Recently Viewed
Mongolia Semi-Gobi Tour: Sand Dunes and Nomadic Life
5.0
15 Ratings
Ulaanbaatar
Experience the natural beauty and nomadic lifestyle of Mongolia on a day trip to the Semi-Gobi. Explore sand dunes, mountains, grasslands, and interact with nomadic herders and animals. Book now!
Experience the natural beauty and nomadic lifestyle of Mongolia on a day trip to the Semi-Gobi. Explore sand dunes, mountains, grasslands, and interact with nomadic herders and animals. Book now!
Duration:
1 day, 6 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- EMEELT - Emeelt is situated just outside the city limits. It is a large industrial zone where travelers can experience various aspects of Ulaanbaatar. The journey takes approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes.
- Urikhan - This is one of Mongolia’s first modern rest stops, featuring restrooms, a coffee shop, a restaurant, and a store. Visitors will…
- EMEELT - Emeelt is situated just outside the city limits. It is a large industrial zone where travelers can experience various aspects of Ulaanbaatar. The journey takes approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes.
- Urikhan - This is one of Mongolia’s first modern rest stops, featuring restrooms, a coffee shop, a restaurant, and a store. Visitors will have 30 minutes of free time here.
- Elsen Tasarkhai - At the entrance to the Semi-Gobi area, there will be a stop at a rest area for relaxation.
- Lunch will be enjoyed with a nomadic Mongolian family.
- Following lunch, the group will visit the sand dunes of Elsen Tasarkhai (locally known as Semi-Gobi), where guests can ride two-humped Bactrian camels around the dunes.
- In the Semi-Gobi, travelers can enjoy hiking and exploring various sand dunes and small desert forests in between.
- The journey will then continue to Kharkhorum. In Kharkhorum, the main Museum will be visited, followed by a trip to the Erdene Zuu Monastery.
- Khugnu Gobi - Hugune Tarani is a Buddhist monastery located in the national park. The visit will include exploring the monastery and the surrounding area, with opportunities for meditation or prayer.
- The trip concludes here, and the return drive to Ulaanbaatar will take approximately 3 hours.
- Kharkhorin - Kharkhorin, with a population of 20,000, is becoming one of Mongolia’s most vibrant towns.
- The first stop will be the Kharkhorum Museum, a small but informative museum.
- Erdene Zuu Monastery - Erdene Zuu is the oldest surviving Buddhist temple in Mongolia. The main temple complex has been converted into a museum.
- The entire complex is constructed using ancient bricks and stones from the Kharkhorum ruins.
What's Included
- Bottled water
- Camel Ride in Sand Dunes
- Dinner
- Breakfast
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Certified Guide
- Lunch
- Bottled water
- Camel Ride in Sand Dunes
- Dinner
- Breakfast
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Certified Guide
- Lunch
What's Not Included
- Snacks, soda, coffee
- Snacks, soda, coffee
Additional Information
Nomadic Hospitality of Mongolia has been offering quality tour services in Mongolia since 2018. We are two University of Nevada Las Vegas graduates who do our tours personally. Which means we will have proficient English speakers with western cultural understandings as your guides. Our main goal is safety and comfort of our customers. Our main…
Nomadic Hospitality of Mongolia has been offering quality tour services in Mongolia since 2018. We are two University of Nevada Las Vegas graduates who do our tours personally. Which means we will have proficient English speakers with western cultural understandings as your guides. Our main goal is safety and comfort of our customers. Our main philosophy is to be your best friends in Mongolia, we will try our best to give our customers the feeling of visiting their long known friends. This destination is the most traveled destination for tourists and locals alike in Mongolia. Please prepare for long drive in car ( at least 4 hours driving each day ). Travelers can see real natural beauties of Mongolia during this trip. Certainly the Semi-Gobi sand dunes are the main attraction for this tour, plus we will visit old capital Kharkhorum. With this one day trip travelers can experience mountains, grassland, nomadic lifestyle, herds and animals, and desert.
- There are two options for accommodation private yurt next to nomadic family
- Travelers can make request on food
Location
Sukhbaatar Square
We can meet at south east corner of Sukhbaatar Statue.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
5.0
(15 Ratings)
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
Ian_n
Oct 15, 2025
The ideal tour for us - This tour was precisely what we wanted. We paid more for a private car and a ger with private bathroom, but it was well worth it! Everything was well organized, and we thoroughly enjoyed our excursion into the beautiful landscapes outside Ulaanbaatar. Our guide, Iggy, speaks outstanding English and is very knowledgeable, which is an enormous bonus - I say this as someone who has suffered through so many tourist excursions, smiling courteously whilst either trying desperately to make head or tail of the guide's explanations,or having simply turned off out of self-preservation. With Iggy, it was all straightforward and great fun! (He even drives safely). Thanks a million - it was a wonderful Mongolian experience.
Review provided by Viator
Global27906580360
Oct 14, 2025
Outstanding ✨ - Stunning landscapes, wonderful normadic hosts, and an outstanding driver guide who was eager to share everything about Mongolian culture and history. Would definitely recommend or do one of their longer trips if you have the time!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Coastal13702386700
Jun 12, 2025
Must do - Highly recommend this tour! Our guide Munkh and the driver were so patient and considerate - we weren’t rushed at all. The host nomadic family we stayed with were very welcoming and even made vegetarian meals when we struggled with the meaty diet (so grateful). Camel riding felt much more ethical than at other tourist spots. Bonus of course seeing unreal views and animal spotting (like Mongolian vultures). 1 night was the perfect way to experience the nomadic lifestyle without spending days out to the gobi.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Louise_h
Jun 11, 2025
One of the best tours I have been on so far - For anyone travelling to Mongolia I would highly recommend this trip. You can’t put a price on the experience of going out of the city and spending time with your Mongolian family. We had an amazing trip and our tour guide monkhmanlai and our driver were brilliant so informative and interactive. We could not have asked for 2 better people to be with.
Review provided by Viator
Trent_futrell
May 11, 2025
An amazing time with Iggy seeing the countryside - My brother and I did this tour with Iggy as our private guide. Can’t say enough great things about our tour. First off Iggys English is excellent and was very informative. You really get a great sense of what the countryside is like outside the city of Ulan Baatar. Very interesting drive seeing all the roaming animals just doing their own thing and being in the road whenever they pleased. The nomadic family were very friendly and welcomed us into their home. That’s where we did the camel riding too. After that we hit the sand dunes to walk around and take some pictures. Great stuff and we got some great pictures too. Then we were off to Kharkhorin to see the Buddhist temple and spend the night in a Ger resort in the town. It’s a lot of time in the car, but i can’t recommend it enough. Everything was fantastic and really showed us a side of Mongolia we never would’ve seen if we had stayed in the city. Five stars all the way
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kenneth_f
May 11, 2025
Getaway from Ulaanbaatar - An excellent way to get away from Ulaanbaatar and experience the countryside. Lunch with our Nomadic family was outstanding. The camel ride was scenic, and quite enjoyable. Our time at the sand dunes/desert was time well spent. The stay in the Ger was a wonderful experience. Iggy, our guide was Outstanding!
Review provided by Viator
Angela_a
May 2, 2025
Fun overnight trip to the semi-Gobi! - We can't say enough good things about our experience. Namja was a great guide - every detail was looked after, including bathroom breaks. And he and our driver were very willing to take some detours and stop for photos. We had a great time and never worried about a thing. Highly recommend this tour!
Review provided by Viator
Miriam_m
Jun 15, 2024
So fortunate to have found this excellent guide! - This guide is a real gem: knowledgeable in Mongolian history, kind, eager to please, flexible, willing to customize your tour, fluent in English, enthusiastic - the whole package. I’m a UN employee who was on mission, a woman touring alone. I did my homework, asked local advice, and sought the perfect tour guide - got lucky with Iggy. Strong recommendation. If I have the good fortune of returning to Mongolia, I’ll custom-plan a tour of both Ulaanbaatar and backwoods Mongolia with this guide. He arrived in an impeccably clean Lexus and I was lucky to have arranged a private tour, such that I could spend as much or as little time at each site.
Review provided by Viator
Paul_h
May 27, 2024
An educational tour of Mongolia. - Our Iggy was a fantastic guy! A Mongolian educated in USA, his knowledge of both Mongolia and western countries helped us to understand great deal of geography and cultural differences. The best guide of 4 we had in our Mongolia trip. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Viator
Charlotte_p
Apr 26, 2024
Lots to see - Really well organised and good to see a lot of sights in short day trip.
Would recommend to anyone looking to try some authentic Mongolian food and learn about the culture.
Review provided by Viator
