Lake Baikal


Olkhon Island

Olkhon Island is situated in the stunningly beautiful Lake Baikal. The island is 45 kilometers long and 10 km wide. There are only a few villages scattered throughout the island. The island is hard to get to, there's no electricity, no running water and roads are in an extremely bad condition... but it's really wonderful.

The island is well accessible for independent travellers, thanks to Nikita Bencharov. This former world-champion table tennis has set up a great "backpacker's resort" on the island, consisting of various wooden cottages. He provides visitors with simple but great accomodation, tasty food (if you like fish) and amazing excursions (by Lada). A stay at Nikita's place is an experience not easily forgotten!

Imagine spending the night with some fellow backpackers around a camp fire on a cliff high above Lake Baikal, drinking some vodka and discussing world politics... doens't sound bad, eh?

Surroundings