The world’s deepest freshwater lake is widely known, yet few venture to its true “depths” — the north of Lake Baikal. Most tourists head south, leaving the northern side in peaceful secluded bliss, with pristine, crisp air. Here, you won’t find either crowds or industrial enterprises. The north part of the lake paints a wild landscape of Siberian taiga, with even gas stations kept at a safe distance from the water.

Simply reaching this lakeshore is a discovery in itself, and to spend a week here in premium comfort is priceless.
The only five-star hotel in the northern region, the “Baikal Residence” is at our disposal. Here one can find vast private grounds, the biggest ice rink on Baikal, snowmobiles, a helicopter fleet, and the most experienced pilots who can easily land even on cracked ice — everything for you to experience the very essence of Baikal without the typical tourist facade.

And that’s not all. What could be better than taking a traditional Russian sauna (“banya”) with an ice-hole through a meter-thick layer of Baikal ice in winter? What could taste better than a Siberian fish soup after a steam bath and “banya besom massage”? Only a lunch featuring stroganina — a northern Russian dish of raw thin long-sliced fresh fish that freezes instantly? And imagine all this taking place on the blue ice of the lake, near mysterious caves.