15days/14nights
Tour grade: Hard
Style: Traveller
Join us on this epic Mongolia winter tour through this wonderful country of ancient history, unique Mongolian nomadic culture, and rare wildlife species, untouched beautiful landscape, Lake Huvsgul and hospitable Mongolian people whose lives are not changed in many ways since the days of mighty Genghis Khan and his empire. This fantastic winter trip is specially designed to bring you all these unique features nowhere else to be experienced.
Our Mongolia tour allows you to experience Mongolian winter by dog sledding on outstanding Lake Huvsgul located along the beautiful Horidol Saridag Mountains. You will travel on lake Huvsgul for 7 full days with dog sled and reach border village Khankh via Jigleg mountain, 13 ovoo and many other sites on the way.
Arrival in Ulaanbaatar
Arrive in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia meet at the airport after custom formalities and transfer to the hotel. Hotel 3*
City tour and trip to Giant Chinggis statue
Breakfast at the hotel and we visit to Gandan Monastery housing 26 m statue of Bodhisattva. Enjoy watching the morning chant in the temple. Transfer to the city center and visit National History museum followed by Sukhbaatar square. Welcome lunch at local restaurant. Afternoon visit to Giant Chinggis statue located 60 km to the west. Return to hotel by 6 pm. Free time for dinner. Hotel 3* B+L
Ulaanbaatar- Erdenet town
After breakfast, we depart toward Lake Huvsgul. Our today’s stop will be Erdenet, an industrial city based on Erdenet Mine. Arrive in Erdenet in the afternoon and transfer to the hotel upon arrival. Visit town center to the central square and local bazaar. Dinner and overnight at the hotel. Hotel 3* B+L+D
Erdenet- Lake Huvsgul (Khatgal side)
Today, we continue our drive toward Lake Huvsgul. Lunch along the way either in Hutag Ondor village or Murun town depending on road condition. Arriving at Lake in the late afternoon. Meet our dogs at the camp and enjoy welcome dinner with tour staffs of dog sledding. Guesthouse B+L+D
First day of dog sledding trip on the frozen lake
After breakfast we will start our dog sled tour. This day, we will travel about 30km by sled dog. Stop by a spring, which don’t freeze, and have a lunch there. Stay in a traditional Mongolian ger camp ‘Khirvesteg’ on the western coast of Lake Khovsgol. Ger camp B+L+D
10 dead volcanoes, Seven Mountain areas
After breakfast, we will go ice fishing. Long way up north to reach the Dolon Uul peninsula at 55km away from Jigleg. During this long day, we will cross many compression crests, common in this area. The ice of Khövsgöl is incredibly pure, white marbled, or with some white air bubbles. The ice slaps permanently making strange noises. Waves also keep moving under the deep ice layer, result of a non-stop seismic activity. We will arrive at Dolon Uul at the end of afternoon to overnight in a ger near the lake in an incredible wild place…Nomadic family stay B+L+D
Seven Mountain areas- Khankh
Crossing of the lake, to join Khankh, also called Turt. On this place, the lake is around 30 kilometers wide. It will be a quite short way to reach this small village, nested between the edge of the lake and high cliffs. Small village at the border of Russia… A magical place with its very unique atmosphere. The magnificent Monkh Saridag mount, worshipped by Khankh inhabitants, reigns on place. This beautiful summit culminates at almost 3 500m and marks Russia’s border. We will arrive in Khankh and be welcomed by Bayarkhuu, director of the hotel. Installation at the "last hotel before the frontier ", great wooden building, recently built at the edge of the lake. Local Hotel B+L+D
Day trip by horse
Going always more north, at the foot of Monkh Saridag, on horses. Preparation for the departure on the following day. Small purchases in Khankh. Local Hotel B+L+D
Depart back toward Khatgal
Crossing the 13 ovoos on the foot of the hill, symbols of a glorious past. They are the old tracks of the border of the Great Mongolian Empire created by Chinggis Khan. The empire of the Great Khan was at that time formed by 13 provinces gathered. Passing near these 13 ovoos would inform any foreigner that he was entering in the Empire. We will have around 30 kilometers after the ovoos, to reach the other side of the lake, at Doloon Uul. Tent B+L+D
Doloon Uul- Jigleg
Same itinerary to go to Jigleg, but not the same light, not the same way to see the lake, the nature, mountains…The view is splendid, with an incredible view on the 3000m high mountain that separates the 2 main lakes of the province: Huvsgul lake and Tsaagan Nuur lake. We might feel some vibrations and movements of the ice and hear the noise of waves becoming stronger. Unforgettable moments. Even dogs are under the power of the place. Nomadic family stay B+L+D
Jigleg- Toilogt
We will choose a new route to reach Toilogt, closer to the coast, closer to the blue ice compression blocks. We will have already covered so far around 200 km on Khövsgöl ice. Dog sledding will become for you easier and you will feel like a true musher and will be able to appreciate totally the beauty landscape. Nomadic family stay B+L+D
Toilogt- Khatgal
Arrival at the camp in the middle of the afternoon. Installation at the guesthouse of Baigal and Bataa. Guesthouse B+L+D
Khatgal- Erdenet
Today, we drive back toward Ulaanbaatar with the break at Erdenet town for overnight. Hotel 3* B+L+D
Erdenet- Ulaanbaatar
Continue our drive toward Ulaanbaatar with some stop for stretch and photograph. Arrive in Ulaanbaatar in the afternoon and transfer to the hotel. Free time for rest. Hotel 3* B+L
Departure
Transfer to the airport/ train station after breakfast. B
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Single supplement charge |
US$380 |
Included Services
Not Included in the Service
Accommodation on Selena Travel tours
Ulaanbaatar: Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia has many hotels ranging from basic 1* to high-end 5*. Some international hotel chains have opened such as Holiday Inn, Ramada, Kempinski, and Best Western, Shangri-La to name a few. Some of Selena Travel Mongolia tours do not include hotel accommodation in Ulaanbaatar, where clients are advised to take care of their own accommodation in Ulaanbaatar. Please refer to your tour program (Included services and Exclusions section) for more details.
Your Selena Travel advisor is happy to assist you with hotel booking on your request. Below you will find some suggested hotels in Ulaanbaatar:
· Hotel 9 ***
· Springs hotel ***
· Holiday inn ****
· Best Western Premier Tuushin ****
· Shangri-La *****
Outside Ulaanbaatar: Please take in mind that traveling in the countryside of Mongolia is often tough, a trip is conducted in remote areas where there’s no hotel and paved roads exist.
Outside of Ulaanbaatar, tourist Ger camps are the best accommodation for travelers. A Ger is Mongolian traditional dwelling made of felt layers and wooden construction, and the Mongols have lived in Gers since the time immemorial. Tourist Ger camps offer comfortable Gers with 1-4 beds with good bedding, and also have western style showers and WCs (mostly shared). A few Ger camps offer en-suite Gers at additional charge (please ask your Selena Travel advisor for this). Due to remoteness some tourist Ger camps may not excel in service, so travelers may not always expect high pressure showers, bubble baths or gourmet food etc. During the winter tour, you are maybe asked to stay overnight at nomadic family which is the real hands on experience which allows you to learn a lot about this unique lifestyle. As nomadic families don’t use western facilities due to their nomadic life, you are maybe asked to use wooden outhouse and basic washing facility during your stay.
Food on Selena Travel tours
During your tour in Mongolia you will be eating in good restaurants in Ulaanbaatar, we have a great variety in restaurants in the capital city. Once you are outside the capital, Ger restaurants in Ger camps and local cafes in the small towns and villages will be the places where you will be eating. Ger restaurants often have set menu, but their food is usually very good (Ger camps provide mostly continental breakfast, lunches consist of salad, soup, main course and dessert, whilst, dinners are usually salad, main course and dessert).
During your longer driving days you will take packed lunch from Ger camps (often vegetable salad, main course such as fried chicken/noodles/dumplings and a chocolate bar etc). Vegetarians are well taken care of both in Ulaanbaatar restaurants and tourist Ger camps.
Luggage allowance on Selena Travel tours
When you travelling overland in a vehicle (minivan & jeep), it would be suitable if you have 20kg luggage per person (max). However, please kindly note that domestic flight luggage allowance per person is 15 kg (10 kg for the check in luggage and 5 for the carryon luggage). For 1kg extra luggage you pay US$2 - 5.
DESTINATION & ATTRACTIONS BRIEF INFO
Lake Huvsgul Lake Huvsgul is Mongolia’s deepest freshwater lake and it is 136 km long, 262m deep and 1645m above sea level. Lake Khuvsgul is the second largest fresh water lake in Central Asia. This lake was baptized by its former inhabitants "the blue water lake" and is also home to a number of animals including sheep, ibex, bear, yak, reindeer and moose, and many species of birds. Also 4 ethnics live in Khuvsgul namely, Khalkh, Buriad, Tuva and Darkhad. Tuvans are Mongolia’s strongest shamans and they herds about 2000 reindeers and live in the forest. Most Mongolian tribes herd livestock (cattle, camels, horses, yaks, sheep, goats) and they move 4 times a year.
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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