Wonders of the Gobi Desert

The crew will greet you upon your arrival at the airport. They will transport you to a convenient, centrally located hotel. A city tour can be arranged depending on your arrival time. Ulaanbaatar is a fast-growing modern city with more than 1.3 million inhabitants. City sightseeing includes Bogd Khan's Winter & Summer Palace, a series of beautiful traditional buildings in which the eighth Living Buddha and the last king lived. It is now a museum displaying fascinating artefacts and costumes associated with the last king as well as his collection of stuffed animals.

You will stop at the Gandantegchinlen Monastery. It is the largest and most important monastery of Mongolia. Stroll through the different monasteries and see the magnificent statue of Migjid Janraisig, an 82-foot high statue gilded in gold and covered with silk cloth. Finish the city tour with Zaisan hill to have a view of the whole city.

In the evening your tour guide will give you a short briefing about the coming trip and answer all your questions before he takes you to a famous Mongolian restaurant for your first taste of Mongolian food.

The first stop will be 250 kilometers south in the lovely region of Baga Gazriin Chuluu. It’s a big granite formation smack dab in the center of Mongolia’s sandy plain. The remains of a small monastery known as Delgeriin Choir Monastery can be found on an open plain. You will be entering à Ger for the first time, and you will be greeted by a massive 12-walled structure. Monks use the ger, which is richly decorated and carved, to chant during the colder seasons when the stone monastery becomes too cold to be inside.

You can drive and hike around the area in the late afternoon. You’ll walk between massive endlessly piled granite rocky hills and see the picturesque ruins of a small monastery hidden in a peaceful little protected valley. In the rocks of Baga Gazriin Chuluu, there is a small spring known for its healing properties.

Start driving towards the Gobi Desert after breakfast. Today, the landscape will change drastically from lush grassland to inhospitably rugged terrain. Tsagaan Suvraga will be reached in the afternoon. The cliff has a height of 30 meters and a width of 100 meters. The wind has sculpted this remarkable structure for thousands of years. Tsagaan Suvraga appears to be the remains of an ancient town with crumbling buildings from afar. Ancient depictions of people hunting ibex with long bows and petroglyphs depicting wild animals and cattle are painted and carved into the rocks. The caves here also contain various Turkic inscriptions, seals and images.

From the upper slopes of a mountain down into the steppe, a fissure runs east to west. Strong mud columns rise from the depths below while looking through the fissure. The yawning chasm resembles the gaping jaws of some fantastic creature. Some of the caves have several chambers, one of which is over 70 meters long.

Today you will be driving to the South Gobi province town of Dalanzadgad. The Gobi Desert extends through Mongolia and China, measuring 1,610 kilometers from southwest to northeast and 800 kilometers from north to south. It covers an area of 1,295,000 km2, making it the world’s fifth largest desert and Asia’s largest. although most of the Gobi is coated in bare rock rather than sand.

During the winter months, the Gobi is a cold desert with frost and snow on its dunes. In addition to being far north, it is situated on a plateau between 910 and 1,520 meters above sea level. The Gobi receives around 194 millimetres of rain per year on average. In the winter, snow blown from the Siberian Steppes enters parts of the Gobi, providing additional moisture. The Gobi experiences temperature extremes ranging from –40°C in the winter to +50°C in the summer due to these winds.

Take a trip through the majestic Altai Mountain Range's breathtaking gorges. The Yolyn Am and Dungenee Canyons, both in Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, will be visited. Those green valleys were carved by ancient rivers. Wild Argali sheep, Ibex, desert gazelles, and golden eagles are also possible sightings. You’ll also pay a visit to the park's small museum, which houses a collection of dinosaur bones as well as local flora and fauna.

After a hearty breakfast, you’ll travel 150 kilometers west to the Khongoryn Els. Mongolia's biggest sand dunes can be found here. The dunes, which can reach a height of 275 meters in some areas, extend for more than 100 kilometers from east to west. The sands have appealing curves that end in a sharp point, resulting in wave patterns on the sand. The impressive black rocky mass of Sevrey Mountain can be seen behind the sand dunes. Here, you'll meet two humped camel breeding families and learn about their sweet, modest, hardworking, but incredible way of life.

The Gobi Desert is the world's coldest desert, with cold winds blowing almost the whole autumn, winter, and spring without any shelter uncovered in the plains, necessitating extreme methods of living. Gobi nomads are well-known in Mongolia for their dedication to hard work.

Today’s drive will take you to Bayanzag, also known as the “Flaming Cliffs,” the world-famous site where palaeontologist Roy Chapman Andrews discovered dinosaur bones and eggs. The local scenery is a lovely blend of rocks, red sand, and scrub. Spend some time exploring the cliffs while you’re here.

Today you will travel to Ongi Monastery in the northwest. The ruins of two monasteries that face each other across the Ongi iver in south-central Mongolia are known as Ongi. The peace and beauty of the Delger Khangai Mountains will enchant you. On one side of the river, you'll visit the ruins of Khoshuu Monastery. This vast series of rocky hills cut by the river can be explored on foot. The monastery's southern complex contains numerous administrative buildings as well as 11 temples. The northern complex, which was built in the 18th century, included 17 temples, including one of Mongolia's largest temples. There were four Buddhist universities situated on the grounds.

The monasteries were constructed in the 17th century and were demolished in 1937. They were among Mongolia's largest temples, housing over 1000 monks. Today, a small monastery has been built between the ruins, and the remains of old monasteries are displayed in the Ger museum.

Today you will be driving to Karakorum (also called Kharkhorin). Karakorum was the capital of Genghis Khan’s Mongolian Empire in the thirteenth century. In 1220, Genghis Khan ordered the building of Karakorum on the ruins of Turug and Uighur cities in the Orkhon valley at the eastern end of the Khangai Mountains. During the reign of Ugedei Khan, it was completed 15 years later. The town was very multicultural and culturally accepting.

Erdene Zuu Monastery is now all that is left of what was once a massive monastery with 100 temples and over 1.000 lamas. You’ll walk around the grounds of Erdene Zuu Monastery, which is encircled by huge 400 m X 400 m walls. You will be guided around the 3 remaining temples: the Dalai Lama, Zuu of Buddha and Lavrin Temple.

The Karakorum Archaeological Museum will be another stop on your itinerary. You can also visit the Turtle Rock and the Phallic Rock, as well as a small market hidden behind walls that showcases local artists’ work

The time has come to drive back to Ulaanbaatar. You can use your free afternoon as you please. You could always go see lovely cultural exhibitions and admire the contortionists while watching colorful and rhythmic Mongolian dances.

You may depart any time you wish. Safe travels!