Living in Siberia as a foreigner: Baikal, Irkutsk and the small towns
Roster checked September 2026 · September 2026
Four time zones from Moscow, the arithmetic changes: land and housing are a fraction of the capital's, and everything else — specialist medicine, imported goods, a flight home — costs more in time and money.
The people filming from here are the useful corrective to Moscow content. An American building a house near Slyudyanka and a Frenchman passing through Irkutsk show the same region from two distances, and neither of them is selling a dream.
What to verify before you move here
- Medicine: routine care is nearby, specialists are in Irkutsk or further. Map that before you buy land.
- Winter as a cost line: heating, a vehicle that starts at -30, and roads that close.
- Land category: not every plot a foreigner can see listed is a plot a foreigner can buy.
- Internet and work: check the actual connection at the actual address, not the regional coverage map.
