Irkutsk

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Quick Facts

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Coordinates

• Latitude: 52.275261
• Longitude: 104.30864

On Travellerspoint

• 2 Irkutsk Guesthouses
• 8 Irkutsk Hostels
• 1 Irkutsk Hotels

Contributors

• GregW (75%)
  from http://gregwtravels.travellerspoint.com
• Utrecht (25%)
  from http://utrecht.travellerspoint.com

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Introduction

Irkutsk - Cathedral

© All Rights Reserved Gelli

On the banks of the Angara River 72 km from Lake Baikal, Irkutsk is today the tourist gateway to the Baikal region and the wilds of Siberia surrounding it. Lake Baikal is the deepest freshwater lake in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and has 2 national

Much of the history of Irkutsk, though, revolves around the Decembrists. In the early nineteenth century, many Russian artists, officers and nobles were sent into exile to Siberia for their part in the Decembrist revolt against Tsar Nicholas I. Irkutsk became the major center of intellectual and social life for these exiles, and much of the city's cultural heritage comes from them. Many of their wooden houses, adorned with ornate, hand-carved decorations, were built by the Decemberists, and still survive today.

Today, Irkutsk is one of the biggest cities in Siberia, with a growing population of more than 590,000 people. It's home to several universities and a major branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Neighbourhoods

Lake Baikal

The World's deepest lake is Lake Baikal 40 miles south-east of Irkutsk in Russia. It is 1637m deep and contains roughly 20% of the world's freshwater supplies. Fed by 336 rivers and streams including the Angara, Barguzin, Selenga, Turka and Snezhnaya, the lake holds fifty species of fish including bullhead, sturgeon and omul.^[1]

Sights and Activities

Irkutsk wooden architecture

© All Rights Reserved GregW

Irkutsk is home to a remarkable number of historic churches, among them Ascension Church (1747-51), Epiphany Cathedral (1718-46), Our Lady of Kazan Church (1885-92), and Saviour Church (1706-13).

There are also a few historical museums in the houses of Decembrist exiles, or you can just wander around and look at the beautiful wooden architecture on the houses.

A downloadable PDF sight-seeing map can be found at WWW Irkutsk.

Events and Festivals

In the winter, the central park has many ice sculptures as well as an ice castle that you can walk around in. There are ice slides in this park also. Most Russians stand up and slide on the soles of their shoes. The park is very lively at night with tourist, even though the temperatures drop well below -20 degrees C.

Weather

Winter precipitation is quite light and all of it falls as snow. Winters are very cold and prolonged everywhere, but the short summers can be quite warm and pleasant by day once the winter snow has melted. Summers become shorter northwards, but even as far north as Verkhoyansk (see the table) the brief summer has some very warm days. Summer is the wettest season everywhere.

Average temperatures for the year are:

• January - 3 hours of daylight, with a low of -26 C and a high of -16 C.
• February - 5 hours of daylight, with a low of -25 C and a high of -12 C.
• March - 7 hours of daylight, with a low of -17 C and a high of -4 C.
• April - 7 hours of daylight, with a low of -7 C and a high of 6 C.
• May - 8 hours of daylight, with a low of 1 C and a high of 13 C.
• June - 8 hours of daylight, with a low of 7 C and a high of 20 C.
• July - 8 hours of daylight, with a low of 10 C and a high of 21 C.
• August - 7 hours of daylight, with a low of 9 C and a high of 20 C.
• September - 6 hours of daylight, with a low of 2 C and a high of 14 C.
• October - 5 hours of daylight, with a low of -6 C and a high of 5 C.
• November - 3 hours of daylight, with a low of -17 C and a high of -7 C.
• December - 2 hours of daylight, with a low of -24 C and a high of -16 C.

More information on the weather can be found from the BBC Irkutsk Average Weather

Getting There

By Plane

Irkutsk International Airport (Russian: Аэропорт Ирку́тск) (Airport Code: IKT) is an airport in the center of Irkutsk, Russia. Due to its proximity to the Angara Reservoir the airport enjoys a particular microclimate, with foggy weather being prevalent for most of the year. The airport is often closed due to bad weather conditions, with Bratsk serving as a diversion airport. Some key destinations served from Irkutsk include:

• In Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar
• In Russia, Moscow, Bratsk, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Perm, Tashkent, Vladivostok, Yakutsk
• In China, Beijing, Shenyang
• In South Korea, Seoul
• In Japan,

There is also the smaller Irkutsk Northwest Airport, which mostly serves civilian aircraft.

By Train

Irkutsk - Ulaan Baatar train

© All Rights Reserved GregW

Irkutsk is a station on the Trans-Siberian Railway, connecting Moscow and Vladivostok. There are numerous services running from Irkutsk on a daily basis.

By Car

Federal road connects Irkutsk with Vladivostok.

By Bus

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

Around Town

BUSES, TROLLEY BUSES (electric buses), and TRAMS (on tracks) operate on an honour system. Tickets (called "taloni") are the same for all three and can be purchased in a 10-pack from the driver, at kiosks situtated near bus stops, and at some other kiosks. To validate your ticket, slide it into the top of one of the devices mounted on the walls, and punch it. During the day, especially in the city centre, these forms of transportation can get extremely crowded. People often pass their tickets through the crowd to someone standing near a punching device. If you are handed a ticket, please pass it along or punch it and pass it back, as appropriate.

If you travel without a ticket and an inspector catches you, you will be fined 20,000 rubles. (Make sure to get a receipt when you pay the fine.)

Tram numbers are posted on small signs hanging on wires above the street. Trams stop in the middle of the street, but you can wait on the sidewalk. When a tram approaches, cars are obliged to stop and wait for passengers getting on and off the tram.

To Suburbs and Lake Baikal

There are many bus routes between the small suburban towns and Irkutsk city. The main routes are to Angarsk (every day) and to Listvyanka/Lake Baikal (every 2 hours).

You can reach any small railway station near Irkutsk via the "elektrichka" or suburban trains.

There are a number of hydrofoil routes down the river Angara and up to Lake Baikal. They run only in the summer time.

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Budget

Baikal Hostel. The hostel is situated in Irkutsk, between the train station and the dam on the River Angara. Get off at the bus and Marshrutka station Mikrochirugia Glasa, on the main street uliza Lermontova. From there it's a 1-minute walk to the Hostel.

Mid-Range

Upscale

Work

Learn

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

Post

External Links

The Tourism Department of the Irkutsk region runs a very sparse English website, and the WWW Irkutsk site has some numbers and contact information for a number of businesses in the area.