Park-Hotel Uyuga

Is this the Ritz Carlton? No, of course not, but if you want to be right on the edge of stunning Lake Baikal it is a good option. We arrived here by ice, having driven up from Irkutsk. The set-up is a series of cabins, and then a two-storey hotel building with about 20-30 rooms in it, which is where I was. The rooms are very small, and forget about wifi or anything like that, but they serve their purpose. There is a bathroom and toilet, a small single bed, power, and heating - oh boy, is there heating! I was roasting in there and often ended up with the window open despite it being below freezing outside. Then there is a dining room area. I enjoyed the food there: local fish, borscht, good hearty stuff. It's a pleasant room filled with maps and photos. But the main thing of course is the location. From the hotel balcony you are looking straight out at the lake, and in a jeep in winter you are on the ice in a minute. Our hotel was clearly a favourite of the more dare-devil lake visitors, the paragliders and motorbikers and go-karters and ice divers, and they are all catered for within sufficient space for their equipment and transport. I enjoyed my time here.