fresh water in the world. Baikal contains approximately a fifth of the world's reserves.

The deepest bay Lake Baikal- Barguzinsky. The depth of the Barguzinsky Bay is almost 1300 meters.

The largest bay Lake Baikal- Barguzinsky. The area of ​​the bay is 725 square kilometers.

The youngest bay of Baikal- Fail Bay. Proval Bay was formed after a powerful earthquake in 1862. Part of the Selenga delta with an area of ​​about 200 square kilometers has gone under water. This earthquake also caused the formation the youngest cape of Baikal- Cape Oblom.

The largest island Lake Baikal- Olkhon. The island is located in the middle Baikal and divides lake to the Big and Small seas. The island is 71 kilometers long and 12 kilometers wide.

On Cape Kotelnikovsky is the most. The water temperature in the mineral springs of Cape Kotelnikovsky is plus 81 degrees Celsius.

The basin of Lake Baikal – deepest mainland depression. Bottom of Lake Baikal lies below the level of the world ocean by about 1200 meters.

The largest influx Lake Baikal the Selenga river. The Selenga has a length of about 1000 kilometers. About half of all the water that enters lake, brings precisely the Selenga.

The largest peninsula Lake Baikal- Holy Nose. The peninsula measures about 50 kilometers long and about 20 kilometers wide.

Depth of Lake Baikal

Basin of Baikal consists of three rather separate parts. The middle basin is the deepest. It is here near the eastern coast of Olkhon Island depth of Lake Baikal reaches almost 1700 meters. Depth southern basin Lake Baikal approximately 1432 meters. The largest measured depth northern part Lake Baikal 890 meters. Medium lake depth also very large - more than 700 meters. The biggest depth Small Sea - near the northwestern coast of Olkhon Island. It is approximately equal to 250 meters. The smallest depth in the open Baikal- about 30 meters. Northern and middle basins Lake Baikal separates the underwater Academic Ridge. lake depth in these places about 260 meters. Between the middle and southern basins Lake Baikal the Selenga bridge is located. The smallest depth here 360 ​​meters.

Where is Baikal located?

Baikal is located in the middle of Asia in the south of Eastern Siberia between the Republic of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region of the Russian Federation. Close to lakes the cities of Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude are located.

Length, length, width of Baikal

Lake Baikal is a fracture in the earth's crust filled with water. water in lake carry several hundred large and small streams. Lake Baikal stretched from south to northeast: length or length of Baikal about 640 kilometers. The largest width of Baikal 80 kilometers. Small earthquakes constantly occur in the vicinity of the lake. Occasionally there are big ones. coast Baikal moving away from each other at a rate of 2 centimeters per year - Baikal is growing!

>Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal

Baikal is the deepest lake (1642 meters) and the largest reservoir of fresh water on planet Earth (19 percent of the world's reserves). The length of the lake is 630 km (almost the same distance as from Moscow to St. Petersburg), the maximum width of Baikal is about 80 km.

Where is Lake Baikal on the map of Russia

Lake Baikal on the map should be looked for a little above the border of Russia and Mongolia

Baikal is located in Eastern Siberia on the border of two constituent entities of the Russian Federation: the Irkutsk region (western coast) and the Republic of Buryatia (eastern coast).

How to get to Baikal

You can get to Lake Baikal by train along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow or from any other city located on this railway line, getting off the platform in Irkutsk or Ulan-Ude. Also, regular flights from all Russian cities fly to these cities, however, it is cheaper and easier to fly to Irkutsk. Planes depart to Ulan-Ude much less frequently.

On the West coast, the main tourist bases are located in Listvyanka and on the island of Olkhon (the village of Khuzhir), and on the East Coast, the stronghold of all travel is Ust-Barguzin and Gremyachinsk.

From Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude to Baikal itself can be reached by minibus train, train, bus. From Irkutsk in the season (June-August) can be reached by water. In a straight line from Irkutsk to Baikal 70 km.

The easiest way to get to Listvyanka is the travel time is about an hour, it takes 4-5 hours to get to the tourist centers on the Small Sea from Irkutsk, the same amount to Olkhon plus a ferry crossing (15 minutes and a queue).

From Ulan-Ude to Gremyachinsk 1.5 hours, to Ust-Barguzin 4-5 hours.

Attractions of Baikal

Baikal, first of all, is famous for its natural attractions, and mainly beach, hiking and sanatorium tourism is developed here, although there are several museums and historical sites in the vicinity of the lake.
Swimming in Baikal is best from mid-July to mid-August, sometimes until early September, the lake warms up for a long time, but it also cools down for a long time. For a beach holiday, you should choose the bays and bays of Lake Baikal, they are the warmest. But one must understand that the water warms up to 17-18 degrees, the maximum recorded warming of water in the coastal waters of Lake Baikal is 23 degrees. The warmest water on the Buryat coast is in the Barguzinsky Bay and Chivyrkuisky.

Settlement of Listvyanka

The village of Listvyanka is the most developed and convenient Baikal resort, here is the Baikal Limnological Museum with aquariums, which represent the living flora and fauna of the lake, a small zoo, the Plamenevsky Gallery, which exhibits paintings by young artists, and a park of unusual metal sculptures.

Also from the village you can get to the famous Shaman-Stone (a place of worship for shamans), the Memorial Stone of Vampilov (installed near the place of his death), the astrophysical Baikal laboratory and to the source of the Angara. Also near Listvyanka you can climb one of the most beautiful observation platforms - the Chersky Stone.

Circular Baikal Railway

From the city of Slyudyanka on the Trans-Siberian, where you can visit the museum of Baikal gems, to the port of Baikal there is the famous Circular Baikal Railway - a miracle of engineering.

On the way, in the rocks along the very shore of the lake, a train passes, which will be interesting to ride. The train makes numerous stops during which you can take photos. As you can see on the diagram, the Circum-Baikal Railway does not make a circle along the coast of Lake Baikal, but is currently a dead end line of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Detailed schedule and prices can be found on the website.

Olkhon Island and the Small Sea

Practically, the entire coast of Lake Baikal is nature reserves and national parks with special conditions for staying on their territory. The most famous of them is the Pribaikalsky National Park, which also includes the heart of Lake Baikal - Olkhon Island with good beaches and mysterious "Mongolian buildings" (ancient megaliths) and the most popular ethnographic museum in the region in the village of Khuzhir.

The coast of the Small Sea Strait between Olkhon and the coast of Lake Baikal is also part of the Pribaikalsky National Park. Here are some of the most comfortable conditions for a beach holiday on the lake. Especially in this regard, the Kurkut Bay stands out, where you can ride a banana and try yourself in paragliding. You will also have a good rest in Sandy Bay, famous for its unusual natural monument - walking pines.

Cape Ryty

Esoteric lovers should visit Cape Ryty in the Baikal-Lena Reserve, where there is a shamanic place of power with a mysterious wall 333 meters long and pyramids oriented strictly to the cardinal points.

Buryat part of Baikal

Chivyrkuisky Bay

The Zabaikalsky National Park on the Buryat part of Baikal is famous for the Chivyrkuisky Bay and the Svyatoy Nos Peninsula, one of the best places for camping on the lake, as well as the largest rookery of the Baikal seal on the Ushkany Islands and a massive concentration of birds on Lake Arangatui.

You can have a good rest on the coast of the Barguzinsky Bay. It is worth staying in the village of Maksimikha in the picturesque hotel Lukomorye, located on the very shore of Lake Baikal.

Thermal springs of Baikal

Baikal is widely known for its thermal springs. The camp site on Cape Kotelnikovsky, not far from Severobaikalsk, is especially popular with guests of the lake, where water from the source is mixed with water from the lake in special pools. You can’t drink this water, but baths from it are extremely useful. Unfortunately, the base can only be reached by water in summer and ice in winter.

Other popular balneological resorts: Nilova Pustyn, Arshan and the Source of Inexhaustible Hope are located at a distance from the southern coast of Lake Baikal in the Tunkinsky National Park.

On the Buryat side of Lake Baikal is the Barguzinsky Reserve (the oldest reserve in Russia created before the revolution) there are also hot springs, but it is not easy to get to the reserve only by water to the village of Dovsha.

It should be noted that every year the rest on Baikal becomes more comfortable. Previously, a bathroom in the room and hot water were a rarity. Now almost all popular places can boast of hotels and bases with amenities in the rooms, Wi-Fi.

But there are still many camp sites with minimal amenities and low prices. So everyone can find accommodation on Lake Baikal to their liking.