Mongolian Winter Festivals Adventure tour 2020

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Mongolian winter has its own unique beauty that attracts thousands of travelers.  Winter festivals are definitely one of the must see in Mongolia. Ice Festival, Winter Golden Eagle Festival  are held in a row one after the other by beginning of March each year.

These Festivals start with Ice festival in March in the northwest of Mongolia where the pristine Khuvsgul lake is. Lake Khövsgöl is the largest fresh water lake in Mongolia by volume and second largest by area.

The Reindeer herders known as Tsaatan with their reindeers and local communities gather to celebrate the ice festival on this deeply frozen pristine lake. Fascinating two days of Ice Festival includes traditional games, races, shaman rituals and cultural performances. Festivals gives you the best opportunity to capture the locals in their unique traditional costumes.

Winter Golden Eagle festival would take place near capital Ulaanbaatar. Mongolian kazakhs are well known with their incredible hunting tradition with Golden Eagles. About 20 selected eagle hunters would demonstrate the original eagle festival at this winter festival. Breathtaking games on horse back as well as the eagle hunters competitions admire the audience.

In between these 2 fascinating festivals you would enjoy the breathtaking view of nature in Central Mongolia, Mini scale of  Gobi desert, natural hot springs, family visits and nomadic culture would be the highlights of the tour in between these 2 festivities.

Mongolian winter Festivals tour would give you the best opportunity to attend 2 different festivals in one package tour.

Join us for a powerful once in a lifetime trip that includes all TWO WINTER FESTIVALS in one package.

HIGHLIGHTS

  •  Experience unique nomadic culture and hospitality
  • Once life time Eagle hunting tradition and Festival
  • The last Reindeer people of Mongolia
  • Nomad family visits and stays
  • Mongolian winter experiences
  • Breathtaking vast land of  Mongolia
  • Shamanistic ceremony, throat singing
  • Historical sites from Bronze age!
  • Ice Festival and more activities on the ice.

Itinerary at a Glance:

D1: Arrive to Ulaanbaatar
D2: Drive to Khuvsgul lake
D3: Ice Festival
D4: Ice Festival
D5: Relaxing day around Khuvsgul lake
D6: Drive Karakorum city, old capital
D7: Natural Hot springs
D8: Mini Gobi desert, Ulaanbaatar
D9: Genghis Khan statue complex
D10: Winter Eagle Festival
D11: Departure for your international flights

TOUR COSTS

Day 1-29 Feb 2024 - Arrive to Ulaanbaatar

Get picked up from Ulaanbaatar airport and transfer to hotel. Our guide would meet you at hotel lobby at 18:00 and you would have dinner at one of the known restaurants in downtown Ulaanbaatar city. stay at Hotel. (D-Dinner)  ** 5 Star hotel.

Day 2 - Driving to Khuvsgul lake.

After breakfast at hotel we would leave to Khuvsgul lake by car at 8:00am. It is going to be a beautiful day with beautiful landscape that differs from one to the other in every 2-3 hours. We would drive through beautiful passes, mountains and canyons. it is going to be a long driving day most of the distance we would drive on asphalt road. Late afternoon we would get to Murun City (Khuvsgul province) and stay at Hotel. (BLD-Breakfast Lunch and Dinner)

Day 3 - ICE FESTIVAL

Ice festival has been organized by locals every year by beginning of March. A respite from the confinement of the winter months, the Ice Festival is a time to get outdoors and play games. The festival features a gathering of local residents and nomadic reindeer herders, and performances by shamans, musicians, and sportsmen. Competitions include ice sumo, a horse sledge race, ice skating races, tug of war between local teams, and a Russian Jeep race on the ice. Many traditional games are played on the sidelines, and this is an ideal venue for visitors to join fun games with local people. (BLD)

Day 4 - ICE FESTIVAL

Second day of Ice Festival. Festival activities would continue with a new day. We would enjoy many different activities, each are interesting than one another.   (BLD)

Day 5 - RELAXING DAY AT KHUVSGUL REGION

We would visit a shaman boo, just to get more experience about these Shaman fortune tellers.  it could be quite very interesting defending on us! Afternoon we would drive heading to Murun city.  We would stop by some beautiful view points and would stop at 50 100 monument. Stay at hotel in Murun. (BLD)

Day 6 - DRIVING TO KARAKORUM CITY

Karakorum was ancient capital of Mongol empire.  The city of Kharkhorum or Karakorum was transferred to the city from Aurag Palace in 1220 by the order of Genghis Khan, and became the official capital from the time of Ogedei Khan. Founded in the 13th century, the city was destroyed in 1388 by the Ming invasion.

We would drive from Murun through beautiful scenic roads to Karakorum city. 1/3 of the road would be dirt road through mountainous passes and forest as well as bare steppes of Mongolia.  Stay at hotel. (BLD)

Day 7 - Erdene Zuu temple and Hot Springs

After the breakfast we would visit Erene zuu temple, that is what left from ruins of old capital. Then we would visit local museum where we would get more information about old capital. After the lunch we would drive heading to Natural hot springs near Tsetserleg city. We would have chance to swim in the pool when there is snow in the surrounding.  Tsenkheriin hot spring is well known to locals with its benefits for human body and skin diseases. Stay at touristic lodge. (BLD)

Day 8 - Mini Gobi desert and to Ulaanbaatar

After the breakfast we would drive heading to Ulaanbaatar.  On the way we would stop by Elsen Tasarkhai sand dunes. This is kind of mini Gobi desert in the south. Elsen tasarkhai sand dune is 80 km long, with width of 5 km average.  The area is surrounded by sand dunes, hills covered with rare bushes and a small forest near a river. Together this presents a unique combination of Mongolian mountains, forests and Gobi-type landscape in one location. Local people call this sand dunes Duut mankhan (Singing sand)  Depending on availability of camels, we might have chance to ride camel at this point.  Sand dunes + Snow and Bactrian camels, this is unique to Mongolia. You won't see this anywhere in the world!  By late afternoon we would get to Ulaanbaatar. Stay at 5 star Hotel. (BLD)

Day 9 - Genghiz Khan or Chinggis khan statue complex

We would have a short day tour today. After 8 days of adventure driving, you might need to sleep bit more than usual. We would pick up you after lunch time and would drive to Genghiz khan statue complex.  Here you would see the biggest equestrian statue in the world, and will learn more about the Khan who was the founder of the Mongol Empire, the largest land-based empire the world has ever seen. We would drive back to town and you would stay at hotel. (B-D)

Day 10 - 9th Mar- EAGLE FESTIVAL

We would pick up you at 10:00am in the morning and will drive heading to eagle festival site which is located south west of Ulaanbaatar.  It is a 30-50 minutes of drive depending on traffic.  There would be about 20 well known eagle hunters participating this Winter Eagle festival. There would be some different competitions among this eagle hunters and many more nomad horse games that are interesting than one another.  About 3000 locals would visit the site to enjoy the festival. We would have lunch at the site and will drive back to hotel after the activities. By evening we would have farewell dinner in one of the known restaurants!

Day 11 - DEPARTURE

Kazakh Tour team would take you to airport according to your international flight departure schedule.

We would always welcome you and happy to serve you in Mongolia in the future!

Dates 2024:   29th Feb-10th March.

Prices: 

Group size Price per person
2 pax $1750USD
3-4 pax $1645USD
5-8 pax $1525USD
Tour cost includes: English speaking local guide -Accommodation- All meals included which are mentioned in the itinerary – festival tickets- Everything related Transport – 4×4 Land cruisers – Airport transfers – No hidden fee VAT included Tour cost doesn’t include: International airfare-airport departure taxes, any meals not specified in full itinerary-optional tipping or gratuities to tour crew – any additional hotel/ger camp nights that may be necessary due to schedule changes or other factors- pre-trip expenses of medical immunizations-visa fees – travel insurance and other expenses of a personal nature (alcoholic beverages, laundry, etc)
  • BOOKING YOUR TRIP

To secure your spot on a Kazakh Tour trip complete our trip application and lodge your deposit. We'll then send you a detailed pre-departure trip planning packet. It tells you all you'll need to know about prepping for your trip, and then some. If we can't offer you a place we'll return your deposit within 14 days.

We accept US$ in the form of personal or bank checks, Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Wire transfer (contact us for bank details). The payment schedule is as follows:
US$500 per person upon booking (to secure your spot).
Final payment on the 1st of the month, in the 3rd month before your departure.
If we haven't received your payment and no special arrangements have been made, we will assume that you've canceled and fill your spot from our wait list. If someone else is paying for any portion of your trip, you (the traveler) are responsible for payments and cancellation fees.

Additional payments may be required on customized itineraries. We will inform you of these once you have placed your initial deposit.

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