Irkutsk, Russia Travel Blogs

Train Happy in Siberia
Mar 14, 2005 (5 photos)

... is estimated contains 1/3 of the worlds fresh water). The journey to our homestay took around two hours from Irkutsk. Boulshoe Goulostnoye (BG)is a tiny community that survives on fishing from the lake with the inhabitants living in traditional wooden ...

Trans-Sib Part One
May 31, 2006

... party was just starting to take off, I happened to look out the window and in the dark saw lights, lots of lights. Irkutsk. I had gotten confused about the time of arrival and now was completely drunk and would have to find the hostel in the dark. ...

Lake Baikal
Aug 7, 2005

... . Unfortunately, up until meeting Julia I had quietly grown quiet apprehensive about going to Russia alone. Reports from other travellers (particularly about Irkutsk) and various publications hadn't painted travel alone in Russia in a very bright light, ...

the Paris of Siberia
Dec 31, 2005 (20 photos)

... ' in the 1930s, such as the huge and probably beautiful cathedral which once stood adjacent to the pretty central park. However Irkutsk now has major social problems that lurk behind the attractive exterior. Still, it was relatively safe in the lead up to ...

Trans Mongolian Express: Day 4
Jul 28, 2006 (14 photos)

... we wake up it's an hour later than it should be. This in itself would be fine and easy to deal with, but all of Russia works on Moscow time, which means in practical terms that depending on who you ask, there's a four hour error margin on what the actual ...

Womb with a View
Mar 11, 2004 (3 photos)

... she had 2 grand daughters and 1 grand son. She gave me a free breakfast. The Russians fucking love sour cream. Irkutsk seems good so far. Heading up to Lake Baikal tomorrow. Weather is great. Everything covered in snow but still fairly warm. I' ...

First taste of Russia
Jul 1, 2005 (4 photos)

... explodes when it hits the surface and the world's only freshwater seal. We caught an early hydrofoil (fast boat) from Irkutsk to Bolshie Koty, a small fishing village along Lake Baikal and then walked around (with backpacks) trying to find out how to ...

'The Train Across Half of Russia'
Jun 7, 2005 (2 photos)

Choo Choo, all aboard for the train enthusiasts amongst you. 4 nights, 3 days, 77 hours on board a train with stops of no more that 25 minutes 2 or 3 times a day. No Showers, no personal space, limited communication with your 'Comrade' in the bunk ...

Damn this place is Cold!
Jan 14, 2006 (6 photos)

... train tickets and assisted us in finding the left luggage storage in the station. With our bags in storage we got a taxi into town. Irkutsk was very quiet at 8am in the morning with not many people on the streets. It was extremely cold as we made our ...

Mother Russia...
Sep 3, 2007 (8 photos)

... much to see and do, especially out in the country side. For us though it is back on the train for 30hrs and headed to Irkutsk, Russia. Cath and I have got our own little train routine sorted now and it is often with a satisfied sigh that we slip into our ...

Irkutsk, the final stop in Russia
Jul 30, 2006 (11 photos)

So I made it to Irkutsk, the third and last stop in Russia, and what an adventure it was getting here! The train was one of the most amazing things I've ever done! I had this idea of being in a compartment with Westeners/Russians drinking vodka all day, ...

The trans-mongolian route. 48hrs.
Jun 9, 2005 (7 photos)

... hung out with him for a few days in Irkutsk before he had to head off for Moscow, and we had to head out to Olhon Island. irkutsk is a nice little city and if you meet some locals is a lot more fun than the guide books give it credit for. Its got a great ...

Russia - Mongolia
May 27, 2006 (5 photos)

... Do not take train Nr. 6, train Nr. 10 is the best (I heard). Train Nr. 6 is really disgusting, we took it from Irkutsk to Mongolia. For writing SMS to Germany or other countries you can buy cheap SIM-Cards in Moscow, but you have to register. In Moscow ...

Siberia is very big
Sep 22, 2006 (3 photos)

A rare building amongst the wilderness. I never got bored of staring out of the window, it was actually quite hypnotic.

Irkutsk and a nice shower!!
Jun 12, 2006

Arrived in Irkuskt (finally) at about 3.30am this morning, local time. stayed in the station for a couple hours then got a taxi to our hostel which is pretty nice, its actually more of a homestay apartment. weve got a private room which is pretty big, and ...

Lake Baikal
Jul 1, 2007 (11 photos)

It was another day and night on the train before we reached Irkutsk. The scenery was really something, especially with the train running right along the shores of Lake Baikal. It was Saturday evening when we arrived so we decided to go for a few ...

In Siberia.
Sep 21, 2006 (1 photos)

Here you can see it was starting to get colder. This is somewhere in between Novosbirsk and Irkutsk

Listvyanka and Bolshie Koty
Jun 15, 2007 (17 photos)

... some point it would start getting dark (though we figured it would be light till about 10:30 based on our experience in Irkutsk).  There probably wouldn't be enough time to backtrack and still make it to Bolshie Koty before dark. Of course, we also ...

The Mighty Crack...
Oct 13, 2007

... I probably don't even have to mention the Vodka-consumption, which by the way was ALOT. Well, we had to get of in Irkutsk even though we really wanted to stay on the train, see some stuff. Our hostess was according to us a luxury-prostitute, only working ...

Irkutsk
Jul 17, 2006 (12 photos)

... tour guide to confirm whether the museum is adjacent to the actual airport. I spent two days some 70 miles away from Irkutsk (population approx. 1/2 million), at a village by the Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal is 400 miles long, and 20-40 miles wide. More ...

On the Trans Siberian.....
Oct 2, 2009 (27 photos)

After an hour and half stuck in Moscow rush hour traffic we finally reached 'Yaroslavsky' train station, our driver kindly took us to our platform which was good of him as we would never have found it! The train was in, Anna (who shared a taxi with us ...

What? We have to carry our bags again?!
Apr 14, 2007

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St Petersburg, Moscow and The Trans Sib to Irkutsk
Jul 15, 2003

... hour on the first leg, I think we finished the trip 5153 kms away from Moscow but only 5 minutes late arriving in Irkutsk our final destination. The train journey is the adventure, not the scenery, which is like going 3 days through Lincolnshire without ...

Marian and the banya
Sep 24, 2008

... the lake, preferring instead to wait until tomorrow. After this minor setback, our journey was fine and we arrived back in Irkutsk late afternoon. We had a quick look at the outdoor market and then headed back to the hostel to sort out our accommodation ...

Arshan
Jun 30, 2007 (12 photos)

... all the way up to the pool, which made for everything being a bit messy. The next day (yesterday) we headed back to Irkutsk on a microbus, which could actually go up hills and we made much better time getting back (though we had to dodge lots of cows ...

Irkutsk
Sep 14, 2006 (7 photos)

Irkutsk is a far way from Moscow, both in distance (5,185km) but more notably in the hospitality. Our faith in the Russian people has been restored after 80hours in a 5ft x 7ft cabin with 2 locals who spoke no English; our meagre Russian of Spasiba thank ...

Irkutsk
Sep 26, 2007

Hopped on the train in Ulaanbaatar at around 7:30pm.  I'd been grocery shopping and bought myself what looked like stew in a foil bag however once I opened it ...it was more like Jelly Meat...both in smell and looks.  It possibly could have been ...

The Great Trans-Mongolian train experience
Jan 8, 2008

Priviet! Suuri trans-mongolian junamatka: 5900 kilometria, yli 110 tuntia, 5 aikavyohyketta... Matkamme  starttasi Moskovasta uudenvuodenvieton jalkimainigeissa 2.1 klo 21:30. Loydettyamme vaunumme jakauduimme kahteen loossiin(kumpikin loossi ...

Lake Baikal
Sep 23, 2006 (5 photos)

The Worlds largest freshwater lake. Here we got out of the train and had about 3 minutes to buy stinky smoked fish. It was tasty but it made the cabin smell.

Mongolian Experience
Aug 17, 2006 (6 photos)

... one of the photos soon but I think it'll have to wait until we arrive in Beijing on 5th August. When we arrived in Irkutsk, our first impression of the city was really chaotic - just like some frontier town. Trying to get out of the station was bedlam, ...