Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall – Siberia Has It All

Siberia is huge and phenomenal, with swathes of taiga forest, northern tundra underpinned with frozen earth called permafrost, mighty rivers rushing north to the Arctic, and grand Lake Baikal — the deepest and oldest freshwater lake on earth.

Whether it’s winter, spring, summer or fall, you can have fun on Lake Baikal. Photo credit: Douglas Grimes and Martin Klimenta

At any time of the year there are wonders to behold here, whether it’s the swaying purple fireweed of summer, tall as a man, or the thick winter ice on Lake Baikal, shoved up into peaks so clear they look like windowpanes. And the hardy Siberian people know how to have a good time no matter what the weather is doing. Join them – winter, spring, summer or fall.

MIR has more than 30 years of expertise in hand-crafting Siberian travel itineraries, each one capturing the magic of its season.

Winter in Siberia

Winter is Dr. Zhivago time, when fields are obliterated by snow and etched with skeleton trees. Local people travel across the Baikal ice on snow machines or dogsleds. Shaggy horses pull sleighs over the snowy ground, and venders warm their hands over their stoves as they smoke fresh-caught omul at lakeside stands. Snow and ice don’t keep Siberians from enjoying the season, whether indoors or out. And they’re happy to take you along with them.

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Winter activities can include:

Boarding a hovercraft and gliding over the Baikal ice to a place where you can join locals ice-fishing
Admiring the fantastic sculptures and mazes carved from the clear Baikal ice that dot the snow-covered open spaces around Irkutsk’s main square
Hurtling down an ice slide on an inner tube
Steaming yourself in a traditional Russian banya, then running out into the snow
Dashing through the taiga and onto the frozen Angara River on a traditional troika ride
Raising your ice-glasses and toasting to winter with chilled Baikal vodka
Mushing over frozen Lake Baikal on a dogsled pulled by Siberian Huskies, a courageous breed exported from Russia into Alaska during the Nome Gold Rush
Racing a snow machine against a dogsled
Enjoying a cozy home-cooked meal – including blini – in a Siberian home

Experience Winter in Siberia with MIR on these itineraries:

The Trans-Siberian Winter Wonder Land Route on the Golden Eagle private train – Eastbound
Essential Siberia – travel on your own dates on a pre-planned, pre-packaged private trip
Or a private journey – thoughtfully customized to your dates, pace, and interests

Spring in Siberia

Late winter extends into early spring in Siberia. Eventually there’s a thaw, and the land begins to break free of its frozen blanket. In very early spring, Siberia may remind you of a molting bird – soon beautiful plumage will cover the bare bones, but right now it’s a bit scraggly. Finally, it’s May, and time to travel! Buds break through, the sun begins to warm your skin, tiny white trillium bloom in the woods, and hopeful people spill onto the streets to greet their neighbors after the harsh winter.

UNESCO-listed Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake on earth, so vast that locals call it “the sea.” Photo credit: Vladimir Kvashnin

Spring activities can include:

Venturing inside a private Russian home for a traditional home-cooked meal of Russian specialties such as blini and borscht
Enjoying a tour of the classic wooden architecture of one of Russia’s loveliest cities, Irkutsk
Discovering Vladivostok, the formerly closed Pacific Rim port city flourishing on Russia’s east coast.
Riding the famous Trans-Siberian Railway through the taiga, steppe and wide valleys of Siberia
Breathing in the astounding beauty of UNESCO-listed Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake on earth, so vast that locals call it “the sea”
Inspecting the largest opera house in Russia, in Novosibirsk, the biggest city in Siberia
Attending a concert of classical music at the Decembrist Museum in Irkutsk

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Experience Spring in Siberia with MIR on these itineraries:

The Trans-Siberian Classic Route on the Golden Eagle private train – Eastbound or Westbound
The Trans-Siberian Express between Beijing & Moscow on the Tsar’s Gold private train – Eastbound or Westbound
Trans-Siberian Baikal Express on the Golden Eagle private train
Trans-Siberian Ulaanbaatar Express on the Golden Eagle private train
Essential Siberia – travel on your own dates on a pre-planned, pre-packaged private trip
Or a private journey – thoughtfully customized to your dates, pace, and interests

Summer in Siberia

Summer is sumptuous in Siberia. The extra hours of warm sunshine bring out the tang of pine needles and sticky birch leaves, and encourage the lush growth of the potato plants and sunflowers that crowd every village backyard. The golden Siberian globeflower dots the hillsides, and people fishing in ancient Lake Baikal find that they can see a hundred feet below the surface.

Visit a village to hear the powerful centuries-old songs of the Old Believers and learn about their unique traditions. Photo credit: Helge Pedersen

Summer activities can include:

Honoring the chanting monks, townspeople, and pilgrims near Ulan Ude at Ivolginsk Datsan, the center of Buddhism in Russia
Making a village visit to enjoy a home cooked meal and to hear the powerful centuries-old songs of Old Believers, learning about their unique history and traditions (VIDEO)
Spending a day admiring UNESCO-listed Lake Baikal on the fabulous Circumbaikal Old Railway, one of the most complicated and beautiful rail routes in the world (VIDEO)
Discovering the other-worldly sounds of Tuvan throat-singing at a traditional performance in Kyzyl, the capital of Tuva
Spending the night in the home of a local Siberian family to enjoy Russian hospitality at its finest
Boarding a boat and searching for Baikal’s elusive freshwater seal, the nerpa
Experiencing a traditional banya, or steambath, in Listvyanka, a little lakeside village that began as a fishing outpost and has become a center for the study of Lake Baikal
Taking a hydrofoil to sacred Olkhon Island, where the indigenous Buryats believed that the gods of Baikal lived
Experience a shaman ceremony
Discovering Vladivostok, the formerly closed Pacific Rim port city flourishing on Russia’s east coast
Venturing to the remote Yakutia region, known for it’s mammoth fossils, diamonds, and permafrost
Exploring the wild Kamchatka Peninsula, perched on the Pacific Rim of Fire

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Experience Summer in Siberia with MIR on these itineraries:

Siberian Odyssey: Legends of Lake Baikal & Tuva
Mongolia to Moscow: A Trans-Siberian Railway Adventure
Siberia & Mongolia: Spirits & Nomads
Remote Russia: Yakutia & Kamchatka
The Trans-Siberian Classic Route on the Golden Eagle private train – Eastbound or Westbound
The Trans-Siberian Mongolian Route on the Golden Eagle private train – Eastbound or Westbound
The Trans-Siberian Express between Beijing & Moscow on the Tsar’s Gold private train – Eastbound or Westbound
Trans-Siberian Baikal Express on the Golden Eagle private train
Trans-Siberian Ulaanbaatar Express on the Golden Eagle private train
Essential Siberia – travel on your own dates on a pre-planned, pre-packaged private trip
Or a private journey – thoughtfully customized to your dates, pace, and interests

Fall in Siberia

Fall comes quickly here, with harvest time arriving in September and aspen, birch, and larch turning bright yellow against the evergreens. The sheep and horses start growing their winter coats, and villagers pick berries, smoke fish, and make pickles in preparation for winter.

A photogenic lookout over a swathe of Siberia’s taiga forest on the Baikal shore. Photo credit: Martin Klimenta

Fall activities can include:

Venturing inside a private Russian home for a traditional home-cooked meal of Russian specialties such as blini and borscht
Enjoying a tour of the classic wooden architecture of one of Russia’s loveliest cities, Irkutsk
Discovering Vladivostok, the formerly closed Pacific Rim port city flourishing on Russia’s east coast
Riding the famous Trans-Siberian Railway through the taiga, steppe and wide valleys of Siberia (VIDEO)
Breathing in the astounding beauty of UNESCO-listed Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake on earth, so vast that locals call it “the sea”
Inspecting the largest opera house in Russia, in Novosibirsk, the biggest city in Siberia
Attending a concert of classical music at the Decembrist Museum in Irkutsk

(click image to view larger photo)

Experience Fall in Siberia with MIR on these itineraries:

Mongolia to Moscow: A Trans-Siberian Railway Adventure
The Trans-Siberian Classic Route on the Golden Eagle private train – Eastbound or Westbound
The Trans-Siberian Express between Beijing & Moscow on the Tsar’s Gold private train – Eastbound or Westbound
Essential Siberia – travel on your own dates on a pre-planned, pre-packaged private trip
Or a private journey – thoughtfully customized to your dates, pace, and interests

(click image to view larger photo)

MIR is your Siberia travel expert – with more than 30 years of travel experience to Russia and with affiliate offices in Ulan Ude and Irkutsk (both in Siberia), as well as in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

MIR’s full service, dedication, commitment to quality, and destination expertise have twice earned us a place on National Geographic Adventure’s list of “Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth.”

30 years of travel expertise means that the specialists at MIR know how to get there, what to do while you’re there, and how to enhance your trip in each of our destinations.

Wondering which destination or itinerary is right for you? In addition to browsing the pages of our free catalog, you can narrow down your choices online using our Trip Finder.