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Mongolia & the Gobi Desert
Overview
Highlights (Bullets)
- Explore the Mongolia city
- Visit to Gorkhi-Terelj National Park
- Explore the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts
- Explore the western shore of Lake Khovsgol
- Experience camel riding in Gobi Desert
- Discover Yol Valley
Short Description
Wild and untamed, Mongolia is a deeply spiritual land of nomadic cultures and dreamy landscapes of snowcapped mountains, crystalline lakes, and great swathes of grassy plains and ancient desert. Even today, Mongolia evokes a time when Genghis Khan and his warrior horsemen thundered across the steppe to establish the largest land empire the world has ever known. Discover Mongolia’s diverse land and people, from the bustle of Ulaanbaatar and alpine beauty of Khovsgol Lake to the vast expanse of the Gobi Desert. Meet with nomadic herding families, learn about ancient shamanistic beliefs, ride a camel in the desert dunes, and discover why Mongolia is known as the "Land of Blue Sky" during stays in authentic ger tents—just as modern-day nomads and their ancestors have done for centuries. Travel to Mongolia, a pristine land that time forgot, for an adventure you’ll treasure forever.
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive Beijing • Fly to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Meals: Lunch and Dinner
Accommodations: Kempinski Hotel Khan Palace or similar
After our early morning arrival in Beijing, we fly to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, with those who chose to take the pre-trip extension to Mystical Yunnan: Kunming, Dali & Lijiang, arriving in time for lunch at a local restaurant. The afternoon is free to relax before we gather together this evening for a Welcome Dinner at a local restaurant, where we can talk about our upcoming discoveries while enjoying traditional Mongolian cuisine.
Day 2: Explore Ulaanbaatar
Meals : Breakfast and Lunch
Accommodations: Kempinski Hotel Khan Palace or similar
Today we begin a city tour of the Mongolian capital, situated on the banks of the mighty Tuul River and surrounded by holy mountains. The first capital of the modern Mongolian empire was founded in 1639 as a nomadic encampment. This ancient "city" of gers (traditional felt tents; also known as yurts in Russian) was moved to the present site of Ulaanbaatar in 1778. Today, UB (as Ulaanbaatar is commonly referred to) is a bustling metropolis of roughly a million people, where modern buildings vie with Mongolian gers, and cars often share the road with nomads on horseback. Our exploration of UB begins with a visit to Gandan Monastery, Mongolia's largest and most important center of Buddhism, which was built in 1838. Next, we'll explore Sukhbaatar Square. A famous statue of Damdin Sukhbaatar, the “hero of the revolution,” presides over the square. It was on this spot that Sukhbaatar declared Mongolia's independence from China in 1921. Less than 70 years later, in 1989, Sukhbaatar Square was also the site of the first protests against Soviet oppression, and rallies and ceremonies are still held here today. Then view exhibits on Mongolian history and culture at the Museum of Natural History.
After lunch at a local restaurant, we stop at the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts, home to a collection of Mongolian art from prehistory through the early 20th century, along with works by Zanabazar, a 17th-century artist and Mongolia's first spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism. Zanabazar has been referred to as the "Michelangelo of Asia." Afterwards, we ascend the 200 steps to the top of Zaisan Hill to enjoy panoramic views of the city and the four sacred mountains that surround it—Bayanzurkh, Chingeltei, Khairkhan, and Bogd Khaan.
Dinner is on your own this evening.
Day 3: Shaman visit • Home-Hosted Lunch
FOUNDATION VISIT
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodations: Alungoo Camp or similar
After breakfast, we’ll delve deeper into Mongolia’s spirituality by visiting a shaman in his home and participating in a shamanistic ritual. Our visit will reveal how many modern-day nomadic practices—including the blue flags and mounds of sacred stones called ovoos—can be traced to shamanistic beliefs that have been shaping Mongolian culture since the days of Genghis Khan.
Later, we'll enjoy traditional Mongolian cuisine during a Home-Hosted Lunch with a local Kazakh family, giving us the chance to glimpse into the daily lives of our gracious hosts. Then we'll return to our ger camp, where we'll have some leisure time before a traditional hot-stone barbeque.
Day 4: Ulaanbaatar • Gorkhi-Terelj National Park
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodations: Alungoo Camp or similar
This morning we’ll travel east into the Mongolian countryside. Our destination is Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, a nature reserve set in a deep valley between forested hillsides, granite boulders, and mountain streams. Nomads roam the surrounding hills, which are home to some 250 different bird species, rare brown bears, and a wealth of scenic hiking trails. After a short drive—in which we’ll pass by the park’s famous Turtle Rock—we’ll enjoy a hike to Aryabal, a scenic meditation temple.
Then, we’ll return to our camp for lunch before meeting a local nomadic family. With the family’s help, we’ll milk their cows and learn how to turn the milk into cheese. Tonight, we’ll have dinner together at our ger camp.
Day 5: Genghis Khan monument • Meet with nomadic horse-breeding family
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodations: Alungoo Camp or similar
Today begins with a visit to a rather remarkable monument. The people of Mongolia decided to honor Genghis Khan in a big way—by erecting a statue of him astride his horse that stands 131 feet high atop a 33-foot-high coliseum. Built at the site where legend has it Genghis Khan found a golden whip that inspired his future conquests, it is said to be the world’s largest equestrian statue.
After returning to our camp for lunch, we’ll visit a nomadic horse-breeding family to better our understanding of the nomadic lifestyle. This will be a rare opportunity to experience modern Mongolian life firsthand. Nomads learn to ride horses as soon as they can walk, and spend much of their lives in search of stray animals—for there are almost no fences in the entire country. After a demonstration of horse-catching techniques, we’ll return to our camp for a lesson on how to build a traditional Mongolian ger. We’ll have dinner together at our camp this evening.
Day 6: Ulaanbaatar • Monastery visit
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner
Accommodations: Kempinski Hotel Khan Palace or similar
Today we'll return to Nalaikh to visit the Sain Nomun Monastery, where local monks will be waiting to show us how to practice meditation.
Next, we'll have lunch together at a local restaurant in Ulaanbaatar before visiting Naran Tuul, sometimes called the Black Market. In browsing its labyrinth of stalls, you'll find clothing, bags, leather boots, Mongolian antiques, saddles, a variety of local foods, and much more. The market will also provide you with a unique opportunity to mingle with locals and experience life in the bustling capital.
After exploring Naran Tuul, we'll head to our hotel with enough time for dinner on your own in Ulaanbaatar.
Day 7: Fly to Moron • Transfer to Khovsgol Lake
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodations: Ashihai Lake Camp or similar
Explore the western shore of Lake Khovsgol in Mongolia
After breakfast, we visit a workshop that produces traditional morin khuur (horse head fiddles), registered on UNESCO’s World Heritage of Art and Cultural Objects list. Mimicking the shape of the all-important horse, this bowed instrument features a long neck with a carved horse head at its end and two horse-hair strings. At the workshop, we’ll learn how the ritual of morin khuur playing has become intertwined with Mongolia’s history and culture.
Then we head to the airport for a flight to Moron, the administrative center of northern Mongolia’s Khovsgol Province. After our late afternoon arrival in Moron, we’ll have lunch at a local restaurant and continue with an overland journey to our ger camp along Khovsgol Lake.
One of Mongolia’s most picturesque destinations, Khovsgol is an idyllic landscape of thick evergreen forests, flowering meadows with grazing yaks, rugged mountains, and crystal-clear streams and lakes. Khovsgol Lake is a pristine alpine lake some 100 miles long, situated close to the Siberian border. The surrounding region is home to camels of the Gobi and reindeer of the taiga (coniferous forest), as well as several Mongolian ethnic groups, including Buriat, Khalk, Darhat, and the Tsaatan.
Tonight, we’ll have dinner together at our camp.
Day 8: Boat ride on Khovsgol Lake • Horseback ride
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodations: Ashihai Lake Camp or similar
Encounter reindeer and yak herding families on the Mongolian steppe
After breakfast, we begin the day with a morning excursion out onto Khovsgol Lake, whose crystal-clear waters are home to such species as Siberian grayling, pike, perch, salmon, and sturgeon. After our boat ride, we enjoy a leisurely horseback ride along the shores of the scenic lake. The rest of the day is at leisure, with lunch at the camp's restaurant. You may wish to take advantage of this time by embarking on some elective hiking through this scenic region. This evening we'll gather together and dine under the Mongolian stars with an outdoor dinner and bonfire by the shores of the lake.
Day 9: A Day in the Life of modern Mongolia
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodations: Ashihai Lake Camp or similar
After breakfast, we’ll experience A Day in Life of modern Mongolia, first stopping to meet with members of a yak-herding family on the Mongolian steppe. Our meeting will reveal the austere lifestyle of these nomadic families, who depend on the long-haired bovine for virtually all of their core needs: milk, food, shelter, and clothing.
Next we explore the nearby town of Khatgal to learn more about the daily lives of the people in this remote area. Here, we’ll visit a local school which Grand Circle Foundation is proud to support. After a discussion hosted by one of the school’s teachers, we will walk to a local bakery and meet with a local women’s sewing group.
Back at our camp, we’ll have lunch together, and enjoy an afternoon at leisure before dinner.
Day 10: Overland to Moron • Fly to Ulaanbaatar
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Accommodations: Kempinski Hotel Khan Palace or similar
After breakfast and some time at leisure, we drive back to Moron and enjoy lunch at a local restaurant. Then we head to the airport for a flight to Ulaanbaatar, arriving in late afternoon. Dinner is on our own this evening.
Day 11: Fly to the Gobi Desert
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodations: Dream Gobi Camp or similar
After a morning at leisure, we leave Ulaanbaatar and fly to the Gobi Desert. Covering much of southern Mongolia, the Gobi Desert is a breathtaking region of semi-arid desert terrain that is dazzling in its variety—from rocky outcrops to barren stretches of seemingly endless, rolling gravel plains. It is the world’s coldest and northernmost desert, as well as a great repository of dinosaur remains. Caravan routes have been crossing the Gobi since ancient times. When Marco Polo, seeking the fabled capital of the Kublai Khan, encountered this vast and unforgiving landscape in the 1270s, he proclaimed, “It consists entirely of mountains and sands and valleys. There is nothing at all to eat.” But nomads—and wildlife—do survive here (and you will certainly be well-fed as we venture into this mysterious, otherworldly region). Once we land, we enjoy an included lunch before continuing our drive through the stunning Gobi landscape that rolls out to the horizon. You might keep your eyes peeled for the wildlife that makes its home in the great desert, from golden eagles and saker falcons to Argali mountain sheep, goitered gazelle, and a variety of reptiles. This area is also the last refuge of wild two-humped Bactrian camels and home to the rare snow leopard and desert-dwelling Gobi bear.
We’ll have dinner in our desert camp.
Day 12: Explore Yol Valley
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodations: Dream Gobi Camp or similar
Today we explore Yol Valley (also known as Vulture Valley). We’ll travel across the Gobi Desert to the Gurvan Saikhan Mountains and enter this deep gorge in a Mongolian national park. We’ll hike here amid impressive mountain scenery and learn about this area’s endemic plants and local wildlife, including the valley’s namesake, the lammergeier vulture (yol in Mongolian). One of the valley’s most striking sights is glacial ice that extends six miles down the gorge in the winter, some of which often lingers through September or even year-round. After enjoying a boxed lunch, we return to our desert camp to enjoy the remainder of the day at leisure. Dinner is included at our ger lodgings.
Day 13: Gobi Desert • Flaming Cliffs • Camel ride in the dunes
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodations: Dream Gobi Camp or similar
Bayanzag Flaming Cliffs, Gobi Desert, Mongolia
We begin the day with a visit to an area of the Gobi Desert known as Bayanzag, but more commonly referred to as the Flaming Cliffs. The region is famous as the location of the first nest of dinosaur eggs and other fossils found here by the American paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews in the 1920s—and it was he who nicknamed the site "Flaming Cliffs" for the surreal, glowing orange color of the surrounding rocks and cliffs. We’ll enjoy a bit of light trekking among Flaming Cliffs before driving to another striking feature of the Gobi Desert, Moltsog Els.
While only about 5% of the Gobi Desert is sand, we explore one of the few regions of the Gobi covered in dunes at Moltsog Els. Then, after a box lunch in the desert, we visit with a nomadic family engaged in the breeding of Bactrian camels. After learning about Gobi nomads and their camels, you will get to hop aboard one of the twin-humped beasts for a ride into the sweeping desert sands of the mysterious Gobi Desert.
Back at our camp, you will have time to relax before an included dinner.
Day 14: Fly to Ulaanbaatar
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner
Accommodations: Kempinski Hotel Khan Palace or similar
Statue of Damdin Sukhbaatar in front of the Parliament building, Suhbaatar square, Ulan Bator, Mongolia
After breakfast, we drive to Dalanzadgad, where we make our final flight to Ulaanbaatar. We have some free time at our hotel in UB before we gather together for a performance of traditional Mongolian entertainment and to celebrate our adventure at a Farewell Dinner.
Day 15: Ulaanbaatar • Fly to Beijing, China or begin post-trip extension
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodations: Royal Phoenix Hotel or similar
Depart for the airport for a flight to Beijing, where you'll enjoy an overnight stay. Or, if you're taking Siberian Odyssey: Lake Baikal & Irkutsk, depart for your flight to Irkutsk and begin Day 1 of your post-trip extension.
Day 16: Return to U.S.
Meals : Breakfast
Transfer to the airport for your return flight home.
Availability
469 Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours) Travel Reviews & Ratings
Mongolia & the Gobi Desert
AWFUL SERVICE; RIP-OFF; AVOID THIS COMPANY!
The first week of March, O.A.T. called me and cancelled the trip, not even departing until July, because of the coronavirus and said they would be returning people's money on April 5th. They did not! They had said they would return it to the form of payment it was made on. For me, $350 was on my credit card and the remainder through a personal checking account. Altogether, it was nearly $8,000.00 US.
Please note O.A.T. had all of my money for at least 6 months, so there wasn't any issue of a check not having cleared. Also please note it was O.A.T., and not me who cancelled, so it wasn't as if I wasn't entitled to a full refund because of late cancellation. I didn't cancel at all.
I have called and called and no one seems to be answering the phone. A message says go to the website because of then coronavirus, but obviously, my payment details will not be there. I have received no money back by mail or credit! I have received no phone calls. No apology letter clarifying their refund procedure. No acknowledgement of my money at all except the receipt I was send months and months ago. Nada. Nothing at all. I cannot reach anyone, despite having waited on hold for hours with their Musack.
While I can understand the coronavirus has slowed things down, I also understand they've held my money a very, very long time and lied about when it would be returned! I'm afraid I've been stiffed and that other seniors will be, too. With this coronavirus thing, many of us have lost 30% or more in our retirement accounts and would like to have our refunds in our pockets.
This is not a company to do business with, assuming they are not filing for bankruptcy and/or going out of business. In fairness, I do NOT know that they are doing either one, it is only my personal fear at this point. They've been around a while, but I cannot help but feel extremely uneasy with them. Certainly, their corporate communications department could use a brush up on basic customer relations skills. I'm very, very worried.
Company Reviews
Trip of a Lifetime
Be careful
My favorite OAT adventure
I write this in the mist of the recent pandemic and hope that as soon as this all settles down we can take another trip with OAT. It will be hard to match this trip but we will try!
We visited Panama on this trip with OAT
You can find the movie online at https://www.c-span.org/video/?467566-1/the-panama-deception
India was on my bucket list.
Details
Optional Activities
Extensions
Pre-trip: Mystical Yunnan: Kunming, Dali & Lijiang
8 nights from only $2195 | Single Supplement: FREE
Before you travel to Mongolia, experience southwestern China’s Yunnan Province. With its deep spirituality and sweeping scenic vistas, many claim that this is the legendary land of Shangri-La. Witness a forest seemingly made of stone in Kunming, discover Bai culture in the walled city of Dali, and explore the splendor of Lijiang, home to one of the best-preserved Old Towns in China.
Post-trip: Siberian Odyssey: Lake Baikal & Irkutsk
6 nights from only $3195 | Single Supplement: FREE
Explore the remote beauty of southern Siberia, an atmospheric land of ancient and modern Siberian cultures, and nature at its most unspoiled. Visit the Siberian cities of Irkutsk and Listvyanka, and spend time at a former Cossack settlement along the shores of majestic Lake Baikal, the largest and most ancient body of fresh water on Earth.
Flight & Transport Inclusions
All internal ground transport
Group Size
Standard Group - 25 + people
Accommodations
Kempinski Hotel Khan Palace
Ulaanbataar, Mongolia
This modern, 102-room hotel is conveniently situated in the center of Ulaanbaatar, within walking distance of shops, theaters, and museums. The hotel features two restaurants, a fitness center, beauty salon, and boutique. Rooms include an Internet connection, climate control, and a private bath with shower.
Alungoo Camp
Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, Mongolia
Alungoo Camp is a rural camp located about an hour-and-a-half’s drive northeast of Ulaanbaatar in a natural valley fringed by forested mountains. There are 30 traditional ger tents at the camp, with private bath facilities in each ger. We’ll also enjoy authentic Mongolian cuisine in the large communal dining ger.
Ashihai Lake Camp
Khovsgol Lake, Mongolia
Set on the western shore of Lake Khovsgol with scenic mountains in the distance, the Ashihai Lake Camp features 15 traditional ger tents, with a restaurant at the main lodge. Bath and shower facilities are located in a main lodge building.
Dream Gobi Camp
Gobi Desert, Mongolia
Set in the Gobi Desert 39 miles northwest of Dalanzadgad, the Dream Gobi Camp features 40 traditional ger tents, each with private bathroom facilities. When not exploring the surrounding landscape, we’ll enjoy authentic Mongolian cuisine in the large communal dining ger or relax on the terrace with scenic views of the desert landscape.
Royal Phoenix Hotel
Beijing, China
The Royal Phoenix Hotel is located close to the shops of Wangfujing Street, near Forbidden City and Jingshan Park. Hotel amenities include restaurants serving Chinese and Western cuisine, bar, and lounge. There are 193 air-conditioned rooms, each with safe, minibar, coffee- and tea-making facilities, and private bath with hair dryer.
Cancellation policy
Cancellation Charges Generally: Unless otherwise stated next to the program’s rate chart, you will receive a refund equal to your Trip Price less the following per-person charges. Charges shown include the $300 administrative fee.
Cancellation Charges for Land Tours:
- If Prior to departure is 90 days or more, then charge is $300
- If Prior to departure is 89-60 days, then charge is 10% of selling price or $300—whichever is greater
- If Prior to departure is 59-30 days, then charge is 65% of selling price
- If Prior to departure is 29 days–departure, then charge is 100% of selling price
Trip ID#:
MonGobOve
Meals Included
15 Breakfasts 12 Lunches, and 12 Dinners
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