Listvyanka

Days 1, 2 and 3 of the trip

We arrived in Irkutsk on July 4 at 9:30. The flight from Moscow took 5.5 hours. It is worth noting that if you fly from Moscow to Irkutsk in the evening, you lose the night, so you should get some proper sleep on the plane.

By 11 a.m. we had finished picking up the car, and the process was more complicated than in New Zealand. We spent a long time checking the car for scratches and chips, then they explained what to do in case of an accident. They also told me that in Irkutsk your car can be towed for improper parking and quietly shared a trick to avoid that: when you park, turn the wheels all the way to the right or left.

The roads in Irkutsk itself are about the same as in Moscow: some are decent, some are full of holes. The intersections are awkward and trams run through the city. The road from Irkutsk to Listvyanka is generally fine. By 2 p.m. we were already in Listvyanka after stopping on the bank of the Angara River along the way.

We checked into a guesthouse. In practice it was a self-built little hut with several rooms. Most accommodation in Listvyanka is like that, because many locals rent out rooms in their own houses. There is also the Baikal Hotel, where rooms supposedly start at 3,500 RUB per night, and the Mayak Hotel. Everything else is basically private local housing.

I did not like Listvyanka very much. There is almost nothing to see there, and at that point Baikal does not feel much different from the sea. You can visit Chersky Stone, the nerpa aquarium, the Baikal Museum, and take a boat across the mouth of the Angara to the Circum-Baikal Railway. That tour costs about 1,500 RUB per person and lasts around two hours. You can also take a boat to Peschanaya Bay, but that is more expensive, around 5,000 RUB per person, though it can be cheaper if you arrange it from Irkutsk. If you plan everything well, all the sights can be covered in one day as long as you do not go to Peschanaya Bay.

If you follow my advice and do not spend too much time in Listvyanka, the best plan is this: go straight to the pier at 51.847406, 104.872082. There is a tent with tours there, so decide right away where you want to go, and after that you can visit the nerpinarium, which is closed on Mondays, Chersky Stone, where the lift works until 10 p.m., and the Baikal Museum.

Unfortunately, we had planned everything in advance and ended up spending 2.5 days in the town. On the bright side, we slept really well there after the flight :-)