Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar, Terelj and the Gobi

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Ulaanbaatar

   Chinggis Khaan International Airport to your hotel in Ulaanbaatar

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Ulaanbaatar
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN), in a valley about 50 km south of the city, where a driver meets you for the hour or so into Ulaanbaatar through the new districts of Khan-Uul. Almost half of Mongolia's people live in the capital, spread along the Tuul River valley at about 1,350 m, with Soviet-era blocks, glass towers, Buddhist temples and districts of gers climbing the hills at its edges. If you land early, walk to Sukhbaatar Square, the wide square in front of Government Palace with its seated statue of Chinggis Khaan, a few minutes from the hotel. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing: how the ger camps work, how to pack a soft bag for Terelj and the Gobi flight, and which two days are long in the vehicle. Then we sit down to a welcome dinner of Mongolian food, buuz dumplings, khuushuur and grilled meat, with vegetarian dishes on request.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   Activité : Plan to land by about 4 pm to join the briefing; later arrivals are met and briefed the next morning.

   

2. Jour 2 : The Chinggis Khaan statue and into Terelj

   Ulaanbaatar to Tsonjin Boldog, then Gorkhi-Terelj National Park

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Gorkhi-Terelj
   Détail du jour 2

   Leave your big bag at the hotel and bring the soft one. We leave at 9 and drive about an hour east to Tsonjin Boldog, where a 40 m stainless-steel Chinggis Khaan on horseback stands above the open steppe. Stairs inside take you up through the horse and out onto its head, and the grassland runs to the horizon in every direction. From there it is about an hour north into Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, a valley of larch forest and granite outcrops along the Terelj River, about 1,600 m up. We stop at Turtle Rock, a boulder that looks like its name, then lunch at our ger camp and an hour to settle in. In the late afternoon, when the day visitors from the city have gone, we walk up the stepped path to the Aryabal Meditation Temple, past boards with Buddhist teachings, for the view down the whole valley. Dinner at camp, then the first night in a ger.

   Compris

   • The Chinggis Khaan Equestrian Statue at Tsonjin Boldog, with the walk up to the horse's head
   • Gorkhi-Terelj National Park entry and Turtle Rock
   • Late-afternoon walk to the Aryabal Meditation Temple with your guide
   • Lunch and dinner at the ger camp

   Option plus facile : Walk only to the foot of the steps, or stay at camp with tea and watch the valley.

   Option plus active : Carry on past the temple onto the ridge behind it for a wider view, about 30 minutes more with your guide.

   Temps libre : An hour at camp after lunch

   Activité : The path to Aryabal is about 1 km with many steep steps. Cover shoulders and knees inside the temple.

   

3. Jour 3 : A morning on horseback, an afternoon with a herding family

   Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, the valley and a family's ger

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Gorkhi-Terelj
   Détail du jour 3

   A slow day in one place. After breakfast, in the cool of the morning, local herders bring their horses to camp. Mongolian horses are small, sturdy and used to beginners, and we ride at a walk for about two hours along the Terelj River and up a side valley, with a herder leading anyone who wants it. Helmets are provided. Lunch is back at camp. In the afternoon we drive a few minutes to visit a herding family who spend the summer in the valley. Inside their ger they offer salty milk tea and aaruul, the hard dried curd, and show how the felt, the stove and the furniture are arranged; depending on the season you may help with the milking. Then we make buuz, steamed mutton dumplings, together and eat them with the family. Back at camp, the evening is free: watch the light go off the granite, or sit by the stove in your ger.

   Compris

   • Horse ride of about two hours with local herders
   • Visit to a herding family, with milk tea and dried curd
   • Making buuz dumplings with the family
   • Lunch and dinner at the ger camp

   Option plus facile : Skip the ride and walk the level valley floor along the river with your guide, or ride for half an hour with a herder leading.

   Option plus active : Ride the full two hours and carry on up to a viewpoint with the herders, about an hour more; included.

   Temps libre : Evening free at camp

   Activité : No riding experience needed. Wear long trousers and closed shoes. The family visit is a real home, not a show; your guide translates.

   

4. Jour 4 : Fly to the Gobi, walk into Yolyn Am

   Terelj to Ulaanbaatar airport, fly to Dalanzadgad, then Yolyn Am

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Yolyn Am
   Détail du jour 4

   After breakfast we drive about two hours from Terelj to Chinggis Khaan International Airport by the road through Nalaikh, without going back into the city, for the flight south to Dalanzadgad, the capital of the South Gobi, about an hour and a half in the air. Flying saves the two days of driving across the Middle Gobi that most trips spend in the vehicle. Our 4x4s and drivers, sent down ahead of us, meet the plane, and we drive about an hour west to our ger camp at the foot of the Gurvan Saikhan mountains, the Three Beauties, for lunch and a rest. In the late afternoon, when the day visitors have gone and the heat is easing, we stop at the small natural history museum at the park gate, then walk into Yolyn Am, a gorge that narrows between steep rock walls with a stream along its floor. Look for ibex on the slopes and bearded vultures overhead, then dinner at camp under a very big sky.

   Compris

   • Transfer from Terelj to Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN)
   • Flight from Ulaanbaatar to Dalanzadgad (DLZ)
   • Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park entry and the natural history museum at the park gate
   • Late-afternoon walk into the Yolyn Am gorge with your guide
   • Lunch and dinner at the ger camp

   Option plus facile : Rest at camp after the flight and skip the gorge, or walk only the first part of the valley, which is wide and level, and wait by the stream.

   Option plus active : Carry on past the narrows to where the gorge opens out again, about an hour more on the same stony path.

   Activité : The airline sets the flight time; if it leaves early, this is the one day we may leave Terelj before 8 am, and we tell you when we confirm your dates. About 4 to 5 km on foot in the gorge, on a stony path above 2,000 m. Domestic flights allow less baggage, usually about 15 kg in the hold.

5. Jour 5 : West to the Khongor dunes

   Yolyn Am to Khongoryn Els along the Gurvan Saikhan range

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Khongoryn Els
   Détail du jour 5

   One of the two long days of the trip, and we say so plainly: about 190 km and five hours of driving, much of it on desert tracks. There is no shorter way to the dunes and no scheduled flight closer to them, and stopping halfway would mean a night with nothing to see, so we break the day up instead. We leave at 8:30 and follow the mountains west across gravel plains, past herders' gers and camel herds, stopping every hour or so to stretch, take photos and swap seats. Lunch is a hot meal on the way, at a camp where one fits the route or set up by our crew with tables and chairs. By mid-afternoon the dunes rise ahead, a pale wall of sand running for over 100 km, its highest crests up to about 300 m. After a rest, a camel-herding family takes you for an hour's ride along the foot of the dunes. After an early dinner we climb to the crest for sunset.

   Compris

   • Drive west along the Gurvan Saikhan range with stops for photos
   • Hot lunch on the way
   • Camel ride of about an hour with a camel-herding family
   • Sunset climb of Khongoryn Els with your guide
   • Dinner at the ger camp

   Option plus facile : There is no shorter drive. Take a front seat if you get car sick, and at the dunes stay at the foot for sunset or climb only to the first ridge.

   Option plus active : Climb to the highest crest and walk the ridge before sliding down the steep face.

   Temps libre : An hour at camp before the camel ride

   Activité : A long day on rough tracks, no more than four guests per 4x4. The dune climb is about an hour in soft sand, steep near the crest; bring sunglasses and a buff against blowing sand.

6. Jour 6 : Across the Gobi to the Flaming Cliffs

   Khongoryn Els to Bayanzag (the Flaming Cliffs)

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Bayanzag
   Détail du jour 6

   The second long day: about 180 km and five hours of driving, mostly on desert tracks, north-east across the Gobi. As on day 5, the alternative would be a night in between with nothing to see, so we break the drive with a stop every hour or so and a hot lunch. Before we go, anyone who wants it can walk back onto the sand at first light while the dunes are empty; breakfast is at 8 and we leave at 9. We reach our ger camp near Bayanzag in the afternoon, with time to rest before the light softens. Then we walk the rim of the Flaming Cliffs, red and orange sandstone that glows in the low sun. In 1922 and 1923 American Museum of Natural History expeditions led by Roy Chapman Andrews found here the first dinosaur eggs recognised by science, with Protoceratops and the first Velociraptor. Your guide shows where. We stay until sunset, then dinner at camp.

   Compris

   • Optional dawn walk on the dunes
   • Drive across the Gobi with stops for photos
   • Hot lunch on the way
   • The Flaming Cliffs at Bayanzag from late afternoon to sunset, with your guide
   • Dinner at the ger camp

   Option plus facile : There is no shorter drive. Take a front seat if you get car sick, stay in the vehicle at any stop you like, and rest at camp on arrival.

   Option plus active : Join the dawn walk on the dunes before breakfast.

   Temps libre : Rest at camp on arrival

   Activité : About 1 to 2 km on the cliff rim, on crumbly ground; stay back from the edges. Fossils must be left where they lie: removing them is illegal.

7. Jour 7 : Fly back to Ulaanbaatar: Gandan and a last evening

   Bayanzag to Dalanzadgad, fly to Ulaanbaatar

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Ulaanbaatar
   Détail du jour 7

   For anyone who wants it, a dawn walk back to the cliffs while they are empty and the colour returns with the first sun; it is optional, and the rest of us meet at breakfast. Then we drive about two hours to Dalanzadgad for the flight north, and lunch is in Dalanzadgad or Ulaanbaatar, whichever fits the flight time. Back at the same hotel, you collect your big bag. In the afternoon we visit Gandan, the largest working monastery in Mongolia, where you can turn the prayer wheels in the courtyard and see the tall gilded statue of Migjid Janraisig in the main temple, then the Chinggis Khaan National Museum, opened in 2022, which follows the Mongol states over several floors from the Xiongnu to the 20th century. The late afternoon is free for the cashmere shops or a rest. In the evening a concert of Mongolian music and dance, with khoomii throat singing and the horse-head fiddle, then a farewell dinner together.

   Compris

   • Optional dawn walk at the Flaming Cliffs
   • Flight from Dalanzadgad (DLZ) to Ulaanbaatar
   • Lunch on the way
   • Gandan Monastery with your guide
   • The Chinggis Khaan National Museum
   • An evening concert of Mongolian music, dance and throat singing
   • Farewell dinner

   Option plus facile : Sleep in instead of the dawn walk, and skip the museum for a rest at the hotel.

   Option plus active : Join the dawn walk at the cliffs before breakfast.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Ulaanbaatar

   Activité : If the Gobi flight is late, we keep the concert and dinner and move Gandan to the morning of day 8 for anyone with a later flight. That is why this trip never flies back from the Gobi on the day you fly home.

8. Jour 8 : Depart from Ulaanbaatar

   Your hotel in Ulaanbaatar to Chinggis Khaan International Airport

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 8

   Breakfast at the hotel, then the trip ends. Chinggis Khaan International Airport is about 50 km south of the city, an hour's drive and more at rush hour, and we time your transfer to fit your flight: plan to leave the hotel about three hours before an international departure. With a later flight the morning is yours. Walk to the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, a group of early 20th century temples now hemmed in by office towers, or climb the steps of Zaisan Hill for a view over the whole city and the Tuul River below it. The State Department Store and the shops around Sukhbaatar Square are the last chance for cashmere, felt slippers and other things to take home. If you would like more time, ask us about extra nights in Ulaanbaatar or Terelj, or about the 13-day trip that adds Karakorum and the wild horses of Khustai. Your guide says goodbye at breakfast and checks every transfer.

   Compris

   • Drop-off at Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN)

   Temps libre : Free until your airport transfer

   Activité : Any flight time works; the transfer is about an hour.

Faune et météo : June to September is the season. Terelj is green in July and August, when most of the year's rain falls in short afternoon showers; in September the larches turn yellow and nights near freezing are possible. Gobi afternoons can pass 35 C in July, and wind and dust are possible, most often early in the season. Ibex and bearded vultures are often seen at Yolyn Am, but no sighting is certain.

• Ulaanbaatar1 nuit
• Gorkhi-Terelj2 nuits
• Yolyn Am1 nuit
• Khongoryn Els1 nuit
• Bayanzag1 nuit
• Ulaanbaatar1 nuit