4days/3nights
Tour grade: Easy
Style: Private Tour
Begin your Mongolian adventure in Karakorum, the ancient capital of the Mongol Empire, where you'll visit the historic Erdenezuu Monastery and explore its rich cultural heritage. Continue to the stunning Elsen Tasarkhai Sand Dunes, a unique desert-steppe landscape, where you'll experience an authentic Nomadic Family Stay, participating in traditional daily activities and camel riding.
Journey onward to Hustai National Park, home to the rare Przewalski's horses, for a wildlife experience amidst Mongolia's rolling steppes. Conclude your tour near Ulaanbaatar at the Spring Golden Eagle Festival, where you’ll witness the thrilling spectacle of skilled eagle hunters demonstrating their ancient traditions.
Ulaanbaatar- Karakorum
Today, we embark on a journey to Karakorum, the ancient capital of the Great Mongol Empire. After a 4–5-hour drive, we'll pause for lunch near Elsen Tasarkhai, a picturesque area of sand dunes. Arriving in Karakorum by the afternoon, we’ll explore the Karakorum Museum, visit the Tortoise Statue on the hill, and enjoy a short hike at Khaadiin Khushuu for panoramic views of the Orkhon Valley. Before settling into our hostel, we’ll stop by the local bazaar. Dinner and overnight will be at the hostel.
Accommodation: Local Hostel
Meals:
Lunch
Dinner
Karakorum- Elsen Tasarkhai
After breakfast, check out from the hostel and begin the day with a visit to the legendary Erdenezuu Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery in central Mongolia, founded in 1586. From there, we’ll drive 1–2 hours to Elsen Tasarkhai and arrive at our host nomadic family. Enjoy a traditional Mongolian lunch and get acquainted with the family. In the afternoon, embark on a 1-hour camel ride along the stunning dunes of Elsen Tasarkhai. The rest of the day will be spent immersing yourself in nomadic life, participating in daily chores such as herding, watering, milking animals, and cooking. Overnight in a nomadic family ger.
Accommodation: Nomadic Family ger
Meals:
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Elsen Tasarkhai- Hustai National Park
Today, we will travel to Hustai National Park, home to the Takhi wild horses. Upon arrival, we’ll check in at the ger camp and enjoy lunch. In the afternoon, we’ll visit the park's small museum to learn about its wildlife conservation efforts. Afterward, we’ll explore Hustai National Park, where you can witness the Przewalski horses—the last wild horse species—grazing freely in their natural habitat. Return to the ger camp for dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals:
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Spring Golden Eagle Festival
Check out from ger camp in the morning and transfer to Jargalantyn Am where we will see the annual Spring Golden Eagle Festival. During the festival we will be watching the opening ceremony of the event, Kazakh traditional folklore concert as well as Eagle Hunter’s parade, eagle hunter’s competition of demonstrating eagle’s hunting skills and Kazakh traditional game Kokbar, a traditional horseback riding game where the riders fight over a goat skin. Transfer to your hotel in the evening. End of service.
Meals:
Breakfast
Lunch
Tour Dates:
Tour Status: Active
*Active: This tour is currently open for new bookings and will be guaranteed to proceed once it reaches the minimum number of participants.
*Guaranteed: This departure is open for new bookings, and it is confirmed to proceed without needing to reach the minimum number of passengers required.
If you prefer a private tour experience, simply click the "Customize this tour" button located at the bottom of the page to personalize the itinerary according to your preferences. Upon submitting your request, our team of travel advisors will promptly provide you with a tailored proposal and quote.
Tour Price:
Included services
Not Included in the Service:
Supplement: Ensuite ger upgrade & hotel upgrade in Karakorum:
Accommodation info on your Mongolia tours
Ulaanbaatar: Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, offers a variety of hotels ranging from basic guesthouses to high-end 5* hotel.
Some of our Mongolia tours do not include the hotel stays in Ulaanbaatar in the tour package, where clients can choose a hotel that suits their needs and budget. Please make sure to check your tour program`s Inclusions and Exclusions section to confirm if your hotel stay is included in the package.
If you wish us to book your hotel for you, your travel consultant will be happy to recommend and book an ideal hotel for you. Here are the hotels that we recommend:
Outside Ulaanbaatar: Outside of Ulaanbaatar where there are no hotels, tourist Ger (yurt) camps are the best accommodation for travelers. A Ger is a Mongolian traditional dwelling made of felt layers and wooden construction, and the Mongolians have lived in Gers for thousands of years. Tourist Ger camps offer comfortable Gers with 1-3 beds, good bedding (1 Ger equals 1 hotel room), and well-maintained public western-style showers and WCs on their grounds. Some Ger camps offer en-suite bathroom facilities at an additional charge, please ask your Selena Travel advisor for further details when booking your Mongolia tour.
Food on Selena Travel tours
In the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, a great variety of restaurants can be found and you will be eating at some of the best restaurants of Ulaanbaatar on your Mongolia tour while in the capital. Once you are outside the capital, Ger restaurants in Ger camps, local cafes in the small towns and sometimes nomadic families will be the places where you will be eating most of your meal. Ger restaurants often offer set continental breakfasts, set menu lunches and dinners consisting of salad or soup, main course and dessert.
While on tour, during your longer driving days, you will take a packed lunch from Ger camps, often a vegetable salad, main courses such as fried chicken/noodles/dumplings, and a small dessert, while hitting the road. Most of the food restrictions and allergies such as vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and many others, can be accommodated with easy on your Mongolia adventure.
TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:
DESTINATION & ATTRACTIONS BRIEF INFO
The Karakorum was flourished in the IV-IX century by the Kirgis tribe and in 1220 the great Emperor Chinghis Khaan declared it as the capital city of his vast Empire. Many other Mongolian Khaans used Karakorum as the capital of Great Mongolian Empire, however, the Chinese Ming soldiers burnt the city several times in 15-17th century. Today there are many interesting sites left to visit; the legendary turtle rock sculptures, Buddhist stupas and the ruins of this once great city to name a few. This is one of the best place for Mongolian cultural tours.
Erdenezuu ("One Hundred Treasures") was the first Buddhist monastery in the Mongolian Empire. It was established in 1586 on the orders of Abtai Sain Khaan, a direct descendent from Genghis Khaan. The monastery has a massive square wall, 420 meters in length each side, a total of 108 Stupas and 17 temples. Today Erdenezuu monastery still shows its glory with collections of many priceless religious objects and incredibly beautiful Mongolian arts.
Elsen Tasarhai aka Bayan Gobi is a part of the Great Mongolian sand dunes and extends about 80 km. The scenery is a perfect combination of desert, picturesque mountains, river and green grassland and makes you feel like you are in heaven.
Hustai National Park is the place where the wild Takhi - Przewalski horses have lived peacefully since 1993 when they were reintroduced to their native land Mongolia. Here we are able to see and photograph these beautiful wild horses at pasture and Red Deer, Wolf, Asian Marmot, various species of waterfawls and prey birds etc., as well.
Aug 10, 2012. Gobi & Karakorum Explorer tour
Our recent "The Gobi & Karakorum Explorer" tour with you was excellent, everything exceeded our expectations! It was a super trip in our lives and we loved our Mongolia holiday so much. Our guide Joe was kind, well organised, accurate and informative, polite and caring and always provided us with timely information. And our driver Jack is super, very friendly, professional and always on time.
We are wild travelers, having been to many places in the world - but Mongolia is still truly unspoiled and uncontaminated. Selena Travel's services were perfect right from the very first email. We would like to thank Selena Travel, our guide and our driver for having made this Mongolia experience a truly beautiful one with so many wonderful memories.
by Rafaella, Benedetta, Lidia
Sending you some of our nicer pictures. Some are chosen for their beautiful scenery while the rest are just us happily playing and goofing around. There are a couple of shots of us doing some Mongolian wrestling, as suggested by Oyuna since we missed out on the mini-Naadam festival. She said since we missed it, we might as well organise our own festival by playing some Mongolian games. Haha... We had so much fun playing those games!!! :)OK, I hope you like the pictures we send you. Best regards to everyone at Selena Travel and thank you once again for all your assistance.
by Margaret Suganda
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