Irkutsk region attracts with its beauty and atmosphere of the Siberian variety of travelers -. It is not in vain call "Siberia in miniature." In these parts they go to plunge into the realm of wild nature on the shores of the great lake Baikal, in the entanglements of the Angara and many small rivers, the mirror-like surface of the lakes, the reserved mountains and in the realm of the dense taiga.

Baikal is one of the main attractions of these lands: , the sacred lake, the deepest on the planet, fed by 336 tributaries and releasing only one river - the Angara. The north-western coast of Lake Baikal occupies the Baikal-Lena State Reserve, attracting picturesque gorges, remnants of ancient volcanoes, rich flora and fauna - many inhabitants of these places are very rare and interesting.

The Baikal National Park covers most of the western coast of the lake and Olkhon Island. This is not only a wonderful array of natural, but also cultural and historical treasure:. In the park remains of ancient cities, ruins of stone walls, rocks, covered with drawings of ancient people and a lot of other interesting archaeological sites

Among the most beautiful and interesting places near Lake Baikal - Sable lakes surrounded by enchanting mountain peaks; Magic sandy bay with its mild climate and peaceful landscapes; sacred and shrouded by legends Shaman-stone, the symbolic beginning of Baikal . However, somewhere other popular routes start here: to the mountains of East Sayan and Khamar-Daban with Chersky peak 2090 m high, climbed by climbers for speed (not confused with Mount Chersky 25888 m on the opposite side of Lake Baikal and the Cherskiy Stone 728 m high - a survey site 5 km from Listvyanka) .

In addition to the cold waters of Lake Baikal, there are warmer waters in the Irkutsk region - in the south, on the border with Buryatia, there are Warm lakes, ode in which warms up to +28 ° C. By the way, not so far from this place is the most famous mountain resort in Irkutsk - "Sobolinaya Mountain."

The main city of the region is Irkutsk, where there are a lot of historical and cultural monuments very interesting for tourists . You can go through The 130th quarter, where colorful wooden houses from the 18th century are still standing, visit the Irkutsk Academgorodok, where the main research institutes of the city are located . And behind the most dazzling and touching beauty is to go to the Lower embankment of the Angara, a walk along which not nly will fill the heart of a wonderful feeling, but will see a lot of Irkutsk monuments, including the monument to the founders of the city, a monument to Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom and symbolic for the city of Moscow Gates .

Many temples and churches attract lovers of the Irkutsk region. In the Irkutsk worth special mention Church of the Savior, which is called the rare Siberian monument monumental art, and the Sign Cathedral in the Baroque style, which has amazing icons

Irkutsk region -. A major cultural center of the country are concentrated in a number of interesting and informative museums . One of the oldest in Russia Irkutsk Regional Art Museum named after B . P . Sukacheva is worthy of the greatest attention; The Museum of the Decembrists, consisting of two estates, in which once lived Trubetskoy and Volkonskie - here are still stored the original things of those times; Architectural-ethnographic museum "Taltsy" in 50 km from Irkutsk-museum under the open sky, where you can see the monuments of wooden architecture of the Baikal region, built in the 17-20 centuries, to get acquainted with the way of life of different peoples, their traditions and crafts .

Irkutsk region - it is also a wonderful place on the map of Russia in terms of ethnography: golendry Tofalars - it's not fictional narodtse of Tolkien's books, their isolated settlements are marked on the map of the region and to get to them is difficult except for the eternal problem of roads . Голендры - по descendents of Germans who moved away to Siberia at the peak of the Stolypin reforms, living in villages Pihtinsk, Srednepihtinsk and Dagnik in Zalarinsky District . There are still special "THE EUROPEAN" way of life and language - a bizarre combination of German, Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian . and in the Eastern Sayan mountains near the border with Tuva near Nizhneudinsk in settlements Alyglzher, Upper Gutara and Nerja live Tofalars or Tofs, which have no more than 700 people . They live very separately and call themselves the original inhabitants of these places . there is also a settlements Old Believers and the old-timers - the descendants of the very first settlers in this region in the 17-18 centuries .

And that's not all: in 2008, lost his autonomy and entered the Irkutsk region Ust-Orda Buryat district. In addition to color, the area is famous for its life-giving power: Alatskoe lake in Alarsky region and Nuhu-Nur lake in Bayandayevsky district are famous for curative water and medicinal mud. In general, in the Irkutsk region a lot of different ethnicities are "mingled": the Buryats, Evenks, Tatars, Chuvashs, Udmurts, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Mordvins, natives from the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Central Asia, and each of them brought a bit of identity to the culture of the region