If you like hiking along trails or camping in tents, or singing songs by the campfire; or if you like to go for brisk swims, walk along the shoreline, and then maybe take a kayak out onto the lake, or a raft down a local river—well, then, summertime Baikal is the place for you. Baikal's high season runs roughly from July through August, when the water can get up to 23 degrees Celsius. You can go out for a refreshing swim and stay in the water for a while, as compared to June, when the lake is still too cold to hang out in the lake (even though the air temperatures are already balmy and summer-like). An added bonus are all the smells of summer along the trail, with Siberian rhododendron and the brightly-colored globeflowers wafting all around you.

Normally by the end of September the lush green Siberian landscapes of summer are yielding to the brighter yellows and oranges of the surrounding larch and aspen forests. The contrast of colors is stunning, as your eyes slip up from the rich blues of the lake out into the forested hills that are lit up by the bright sun, and even bluer sky. In the fall you can come out to the lake and enjoy the full show and shimmer of all the tree colors—and you might actually be the only tourists out on the lake!
Once you get into October and November, however, the weather becomes very fickle and unpredictable. The winter winds and blizzard storms of late fall create their own sensations around the lake, sometimes forbidding in nature, but always creating cosmic scenes that will stay in your memory for years to come.

The time when you can really feel the power of Baikal is during our colder months, when the lake is blanketed in ice. From mid-February to the end of March there are endless ice fields with amazing patterns that stretch in front of you, sometimes with deep fissures in the ice, followed by series of hummocks and splashes and ice grottoes along the way. Visitors can cross the lake on foot or with skis, or take longer treks with dog sleds or bicycles. Many folks even spend the night in tents on the ice! There's nothing like the warmth and comfort of camping with friends on the ice! And on the shoreline there are several spots with hot saunas or bathhouses, where you can get warm after a daring leap into cold water of the freezing lake.

Starting in late April into early May, the ice will start breaking up at Baikal, leaving behind icebergs and ice platforms that float out into the open sea. When the larger blocks of ice begin to splinter along the lake, the sounds that they create are phenomenal. The ice almost hums as it melts, cracking suddenly at times with the sound of a great collision. As the ice disappears, the water takes on a very deep shade of blue—while the surrounding air gives off hints of the coming summer.