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Karakorum & Bayangobi desert gateway

Karakorum & Bayangobi desert gateway

4days/3nights

Tour grade: Easy

Style: Traveller

From: US$ 480
  • UNESCO world heritage site ancient capital at Karakorum, legendary Erdene Zuu monastery and Karakorum Museum, Hustai national park featuring wild Przewalski horse
  • Authentic culture experience: by visiting real nomads and interacting with them
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Tour Overview

This fantastic trip will take you to the historic sites from the Great Mongolian Empire (13-15th century AD) in the heart of the world. It will be our pleasure to introduce these sites to you from their historical and cultural perspective and share our glorious histories with you. You will visit the first center of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia - the Erdene Zuu monastery and the ruins of the capital city from the ancient empire and will also enjoy the beautiful marble monuments from the Turkic state 5-7 Century AD and its stories. On the way back to Ulaanbaatar we will stop at beautiful Hustai National Park to see the only living wild horse in the world- the Takhi aka Przewalski horse. 

Brief itinerary

  • Day 1: Ulaanbaatar – Elsen Tasarkhai
  • Day 2: Elsen Tasarkhai – Karakorum
  • Day 3: Karakorum – Hustai National Park
  • Day 4: Hustai – Ulaanbaatar
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Reviews

Aug 10, 2012. Gobi & Karakorum Explorer tour Our recent "The Gobi & Karakorum Explorer" tour with ...

Rafaella, Benedetta, Lidia

Sending you some of our nicer pictures. Some are chosen for their beautiful scenery while the rest a...

Margaret Suganda
read more reviews

Tour images

Full Itinerary

Day 1:

Ulaanbaatar – Elsen Tasarkhai

Meet in the morning, we pack the vehicles and depart to the west toward Karakorum, the ancient capital city of Mongolia and drive to Elsen tasarkhai through the green grassland, arrive at the stunning sand dunes, streams and rocky mountains, enjoy hiking around and optional camel riding. Ger camp L+D

Day 2:

Elsen Tasarkhai – Karakorum

Drive to Karakorum; visit the historic sites such as the legendary Erdene-Zuu monastery and its surroundings like ruins of Tumen Amgalant Palace, Museum of Karakorum, King’s Monument and the Phallic Rock. Ger camp B+L+D

Day 3:

Karakorum – Hustai National Park

Today, we drive back towards Ulaanbaatar, transfer to Hustai National Park, where the Takhi wild horses graze peacefully with other wild animals. Ger camp B+L+D

Day 4:

Hustai – Ulaanbaatar

This morning we drive back to Ulaanbaatar for 1.5 hours and transfer to your accommodation. B

Date & Price

Single Supplement Charge US$75     
Included in the price
 
  • Full-time services of your English speaking local guide throughout the tour
  • Sightseeing and cultural show admissions according to the itinerary
  • Private transfers with car/minivan equipped with AC – 4WD Japanese minivan
  • Twin/triple share at good tourist camps
  • National Park entrance fees
  • Meals as listed & bottled water 
 
Not included in the price
 
  • International Airfare/train ticket
  • Travel insurance.
  • Accommodation in Ulaanbaatar
  • Items of a personal nature such as laundry, drinks, camera or video fees at any sites etc.
  • Tips for your guide and driver (discretionary).
  • Optional activities such as camel riding, archery, fishing etc
     

DISCOUNT CONDITIONS: 

  • For children of a family (0 – 3 years old) is 100% free of charge
  • For children of a family (4 – 12 years old) is 40% free of charge
  • Courier bringing min 3 pax
  • More attractive prices for groups of 12 and more people!
  • 1 free space for every 16 PAX

Tour Background

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 Kempinski, Ramada, and Best Western 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:  
  • Best Western Gobi Kelso ***
  • Springs hotel ***
  • Ramada hotel ****
  • Kempinski Khan Palace ****
  • Best Western Premier *****

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. 
 
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 carry on luggage). For 1kg extra luggage you pay US$2 - 5. 
 


DESTINATION & ATTRACTIONS BRIEF INFO

The city of Karakorum: In 1220 the great Chinghis Khaan declared it as the capital city of his vast Empire. 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. Erdenezuu is the first Buddhist monastery in the Mongolian Empire, established in 1586. Today Erdenezuu monastery still shows its glory with collections of many priceless religious objects and incredibly beautiful Mongolian arts. It has a massive square wall, 420 meters in length each side, a total of 108 Stupas and 17 temples.

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. 

Tour Map

Tour Reviews

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.

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.

Margaret Suganda

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