Winter celebrations - Horseback Mongolia
Winter trip

Winter celebrations

Discover the nomadic life in Winter, on the occasion of the celebrations held for the Ice Festival and the Eagles Festival.

We leave for Lake Khovsgol, become a hugeness of ice surrounded with virgin nature ; we'll stay with a family for 4 days and attend the Ice Festival.
After these first celebrations, we'll attend the Eagles Festival before going to Terelj National Park and spending a few days among nomads.

Day 1Arrival in Ulan Bator and visit of the city

Day 1Arrival in Ulan Bator and visit of the city

  • Arrival at the airport, meeting with our driver. Transfer to your hotel, settling in, and rest.

  • Appointment at 12 o'clock at your hotel with your guide. He will take you to the restaurant of your choice.

  • Let's immerse ourselves in the heart of the Mongolian history, in the wonderful National History Museum. Three floors of a rich, glorious, violent and noble past, from prehistory to Soviet period, including the creation of the great Mongolian Empire by Genghis Khan.

  • Walk in the centre of Ulan-Bator. Discovery of Gengis Khan Square and the House of Parliament.

1h 15m-750km
1h 30m-100km

Day 2From Ulan Bator to the Very North of Mongolia

Day 2From Ulan Bator to the Very North of Mongolia

  • Breakfast at the hotel. We go with you to the international airport of Ulan Bator. The transfer can be organized at the time you want, according to the schedule of your flight.

  • Flight to Mörön, the capital of the province of Khövsgöl, where our driver is waiting for us.

  • We arrive at Lake Khövsgöl, one of the natural wonders of the world. This mountain covers an area of 2760 square kilometres, and its water is so pure that we can drink it! It's surrounded with many peaks culminating at more than 2000 metres and covered with forests of pines and lush meadows where yaks and horses graze!

Also
Meal and accommodations
Breakfast: Hotel Nine
Lunch: Made by your team
Dinner: made by the family
Accommodation: Family stay, under the yurt
1h 30m-100km
Khuvsgul Lake

Day 3-5Khovsgol Lake and the Ice Festival

Day 3-5Khovsgol Lake and the Ice Festival

Day 3

  • Let's have our first 2 days around the frozen Khuvsgul lake and the Ice Festival!

    The Ice Festival on the lake itself is a traditional celebration now in Winter that is taking place around the end of February/beginning of March.

    At that time, the local population as well as the Russian counterparts living on the other side of the border gather for this great event, with multi activities organized for the next 3 days. You can be attending horse sledge races on the ice, a sort of a Mongolian curling contest named Shagain Naadam, ice sculptures, or of course ice skating.

    It is also a period when most ethnicities are represented, because this is the major event of the whole region.

Day 5

  • Today you'll enjoy 4 or 5 hours on a sledge pulled by a horse, on the frozen lake. Let you slide in this magical experience on the lake. In Winter, the lake is covered with a 2-metres (6,56 feet) and more thick layer of ice.

  • Those who wish can horseride in the forests and on the banks of Lake Khovsgol.

Also
Meal and accommodations
Breakfast: Made by your team
Lunch: Local restaurant
Dinner: made by the family
Accommodation: Family stay, under the yurt
1h 30m-100km
5h-370km

Day 6On the way back to the Capital, stop at Erdenet City

Day 6On the way back to the Capital, stop at Erdenet City

  • We leave early today, to drive South-East, to reach Erdenet at the end of the day. It's one of the most important city of the country. It has one of the largest open-air mines of the world (copper mine).

    Tonight we will rest in a local 2* hotel of the city for a good night rest.

Meal and accommodations
Breakfast: Made by your team
Lunch: Local restaurant
Dinner: Local restaurant
Accommodation: 2 stars hotel

Day 7Back to UB - rest before the next festival

Day 7Back to UB - rest before the next festival

  • We drive about 350km back to Ulan-Bator. The road would take sometime, since there were recently some renovations made before arriving to the Capital.

    Arrival in town and settling in at your hotel, where you can rest a few moments.

Meal and accommodations
Breakfast: Made by your team
Breakfast: 2 stars hotel
Lunch: made by the family
Accommodation: Hotel Nine

Day 8-9Eagles Festival and staying among nomads

Day 8-9Eagles Festival and staying among nomads

Ulan Bator - Terelj national park

  • Let's immerse ourselves into the 2nd Festival of this exciting adventure!

    Each year, falconers living in the area get together on the occasion of the Eagles Festival that symbolizes the opening of the shooting season, where everyone can come with its eagle-hunter and show its skill. Preys are foxes, rabbits, or small wolves. Skill tournaments are held all day long, but also bushkashi trials, over the course of which Kazakh horsemen compete to catch the corpse of a sheep. The first one who catches it must bring it behind a predefined line, while the other ones try to snatch it from him.

    You'll attend this event until the afternoon.

  • Then we depart from the surroundings of UB to the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, a real gorgeous green setting at the gates of the capital : rocky formations sculpted by erosion, mountains tree-filled with pines, plains scattered with wild flowers and edelweiss, rivers and lakes.

Day 9

  • Those who wish can leave for a ponytrek along the Tuul River to go deeper in the park. Riding our horses, we'll discover a contrasting landscape made of rivers, steppes and forests.

Also
  • Day 8Day 9

    We stay almost 3 days with a breeders family living on the banks of the Tuul River. You'll discover wonderful winter landscapes and take part in the daily activities of the family.

Meal and accommodations
Breakfast: Hotel Nine (8)
Breakfast: Made by your team (9)
Lunch: Made by your team
Dinner: made by the family (8)
Accommodation: Family stay, under the yurt

Day 10Last monastery and the Genghis Khan Statue before going back to Ulan Bator

Day 10Last monastery and the Genghis Khan Statue before going back to Ulan Bator

  • Stop at turtle rock, from where we walk until Aryaval Monastery.

  • Drive to the 40 meters-high equestrian statue of Genghis Khan. This statue is the tallest in the world of a man on horseback. Visit of the museum located inside the statue.

  • Back to Ulan-Bator. Last herds of wild horses crossing the road outside, last yurts smoking far away, the steppe will be with us until the last moment.

    Arrival in town and settling in at your hotel, where you can rest a few moments.

  • Rest of the day free. With our guide, you can go shopping in the centre of the city.

Meal and accommodations
Breakfast: Made by your team
Lunch: Made by your team
Accommodation: Hotel Nine
Flight back

Day 11Have a nice journey and see you soon !

Day 11Have a nice journey and see you soon !

  • Breakfast at the hotel. We go with you to the international airport of Ulan Bator. The transfer can be organized at the time you want, according to the schedule of your flight.

Meal and accommodations
Breakfast: Made by your team
Breakfast: Hotel Nine

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