Day 1. ULAANBAATAR CITY
We meet you upon arrival and transfer to the hotel. The city tour includes the museum of National History. We will enjoy our evening with a Mongolian traditional folk concert with talented throat singers, enchanting dancers and a beautiful contortionist.
Welcome dinner.
Day 2. WHITE STUPA, TSAGAAN SUVARGA CLIFFS
After breakfast, we drive down to Tsagaan Suvarga cliffs. The ancient bottom of the Asiatic Sea created this picturesque cliff more than 90 million years ago. The area is perfect for you to walk around and take some photographs once you are down at the bottom of the cliffs. Stay in ger camp
Day 3. YOLIIN AM GORGE
On this beautiful day we continue our drive to the Gobi. We transfer to a local ger camp. After lunch, we drive to the mountain and visit Yolyn Am Gorge. This beautiful valley is named after the Lammergeyer vulture.
We take a good walk inside the canyon for an hour and return to our vehicle. Then we head back to our ger camp.
Day 4. KHONGOR SAND DUNES
Our journey starts with a drive through the mountains as we arrive in one of the largest sandy areas of Mongolia. Suddenly standing out from the plains, they are undoubtedly among the most spectacular of the country. Stay in a ger camp.
Day 5. KHONGOR SAND DUNES
A day to relax or be active walking barefoot on the dunes, visiting camel herders, riding camels and listen to the sand singing about ancient mysteries.
Day 6. BAYANZAG FLAMING CLIFFS
Today we leave the sand dunes behind and drive to the Flaming cliffs. Here a huge amount of dinosaur skeletons and eggs were found by an American expedition led by Andrew Chapman, who later got legendary under the name Indiana Jones. Watch the sunset here while observing the cliffs. When they change color, they look as if they are on fire, with a theatrical view to be stunned with.
Day 7. ONGI RUINED MONASTERY
On this beautiful day we drive north to head to the ruin of Ongi monastery, which was home to more than 5 000 people once. We drive through a big open space with no obstacles. Overnight in ger camp.
Day 8. KHARKHORIN
Today we drive to the capital of the Mongolian Empire in the 13th century, Kharkhorin. Now there is a simple small town that exists in its place today. We will visit a good museum with remains from the old capital as well as the famous Erdene Zuu monastery. Stay in ger camp.
Day 9. TERKHIIN TSAGAAN LAKE
After breakfast, we drive deeper into Central Mongolia. We visit a sleeping volcano that erupted 5000 years ago and created a lake called Terkhiin Tsagaan. There are easy paths to follow to the top of the volcano. Then we continue to drive to the beautiful White Lake. Stay in ger camp.
Day 10. JARGALANT HOT SPRING
We head direction north to a province called the Switzerland of Mongolia. Going over one of the major mountain ranges called Hangai and drive down along a long valley to arrive at a natural hot spa source. A camp next to it is called Jargal Jiguur. After a good rest we will be visiting a local family.
Day 11. JARGAL JIGUUR HOT SPA – HARGANAT RIVER LODGE
Drive further to the north along a long mountain valley where nomads have their summer residence as we come now into the Delger murun river bassin and visit Murun town, the provincial center of Hovsgol.
Lunch in a restaurant and a short visit to the town square with Chingunjav’s statue who alone fought against the Manchu- Chin dynasty in the 17th century that controlled both Mongolia and China.
Drive only half an hour up the river towards Harganat River Lodge, beautifully situated on a sandbank overlooking the green Delger Murun river valley.
Day 12. HARGANAT RIVER LODGE
Wake up to the sound of hundreds of horses galloping! Join us for breakfast at the raised terrace with panoramic view. See thousands of animals grazing in the cooling riverbed.
Choose from a multiplicity of activities. Relax in the Wellness Dome with sauna and swimming pool. Have an initiation lesson in Mongolian horse riding, bow shooting or fly- fishing. Bike on earth roads scented with steppe herbs. Walk passed Bronze Age graves to the Holy Mountains with its curvy granite rock formations and rich wildlife. Discover the meandering river valley and wade through a bed of edelweiss flowers. Learn about the traditional lifestyle of the neighbouring nomads.
We visit the famous Uushigiin Uver Deer Stones site at 10 km from Harganat River Lodge, 14 upstanding granite stones and graves from Bronze and Iron Age. The deerstones are named after the sculpted reindeer rising up towards the sky, bringing the deceased to heaven. After thousands of years of erosion from the weather elements, the ochre colors still shine bright. The first of the megaliths has a fine sculpted face.
After an intense sunset and a warming drink a comfortable night’s rest in a modern Mongolian ger under a sky full of stars.
Day 13. HORSEMAN SHOW From the high terrace on the sandbank we watch a spectacular horse show in the valley with hundreds of horses running down the bank, some ridden by nomads or caught by lasso.
Day 14. Munkh Khaan- Chingunjav memorial- Hovsgol Lake – Ashihai Resort- After breakfast we search the ruines of the Munkh Khaan palace situated between high steppe grasses at the shore of the Delger Murun river. The grandson of Chinggis Khan ruled in the hay day of the Mongolian Empire. The ground is shattered with terracotta fragments from the 13th century. In this area some nomads herd camels, next to the many horses we will see on the way.
We drive further north towards the memorial shrine of Chingunjav. This Mongolian freedom fighter fought against the Chinese occupation of his motherland. With a wide view over the lower steppes in this special place, one feels the strength of the confidence of a people, represented in one man who went till the end and suffered dearly to defend his dream of an independent nation.
Arrival Hovsgol Lake National Park and stay in Ashihai Resort.
Called ‘Dalai Eej’ or ocean mother by the Mongols, it is one of the oldest lakes in the world, more then 2 million years old and the most important water reserve of Mongolia. Together with the Baikal lake in Russia, joined by the Selenge river, they form the biggest sweet water lakes of Asia. The extreme cold and darkness complicate exact measurements but Hovsgol Nuur would be approximately 270 meter deep.
In high summer after an exhausting hike a dip in the crystal clear water can feel very refreshing. At her west side surrounded by the high Khoridol Saridag and Bayan mountains the lake area is very picturesque. We stay in Ashihai Resort, one of the most beautiful situated lodges at Hovsgol Nuur
Day 14. ASHIHAI- HATGAL- HARGANAT RIVER LODGE- During our morning walk through the green wood colored bountiful with alpine flowers, we continue to see the blue pearl of the North. At her shore we enjoy our lunchbox before we embark on a boat trip towards Hatgal village at the southern tip. Going south many ger camps become visible with busy car traffic around Naadam, the summer festival of the Mongolians after the 11th July when they have their national holiday break by the lake.
From Hatgal a two hours drive towards Harganat River Lodge.
Day 15. HARGANAT- ULAANBATOR- Flight from Murun to Ulaanbaatar. After dinner hit the town for an optional performance of Mongolian dancers and extraordinary contorsionist acrobats, while enjoying the musical art of throat- and long song singing with morin khuur, the horsehead violin.
The capital Ulaanbaatar offers a wide range of shopping possibilities in the search for the ideal souvenir as a memory to a wonderful trip to the land of the eternal blue sky.
The low winter temperatures respectively give a high wool quality of animals like camel, yak, sheep and goat. The Mongolian cashmere is thus seen as the best in the world. The ger or nomad tent, the ancient round dwelling of the Central Asian nomads, exists out of a lattice with warm felt layers of sheep wool covering it. Today a variety of felt items are produced for the tourism industry. Carved objects in wood, stone, bone or leather also make a special gift.
Day 16.ULAANBATOR- International flight
