From Wikitravel

Buryatia [1] is a republic in Eastern Siberia, which borders Tuva to the west, Irkutsk to the northwest, Chita Oblast to the east, and Mongolia to the south.

[edit] Regions

[edit] Cities

• Ulan-Ude — the capital
• Arshan — a hot springs resort town in the Tunkinsky National Park, with a nearby Buddhist Temple in the woods
• Gusinoozyorsk — a large coal town on Lake Gusinoye
• Kyakhta — a town near the border with Mongolia founded in the 18th century as a trade center between Russia and the Qing Dynasty
• Orlik — the principal town of the beautiful Oka region on the Border with Tuva and a convenient base for exploring nearby rivers, volcanos, and hot springs; great destination for horseback riding, mountain biking, whitewater rafting, and mountain climbing
• Severobaikalsk — a large Baikal-Amur Mainline town on the northern shore of Lake Baikal
• Tarbagatai — inhabited by the "heretical" Russian Orthodox Old Believers, this village is about 50km north of Ulan-Ude

[edit] Other destinations

• Baikalsky Nature Reserve
• Barguzinsky Nature Reserve
• Dzerginsky Nature Reserve
• Khoyto-Gol — a mountain hot springs spa
• Lake Baikal — the deepest and oldest lake in the world and, by volume of water, also the planet's largest freshwater body or water.
• Olkhon — the largest island in Lake Baikal.
• Tunkinsky National Park
• Zabaikalsky National Park

[edit] Understand

The republic was founded in 1923 with the joining of two territories and it currently has the status of a republic within the Russian Federation. Russians constitute the majority of the republic's one million inhabitants, although the native Tibetan Buddhist and Shamanist Buryats (a race of Mongolian descent) remain a large minority (about 30% of the population); indeed, the Buryats constitute Siberia's largest ethnic group after Russians.

Aside from its cultural attractions and capital, Buryatia is a nature lover's paradise. Almost 80% of the territory is covered by mountains, and more than half the shore-line of Lake Baikal falls under Buryatia's jurisdiction. Outside the capital Ulan Ude, the major tourist attractions include hot springs, Lake Baikal and Mongolian style Buddhist monasteries.

[edit] Talk

The indigenous Buryat language is widely spoken by the Buryat minority. Nonetheless, everyone understands Russian.

[edit] Get in

The Trans-Siberian Railway makes four stops in Buryatia, from west to east: Tankhoi, Babushkin, Ulan-Ude, and Zaigraevo.

Ulan-Ude Airport is served by domestic flights from Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, and Yakutsk. Passenger service to/from Ulaanbaatar has been discontinued.

[edit] Get around

Commercial bus lines will take you from Ulan-Ude to most locations within the region. To get to the Oka region and Orlik, however, you will need to hire or rent a jeep to make it down the long dirt road.

The Ulan-Ude–Naushki rail branch off the Trans-Siberian Railway will take travelers to Gusinoozyorsk.

[edit][add listing] See

• Ivolginsky Buddhist Datsan [2] — a large Buddhist monastery 23 km outside of Ulan Ude; buses leave the central bus station in Ulan Ude at 10AM, 12 noon and 5:40PM for the forty minute journey (taking the later bus will mean having to spend the night in at the monastery guesthouse or returning by taxi)

[edit] Itineraries

[edit][add listing] Do

• take a hot spring bath at Khoyto-Gol Warm Springs in the Sayan Mountains - simple cabin accommodation available.
• trekking, biking, and horseback riding in the Sayan Mountains - highest peak: Topographov Peak, 3044 mts.
• whitewater rafting

[edit][add listing] Eat

[edit][add listing] Drink

[edit] Stay safe

[edit] Get out

The next major stops on the Trans-Siberian Railway are Irkutsk to the west; to the east, Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky and Chita.

The Ulan-Ude–Naushki rail branch leads on to the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar.

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