About this trip
This 12-day trip takes you through southern and central Mongolia, from the Gobi desert to the nomadic heartlands of the Orkhon Valley, mixing dramatic landscapes with genuine contact with local herding families.
You'll sleep in hand-picked ger camps throughout, including a stay next to a yak herder family, and spend time at sites like the Flaming Cliffs and the ancient capital of Kharakorum.
The pace is steady rather than packed, with afternoons left free for walking, resting or simply talking with the people you meet along the way.
What you'll do
- Climb the Singing Dunes in the Gobi desert
- Visit the Flaming Cliffs, famous for dinosaur fossil finds
- Explore Kharakorum, the ancient Mongol capital
- Stay in a ger camp beside a yak herder family in the Orkhon Valley
- Travel through the UNESCO-listed Orkhon Valley nomadic heartlands
- Well-paced with free afternoons for rest or local interaction
- Suitable for all ages and fitness levels
- Accommodation is in ger camps rather than hotels throughout
Worth it if you're fit, flexible with basic facilities, and want genuine cultural immersion with excellent guides. Think twice if you need comfort, daily showers, or vegetarian/vegan options.
- Guides like Mendee and Mergen are genuinely exceptional: knowledgeable, funny, respectful, and fluent English across history, culture, geology, fauna.
- Staying with nomadic herding families—milking yaks, making food, sleeping in their gers—is the emotional core; utterly authentic and moving.
- Accommodation is genuinely basic: outdoor latrines, no daily showers, cold or hot beds, heavily meat-based diet. Poor fit for vegetarians or comfort-seekers.
- Spring (April-May) is quiet, cold, snowless. Summer vans lack air conditioning; Ulaanbaatar traffic is heavy, so book hotels away from CBD.
Distilled from real traveller reviews on TourRadar — we don't edit out the bad bits.
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Getting there
Opens Trip.com, pre-filled — one-way so you can book your return whenever. Prices & booking shown there.
Where to stay
A night before your tour in Ulaanbaatar · 5 Oct – 6 Oct
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