CENTRAL MONGOLIA TOURS
In addition to its stunning scenery, central Mongolia is extremely rich in cultural remains from all historical periods. During this short tour, you will discover much about Mongolia for instance, experience the Gobi Desert, visit the central Mongolian mountain steppes and part of northern Mongolian forested mountains with their crystal-clear water rivers, freshwater lakes, flower carpeted lands and basalt covered valleys. For you, every day will be interesting and surprising. The landscape ever-changing and reveals beauty in different ways every day. Another highlight of the tour is visiting as many nomad families as you wish in order to observe first-hand the uniqueness of traditional nomadic life and feel the heartwarming hospitality of your hosts, who are not informed in advance, but always welcome visitors warmly. There is abundance of potential nomadic hosts as this part of Mongolia is more populated by nomad families than the other areas. A nomadic family stay is included in order to make your Mongolian holiday more authentic and experiential.
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive in Ulaanbaatar, city tour.
Your guide and driver will meet you at your accommodation or at the airport, whichever is most convenient, and you are taken on a city sightseeing tour of Ulaanbaatar. First, you’ll visit Gandantegchilen Monastery, a monastery favored by locals as well as foreigners due to its interesting religious artifacts and tranquility. A 26m gilded statue of a Buddha (in Megjid Janrasag sum) is another feature of interest. Next, you visit the National Museum of Mongolia followed by a visit to Sukhbaatar Square and a drive to the Zaisan Memorial for a panoramic view of Ulaanbaatar.
Accommodation: 3* hotel
Meals: Lunch, Dinner
Day 2: Leave Ulaanbaatar, start the countryside tour to Elsentasarkhai, experience nomad life, Mongolian barbecue, horse and camel riding.
Elsentasarhai is a unique place representing features of the Gobi Desert, mountain steppes, and grasslands in a single area. Arrive in Elsentasarkhai by lunchtime and visit a nomad family. After the nomadic lunch, you will ride a horse over the steppes with the help of a local equestrian. You also ride two-humped camels. Spend the rest of the day learning and experiencing first-hand about the nomadic life. In the evening, try authentic Mongolian barbecue cooked by hot stones.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 3: Visit Erdenezuu Monastery and see remains of ancient capital Karakorun
Kharkhorin, formerly known as the Karakorum, was once a capital of Genghis Khaan’s Great Mongol Empire in the 13th century. After the move of Mongolian capital to Beijing, and the fall of the Empire, Karakorum 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 the modern town Kharkhorin. Visit an active temple of the monastery and temple museums. We also visit the Kharkhorum Museum displays some items of the ancient city Karakorum.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 4: Hiking to Tovhon Monastery, drive to Tsenkher Hot Spa,
Our today’s adventure will continue to Tsenher Hot Spa through eye capturing valleys of wooded mountains. On our way, we will view some ancient tombs dating back to The Bronze Age and visit Tovhon Monastery. This small monastery was built on 2312 m elevated rocky top of Shiveet Ulaan Mountain. Reaching the monastery will require us 3 hours soft hiking up and down the mountain, but not steep. The vista is incredible from the mountaintop. The journey continues driving through a lush green valley filled with nomads and their countless animals, mainly yaks. Arrive at Tsenkher Hot Spa and be refreshed while bathing in the outdoor hot spa.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 5: Drive to and discover Khorgo Terhiin Tsagaan National Park
Khorgo Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake National Park is one of the most beautiful national parks with its extinct volcanoes, freshwater lakes, fast current rivers, and forested mountains. The Khorgo volcano went extinct 6000-8000 years ago. It is considered the last of Mongolian over 300 volcanoes to become extinct. The Khorgo is not the only volcano in the area. There are several more, but it is the biggest one. The freshwater lake Terkhiin Tsagaan, was formed after lava flow from the volcanoes blocked the North and South Terkh Rivers. The areas surrounding the volcanoes covered with thick basalt. On the way, we will visit a yak herding nomad family. After arrival at the national part, climb the Khorgo volcano and hike along its crater edges with views of surrounding basalt covered lands, sights of a nearby town and the Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake and the Suman River in the distance. We also explore some caves such as “Yellow Dog’s Cave” and “Ice Cave”.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 6: See deer stones, visit an interesting local market of Tsetserleg and drive to Ugii Lake
The journey will continue to sacred Ugii Lake. On the way, we stop at deep lava canyon of the Culuut River and explore deer stones. Some 600 deer stones have been found in Central Asia, 500 of them found in the territory of Mongolia. Deer stones are the first monuments of humans; the earliest of them belong to the 13th to the 9th century BC, while most of them date to the Bronze Age. On restored, standing stones, pictures including the sun, the moon, belts, knives, and jumping deer were carved fantastically. Next, visit the local market of Tsettserleg, a central town of Arkhangai province. Arrive at Ugii Lake late afternoon. Ugii Lake is a magnet for migratory birds. Over 200 species of birds recorded around the lake. At the lake, you can watch birds or hike.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 7: Return to Ulaanbaatar
Today is the last day you spend in the beautiful countryside of Mongolia. Arrival in Ulaanbaatar and check in a hotel and free time for shopping and optional activities
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 8: Transfer to the airport/railway station.
We will transfer you to the airport/railway station.
Meals: Breakfast
Tour Price
TOUR PRICE PER PERSON
- 2 PAX
1308$
- 3 PAX
1143$
- 4 PAX
950$
DISCOUNTS:
- For children of a family trip
- One free space for every 16 pax
- Low season discount:
5-10%
(May, September)
- Please contact us for more trip details.
The tour includes:
- 2 nights in a *** hotel
- 4 nights in Ger camps
- 1 night with a nomad family
- Four wheels driving vehicle.
- Entry fees
- English speaking guide
- Horse and camel riding
- Mongolian barbecue
- Daily bottled water
- Meals as indicated in the itinerary.
- Arrival and departure transfers
The tour excludes:
- Items of personal use
- International travel
- Alcoholic drinks and beverages
- Visa fee
- Travel & medical insurance
- Optional activities
- Single supplements
- Gratuity for the tour team and small presents for the nomad children (candies) if you do not mind.
Background
Is Central Mongolian Highlights Tour suitable for you?
This is a regular tour to explore the most exciting attractions and scenic places of central and northern Mongolia. To let you experience and discover much of our beautiful and unique culture country in a relatively short period, we developed this itinerary jam-packed with more outdoor activities and attractions. As well as you will drive day by day scenic driving between the attractions. Luckily, infrastructure developed more in central Mongolia, and more than two-thirds of this tour driving will be taken on the paved roads which help us to have more activities and spend more time at the attractions rather than spending most of our time driving on the bumpy roads. Approximate day driving will be 2-6 hours. During the tour, you will stay in ger camps in the countryside and a hotel in Ulaanbaatar. To make your travel more experiential from the cultural side, we included a day nomad family stay. The tour does not include any demanding physical activities, but some soft hiking of 2-3 hours and an extinct volcano climb which is not exhausting and could be optional for some travelers. The areas the tour takes place is elevated 1400 m to 1600 m above the sea level on average and around 2000 m at Khorgo Terkhiin Tsagaan area. The itinerary includes some horse riding with supports of your guide and local guides.
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 highly on the season, and seasonal accommodation ger camps are fully open between 5 May and 20 September. During other months, the ger camps are partially open and closed in winter. For a 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, Mongolia nomad family stay, 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
Most of our tours were designed with four wheels driving Japanese vans driven by experienced, friendly and good mechanic-drivers. You may check the travel vehicle details at Mongolia transportation.
When Central Mongolian Highlights Tour?
The most suitable time to travel along this itinerary is between 15 May and 15 September. During this period, the weather will be warm and enjoyable. However, you should not expect warm weather during the trip either you travel in summer because vast Mongolian territory differentiates in altitude and earth surface. Overall, Mongolia is elevated at least 700 m high above the surrounding Siberian plateau and Chinese territory. Therefore, the weather is extreme and fluctuates a lot-hourly, daytime and at night. Receiving snowfalls is common in May, the end of August and in September. Rain falls turn into snowfalls in high elevated areas either in the summer months of June, July, and August. Average monthly temperatures are +20°C, highest 28°C daytime in May, in the first half of June, last half of August and in September. On average, +25°C, highest +35 to +39°C daytime in June, July, and August. The temperature drops 10-20°C in the evening and at night. The tour is available either in offseason and in winter accommodating in local hotels and staying with nomad families. 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 Northern Mongolia.
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