Irkutsk and Buriatia (7 days, 6 nights)

Arrival in Irkutsk
Meet our guide
City tour of Irkutsk-: Visit Church of the Savior, War memorial, Angara river embankment, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign, Monument to the Emperor Alexander III on the embankment Visit the district with old houses (130s district)
Visit Decembrist's House Museum
Lunch at the local restaurant during the excursion
Drive to the Church of the Exhalation of the Holy Cross
Go upstairs the belltower to listen to the Orthodox Bell chimes*****
Transfer to the hotel for dinner and rest

Breakfast at the hotel
After breakfast depart to the lake Baikal, Listvianka settlement (67 km, 1 hour drive)
Visit the museum of Wooden Architecture en route
Lunch at the local family with traditional dishes of Russian cuisine (en route)***
Arrival to Listvyanka
Touring Listvyanka: visit the Bailal museum with the aquarium with Baikal fish and freshwater seals – Nerpas and St. Nicholas church
At sun set take the ski-lift to the Cherskiy hill for a view on the Circum-Baikal Railroad
Transfer to the hotel for dinner and rest

Breakfast at the hotel
8:45 AM transfer to the pier
9:00 AM take a ferry to Port Baikal
10:00 AM board Old Railway touristic train and start journey by the Circum-Baikal Railway with several stops and excursions
12:00 – 13:00 PM Lunch at Shumikha stations on the way
Walk through tunnels and galleries -  No doubt, the tunnels and the galleries are the most impressive and tremendous, among the engineering installations of the CBRR. One really cannot remain unmoved by the beauty of the railroad tunnels and galleries. If you just come around you will feel the great scale and if you enter the tunnels you will feel the age-long coolness and anxious darkness! It is impossible to find identical tunnels and galleries, because even standard design had to be changed to a specific locality.
15:30-16:30 PM dinner on board
17:00 PM arrive at Sludyanka station – The only building in the world entirely built of out of Marble
20:16 PM arrive in Irkutsk train station
Hotel transfer

Breakfast at the hotel
Transfer to the railway station to take morning train to Ulan-Ude, the Capital of Republic Buriatia
Lunch by own arrangement in the train (carriage-restaurant)
Arrival in Ulan-Ude in the evening, around 17.30
Transfer to the hotel and check in 
Dinner in the hotel restaurant

Breakfast at the hotel
10:00 Depart for a full – day city tour of Ulan-Ude:
Visit to the Opera and Ballet theatre
13:00 Lunch and folk show at the Ger restaurant, Buryat cuisine
After lunch explore the city-center with Lenin’s’ statue, old merchants’ houses.
Visit Ethnography Museum of the People of Transbaikalia Culture
16:00 Transfer to the Old Believers village
Visit the museum and church of the village.
18:00 Dinner at the Old-Believers family
Transfer to the hotel

Breakfast at the hotel
Visit Ivolginskiy Datsan (Buddist Temple)
Drive to Buryat village near Ulan-Ude**
Lunch in Buryat family
Enjoy some free time in the evening
Farewell dinner at the local restaurant

Breakfast at the hotel
Transfer to the airport or railway station