Nomadic in Mongolia: Ger-to-Ger Hiking, Horse Treks & Life on the Steppe

On arrival, you’ll be welcomed at the airport and transferred to our hotel in Ulaanbaatar to freshen up and settle in. Once the whole group has arrived, we’ll kick off the trip with a welcome dinner and run through the adventure ahead.

Our first stop is Gandan Monastery, home to hundreds of monks and a 26-metre golden Buddha, before diving into Naran Tuul (the black market), where Mongolians shop for everything from saddles to gers. Along the way, we’ll stop for coffee and cake at No Limits Cafe, run by the Down Syndrome Association of Mongolia. In the afternoon, we’ll climb Zaisan Hill for views over the city, then finish the day with an evening of traditional Mongolian throat singing.

Leaving the city behind in our Soviet UAZ vans, our transport for the rest of the trip, we’ll head to Hustai National Park in search of takhi. Also known as Przewalski's horse, this rare and endangered animal is believed to be the last truly wild horse on earth.

From Hustai, we’ll continue to Elsen Tasarkhai (Mini-Gobi), where a long strip of sand dunes meets green hills. Our ger camp sits right beside the dunes, perfect for sunset.

After a morning drive into the Orkhon Valley, it's time to lace up our boots. We'll spend the rest of the day travelling as nomads do, moving from one place to the next on foot. After around 10km, we'll reach a herding family who will show us how to build a ger. These round homes, similar to yurts, are central to nomadic life in Mongolia, designed to be packed up and moved with the seasons.

Today is the longest and most rewarding day of our ger-to-ger trek. We'll climb steadily through forest for around 15km to reach Tuvkhun Monastery, a 17th-century retreat built into the mountainside at 2,300m.

At the top, there's a meditation cave to squeeze into, a rock seat worn smooth by three and a half centuries of monks, and views across the Khangai Mountains. After taking in the stillness of the place, we'll hike back down to our next ger stay.

A gentler day that’s mostly downhill, as we come off the mountain and back into the vast Orkhon Valley. Our reward at the end is a ger camp with hot showers, proper beds, and a warm dining ger.

For one day, we'll move in with a herding family at their summer camp and live at their pace. The morning starts with milking the animals, followed by a cooking class where we'll learn to make buuz, Mongolia's much-loved steamed dumplings. In the afternoon, the women of the family will teach us traditional embroidery, and we'll play shagai, the ankle-bone game every Mongolian child grows up with.

The whole day is our Wild Women Moment, a chance to see nomadic life in Mongolia through the eyes of the women who live it.

It’s time to swap boots for saddles. Mongolian horses are small, tough, and the reason nomadic life here exists at all. After going over the basics, we'll ride deep into the Khangai Mountains towards the Eight Lakes, known locally as Naiman Nuur, which were formed by volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago.

By evening, we'll be somewhere no road reaches, with the first lake appearing between the ridges and our campsite waiting on its shore.

We'll spend a full day in the saddle exploring Naiman Nuur, the Eight Lakes. They sit at 2,400m, and no two look the same. We'll ride from one to the next, stopping wherever it's most beautiful, eating lunch on the grass, and enjoying the remoteness with no one else around.

One last morning horse riding takes us out of the mountains to meet our Soviet vans. From here, we'll drive to Kharkhorin, once the capital of the Mongol Empire and one of the most important cities on the Silk Road in the 13th century. Tonight's camp has hot showers and comfortable beds. After three days of riding and camping, they'll feel like luxury.

Our final day begins at Erdene Zuu, Mongolia's oldest surviving monastery. Having endured decades of religious repression in the twentieth century, it has become a symbol of resilience and the revival of Buddhism in Mongolia.

From one piece of Mongolian heritage to another, we'll head to the Mongolian Calligraphy and Art Center to sit down with a calligrapher and learn to write the traditional Mongolian script with a brush. Then it's back to Ulaanbaatar for our farewell dinner.

It’s time to say goodbye to your awesome tour guide, fellow travellers turned new friends, and the wonderful country of Mongolia. We’ll drop you off at Chinggis Khaan International Airport, ready for your flight home.