Lake Baikal is 7th largest lake in the world, but contains 22% of the world’s fresh water. In comparison, Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, but holds ~10% of the world’s fresh water. Lake Baikal is also the deepest (1,700 m) and oldest (25 million years) lake on our planet. I recommend visiting the lake between January and April to experience driving over the frozen lake.
How to Reach Lake Baikal?
Irkutsk (IKT) is the nearest airport to see Lake Baikal with daily nonstop flights from several major cities in Russia (e.g., Moscow and Saint Petersburg), Seoul, and Beijing.
In 2019, I used ANA miles to book a United roundtrip business class flight from Washington to Beijing. From Beijing, we were able to fly S7 airlines nonstop to Irkutsk (3 hours), which is not operational at this time.
How to Book Tours in Lake Baikal
I highly recommend using the tour company Baikal explorer (http://www.baikalex.com), which has good triadvisor.com reviews. They promptly respond to all our questions and provided very reasonable prices for the guided winter tours (3-4 days) in Russian military jeeps (UAZ) to explore Olkhon Island and Lake Baikal. They also have other popular activities like dog sledding (track distance 10-40KM), hovercraft ride across the ice to Peschanaya Bay, and ice fishing. They will request a 30% advance payment (nonrefundable if canceled before 60 days) and they accept PayPal or bank transfers.
Lake Baikal Accommodations
We spent the first and last night of our trip in Irkutsk and got picked up by the tour guide from the airport. On the next morning, we drove ~5 hours to Khuzir (the main village of Olkhon) and stayed in a guesthouse owned by the local fisherman family who provided full home-made meals of traditional Siberian cuisine.
Lake Baikal Ice Route Drive
Lake Baikal’s ice thickness can reach 1.5 meters with some of the ice slabs (12 meters in height) resembling crystals (sokui) on the rocks surrounding the lake. The lake periodically emits thunderous cracks and also contains large ice crevices (~three meters wide). The safest way to explore Lake Baikal in winter is to organize a trip through a travel agency.
Lake Baikal Scenery
Below are some of the best professional Lake Baikal pictures from wallpaperflare.com. As you can see, the lake is beautiful in both summer and winter.
Summary
Lake Baikal is a must-see winter wonderland in Siberia with a natural ice rink along with ultimate dog sledding and snowmobile tours. The experience of driving over the frozen lake will be memorable for the remainder of your life. I can’t wait to return to Lake Baikal in the summer once international travel to Russia resumes.