Tour overview:

Explore Mongolia’s two most famous landscapes: the steppe and the Gobi Desert. Visit Hustai, Hugnu-Tarna and Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Parks. Vist nomadic families, climb towering sand dunes, ride camels and explore Mongolia’s rich history.

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Day 1 - Arrival Ulaanbaatar

Arrive at Chinggis Khaan International Airport just outside Ulaanbaatar and travel into the heart of Mongolia's cosmopolitan capital. Settle into the five-star Novotel Ulaanbaatar, one of the nation’s top-rated hotels. Enjoy a welcome dinner with your tour leader and fellow travelers. (D) 

Novotel Ulaanbaatar or similar

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Day 2 - Ulaanbaatar

Join your tour leader on a walking tour of Mongolia’s capital. Explore the country’s history at the spectacular Chinggis Khaan National Museum, newly opened in 2022, and marvel at the splendid art and architecture of the Choijin Lama Temple Museum. (B,L,D)

Novotel Ulaanbaatar or similar

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Day 3 - The Steppe

Travel west onto the vast Mongolian steppe, reaching the beautifully decorated Mongol Nomadic Cultural Heritage Center. The family that runs the resort delights in sharing nomadic traditions, such as games, food and music, with guests. Join them in a demonstration of steppe nomadic traditions, and settle into your ger for the night. (B,L,D) 

Mongol Nomadic Cultural Heritage Center or similar

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Day 4 - Wild Horses

Enjoy an early morning visit to Hustai National Park, the home of the world’s last wild horses. See Przewalski’s horses, formerly extinct from the wild, but reintroduced to Hustai in the 1990s through an international conservation effort. Then, continue west to Hugnu-Tarna National Park, a dramatic mixture of steppe, mountains, and sand dunes. Spend two nights at a picturesque ger camp in the shadow of the Elsen Tasarhai Sand Dunes. (B,L,D)

Burd Star Ger Camp or similar

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Day 5 - Valley of Nomads

Explore the history and legends of the steppe on a day trip to the town of Harhorin in the UNESCO World Heritage Orkhon Valley. Visit Mongolia’s oldest monastery, 16th-century Erdene Zuu. The monastery was built on and with the ruins of Karakorum, founded by Genghis Khan’s son as the 13th-century capital of the Mongol Empire. Then, experience life on the steppe. At the ger of a family of nomadic herders who pasture their animals near sacred Mt. Hugnu Khan, cook and share a meal and ride horses. (B,L,D) 

Burd Star Ger Camp or similar

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Day 6 - Ulaanbaatar.

Return to Ulaanbaatar. Attend a performance of folk music, dance and throat singing by the renowned Tumen Ekh Ensemble. (B,L,D)

Novotel Ulaanbaatar or similar

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Day 7 - Genghis Khan

See how contemporary Mongolia is shaping its future with an eye toward the past. On a day trip to the steppe east of Ulaanbaatar, visit the towering 131-foot tall Genghis Khan Statue, built in 2006 for the 800th anniversary of the Mongol Empire. (B,L,D) 

Novotel Ulaanbaatar or similar

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Day 8 - The Gobi Desert

Fly from Ulaanbaatar to Dalanzadgad, the capital of South Gobi Province in the heart of the Gobi Desert. Head west through the Three Beauties Mountains, past herds of Bactrian camels and vast desert plains to the legendary Hongoryn Els Sand Dunes, towering six hundred feet over Gobi Three Beauties National Park. Spend two nights in a remote ger camp outpost near the dunes (B,L,D) 

Buren Ger Camp or similar

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Day 9 - Sand Dunes and Camels

Spend the day enjoying Hongoryn Els and its most famous resident: the two-humped Bactrian camel. Ride camels with a family of camel herders and hike on the shifting mountains of sand. Explore Seruun Bulag, a spring-fed oasis at the base of the dunes. (B,L,D)

Buren Ger Camp or similar

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Day 10 - Flaming Cliffs

Explore the red sandstone Flaming Cliffs, where the 1920s Central Asiatic Expeditions, led by American Roy Chapman Andrews, made the world’s first discovery of dinosaur eggs. Settle into a deluxe ger at Gobi Mirage Lodge for your final two nights in the desert. The lodge is a community-based oasis of excellent food and service in the stillness of the Gobi. (B,L,D) 

Gobi Mirage Lodge or similar

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Day 11 - Yolyn Am Canyon

On your last full day in the Gobi Desert, travel into the Three Beauties Mountains, home to nomadic herders, their herds and myriad wildlife. Hike through the mountains’ Yolyn Am Canyon. The canyon’s high rock walls, covered in juniper and wild rhubarb, form an oasis home to Lammergeier bearded vultures and Siberian ibex. (B,L,D) 

Gobi Mirage Lodge or similar

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Day 12 - Ulaanbaatar..

Fly back to Ulaanbaatar. Explore an exhibit of dinosaur fossils from the Gobi Desert and visit Gandantegchenlin Monastery, the center of Mongolian Buddhism. Enjoy a final city evening and farewell dinner. (B,L,D)

Novotel Ulaanbaatar or similar

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Day 13 - Depart Ulaanbaatar

Return to the airport for your flight home. (B)

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