Lake Baikal in May: visting Listvyanka in the off-season

Lake Baikal is an in-land coastal retreat in summer and an enthralling frozen wonder in winter, but what about Lake Baikal during the off-season? I visited Listvyanka at the end of May, between the regions’ two peak seasons of winter, when visitors can drive along its frozen-solid surface and marvel at the clear metre-thick ice below, and summer, when locals flock to Baikal’s beaches.

Local geography: Lake Baikal is located in Eastern Siberia. The nearest large city is Irkutsk, which is probably the most popular stop on the Trans-Siberian in Russia. (In fact, many of those travelling from Moscow to Beijing only make two stops: Irkutsk and Mongolia.) Listvyanka is a small town located directly on the shore of Lake Baikal. Just an hour’s bus ride from Irkutsk, it is the most popular place for visitors to see the lake.

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Listvyanka: first impressions

Because I had to squeeze my Trans-Siberian journey into just three weeks, I decided to skip Irkutsk altogether and make the most of my time at Lake Baikal, getting the bus directly to Listvyanka, which is located directly on the lake’s shore. (Just FYI, the road from Irkutsk to Listvyanka can only be described as some sort of tarmacked Rollercoaster – the steep and sudden hills are crazy!)

Looking to go hiking? Read more here: Hiking the Great Baikal Trail from Listvyanka to Bolshiye Koty

The view from Listvyanka is nothing short of arresting – looking out over the clear, blue water, you are treated to an unbroken view of the snow-capped mountains in Buryatia on the Eastern side. The view is so pristine, it almost feels like the air is clearer here to match the impossibly clear waters of the lake. The effect is immediately calming – you have the sound of the waves breaking on the little pebble beach and nothing but rings of mountains to look out across at.

Read more: My three-week Trans-Siberian itinerary

Listvyanka itself, however, is another story. I had read in advance how the entire town was struggling under a construction frenzy, thanks to a huge unbridled influx in tourism from China (Irkutsk is less than three hours’ flight from Beijing), with unauthorised hotels popping up to (illegally) meet demand and cash in. And I certainly saw a lot of evidence of that – ugly, three or four-storey monoliths sit side-by-side quaint village dachas and in May, it felt like construction work was under way on almost all properties to get ready for the season.

Along the main drag of the town (which you might generously call ‘the seaside promenade’) there are a smattering of kiosks and restaurants (which were genuinely pretty good), as well as hotels and bakeries, all of which seemed to be waiting with baited breath for the peak summer season.

But it wasn’t all bad. Listvyanka is also a bizarrely long town – it stretches along four main streets set out in an elongated shape similar to a capital ‘E.’ These long streets are still dotted with some traditional one-storey dachas or simple wooden dwellings and it’s fairly easy to recapture that feeling of countryside idyll away from the main street. At the end of one of these long, long roads is Belka Hostel, one of the nicest places I have ever stayed.

Belka Hostel is a rustic little wooden cottage, found on a secluded plot of land with views of nothing but the surrounding mountains. Inside, it feels like a log cabin, managing to feel huge and cosy at the same time. The staff were lovely and chatty, the other guests really friendly and the atmosphere chilled and communal. I really, really enjoyed staying there. It felt like a fantastic break from – well, everything else.

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Listvyanka: things to see and do

I don’t want to come off too negative – Listvyanka genuinely does have quite a few interesting things to do! Of course, it is very much a seaside town – its entire history and its current industry depends on Lake Baikal – so it’s no surprise it offers some typical seaside-style attractions.

Take in the lake

It sounds simple, but I guarantee that the number one thing you will do in Listvyanka is simply revel in the lake; the view, the sound, the genuinely unbelievable clarity of the water. I don’t know how long I spent just sat on the beach drinking it all in, but it was fantastic.

The Baikal Museum

My second full day in Listvyanka served me the worst weather of the entire trip (more below) and so in order to drag ourselves out of the hostel, me and the rest of the hostel’s guests headed to the Baikal Museum at the very other end of the town. The museum itself is fine as a rainy-day activity (although most of the text is only in Russian, so try and time it with a guided tour), with the highlight being a surprisingly modern 4D-ride on a submarine. But if the sun is shining, you can skip the museum without feeling like you’re missing out.

Try Baikal omul

You won’t have to go far to try this – it is served up literally everywhere in Listvyanka. The highlight for me, however, was going to the market, buying a piece of fish and some bread and then literally eating the fish from the bone in my hands on the beach. The fish was so tasty and so meaty. I think it’s something of a tradition in Listvyanka and it was great. Would definitely recommend.

The Great Baikal Trail

A fantastic hike. Read all about it here.

Chersky Rock (Kamen Cherskogo)

This is a landmark I didn’t see during my short time in Listvyanka. I was advised that making the journey up to the rock during a wet and cloudy day wouldn’t be worth it. However, on a clear day, the view is meant to be really good. There is also a chairlift up if you don’t fancy the walk up, although I was told this was pretty do-able.

Hiking along the Circumbaikal Railway

Seeing the Circumbaikal Railway is another thing I didn’t get to do in Listvyanka, which was a huge disappointment for me. This was my entire plan for the second day of my stay in Listvyanka – hiking along the old route of the Trans-Siberian (which is still actively used a few times a week for the Circumbaikal Railway) and exploring the small inlets and bays on the other side of the Angara river. The route itself along the edge of the lake was so difficult to construct, it was known as the Jewel on the Tsar’s belt once completed.

Walking this route from Listvyanka requires getting a boat across the mouth of the Angara river to Port Baikal. I planned the day well with a boat schedule from the tourist office, but when the day came, it was only just pushing four degrees with heavy rain. The route would have offered no shelter, with no possibility of returning until the scheduled boat arrived several hours after I landed in Port Baikal. With a heavy heart, I opted to stick to the safe side, stay in Listvyanka and visit the Baikal Museum.

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Lake Baikal in the off-season

I reached Lake Baikal a week into starting my trip in Vladivostok. Already in this time, a few Russians I’d spoken with expressed surprise that I was going to Lake Baikal so soon.

Lake Baikal is most famous among locals in Irkutsk, it seems, for its welcoming beaches in the middle of summer and amongst tourists for its icy romanticism in the depth of winter, when the water freezes solid.

As such, I found it difficult to find out exactly what to expect of Lake Baikal in the time I was looking at visiting, which was late May. Here’s what was it like to visit Lake Baikal in the off-season.

Read more: Why you should visit Russia in winter

When is the off-season for Lake Baikal?

I don’t have a perfect answer for that. I arrived in Listvyanka on the evening of 26 May and left the evening of 28 May. Some boats on the schedule from VSRP (including boats from Irkutsk to Listvyanka and those between Listvyanka and Bolshiye Koty) were scheduled to start running in 2019 on 1 June, but the full programme wasn’t due to kick off until 29 June. From what I can gather from others I spoke to, however, the peak time to visit the lake is in July and August.

What was the weather like at Lake Baikal in May?

I was told throughout my journey and in guidebooks that the weather around Lake Baikal is very different to that of Siberia as a whole. The surface area of the water and the water itself has the overall effect of keeper the region much milder than other areas in summer. For example, on 28 May, I was freezing in 4 degrees in Listvyanka and on 30 May I was basking in 28-degree heat in Krasnoyarsk.

I can also attest to the fact the weather is very changeable. On day one it was around 20-22 degrees and sunny, and then the next day we woke up to see frost on the ground. I have no way of knowing if either day was an anomaly but from what I heard from other people, it wasn’t an unusual change in weather conditions.

Listvyanka in the off-season: what is it like?

The place was very quiet during my stay (mid-week in the off-season) which felt amplified by the fact it was clear the entire town thrives on tourism. There was a bit of an emptiness to the place, which I assume is normally replaced with joyous tourists and locals on holiday in the warmer months.

However, my general feeling was that I’m not sure I would have enjoyed Listvyanka during the peak season either, when I can only assume hoards of tourists take over.

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Hiking in late May at Lake Baikal

The main reason for my stay in Listvyanka was to do part of the Great Baikal Trail. I will write more on that later, but it’s safe to say this was perfectly fine to do in late May. The forest was green and alive with the buzz of spring (and numerous gigantic ants’ nests).

The only thing to factor was that the boat from Listvyanka to Bolshiye Koty was not running yet, so instead of hiking the entire distance, I hiked halfway and doubled back. I met a few couples on the way who hiked to Bolshiye Koty, stayed overnight in a homestay and then hiked back the following morning.

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Summary: impressions of Listvyanka

I think it’s fair to say that Listvyanka wasn’t my favourite place during my Trans-Siberian trip (here I am judging Listvyanka and Lake Baikal as two very separate things). My most resounding takeaway from the town was that it felt a bit too much like a tacky resort town, rather than an idyllic lakeside retreat. (The exception, of course, was the fantastic and welcoming Belka Hostel and the beautiful Great Baikal Trail.)

I absolutely loved seeing Lake Baikal, and the lake and its surroundings were every bit as beautiful as I had imagined. Plus, I have to say that Listvyanka really was very practical to visit – getting there and then back to Irkutsk wasn’t complicated at all.

I don’t regret visiting Listvyanka at all. However, I think it is important to bear in mind that this is not the only place to visit the stunning natural beauty of the lake.

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Other options for visiting Lake Baikal

What I do regret is not having the time to visit Lake Baikal from the Eastern Shore in Buryatia. This isn’t something I considered as much of an option while planning, but I heard great things about the area while I was in Ulan-Ude and from what I can gather, it might have been a more authentic experience, with some good hiking opportunities and sandy beaches.

One option I had considered while planning the trip was Olkhon Island, located around six hour’s drive from Irkutsk. Although there is a good network of transfers which take visitors out to the island, I decided that I couldn’t afford to take a 12-hour round trip during my short three-week journey. However, I am not in a position to judge whether the experience there would have been similar to my time in Listvyanka, but I do know that tourism is an important industry there, too.

More on the Trans-Siberian:

Heading West:
Krasnoyarsk:
6 reasons to visit Krasnoyarsk
Hiking in Stolby Nature Reserve

Heading East:
23 hours in Ulan-Ude
Why you should add Vladivostok to your Trans-Siberian itinerary