Gobi and central Mongolia in 14 days
The overland loop. South from Ulaanbaatar into the Gobi, west along the desert to the dunes, then north out of the sand into the Arkhangai hills for the volcano, the lake and the hot springs, and back east to the capital. About 1,550 miles (2,500 km), most of it not on a road.
- Duration
- 14 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 10
- Best months
- Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep
- From
- $3,360 per person
Fourteen days is what this needs. The ten day version flies to the Gobi and skips the centre. This one drives the whole thing, which is more time in a vehicle and considerably more country, and it is the itinerary our repeat Mongolia clients choose.
Who it suits: travellers who want the landscape and are genuinely relaxed about long days on tracks. No hard walking beyond a sand dune and a crater rim.
Your specialist: Osnat Angerman or Paz Prosianoy, our Southeast and Central Asia specialists, working with our long-standing partner in Ulaanbaatar.
Day by day
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 kit and vehicle briefing in the afternoon. You are about to spend eleven days in a van and it is worth twenty minutes.
Day 3: South to Baga Gazriin Chuluu. Five to six hours south, the last two on tracks. A granite outcrop area in the middle of open steppe, with a small ruined monastery and rock formations to walk among in the late afternoon.
Day 4: To Tsagaan Suvarga. Five to six hours south east. Sedimentary cliffs about 200 feet (60 m) high, striped orange and white, standing above a dry plain. Best in the last hour of light.
Day 5: To Yolyn Am. Five to six hours south west into the Gurvan Saikhan mountains. The gorge walk in the afternoon, flat gravel path along a stream, ninety minutes each way, with ice in it into July in a good year.
Day 6: To the Khongoryn Els dunes. Four to five hours west on tracks. Bactrian camels at the foot of the dunes, then the climb up the ridge at sunset, which is forty minutes of hard work in soft sand and is the best hour of the trip.
Day 7: Khongoryn Els. A day here rather than a night. A morning walk along the base of the dunes, an afternoon with a camel herding family, and the sunset climb again if your legs agree.
Day 8: To Bayanzag. Four to five hours north east across the gravel plain. The red cliffs at the end of the day, where the first identified dinosaur eggs were found in the 1920s, and a saxaul forest that is the only tree cover for a long way.
Day 9: To Ongi. Four to five hours north. The ruins of two monastery complexes on either side of a river, destroyed in the 1930s, with a small rebuilt temple and a monk who will talk to you about what happened.
Day 10: To the Orkhon valley. Six to seven hours north west, and the day the landscape changes: gravel to grass, and grass to hills. Camp in the valley.
Day 11: Kharkhorin and the Orkhon valley. Erdene Zuu monastery, built in 1586 from the stones of the abandoned Mongol capital and walled by 108 stupas. The Orkhon waterfall in the afternoon, or riding in the valley.
Day 12: To Terkhiin Tsagaan lake, over the Khorgo volcano. Five to six hours north west into Arkhangai. The Khorgo crater is a twenty minute climb from the road head and you can walk part of the rim. The lake below it was formed by the lava flow. Camp at the water, at about 6,700 feet (2,040 m), and it is cold at night.
Day 13: To Tsenkher hot springs. Four hours south east through the hills. The springs come out of the ground at around 185 Fahrenheit (85 C) and are piped into pools at the camps. This is the day everyone stops complaining about the driving.
Day 14: To Ulaanbaatar, departure. Seven to eight hours east, mostly paved for the second half. We schedule the international flight for the evening or, if your timing is tight, we add a night in the city rather than run this day against a check-in desk.
What is included
All accommodation, hotel in Ulaanbaatar and ger camps in the countryside, full board outside the capital and breakfast in it, a private 4×4 or van with a Mongolian driver for the entire loop, an English-speaking Mongolian guide throughout, all park and monument entries, the camel ride, the camel herding and hot spring visits, riding in the Orkhon valley, 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 north as well? Lake Khovsgol needs a flight to Murun and three or four days. Fourteen becomes eighteen.
- Want less driving? Fly to Dalanzadgad and back, cut days 3, 4 and 9, and lose the middle of the loop. Fourteen becomes ten. That is the classic route.
- Want better camps? The Gobi and Arkhangai have a handful with private bathrooms. We will route through them where the geography allows and tell you where it does not.
- Travelling as four? The vehicle and guide are shared, so the per person price falls substantially. Tell us and we will requote.
Honest notes, and please read them
This is eleven days in a vehicle and that is the trip. Four to seven hours most days, at 20 to 30 miles an hour, on tracks across open country rather than roads. There are no service stations, few surfaced sections and long stretches with nothing at all. People who love this itinerary love exactly that. People who want to arrive somewhere should take the ten day route with flights.
It is bumpy in a way that is hard to convey. Continuous corrugation for hours. If you have back or neck problems, tell us in advance and we will change the vehicle and cut the daily distances.
Ger camps on this route mostly have shared bathrooms. A shower and toilet block a short walk from your ger with hot water at set hours. A few nights have private bathrooms and a few, deep in the Gobi, are basic. Every night is stated in the proposal.
Nights are cold everywhere, and at the lake they are properly cold. About 6,700 feet, and freezing in June and September is normal. The stove goes out around two in the morning.
Camp food repeats. Mutton, noodles, potatoes, soup and dumplings, for two weeks. Vegetarians need to tell us early and should still expect monotony. Bring snacks.
Connectivity is absent for most of the Gobi and much of Arkhangai. Tell people at home before you go.
The season is short. Mid-June to mid-September. Outside it the camps close, the tracks flood or freeze, and this loop is not possible.
Built by our Southeast and Central Asia specialists, with our long-standing partner in Ulaanbaatar.
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