Circum-Baikal Railway get in · How to get in Circum-Baikal Railway
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How to get in Circum-Baikal Railway
How to get in Circum-Baikal Railway
By Circum-Baikal Express, Кругобайкальский экспресс which departs from Irkutsk. It comprises 1st, 2nd and business-class carriages which are rather relaxing. You can hear the music, listen to the guide or sit at the bar. The ticket usually is being bought at tour agencies as excursions. The train starts from Irkutsk on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8:00am or from the port Baikal on Thursdays and Sundays. The trip takes about 12-13 hours including stops for a walk. The time of return to Irkutsk is 21:00-22:00.
If you want to travel by yourself you may enjoy two basic variants: southward and northward. Note that official Russian train directions are irrelevant to north-south and are only two: to the west (на запад) and to the east (на восток). This is what you will always see when dealing with railway timetables. So in case of Circum-Baikal Raiway to the west means northward to the port Baikal and to the east means southward to Slyudyanka. The most common starting point is Slyudyanka. Local train that shuttles on the route is called matanya (#951/952).
Getting to Slyudyanka is possible by either elektrichka or marshrutka from Irkutsk and spans 2.5 hours. Connection time to matanya may be quite long and varies according to the season but it will certainly be within 13:00-20:00. The trip itself takes 6-7 hours. On arrival to port Baikal, you either will want to come back the same way or go to Listvyanka that is across Angara river. Departure time for port Rogatka (in Listvyanka): 6:40, 15:50 and 17:15.
From the opposite direction you should first go to Listvyanka and take a boat (ferry) across Angara river to the port Baikal. Departure time for port Baikal: 8:15, 16:15 and 18:15.
Summing up the connection timetables it will need another day for the round journey.
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Circum-Baikal Railway Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.