Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia
One cannot reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.
—Lao Tzu (600–531 B.C.), Chinese philosopher and father of Taoism
Lake Baikal, in southeastern Siberia, is twenty-five million years old, 1.2 miles deep, 400 miles long, and 500 miles wide, making it the world’s oldest, deepest, and second-largest natural lake. This World Heritage site is sacred to local Buddhists as well as to the Buryat people, the region’s largest indigenous group, who leave monthly offerings at shrines around the lake and on the lake’s islands.
If you are on a quest to restore or invigorate your sense of well-being, Lake Baikal offers many options. Book a packaged or customized tour (some even include shaman purification rituals and ancestor spirit rites), or explore the region by boat, horseback, or trekking. From Saint Petersburg, take a direct flight to Irkutsk, known as the “Paris of Siberia,” which is the nearest town.
Leave prayers for holistic well-being or of gratitude for good health at the sacred inlets, islands, and monuments of this enormous freshwater lake, also known as the North Sea in historical Chinese texts.
The most sacred area of Lake Baikal is Olkhon, an island 8 miles from the northern shore. A cave on the island is thought to be the earthly home of Burkhan, the supreme deity of the Buryats.