«The nature has got its favorites that it creates with special care and gives particular power. Without doubt Baikal is one of them... Baikal is glorious and sacred by its life-giving power, spirit not of the past, that is so widely spread nowadays, but of the present, not influenced by time and changes, full of true dignity and preserved might».

Valentin Rasputin (well-known Russian author)

Baikal is a unique phenomenon of our planet. It has no equal in the world judging by its age, depth, stores and qualities of the fresh water, great variety of endemic species of plants and animals. Baikal is famous for its unique and amazing beauty of nature, as well as for the people living on the lakesides.

Baikal is situated in the south of the Eastern Siberia. Its length is 636 km; the width in different parts of the lake varies from 27 to 80 km. The shoreline length is 2000 km. Lake Baikal takes the eighth place among the lakes in the world according to its surface area that is 31500 km2.

Baikal is the largest storage of the fresh water in the world. According to the water volume it takes the second place among world lakes, inferior only to the Caspian Sea. Baikal holds 1/5 of the fresh water resources of the planet and 80% of the fresh water resources of Russia.

Baikal is not only extremely pure; it is the clearest lake in the world. In spring after melting of ice the water transparency reaches 40 m, which is ten times more in comparison to other lakes.

336 rivers flow into the lake and only one flows out of it — the Angara River. The largest bays of Baikal are: Barguzinsky, Chivyrkuysky, Proval. There are 22 islands on the lake, the largest and the only inhabited is the Olkhon Island.

The climate of Baikal and its shores has features of the sea climate and differs considerably from the climate of the surrounding area. During summer time large water masses of the lake warm up to the depth of 200-250 m and accumulate great amount of warmth. That’s why the winter in Baikal is milder and the summer is colder than in the rest part of Siberia. The difference of air temperature between Irkutsk and Baikal shore during the day time can reach 8-10 ?С.

Baikal is famous for a great amount of sunshine hours. For example, in Bolshoye Goloustnoye village it reaches 2524 hours per year and is considered to be the record for Russia. The temperature of water surface layers in Baikal in summer is +8...+9?С, and in separate bays it reaches +16?С. The warmest water can be found in the bays: Muhor, Chivyrkuysky Gulf and Posolsky Sor. The highest temperature is +23?С.

Winter on Baikal

In the end of October shallow bays are covered with ice, in January the lake freezes all over. In the southern part Baikal is covered with ice for 4-4.5 months, in the northern part — 6-6.5 months. The ice thickness varies from 70 to 113 sm. The height of ice-hummocks on Baikal is 1.5-3 m. Transparent Baikal ice and sparkling ice-hummocks look especially impressive in March. This is the time when you can travel by car on the lake’s ice.

Lake Baikal is a very popular tourist destination. Every year tourists from all over the world visit the lake. Nobody remains indifferent to the beauty of Baikal, its emerald clear water, its variety of bays and beaches, fast rivers, crystal waterfalls, the cleanest springs, boundless forests and mountains and many other treasures.