Best of Mongolia & Naadam Festival

Fly overnight to Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar. You will be met on arrival and transferred to your hotel. Depending on your time of arrival, the rest of the day is yours to start soaking up the local culture.

Start your explorations with a visit to Gandan Monastery, the largest and most important monastery in Mongolia. Here, observe the monk’s morning chants and learn more about Mongolian Buddhism. Then head to the heart of the city to explore Sukhbaatar Square and view the fascinating exhibitions of the Chinggis Khaan Museum. This evening, enjoy a lively folklore concert that features traditional songs, dances and music.

Leave the city and travel into the hinterland to discover the picturesque scenery of Terelj National Park. Start with a walk to the Temple of Meditation and around the iconic Turtle Rock working up an appetite for lunch at a ger camp. Pause at the impressive Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue Complex before returning to Ulaanbaatar.

Transfer to the airport and fly to the Gobi Desert. Drive to the Yol Valley in the Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park. Take a scenic walk through Yoliin Am, a narrow gorge of ice formations and towering rocks. Overnight in a premium ger or hotel.

Drive through breathtaking desert landscapes, spotting camel herds and their herders as you go, to reach the spectacular Khongoryn Els, an area of towering sand dunes. Explore the dunes on foot, climbing to the top for panoramic views over the desert. Dine tonight under the vast and starry Gobi sky and relax in a premium ger camp for two nights.

Spend a full day exploring the beauty of Khongoryn Els, some of the world’s most spectacular sand dunes. Take a short walk to admire the contrasts between the shifting sands and green oases and visit a nomadic camel herding family to learn about their way of life. Here, you can taste camel milk yogurt, a Gobi Desert delicacy. In the afternoon, discover the ‘singing’ sand dunes.

Drive through magnificent landscapes to reach Bayanzag, the Flaming Cliffs, to admire these red sandstone formations. Take a walk through the Gobi Dinosaurs Cemetery, keeping a look out for fossils, before a guided walk to discover more about the area’s rich paleontological history. Overnight in a premium ger camp.

Set out across the stark scenery of the Gobi to Ongiin Khiid, a monastery sat on the banks of the Ongi River. Wander around the ruins of two historic monasteries which were once among the largest in Mongolia and take a walk around the site to learn more about the area’s past. Spend the night by the river in a standard ger camp.

Drive across the steppe to Karakorum, a town on the Orkhon River. Explore the Orkhon Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which includes the ruins of Genghis Khan’s capital Karakorum and the fascinating Karakorum Museum. Spend two nights in a hotel.

This morning, visit Erdene Zuu in time to witness the monks doing their morning chants, a deeply resonant experience. Later, visit a nomadic family who will guide you through an airag (fermented mare’s milk) tasting and show you how to prepare the traditional Mongolian barbeque dish, khorkhog.

Travel to Khustai National Park, home to Mongolia’s famous takhi, or Przewalski’s horse. Once extinct in the wild, this population of wild horses were reintroduced to their native habitat in the 1990s. Enjoy an early evening viewing of these majestic creatures before travelling on to your premium ger camp, set among the beauty of the rolling steppe.

This morning, enjoy a fun and fascinating show of nomadic culture at your ger camp, then drive back to Ulaanbaatar.

Travel to the Central Stadium where the highlight of your Mongolia adventure is about to begin! Mingle with locals and nomads as you watch the opening ceremony, with its procession of athletes, officials and monks before the games begin! Today, you can see archery, the first of the traditional three ‘manly sports’, and ankle bone shooting competitions.

This morning, travel out to Khuin Doloon Khudag for the Naadam Festival horse racing – a thrilling set of long-distance endurance races across the open steppe. Return to the Central Stadium this afternoon for the Mongolian wrestling which, along with horse racing, makes up the three ‘manly sports’ of the festival. Tonight, a farewell dinner offers the perfect opportunity to reflect on this once-in-a-lifetime experience with your fellow travellers.

Transfer to the airport. Fly to Australia, arriving home the following day.