Irkutsk is well connected by air, rail, and road. By air, Irkutsk International Airport handles direct flights from Moscow (roughly 5 hours), St Petersburg, and several Asian cities. By rail, Irkutsk is on the Trans-Siberian Railway, making it a natural stop on the classic Moscow–Vladivostok route; the journey from Moscow takes around 75 hours. Arriving by train is the more scenic option and gives a real sense of Siberia's scale.
From Irkutsk, Lake Baikal is easily reached: marshrutkas (shared minibuses) run to Listvyanka on the lake shore in under an hour.