We chose to visit Siberia in winter (as long ago as March 1989 - no doubt it will be a different world now) in order to experience it as it “ought to be” – covered in ice and snow! It was a somewhat rushed trip by Trans Siberian railway with minimal stop-overs. The train journey in from Ulan Ude takes you along the South Eastern shore with nice mountain scenery but our visit to the lake itself took us to the village of Listvyanka on a day trip from Irkutsk. The village receives more tourists than anywhere else around the Lake and has a Limnological Institute where you can learn something of the ecology of the lake. It is situated near the exit point of the Angara river from the Lake as it starts its long journey north through Irkutsk, Bratsk and eventually to the Yenisei and the Arctic Ocean.

For us the most amazing part of the trip was to walk out on the ice covering the lake. Not just that but to have heavy lorries passing by! (photo). In winter the lake serves as a road on ice which is (we were told) 1 metre thick. We were led to question whether this was really enough as the ice-sheet swayed up and down in response to the passage of the lorries! No doubt those who live in Scandinavia or continental N Europe/N America are used to walking on lakes but it was a novel experience for us. The thought that this was the deepest fresh water lake in the world with up to 1.6 kms of water beneath us made it a memorable visit.

The unique ecology which has led to the Lake being inscribed on the WHS list is not really accessible to the passing tourist and to that extent a visit is always going to be a slight disappointment. The famous Baikal seals are apparently visible at the Ushakanyi islands but to get to them requires a boat trip and a stay of several days in the area. I have seen the scenery praised as eg “There is probably no more beautiful place in Russia…”. This is to overdo it in my opinion.

The place is, however, undoubtedly “interesting” and I would certainly recommend a winter visit..