The city of Ulan-Ude
Ulan-Ude is the capital of the Republic of Buryatia (South-East Siberia). The city was founded in 1666 by Cossacks who explored Siberia, and its modern name «Ulan-Ude» (translated from Buryat language — «Red Gate») it received in 1934. The basement of the city was laid 2,000 years ago by the great Xiongnu who had founded the Northern Outpost of their Empire.
People of Ulan-Ude carefully preserve its history. One can get acquainted with it in a historical part of the city, where in the XVIII–early XX centuries the boisterous fairs were held, and in the Ethnographic Museum of Transbaikal peoples, which is one of the largest museums in Russia in the open air. There are a Buryat circus, several theatres and the world's largest Vladimir Lenin monument in the form of his head, weighing 42 tons.
The center of Russian Buddhism — Ivolginsky datsan is located at 30 km from Ulan-Ude. There one can see a greenhouse with a sacred Bodhi tree, the gallery of art of the Asian nations «Erchim Darkhan» and the Palace of Hambo Lama Itigelov, a phenomenon which attracts many tourists from all over the world. In Buryatia you get to know yourself by talking to the shamans and lamas.
The legendary lake Baikal — UNESCO world natural heritage site – is two hours' drive from Ulan-Ude. Baikal is beautiful at any time of the year.
Arriving to Buryatia, you will get acquainted with another UNESCO Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity— the culture of semeyskie-old believers of Transbaikal.
Ulan-Ude has developed tourist infrastructure: hotels, restaurants of national Buryat cuisine and other cuisines of the world. The mail local souvenirs are products of silver, nephrite, wood, bone, fur; national costumes, food products. Welcome to Ulan-Ude — the bright capital of Baikal — where the sun shines 327 days a year!
The tourism portal of the city of Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Republic of Buryatia: http://www.uutravel.ru/
