Mongolia Naadam Festival and Gobi Tour (8 days)
Overview
The Eriin Gurvan Naadam /three manly games/ is our biggest holiday in Mongolia, a symbol of our freedom and unity. It is such a great chance to experience our culture and people’s lifestyle. The festival has its roots in the Mongol army’s unified practice, competition and celebration that date back more than two thousand years. Opening ceremony features an army parade, traditional music, dance and song performance under the State Nine Banners.
Get soaked into the holiday atmosphere and enjoy 3 manly games - wrestling, horse racing and archering. Feel how passionate the locals are when the wrestling champions show up in gallant manner or when the racing horses rush into the finish line.
The Naadam involves a lot of outdoor activities that we can spend time altogether. While you move between courts of competition, you can grab food and enjoy around our traditional culture.
South Gobi is located 553 km from Ulaanbaatar, average altitude of 1406 meters above sea level and the sandy desert occupies only 3 percent of the total territory. Mongolian nomads have a great concept and vision of observing nature. Therefore nomads divided Gobi into 33 different Gobis which are distinctive from one another. Each one has a different name and nomads are very proud to call these names their native territory. In reality, grassland covers most of the Gobi Desert and it is home to many camel breeders and rich in wildlife and vegetation. Khongoryn Els Mongolian largest sand dune reaching a height of 200-meter in some of the highest areas.
Bayanzag, the Flaming Cliffs were once a sea floor in aeonian times and still conserves the fossilized remains of dinosaurs from 60 million years ago. Eight of the twelve species of predatory dinosaurs were found in Mongolia. The most famous discovery was found by Roy Chapman Andrews in 1920, the fighting dinosaurs. Take a look at remains found so far, and you are free to try to find on your own. If you can, it will be an amazing experience to tell your friends back home.
Schedule 2024 & 2025
Price based on pax
- Enjoy Naadam festival, the 3 manly sports – wrestling, horse racing, and archery
- Best time to experience people and culture of Mongolia
- Available with Naadam Festival - UNESCO World Cultural Heritage
- Explore the land of the Dinosaurs, the Flaming cliffs - former nominee of the World 7 Wonders
- A lifetime opportunity to explore the Gobi on a two-humped Bactrian camel
- I have discovered Mongolia! The brand t-shirt is yours!
- Std twin room at 4* hotel
- Shared accommodation at Ger camp
- Private transfers
- English speaking guide
- All meals as listed
- All entrance fee
- Horse, camel ride, boat cruise
- Internal air tickets - free luggage allowance is 15 kg
- Mongolian barbecue
- Letter of Invitation
- Personal expenses
- Optional activities
- Camera fee for museum & monastery
- Travel Insurance www.WorldNomads.com
- Single supplement
Itinerary
Upon arrival in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, you'll be greeted at the airport and escorted to 4* hotel.
Take a city tour to Gandan Monastery where you will see a huge gold plated Buddha, the symbol of Mongolian national pride and cultural revival.
And there are other highlights - Sukhbaatar Square and National Museum of Mongolia - where you will see artifacts from Mongolia and Central Asia from the Stone Age to present time.
Excursion to Zaisan Hill Memorial to get your bearings with a panoramic view of the whole city.
Overnight in the hotel. (L+D)
Depending on the program at that time, you will enjoy the military parade, traditional costume show “Deeltei Mongol” and State Banner Raising Ceremony on central square. The first round of archery and ankle bone shooting competition takes place in the central stadium.
Discuss with your guide where to start.
(Approx. paved road 110 km, 3 hour)
At Central square, 9 o’clock, Chinggis Khaan’s 9 knights will carry the State Nine Banners on the horseback and take them to the Naadam Court.
Mongolians enthroned Chinggis Khaan as the King of the Great Mongolian Empire, they raised their Nine White Banners and had the great king pay respects. And ever since that time, the White banners have been placed in the state palace to symbolize the Mongolian state in a perpetual state of prosperity and its people living peacefully.
Stay around the Naadam court and enjoy wrestling, archery and ankle bone shooting. Get soaked into the holiday atmosphere, grab food and enjoy around our traditional culture.
Horse racing will be held outside of UB. Discuss with your guide when to go to the horse racing court.
Overnight in the hotel. (B+L+D) (Approx. paved road 70 km)
Early in the morning, you will be escorted to Dalanzadgad, the provincial capital of south Gobi. There, our team will pick you up at the airport and take you to the Yolyn Am, or Lammergeier Valley, beautiful and high elevated gorges forming incredible canyons. Gorges are so high thus sunlight never reaches the floor and winter’s snow can be kept good even in summer time.
These areas are situated in the Gobi Gurvan Saikhan /Three Beauties of the Gobi/ National park, the most easterly points of the Altai Mountains.
Overnight in tourist camp. (B+L+D)
(air 560 km, 1.5 hour & dirt/paved road 60 km, 2 hours)
Drive to the “Khongoryn els” - the biggest sand dune in Mongolia, reaching a height of 200 meters in some areas. Discuss with your guide about timing when you climb over dunes.
Explore the dune are on the camelback. The two-humped Bactrian camels are very comfortable to ride as they walk slowly and gently. You will be well supported by their soft, fluffy humps when you ride them. Our camel guide will lead you safely through the sand dunes to explore the Uujim valley on the camelback.
Plus, you will have an opportunity to visit a camel herdsman family to experience their lifestyle, culture and traditions.
Similar to other deserts, the chance of rain/cloud is slim. So that there is a chance to gaze at the billions of stars in the evening.
Overnight in tourist camp. (B+L+D) (Approx. dirt road 200 km, 5 hours, camel ride 2hrs)
Drive to the Bayanzag, also known as the Flaming Cliffs, where the first dinosaur eggs were discovered in 1922 by Roy Chapman Andrews. In this huge paleontological site, you will have a chance to walk on the ground where the Dinosaurs once roamed 60 million years ago.
On this day, you will discover not only dinosaur’s but ancient human’s remains too. Khavtsgait petroglyphs and saxual forest are good additions to this trip.
Photo shooting of the flaming cliffs and watching a documentary about this wonderful place is suggested in the evening.
Overnight in tourist camp. (B+L+D)
(Distance 160 km, 4 hours drive on paved/dirt road)
Take a tour of the Chinggis Khaan Statue, the biggest equestrian statue in the world - 40 meters tall stainless steel statue symbolically pointed east towards his birthplace, on the bank of the Tuul River at Tsonjin Boldog.
Overnight in a Hotel. (B+L+D)
(Distance approx 150 km, 2-3 hours drive on paved road)
You will be transferred from your hotel to the airport. (B)
(Approx. paved road 25 km, 20 min)
B – Breakfast L-Lunch D- Dinner
Good to know
- The best time to make this trip
May to September is the best season, with the peak season in July for the Naadam Festival. July and August are also the wettest months of the year but be assured, our climate is such that you will still have many sunny days at this time. The best time to visit the Gobi is June or September.
- Accommodation:
We believe that comfortable, welcoming accommodation is vital to the enjoyment of your trip. You will be staying in a standard 3-4 star hotel in Ulaanbaatar and a tourist ger camp (traditional dwelling) with currency (220V), shower and other useful services (2 to 4 people per ger) in the countryside. All accommodation offered by Discover Mongolia is personally checked by our staff to ensure high standards.
- Meals:
In Ulaanbaatar, you will be dining at fine European and Asian cuisine restaurants. Mutton, beef, rice, and noodles form the basis of the Mongolian diet, so your meals will be based around this. However, the trail rations may include vegetables, eggs, peanut butter, cheese and sometimes yak! On some days there will be lunchboxes from tourist camps. It is good food and our experience has been that guests are happy with this arrangement. Please let us know in advance if you are a vegetarian. Alcohol is not provided on the trip but tourists are free to bring their own.
- Transport:
Discover Mongolia use the highest level, latest model, air-conditioned private vans or 4WD vehicles for the maximum comfort on your touring days. A day's drive in the countryside will be approx 200-250km.
- Personal things to bring with you:
Warm thin layers of clothing are the best such as bring a waterproof jacket, and a hat and headscarf to protect you from the sun and winds. Don't forget insect repellent, sun cream, lip-gloss, water purifying tablets and first aid kit (medicine for headache, cold, diarrhea, runny nose; bandages; any medicine prescribed for you ). All your camera equipment.
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