Route: Ulaan Baatar – Dalanzadgad – Bayanzag – Khongorin Els sand dunes  – Dalanzadgad – Ulaan Baatar

One of the world’s most magestic deserts, the Gobi Desert covers the majority of southern Mongolia. Unlike the sand dune-spotted Sahara, the Gobi is made of gravel plains and rocky outcroppings. As with all deserts, the weather is extreme; temperatures reach as high as 40°C (105°F) in the summer and dive as low as -40°C (-40°F) in the winter. In the spring and fall, 140 kmph (40 mph) winds whip anything and everything across the barren land, making travel dangerous. Although the Gobi appears inhabitable, many endangered species consider it their home, including wild bactrian (two-humped) camels, wild donkies, and a small population of the rare Maazalai, the world’s only desert-inhabiting bear.

Tour Map

The capital of the Umnugovi province. In Dalanzadgad, we will meet up and drive to Yolyn Am, a deep, narrow gorge in the Gurvan Saikhan Mountains.

Yolyn Am is notable for a deep ice field, which is several meters thick and several kilometers long by the end of winter. In the past, the ice would persist through the spring and summer, but today’s ice fields tend to disappear by September. After visiting Yolyn Am, we will head to the camping or nomadic family where we will stay overnight.

In the morning, we will drive to Bayanzag, where important archeological discoveries have been made. The area also has a different name: Flaming Cliffs. This name was given by American paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews, who visited in the 1920s.

Bayanzag is most famous for yielding the first discovery of dinosaur eggs. Specimens of Velociraptor and eutherian mammals have also been found here.

Stay overnight in tent/nomadic family 

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

After breakfast, we will leave Bayanzag and drive to the famous Khongorin Els sand dunes. The dunes, in the center of the Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park, stretch 30 meters high, 12 kilometers wide, and 100 kilometers long.

Stay 2 days overnight in a tent/ nomadic family. 

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner  

Though trekking to the top is exhausting, each slippery step pays off when we reach the summit and see nothing but beautiful scenery in every direction. In order to thoroughly explore the dunes, we will spend two days here riding camels, visiting with local nomadic families, and enjoying the sights.

Stay 2 days overnight in a tent/ nomadic family. 

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner 

In the morning, we will leave Khongorin Els and drive back to Dalanzadgad. This will be our final day out in the Gobi Desert.

Stay overnight in a hotel/guest house

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

You will be taken to the airport for your return flight to Ulaanbaatar. Say bye to your guide and driver. 

Meal: Breakfast