Baikal Road Tour across Russia

ROUTE MAP

EXPENCES

Price is included all the road expences, night in a hostels on the way and basic feeding, so you would have a good place to have a rest and you wouldn’t be hungry, but not expect the red caviar breakfast in a king-size golden bed. This journey goes through the poverty of post USSR era sometimes.

UAZ BUKHANKA OFF-ROAD VAN

We take a ride to Baikal by fascinating USSR-era Bukhanka van (which is Russian for “loaf of bread”) remains. Almost 60 years ago, the first Bukhanka rolled off the UAZ assembly line in Ulyanovsk city and they didn’t change it much since Leonid Brezhnev was General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This is no pretend truck made to instill a bogus sense of ruggedness — this is a rock-and-stick-simple Russian truck made to travel on bad roads to distant locations with primitive maintenance facilities. To be a passenger of this truck is an attraction itself so, that’s why we’ve choosen this vehicle.

BAIKAL

As you know Baikal lake is an special Siberian treasure likewize the destionation spot for our journey. For sure you know that is consist of 20% of clean and pure low-mineralized water of our planet. And that’s why it has it’s unique flora and fauna e.g. Omul fish and Nerp seals. In January Baikal covers by ice and when the ice thickness is pretty high wind starts to blow away the snow from the top and you can enjoy to see deeeply thougth the crystal ice. It’s imposible to describe. You have to feel it.

EXPERIENCE

You need to know what to expect from that trip and what the differece with trans-siberian railway journey or taking part in Mongol rally by your own tiny-motor car.

1. It’s cheaper than the other options except hitchhiking, which is pretty popular in Russia. Tickets + accomodation and food expences are covered.
2. You manage to see real Russia and not only the tourist part of that. All of the grades of wealth and poverty. Wide open fields and endless forests that we going to cross.
3. We’ve choosen special vehicle for it. Lots of people crazy about UAZ off-road shuttle and it brings us trought the time and endless space.
4. The best Baikal is the Baikal in winter. And it’s impossible to compare it with anything
5. You’ll see and try the real vodka, real russian bath, meet real people and will manage to see how they live and work there. Likewise you will visit few small custom factories there people make a unique things.

Moscow-Baikal Adventure route main stops

Moscow city	Best places to visit you might know, so you will visit Kremlin, Vorobievi gory, VDNH, Stariy Arbat street, than you get warm with Ushanka russian soldiers hat and try one of the most authentic and oldest russian public bath. After that you’ll be ready to hit the road! You need to come here in advance.
Yaroslavl	Old russian town of the golden ring trip.
Nizniy Novgorod	Nowadays is an industrial city on the cross of two rivers. It’s beautiful and interesting with it’s history.
Kazan	Visiting Kazan old city and Kul Shariff mosque in the Kazan’s kremlin likewise Museum of USSR culture would be enough to fall in love with tatar’s capital and dive deeply in the cult of USSR.
Ekaterinburg	Here is the homebase of Samovar tours and it’s mean we’re going to stop here for 2 days after almost 2000 km of the way. It’s also acrossing spot of European border to Asia. And it’s worth to stop and take a breath. We get a 1 day hiking to Ural mountains to stretch up our bodies and get a country-side banya with the great russian BBQ. You’ll manage to have a brief look at the constructivism styled city and suburbs of that.
Irbit	An old and small town but it has pretty deep history, amazing muzeim of art, the best russian milk factory and the famous Ural motorcycles plant that put this deeply in hearts of many bikers. We mamanged to visit museum of motorcycles.
Omsk	We switching Urals to Siberia. City of Omsk that before USSR was called Garden-city with Garden full of birds had completely turned into industrial city. Fedor Dostoyevskiy, inprisoned here in 19 century, wrote about that one of his books. Manage to visit one of the small hand craft factories on the way and get some unique presents.
Novosibirsk	Third biggest siberian city situated on the Ob’ river. There’s longest subway bridge across the river and one of the biggest opera houses there.
Krasnoyarsk	One of the biggest and oldest city in Siberia. Was famous in USSR-era as gamblers’ city with good casino income that draw for charity. We will visit famous natural park ‘Stolby’ that consists more than a hundred rosks in taiga forest.
Severobaikalsk, Baikal	Here we will finally touch the goal. The nothern city on Baikal lake.
Baikal, Olkhon island	IceWatching 🙂 Looking for nerpas, enjoying the ski-blade ride and fishing for baikal’s omul fish. Climb to the peaks to enjoy the picturesque views.
Irkutsk	The city on the Baikal lake shore was mainly built by political prisoners and 1898 it got the first Trans Siberian train. We’ve visit one of the museums there – museum on the steam boat. And got the memory-sharing dinner here.

It could be your best life experience! Get out of your comfort zone and take a sit in our VAZ Bukhanka!