Fascinating and unique country. The Nadaam Festival was amazing, especially the opening ceremony.... Elspeth Berry, 2017 See more reviews
Fantastic trip. Huge statues, more goats, sheep, horses and cows than you can imagine. A vastness... Lorraine Grant, 2017 See more reviews
The Mongolian Adventure trip exceeded all my expectations. It took me back to a time when people... Martin Healey, 2016 See more reviews
I'd wanted to see Mongolia and the Gobi Desert since hearing about them in Geography class... Tina Jones, 2015 See more reviews
Interesting trip to a VAST country that makes you realise what "nothing" - landscape... M B , 2015 See more reviews
Excellent trip. It was a nice mix of big city (Ulaanbaatar) and Naadam festival and countryside... Beverley Robin, 2015 See more reviews
This was a trip to Mongolia with the 3 day Nadaam festival slotted in towards the end of the... John Cross, 2014 See more reviews
Mongolia is a country well worth a visit. The scenery, the people, the customs and... Anonymous, 2013 See more reviews
Itinerary Include flights Expand all Day 1 Depart London. Depart London. Day 2 Arrive Ulaan Baatar. Start in Ulaan Baatar. Those not travelling with the group from London will join us at the hotel. The scheduled flights normally arrive early evening. People who arrive early in Ulaan Baatar can explore some of the city’s sites including UB’s main square: Sukhbaatar Square, the National Museum and the landmark State Department Store.Bayangol Hotel or similar Day 3 To Khustain Nuruu N.P.; trek to see Przewalski's horses; overnight in ger camp. Before leaving UB we visit the Gandan Monastery, the largest functioning lamasery in Mongolia and the seat of Buddhist studies in the country. Here we may see monks praying and the 20m gold and bronze statue of Migjid Janraisig. We then drive on the main road westwards towards Karakorum, making a detour to the Khustain Nuruu National Park, 2 hours west of Ulaan Baatar. Khustain Nuruu is famous for the re-introduction of Mongolia's wild horse. The Takhi Horse (also known as the Przewalski's horse) was once native to Mongolia and almost became extinct earlier in the 20th century. Through the efforts of several Mongolian and international organizations, these magnificent wild horses now roam in the steppes of the national park once again. We will visit the Project Information Centre and take a guided hike to see the wild horses. Tonight will be our first night staying in gers, traditional Mongolian felt tents.Ger Camp Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Day 4 To Karakorum; visit Erdene Zuu Monastery. Today we continue on our drive to the 13th century capital of the Mongol Empire - Karakorum - making a brief stop to see the dunes of the Little Gobi along the way. . Karakorum was established by Ogedei Khan and remained the Mongols power base until Khublai Khan established Beijing as the capital. Erdene Zuu (Hundred Treasures) monastery was the largest Monastery in Mongolia, built in 1586 under the direction of Abtai Khan on the ruins of the ancient capital. Much of the monastery was destroyed during Stalin's purges of the 1930's, but an impressive wall with 108 stupas and a number of temples still remain. After lunch, we visit the monastery, the modern Karakorum Museum and the surrounding areaGer Camp Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Day 5 Along northern edge of Gobi Desert to Arvaikheer via Shankh Monastery. We continue along the paved road to Arvaikheer, the capital of Ovorkhangai Aimag on the northern edge of the Gobi Desert. On the way we will visit the Shankh Monastery, once the home of the great Mongolian theologist Zanabazar. We should arrive at Arvaikheer during the middle of the afternoon and check in to our hotel. In the afternoon there will be time to visit the local museum, which contains nature collections, stone figures and Turkic scripts and possibly go to a local market.Arvaikheer Palace Hotel or similar, Standard Hotel Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Day 6 To Bayan Gobi via Mt Ikh Bogd. Today is a long day as we head properly off the tourist route into some of the wilder parts of the Gobi Desert. After an early breakfast we start our journey and rapidly leave the tarmac behind. The landscape changes as we head deeper into the Gobi and the majestic Ikh Bogd Mountain should be visible in the distance, the highest mountain in the Gobi Altai Mountain Range. Eventually, after about 9 hours travelling (with stops) we will arrive at our Ger Camp in the wilderness. This is the longest day’s driving but is also a definite highlight of the trip as we pass through some of Mongolia’s most spectacular scenery.Ger Camp Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Day 7 Cross the Gobi via White Cave. After going over a desert pass and visiting the quartz rich ‘White Cave’ our journey continues through classic Gobi desert scenery of flat stony plains mixed with small rocky outcrops and patches of sand across the Khatan Suudal Steppe. We stop for a picnic lunch on the way, with views of Arts Bogd mountain to the north. We head off to the Kongoriin Els sand dunes and arrive there in the late afternoon.Ger Camp Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Day 8 Visit 'singing' sand dunes, the largest dunes in Mongolia. We have a full day to explore the sand dunes and surrounding area. The Khongoriin Els stretch for 200km and are as high as 300m in places. They are known as the 'Singing Dunes' because of the beautiful sound that resonates through the dunes on a windy day. The South Gobi has 100,000 camels, typically used by herders for transportation of their gers. We will have the opportunity today to visit a camel breeding family and get a glimpse of the way of life of the nomadic herders of these parts.Ger Camp Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Day 9 Travel through rocky plains of Gobi Gurvansaikhan N.P. This morning we will drive through the Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park. Gobi Gurvansaikhan means 'Three Beauties of the Gobi' and this range marks the eastern end of the Gobi Altai mountain range. The park's landscape is extremely varied, with rocky and sandy desert plains, precipitous cliffs and ravines, salt pans and oases. We visit a spectacular natural sight of this region - Yolyn Am. Yolyn Am means Vulture's Mouth and is a canyon so deep and narrow that even in the height of summer winter ice can remain on the valley floor. This region is also renowned for the diversity of its wildlife and many endangered species can be found here, including Khulan, Ibex, Argali and elusive Snow leopards. We visit a local museum and explore the canyon before transferring to a nearby ger camp for dinner and overnight.Ger Camp Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Day 10 Hiking around the 'Flaming Cliffs' of Bayanzag. Today we have time to relax in our luxury ger camp. Either in the morning or afternoon we take a short drive to Bayanzag (70 km). Known as the Flaming cliffs, the red/ochre colour can be striking and we have the opportunity for a short hike amongst colourful sands of red, yellow and orange. Bayanzag is a world-renowned dinosaur fossil exploration site, discovered in the 1920s by Mongolian and American palaeontologists. We are free to explore the region and may even be lucky enough to spot dinosaur fossils. We later return to our ger camp.Ger Camp Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Day 11 Fly to Ulaan Baatar. We leave the Gobi Desert behind and fly back to Ulaan Baatar. Depending on what time our flight is will determine what time we get back to Ulaan Baatar.Bayangol Hotel or similar, Comfortable Hotel Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Days 12-13 Naadam Festival The Naadam Festival celebrates the ‘three games of men’ (or Erin Gurvan Naadam) which are wrestling, horse-racing and archery. More recently a fourth game, knuckle-bone flicking was added to the competitions. The festival is celebrated throughout the country but the biggest festival is in Ulaan Baatar. Over the next two days we attend the grand opening ceremony before we watch Mongolians compete in all four sports. We also get to mingle with hordes of Mongolian spectators as the grounds around the stadium (where wrestling, archery and bone-flicking takes place) and the horse races are filled with stands selling food, games, flags and various other things. The atmosphere is a big part of the experience and many Mongolians dress in their best traditional clothes for the occasion. In 2010 the festival was entered into the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list and is great celebration of the Central Asian nation’s culture.Bayangol Hotel or similar, Comfortable Hotel Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Day 14 Terelj National Park; Genghis statue; Ulaan Baatar We leave Ulaan Baatar and head for Terelj National Park. Terelj National Park is a large protected area of green mountain meadows filled with edelweiss and other wild flowers. The contrast to the Gobi Desert is striking and it feels like being in a different country. We visit the Tibetan-style Aryabala temple, a meditation centre located on a mountain side with sweeping views over the national park. As we follow the walk up to the temple there are inspirational sayings on placards every few steps. The climb to the temple is not difficult but does involve many steps and can be tiring. Tonight we have our final night sleeping in a ger.Ger Camp Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Day 15 Return to Ulaan Baatar. As we make our way back to the city we visit the giant Genghis Khan statue at Tsonjin Bolog. Standing 40m tall, the statue depicts the Mongolian ruler astride his horse and sits atop the visitor’s centre (itself 10m tall). It is possible to climb up onto the horse’s head to get a closer look of Genghis Khan’s face. This afternoon there should be some free time for some last minute shopping or site-seeing.Bayangol Hotel or similar, Comfortable Hotel Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Dinner Day 16 Fly to London. Fly to London
Mongolia All nationalities require a full passport that must be valid for 6 months beyond the intended length of stay. It is your responsibility to have the correct personal documents and to obtain your own visa, if one is necessary, in accordance with the regulations of the country you are to visit. The information below is primarily for UK passport holders, and other nationalities should check with their travel agent or the relevant embassies. We are not responsible for the actions of local immigration and customs officials, whether at points of entry or otherwise, and any subsequent effects. Almost all nationalities, including British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand, require a single entry visa for Mongolia. If you think you may be exempt you must check requirements with your local authorities or your agent. The current cost of a visa for British Citizens is £50 and further information can be found at http://www.exodus.co.uk/assets/travelink/Mongolia.pdf American passport holders are offered 30 days visa-free entry to Mongolia on presentation of a valid passport at the time of entry. Visa regulations can change without notice: please check the current regulations in good time to obtain a visa if one is required.
Mongolia There are no mandatory vaccination requirements. Recommended vaccinations are: Polio, Tetanus, Typhoid, Hepatitis A. Dengue fever is a known risk in places visited. It is a tropical viral disease spread by daytime biting mosquitoes. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available for Dengue, and therefore the best form of prevention is to avoid being bitten. We recommend you take the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites.
Hotels & Ger Camps We use hotels in Ulaan Baatar and Arvaikheer and ger camps elsewhere. Gers are similar to yurts, generally airy and comfortable with beds and, normally, a stove (though in the summer the stoves are not normally needed). The bathrooms are normally shared and all have hot water (however due to the remoteness of the camps this can, at times be erratic). Many of the ger camps now have 24hr electricity in the ger itself for charging batteries. If there is no charging facility inside the ger itself then there are charging facilities in the common area (though this may during limited periods of the day only when the generator is turned on). There will normally be no more than two people per ger, however in some cases, due to availability issues we may need to have triples in the ger. There may also be rare occasions when a single cannot be guaranteed in a particular ger camp.
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Reviewed August 2017 Elspeth Berry Trip: Mongolia: Steppes, Deserts & Nomads - Nadaam Festival Unique Mongolia Fascinating and unique country. The Nadaam Festival was amazing, especially the opening ceremony. Lots of long road journeys. What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? The Nadaam opening ceremony, seeing the Mongolian competitors and the crowd response during the rest of the games; seeing the wild takhi horses' seeing dinosaur bones in various musuems. What did you think of your group leader? He got us from place to place efficiently, and was always really pleasant. But he rarely gave us much information about plans for the day or the next few days, or about what we were seeing, or so we were often a bit confused about what was happening, and didn't get the most out of our time or our visits to particular places and sometimes missed things. At the Naadam festival he didn't tell us where we were heading, or where and when we should meet if we got separated in the huge crowds, and on one occasion he simply went off with part of the group without telling the rest of us - so we got really lost more than once, which was a bit unnerving and wasted precious time. On the road, he didn't ensure that the vehicles kept together - so when ours broke down we were with a driver who didn't speak English, totally alone in the Gobi. He also swapped activities around which made sense from a driving point of view, but meant that our hike around the Flaming Cliffs took place in a torrential downpour which made walking pretty treacherous - and as he simply left us there we weren't clear on where we were supposed to hike (by the time we worked it out it was too late to do it). The following day, when it wasn't raining, we went to the local town museum (which was good - but a better rainy day activity) and the market (which wasn't - tiny and nothing of interest). The 2 hikes (cliffs and canyon) need to be prioritised around the weather, as they are potential highlights, and could have been done on the same day if necessary, and the town omitted entirely (it's not in the itinerary anyway) Do you have any advice for potential travellers? Do plenty of research about what you want to see in Ulaanbaatar as there quite a bit of time there and our guide didn't give us any information about what to see or where it might be located. Take a copy of the itinerary because the guide might not keep you posted on what is happening. Consider not taking the group flights - Air China seems to have delays routinely (we were delayed by about 6 hours on the way out and at no time did anyway give us a definitive answer about why we were delayed or when the flight might take off), and no guarantee you'll get your connection in Beijing - and if you miss it there is no-one to help as staff are thin on the ground, mostly don't speak English and frequently don't care and are rude and unhelpful. If you are delayed don't leave the allocated gate for more than a few minutes (unless you think it might have changed) as the flight might suddenly be called without warning and they won't wait or make an announcement. Lots of driving inc 2 full days driving (11 hours) so take lots of books or load up your mp3 player (etc). In July take a rainjacket and a brolly for rain - often too hot for the jacket, but sometimes it rained so persistently that it cooled down and a brolly wouldn't hack it. Hardly any bugs so insect repellent not necessary. In most ger camps you can wash clothes and they will be dry the next morning. There are only a few times where you need closed and grippy shoes - but then you do really need them. Food is generally quite good but often bland so consider taking some sort of hot sauce or spice. Take plenty of tissues and antibacterial gel for toilet stops. Take spare batteries for anything important as electricity can be limited in the gers so you can't rely on being able to recharge stuff overnight. Take a torch make sure it is easy to find in your packing. Is there anything else you would like to add? Bayangol Hotel in Ulaanbaatar was well located and comfortable - but Exodus needs to ensure that in summer rooms are in Block B, which has air con rooms, and not block A which doesn't. The first ger camp we stayed in had only 6 showers for 40 gers so there were major queues - which is not what you need when you are hot and dusty and jetlagged . Not sure if there is an alternative but worth considering. All the rest were fine. Reply from Exodus Reply from Exodus We would like to thank Elspeth for her insightful review, we rely on customer feedback to ensure the quality of our trips and make improvements where necessary. We are currently looking into what happened on this departure.
Reviewed July 2017 Lorraine Grant Trip: Mongolia: Steppes, Deserts & Nomads - Nadaam Festival Mongolia, Nadaam, Gobi. Great experience Fantastic trip. Huge statues, more goats, sheep, horses and cows than you can imagine. A vastness that boggles the mind. The Gobi desert is to be experienced just to get an idea of the size of it. Living in ger camps is worthwhile too. You get to sample what nomadic life can be like. The local people were friendly and open to us visiting their ger homes, and we were offered goats cheese, fermented milk and simple vodka. It's rude to decline the offer! It's hard to pick one particular highlight but I think the Nadaam Festival comes out top. What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? Witnessing the Nadaam Festival was a highlight. The two hour opening ceremony was terrific with displays depicting Mongolia's history. While we didn't understand the language, the display was clear. The men, women and children wore very ornate and colourful national dress and were happy for their photos to be taken. The newly elected President officially opened the festival. A goodly number of children released white doves at the start and balloons were realised at the end. What did you think of your group leader? Our leader was a very pleasant man but perhaps due to us being in four vehicles, it was hard for information to be given regarding the country or the people. This would normally be expected when the group travels in one vehicle. That said, he tried to accommodate the wishes of group members, which did at times prove challenging. Not his fault though! Our tour leader arranged for two facilities to open when they ought to be closed which was very appreciated. One was a monetary and the other a museum. Do you have any advice for potential travellers? The weather was much warmer than I had expected given I'd been checking weather updates prior to travel. A few days while we were in the Gobi were around 40 degrees and very windy indeed. Driving in the Gobi is very rough indeed as no tarred roads and dirt tracks the only routes. The ground is very hard and rough and car passengers get a lot of jostling around. A word of warning if you have back issues! Accommodation in the capital was fine but some of the ger camps didn't have hot water for showers and/or was restricted to certain times of the day, as was electric. This isn't a problem though as you expect such restrictions in rural areas. Meals were excellent throughout. Usually three course set lunch and dinner, with small portions. Mutton dishes were offered most often. The vegetarians were catered for too. Bottled water was provided at each meal and the guide gave water to each guest to use in their own water bottles. When driving long distances in the Gobi, toilet stops are infrequent due to simply not being a toilet to go to! You have to make do with a boulder or bush. Is there anything else you would like to add? If you get the chance to visit local shops and markets take it. You see what locals buy and can pick up some items you might not see in the capital. A wonderful experience driving around the vast wilderness of Mongolia and the Gobi. If you can visit when the Nadaam Festival is on you'll be in for a real treat. It was very hot and extremely busy with thousands of people milling around but worth it. You are given tickets with your seat numbers for the stadium but they are small spaces on plastic seats. Not the most comfortable but adequate. We were lucky as under the canopy for shade but the tour guide gave us all umbrellas for shade if needed. To sum up, just go and enjoy Mongolia.
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