Location RCGH-2024

The village of Listvyanka on Lake Baikal, where the Angara River begins, is mentioned in the 1726 diary of the royal embassy on the way to China. Like all of Siberia at that time, it was just a tiny settlement. Listvyanka remained as such until the end of the 19th century, when a port and then a shipyard were founded. The Trans-Siberian Railway, in its first versions, passed near the city since 1900; the section from Irkutsk up the river and across the lake to Mysovsk (now Babushkin) was served by ships. A few years later, this section also became passable by rail: from Irkutsk along the river to the port of Baikal on the opposite bank of the river (this section was dismantled in the 1950s) and along the current Circum-Baikal Railway to Kultuk, where it meets the modern Trans-Siberian Railway.
In Soviet times, an institute for the study of the lake was created (now the Baikal Museum), and at the same time the first simple tourist sites were opened. The landscapes are really beautiful; the mountains go down to the lake both here and on the opposite side of the Angara.
Listvyanka and its surroundings have one of the most pleasant climates in Siberia; Summers are not so hot, and winters are milder than in Irkutsk and east of the lake. So in September the weather is still pleasant and there are fewer people than in high summer, meaning it's a good time to visit.