Mongolia in 21 days: the Gobi, the north and the eagle hunters of the far west
Three weeks is what Mongolia actually asks for. It is the only length that reaches all four of the countries inside it: the Gobi in the south, the Arkhangai hills in the centre, the larch forest and the lake in the north, and Kazakh Bayan-Olgii in the far west, which is three hours by air from the c
- Duration
- 21 days
- Pace
- Active
- Hotel changes
- 13
- Best months
- Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep
- From
- $5,040 per person
The eagle hunters are in that last section, and it is worth being precise about them. Golden eagles are hunted with in winter, when there is snow and the foxes show against it. In summer you meet the families, handle the birds, see the equipment and understand the practice. You do not see a hunt. Anyone who tells you otherwise in July is selling you a photo session, and we would rather set the expectation now.
Who it suits: travellers with three weeks and real tolerance for long days on tracks and three domestic flights. Some riding and walking, nothing technical.
Your specialist: Osnat Angerman or Paz Prosianoy, our Southeast and Central Asia specialists, working with our long-standing partner in Ulaanbaatar and their western crew.
Day by day
The Gobi, days 1 to 7
Day 1: Arrive Ulaanbaatar. An hour from the airport. Nothing else.
Day 2: Ulaanbaatar. Gandan monastery, the National Museum, the Choijin Lama temple, and a briefing. Repack for a 15 kg domestic baggage allowance.
Day 3: Fly to Dalanzadgad, drive to Yolyn Am. Two hours by road into the Gurvan Saikhan mountains and an afternoon walking the ice gorge, ninety minutes each way on a flat path.
Day 4: To the Khongoryn Els dunes. Four to five hours west on tracks. Bactrian camels at the base, and the sunset climb up the dune ridge, forty minutes of hard work in soft sand.
Day 5: Khongoryn Els. A day here. The base of the dunes in the morning, a camel herding family in the afternoon.
Day 6: To Bayanzag. Four to five hours north east. The red cliffs at the end of the day, where the first identified dinosaur eggs were found in the 1920s.
Day 7: To Ongi. Four to five hours north, to the ruined monastery complexes on the river.
Central Mongolia, days 8 to 12
Day 8: To the Orkhon valley. Six to seven hours north west, and the day the ground turns green.
Day 9: Kharkhorin and the Orkhon valley. Erdene Zuu monastery, 1586, walled by 108 stupas, built from the stones of the Mongol capital. The Orkhon waterfall or riding in the afternoon.
Day 10: To Terkhiin Tsagaan lake. Five to six hours north west, climbing the Khorgo crater rim on the way, a twenty minute walk from the road. Camp by the lake at about 6,700 feet (2,040 m).
Day 11: To Tsenkher hot springs. Four hours south east. Water out of the ground at around 185 Fahrenheit (85 C), piped into pools. After nine days of tracks, this is the day that fixes everybody.
Day 12: To Ulaanbaatar. Seven to eight hours east. A hotel, a shower and a dinner that is not camp food.
The north, days 13 to 16
Day 13: Fly to Murun, drive to Lake Khovsgol. A short flight north west, then three to four hours to the southern shore of the lake, at about 5,400 feet (1,645 m). Larch forest, clear water and a completely different climate.
Day 14: Khovsgol. A boat on the lake, a walk in the forest, and riding along the shore. Camps here are simple and the setting is the best in the country.
Day 15: Khovsgol, Tsaatan day. A long day out to meet a Tsaatan reindeer herding family at a summer camp within reach of the shore. The full journey to the taiga camps is a multi-day horse ride and is not part of this itinerary. We will tell you honestly what is reachable in your dates.
Day 16: Fly back to Ulaanbaatar. Drive to Murun and the flight south east. Afternoon in the city, and repack again.
The far west, days 17 to 21
Day 17: Fly to Olgii. About three hours west, to Kazakh Mongolia. The bazaar, the museum and a first meal that is noticeably different: bread, tea with milk and salt, and horse meat.
Day 18: Olgii to the Tavan Bogd national park. Six to seven hours by 4×4 on climbing tracks to the ranger area below the glacier. Camp at around 7,900 feet (2,400 m).
Day 19: The Potanin glacier. A full day on foot, five to six hours out and back up the moraine, looking at a glacier about 12 miles (19 km) long and at Khuiten peak at 14,350 feet (4,374 m), the highest point in Mongolia. No technical ground.
Day 20: Eagle hunters, and back to Olgii. A morning with a Kazakh eagle hunting family: the bird on the arm, the hood and the gauntlet, how a bird is taken, trained and released back to the mountain after several seasons. Then five to six hours back to Olgii, with a stop at petroglyphs that are thousands of years old and unfenced.
Day 21: Fly to Ulaanbaatar, departure. The morning flight east and the international connection, with a day room in the city because that flight can move.
What is included
All accommodation, hotels in Ulaanbaatar and Olgii, ger camps in the countryside and tents in the Tavan Bogd, full board outside the cities, four domestic flights, private vehicles with Mongolian drivers throughout and 4x4s in the west, an English-speaking Mongolian guide throughout with a Kazakh-speaking local guide in Bayan-Olgii, all national park, border zone and monument permits, the camel rides, the riding at Orkhon and Khovsgol, the boat on the lake, the herder, Tsaatan and eagle hunter visits paid properly to the families, a day-by-day document with real drive hours and the bathroom arrangement stated for every night, and a WhatsApp group with your specialist and our partner’s operations team where there is a signal.
What we would change, and when
- Want the Golden Eagle Festival? The first weekend of October, near Olgii, and it is the best event in the Mongolian year. It falls outside the main season, so the rest of this route would have to shorten and the nights would be genuinely cold. Tell us early and we will rebuild it.
- Want to ride properly? Add a four or five day horse trek through the Khoton and Khurgan lakes in the west. That is our adventure route.
- Three weeks is too long? Drop the northern section. Twenty-one becomes seventeen and you lose the lake, which is the part people regret losing.
- Naadam week? 11 to 13 July fills every bed in the country. We would build the festival in deliberately or route your city nights around it.
Honest notes, and please read them
Four domestic flights is four chances of a change. Small aircraft, thin seasonal schedules, roughly 15 kg of baggage each, and cancellations that happen. We build the route so that a lost flight costs you a day rather than a section, and day 21 has a day room in it for exactly that reason.
The driving is long, rough and constant. Four to seven hours most days on tracks at 20 to 30 miles an hour. Over three weeks that adds up to something people underestimate. If you have back problems, say so now.
Bathrooms. Most ger camps on this route have a shared shower and toilet block a short walk away, with hot water at set hours. The Tavan Bogd section is tents, a bowl of hot water and a spade for three days. The Khovsgol camps are simple. It is all stated night by night in the proposal.
Nights are cold everywhere and in the Altai they are below freezing in any month. The stove goes out around two in the morning in a ger, and there is no stove in a tent.
Camp food repeats for three weeks. Mutton, noodles, potatoes, soup, dumplings. Kazakh food in the west is different and also limited. Vegetarians should tell us early and bring supplies.
The eagle hunting is not a hunt in summer. It is a family, a bird and a genuine explanation. We pay the families properly for their time and we do not stage anything.
Connectivity is absent for most of the Gobi, the Altai and parts of the north. Assume days without a signal.
The season is short. Mid-June to mid-September. Outside it the camps close, the western tracks are snowbound and this itinerary does not exist.
Built by our Southeast and Central Asia specialists, with our long-standing partner in Ulaanbaatar.
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