The best Gobi Desert travel combines with the central Mongolia tour. You will discover the uniqueness of the Gobi desert, enjoy central Mongolian beauty, famous attractions, and must-do activities. Many people picture the Mongolian Gobi as a sandy flat area, sand dunes, barren dried mud soil or… , but after they traveled Mongolia, they completely deny it and define the Mongolian Gobi desert that it supports life and is an amazingly surprising area, every day. Some parts of the Mongolian Gobi desert are daunting rocky mountains covered with plants. The mountainous areas have plenty of streams, springs and wild animals while other parts have views of marvelous blue mountains combined with high and long continuing sand dunes, lush green-shored streams, and vast open steppes edge with the horizon. Hundreds of sheep and goat herds, horses, cattle, and the world rare Bactrian camels will be seen on the prairies or among mirages in the middle of nowhere is another picture of the Mongolian Gobi desert. You will stay at ger camps allow you to enjoy 360° views of the steppes most of the time. Either the nights of the Gobi desert are amazingly quiet and beautiful with countless bright stars. You also see amazing sunrises and sunsets in the Gobi desert. Except for the natural beauty, there are plenty of activities such as hiking in the mountains, climbing sand dunes, riding two-humped camels, visiting nomads, and ancient monasteries. Travel the Mongolian Gobi desert with us and discover more of its incredible beauties.
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive in Ulaanbaatar and city sightseeing
Our guide and driver will greet you at the airport/railway station. Taken on a city sightseeing tour if the time permits. First, you will visit Gandantegchilen Monastery. The monastery is a favored place for locals as well as foreigners due to its interesting religious artifacts and peacefulness. A 26 m gilded statue of a Buddha (in Megjid Janrasag sum) is another thing of interest. Next, visit the National Museum of Mongolia followed by a visit to Central Square and drive to Zaisan Memorial to see the panoramic view of Ulaanbaatar. Dine in a fine Mongolian restaurant.
Accommodation: 3* hotel
Meals: Lunch, Dinner
Day 2: Elsentasarkhai the northern edge of the Gobi, visit a nomad family, try authentic Mongolian barbecue and horse riding
Elsentasarhai is a unique place represents features of the Gobi desert, mountain steppes, and grasslands in a single area. We arrive at Elsentasarkai by lunchtime, check-in a ger camp and relax for a while. Next, visit a nomad family to explore the nomadic life and ride horses on the steppes. We will have an authentic Mongolian barbeque for dinner in the nomads’ ger. Drive to the ger camp.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 3: Kharkhorin, ancient Monastery Erdenezuu
Kharkhorin, formerly known as Kharakhorum, was once a capital of Genghis Khan's Great Mongol Empire in the 13th century. After the move of Mongolian capital to Beijing, and the fall of the Empire, Kharakhorum was abandoned and then destroyed by Min soldiers in 1388. Today, in the vast valley of the Orkhon River, awe-inspiring ancient monastery Erdenezuu coexists with Kharkhorin town. See some valuable religious articles in the monastery museum, view its stunning architecture and visit the Kharakhorum Museum display remnants of the ancient city.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 4: Drive to Ongi Monastery on the endless steppes
Our today’s tour takes place in the transition zone from the mountain steppes to the Gobi desert. Ongi Monastery was one of the biggest monasteries in Mongolia. There were two separate monasteries consisted of more than 30 temples on the shores of the Ongi River surrounded by the Gobi desert mountains. The temples destroyed during the socialist purge of the 1930s. Now the ruins of the monasteries involve a vast area. Visit a new active temple, a ger museum, explore the monastery ruins and climb a nearby mountain to see views of the surrounding areas from an elevated area.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 5: Flaming Cliffs
Today, we drive on vast open Ongi steppes and through slate stone mountains heading the Flaming Cliffs, where American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews found the cemetery of dinosaurs and the first dinosaur eggs ever discovered in the world. We will have some hiking through the cliffs in search of dinosaur fossils that may found and see the Gobi desert tree grove named “Bayanzag.” Bayanzag means “rich in saxaul trees.” This tree only grows in the Central Asian Gobi.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 6: Khongor Sand Dunes
Our journey will continue to Khongor, the largest sand dunes. After reaching the sand dunes, go hiking along the green river shore, climb sand dunes, visit a nomad family, and have an hour camel riding. If you can climb one of the tallest sand dunes, don't forget to spread the sand northwards against the wind to find the reason why locals call the sand dunes "Singing Sand.” The views are fantastic from the top of the sand dunes.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 7: Drive to Gobi Gurban Saikhan Mountain National Park, hiking in Eagle Valley
The Gobi Gurban Saikhan means "Three beautiful mountains in the Gobi.” The Gobi Gurban Saikhan Mountain is a beautiful national park itself rich in wildlife and scenic places. Among them, Yoliin Am/Eagle Valley is the one accessible by car. After our vehicle brings us to a designated parking area, we will walk through the resplendent valley into the depths of a sheer rock canyon, which accepts no sunlight. Therefore, it has ice until the end of June. The hiking continues 2.5 to 3 hours for travel into the valley and back to the vehicle. Golden eagles, elusive wild sheep, and ibexes are indigenous to the valley.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 8: Fly back Ulaanbaatar
Fly back Ulaanbaatar early morning and land Ulaanbaatar after 1.5 hours flight. The driver transfers you to a hotel in downtown. Free day to relax.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast
Day 9: Transfer to the airport/railway station.
We will transfer you to the airport/railway station.
Meals: Breakfast
Background
Is Central Mongolian Beauty and Gobi Desert Travel suitable for you?
This is a regular tour that includes overnight stays in ger camps in the countryside and a hotel in Ulaanbaatar. The tour does not include any demanding physical activities. Traveling in Mongolia always requires long driving through changing landscapes and steppes with scenic views. Even though, we tried to plan the trip to have as little driving as possible. Approximate day driving will be 4-5.5. The itinerary includes some light activities such as 1-3 hours soft hiking, horse and camel riding with the help of local wranglers. The most challenging experience of the tour is climbing the high sand dunes in the Gobi desert, which is not mandatory and you can enjoy the sand dunes and yourself while climbing one of the foothills of the sand dunes.
Meals
Tour meals are included according to the itinerary. In the countryside, ger camps serve occasional European but mainly Mongolian meals. Meat is the main ingredient for meals and is served for lunch and dinner along with vegetables, salads, and soups. There will be more meat in traditional Mongolian meals. A typical breakfast is tea or coffee, bread, jam, butter, eggs and sausage. There are some cookies, cheese, cereals, pancakes and more at some of the ger camps for breakfast. For lunch, meals include salads, Mongolian soups and a main course (pasta, rice, vegetables, beef/mutton/chicken/fish near lakes/rivers), and dessert and tea. Salads, a main course, a dessert, and tea will be served for dinner. With nomads, you will try authentic Mongolian meals. Different types of meals offered simultaneously are not customary in Mongolian tradition. If you are a vegetarian or have other dietary restrictions, please inform us in advance, and we will make arrangements accordingly. We will supply two 0.5L bottles of water a day. Supplying one larger bottle (1.5 liters) of water instead of 2 small bottles of water is available upon request. More information on Mongolia meals
Accommodation
Mongolian tourism depends on the season, and seasonal accommodation ger camps are fully open between 20 May and 25 September. During other shoulder months, the ger camps are partially open and closed in winter. For an cultural experience, we included one day nomad family stay. In Ulaanbaatar, you will stay in a centrally located 3* hotel. For more detailed information about the main accommodation ger camp, please visit Mongolia Ger camps and Mongolia hotels
Guides
The majority of our company's guides are English speaking. We also have guides who speak German, French, Spanish and Japanese. They are all friendly, helpful and most of them were born and raised in the Mongolian countryside. Therefore, they have good knowledge about every aspect of Mongolia and have at least three years or more years of guiding experience. During the camel riding, a local guide will support you.
Transportation
The majority of our tours were designed with four wheels driving Japanese vans driven by experienced, friendly and good mechanic-drivers. The tour includes a one-way internal flight from Gobi desert to Ulaanbaatar which will help us to reduce the driving and let you have free time to relax, do shopping or an optional city tour, etc. Different vehicle types are available at your request and subject to an additional fee. You may check the travel vehicle details at Mongolia transportation
When to take the tour?
The most suitable time to travel the Gobi desert is between 15 May and 1 October. During this period, the weather will be warm and enjoyable. The Gobi desert or southern Mongolia is the most temperate region in Mongolia. The annual temperature is usually 2-10 degrees higher than in other parts of Mongolia. However, you should not expect warm weather during the trip or in some periods as Mongolia is elevated at least 700 m high above the surrounding Siberian plateau and Chinese territory. Therefore, the weather fluctuates a lot; hourly, daytime, and at night. The temperature drops by 10-20 degrees in the evening and at night. There will be the occasional chill wind in May, September, and October while wind storm is frequent in March, April and the first half of May. Average monthly temperatures are +20 degrees, highest 30 degrees daytime and the night temperature may drop to +8 degrees at the end of May, June, late August, and September. July could be the hottest or be the wettest. Average day temperature is +28 degrees, the hottest +40 degrees and night temperature could drop to +12 degrees although some nights could be sultriness, particularly in July. The temperature could dramatically fall if it rains. For your pre-departure preparation and an idea to prepare for this inflexible weather condition, you may check our detailed packing list of the discovery tours.
To plan your dream holiday or customize the tour exclusively for you, what to do and see in Mongolia page may help you.
As well as, please check attractions in Central Mongolia, and Gobi desert attractions.
