Irkutsk Attractions

Top Things to Do in Irkutsk

Things to Do in Irkutsk


Top Attractions in Irkutsk

These rankings are informed by traveller reviews—we consider the quality, quantity, recency, consistency of reviews, and the number of page views over time.
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What travellers are saying

  • Dmitri K
    San Antonio, TX877 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    High-quality local art. Very good space. Professionally curated. We visited the gallery during near-closing time and had it to ourselves. It was quite enjoyable. The adjacent art shop is quite good, too.
    Written 4 October 2021
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • LifeIsAdventure
    New York City, NY74 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Lovely new district styled with old wooden houses with cafes, restaurants and shops. Very pleasant walk in the evening. I wish the food was better there.
    Written 9 September 2020
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • rimsky12
    Battle, United Kingdom72 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Actually, NOT at the Drama Theatre, but at the Musical Theatre, which is not listed on Trip Advisor! I saw Verdi's Aida, a touring production from Ulan Ude, which was not only superbly sung, and quite well played, it was imaginatively and luxuriously designed in traditional style. The theatre is clearly Soviet in style, as are the prices. I paid the equivalent of £3 for an excellent seat. GO!!
    Written 18 July 2015
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • Maryam N
    St. Petersburg, Russia19 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    this street is full of cafe and Restaurant, in traditional home arcitectures. in the evening enjoying of street music and nice view of the city.
    Written 5 August 2020
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • saronic
    Zurich, Switzerland26,274 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Prince Sergey Volkonsky, who had fought in the Napoleonic War, was the only active general of the reformist movement of the Decembrists. After that coup against Tsar Nicholas I failed, he was sentenced with 120 others to 20 years 'katorga' (penal labor) and banishment for life to Siberia. He was one of a few, who was followed by his wife. Since he couldn't leave Siberia after the 20 years hard labor were over, he decided in 1847 to settle with his wife Mariya in Irkutsk. At least until the amnesty of Tsar Alexander I in 1856, when they could return to Europe.

    Through contact with relatives in European Russia they could arrange for themselves a quite comfortable life in this town. Mariya's brother in Moscow even sent seeds and plants, so she could make a winter garden. Their manor house became a center for cultural and social activities. To learn about the Decembrist movement one has to go to the other, not far away manor house-museum of Prince Sergey Trubetskoy, which has plenty of information boards, while the visually more attractive Volkonsky House tries to give an idea of the life of a noble family in Siberia through furniture, dresses, paintings, musical instruments and other items.

    If one plans to visit both places, it is recommended to start with the Trubetskoy House. There are combined tickets sold for both museums (300 RUB, instead of 200 RUB for each place). Photography is allowed and there are toilets. Outside the Volkonsky House is a garden with an old style draw well, with the servant's quarter (closed) and benches to sit on and relax.
    Written 25 April 2020
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • Dmitri K
    San Antonio, TX877 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    I was particularly taken by this cathedral. Unique in architecture and style, it has a collection of distinctly Siberian iconography, which is quite different from the central Russian school of fairly rigid in its rules religious painting style.
    Written 4 October 2021
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • Dmitri K
    San Antonio, TX877 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Worth visiting, indeed. Ample interesting art inside. Walk around the building to appreciate the architecture!
    Written 4 October 2021
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • AL C
    Bangkok, Thailand2 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    The show took about 45 mins. It was very funny and 45 mins went so fast! However, conductor spoke in russian.
    Written 14 April 2017
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • saronic
    Zurich, Switzerland26,274 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    From my hotel the first thing I wanted to do was to walk towards the Angara river, which was not far away. After all this is where the city of Irkutsk had its beginning, just opposite the place, easily seen, where the river Irkut flows into the Angara.

    From the Moscow Gate I first walked to the right in the direction the river flows towards the river Yenisej, with a view of the Znamensky Convent in front of me and past an interesting Monument to the Surveyors. Further on it makes no sense to keep walking, since one has to leave the river to go towards a bridge for a road with a lot of traffic.

    Thus I went back the same way and continued from the Moscow Gate river upwards in the direction of the Irkutsk Dam for the Hydroelectric Power Station. From here Lake Baikal, from where the Angara flows out, is only about 70km away.

    'Nizhnyaya Naberezhnaya Angary' means 'Lower Embankment of the Angara', but is there an upper embankment? There is definitely a nice area to walk by the river near the bridge to the Youth Island, close to the Monument to Alexander III, but this is not called 'Upper Embankment'. On the other hand the Angara flowing out of Baikal Lake was previously called 'Lower Angara', while a river flowing from the northeast into Lake Baikal was called 'Upper Angara'.
    Written 21 April 2020
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • Allan J
    Hereford, UK8 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    There are three restored wooden buildings, one with items from family history, another with mineral samples and a third which held a photographic exhibition, all in a park which would have been the family garden.
    Written 15 January 2020
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • saronic
    Zurich, Switzerland26,274 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    When strolling along the Nizhnya Naberezhnaya, the Lower Embankment, one will come to an about 6m high monument, just opposite the place, where the river Irkut flows into the larger Angara river. This is supposed to be the spot, where in 1661 the Cossack leader Yakov Pokhabov had an 'ostrog' built, a for Russia and especially Siberia typical small fortress out of wood and surrounded by a palisade.

    Pokhabov had been in the area since 15 years already, visiting the Khan of Mongolia and exploring Lake Baikal, occupied with gold trading and collecting fur taxes for the tsar from the local Buryats. Before a dam was built the stretch of the Angara river from here to Lake Baikal had been almost impossible to navigate. so Irkutsk began to develop, especially as a center of commerce between Russia and China, so another 15 years after the construction of the ostrog Irkutsk received town rights.

    the monument was unveiled in 2011, thus 350 years after the foundation of Irkutsk. On top of a tall red marble pedestal is a bronze statue of a typical cossack, only later named after Yakov Pokhabov. The monument is the creation of Mikhail Pereyaslavets, the prolific Moscow sculptor, best known for his work of patriotic-military figures. In Irkutsk can be seen another sculpture of his: the Monument to the Wives of the Decembrists near the Volkonsky Manor House.
    Written 10 April 2020
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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