Mongolia Explorer

Mongolia is an amazing country and this tour offers you the possibility to sample the central part. It is diverse in landscapes and experiences and you will meet welcoming people. Be prepared and read carefully the itinerary, this trip brings you out of your comfort zone! It is a real adventure! The walks are fabulous but it is not flat; most of the ger have shared bathrooms; it can be cold in the ger during the night and in the morning depending when you travel; the food is different but not that much and ultimately, expect driving on bumpy tracks but really it’s a great experience because you can stop for animals and birds and see how locals live. A new paved route will open in October 2025 and others are being built, so go to Mongolia as soon as possible because it will all change quickly.

Very full on trip. Some stops eg 20 minutes at a lake to view birds was pointless as, for those interested, it was not long enough and, for those not interested, it was just time wasted. Moving every day was tiring so, perhaps, a couple more stops of two nights duration might be preferable, just to let folk get a breather ! A bit too much emphasis on man made attractions eg temples and monasteries in a country where the greatest attractions are it's natural landscapes. All in all a great trip though through an amazing country. No doubt some on the group will complain about some of the accom or food or vehicles etc. Ignore them, I loved it !!

Sara the tour leader was excellent. Good itinerary and the scenery is incredible. The gents varied from place to place but we're all to a fair standard. It does get cold in September.

Great trip. Incredible landscapes. Good bunch of fellow travellers and good food.

Extremely well organised trip with an excellent Explore leader who was very efficient, knowledgeable and helpful. The drivers were excellent considering the extremely challenging conditions and never lost their way despite not having sat nav available and signage. Excellent itinerary. Considering the terrain and the remoteness of locations, the accommodation apart from in the Orkhon Valley was very good and the food excellent considering the difficulties in bringing supplies to such isolated places. It was an extremely challenging trip with long days and long journeys but well worth the experience. The landscapes were breathtaking with soaring cliffs where dinosaur remains were found, the sand dunes of the Gobi, valleys and gorges and many other amazing sights. We also visited a number of monasteries and buddhist temples and also had the opportunity to interact with local nomadic families. I can only say it was an amazing but challenging experience and the perfect opportunity for someone to sample a totally different way of life from those of us in the West. .

Excellent trip and tour leader. One of my best Explore trips, but not easy travel, which made the trip for me. One of the most beautiful, remote places I've ever been. Staying in Gers was the highlight of the trip.

The scenery is wonderful. There is a lot of displacement everything day. The accomodation in the gers are good but it can be really cold during the night, there is no heating except wood stove for an hour before going to bed.

The itinerary is full-on but that’s understandable considering the distance we travelled. The ger accommodation varied from very comfortable to a little basic; some with electricity, some with Wi-Fi , but all with hot showers and clean communal facilities. The ger camps with fewer amenities were often the most charming. Our guide was polite, punctual and unflappable. He struggled at times to engage all members of the group but he always made sure information regarding the next day’s activities was shared in the group ‘what’s app’ later in the evening. Overall, a wonderful trip. Mongolia truly is the country that just keeps giving.

A superb trip giving an excellent insight into life in Mongolia. Truly unique experience that I thoroughly recommend. Wonderful country to visit offering expansive and diverse landscapes and a truly hospitable people. Tour leader was at all times superb in attending to our needs and requests. Thoroughly enjoyable and superb experience all round.

Thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Some of the ger camps were better than others. Didn’t like the really big, busy ones as they didn’t give the feel of really being away from it all. Understandably, some of the journeys were long but the days were broken up well by comfort/coffee/lunch stops/visits etc and I have to say our 4 drivers were magnificent. Our tour leader needed to be a bit more organised and we had to keep prompting him to be more proactive in keeping us updated and checking that the whole group were still together in busy areas. Not easy, I know, keeping a group of 15 people organised! However, he was a very pleasant and likeable chap.

A great country and amazing experience but sadly due to lack of information from the guide we left feeling we still knew little about it. Drivers were amazing and often gave us more information than we got from the leader. Itinerary dropped a point as the famous Genghis Khan statue complex is not on it despite being the most iconic and recognised sight in Mongolia. Ger camps were mixed but good overall with varied food but often aimed at western taste rather than traditional Mongolian. Food in restaurants would be chosen for us with no choice. Long drives but often we would appear to waste time in the morning with extra toilet and coffee stops so that we would not arrive at lunch too early, followed by long rushed drives after lunch and sometimes we arrived too late to fit in the days sightseeing and this would then be squeezed into the following morning or, in the case of the last day, missed out altogether. Other days we were given far too little time to visit the site of the day. For example it takes an hour or so to get up the singing sand dune but we only had 1 hour so hardly anyone managed to get up there. Maybe alternative restaurants should be chosen to avoid this or perhaps better time management by the tour leader would avoid this. The guide was not up to Explore standards and this did detract from the enjoyment of the trip. On the first day he managed to lose us because he did not notice the pedestrian lights changed to red and left us stranded, despite us telling him he had done the same to others in the group half an hour earlier. We were left to watch the group vanish into the distance and disappear. Once the lights changed and we crossed we tried to find the group but failed and the guide did not come back to look for us. Luckily we managed to find our way back to the hotel. This is unforgivable for a guide and despite the experience, he still failed to wait for people or do a proper head count on subsequent tours. He also walked much too fast for some of us so there was little time to look at the sights or take photos. Information was only given to those guests who had managed to keep up with him instead of waiting until we were all together and he had to be told about this by group members several times as people were missing important information. His English was not up to standard and communication skills were poor. He often didn't understand the questions we were asking him. Other mistakes were made. On packed lunch day the vegetarian was given the same chicken sandwich as everyone else. It's not like you can pop to the shop and buy an alternative meal out there. Another day the briefing was given for the itinerary 2 days away. We had to point out a day had been missed out. We would be given the wrong information about photo taking and get told off for photographing because we had been told it was ok but was in fact forbidden. Including photographing the monks in a monastery which was embarrassing. Once we arrived anywhere he seemed to disappear and was not around to help with translation or sort problems. We also felt he spent too much time taking his own photos and videos to pay proper attention to the group or give information on what we were looking at. I'm not sure if he was new to the tour as he didn't seem to know much about the itinerary or any of the details about the ger camps. In summary Mongolia is a unique and fantastic destination and the whole experience is unforgettable and definitely to be recommended but with such a poor guide we felt we missed out on far too much and got poor value for money resulting in our average rating as it did not live up to usual Explore expectations based on our many previous trips with them.

This was an amazing trip, the magnificence of this country, people and culture was awe inspiring. Our drivers were kind, thoughtful, considerate and caring, excellent drivers on rough terrain, always cheerful and willing to help. Four very special men. Our guide was not up to Explore standard. He did not give clear instructions, was vague about the days activities, was distracted while using his camera rather than explaining to us the significance of the sites we were visiting or making sure we were safe, he needed to be reminded several times to do head counts to make sure everyone was accounted for. As a group we did raise this with him, he smiled and nodded and was ok for a few hours, but….. While he seemed a nice young man, he was lucky he had a group of really experienced and well read travellers otherwise the level of frustration with him would have been much worse. It was our holiday and we got on with it, for me it did not distract from the experience, but he did not do his job well.

The experience was good. The gurs could have been better. Some camps were better than others. At one camp one of our party was electruted using the showers; fortunately not badly. The showers were shut down as a result. The drivers were excellent. Our guide however lacked experience in communication skills to the group. He should also have been better at keeping us together as a group. It would have been nice to have had an upgraded gur for our last camp.. There was a time when Explore used to up the last days accommodation which was a nice gesture sadly now missed. There were better gurs at these camps which sadly we did not have access to. I would have paid more to get on suite services.

The Mongolia intinerary was well planed and executed, from the Naadam Festival to the daily schedule. We had a variety of activities and some long drives but the always changing Gobi desert lansdcape was spectacular, and more than made up for the long drives. The drivers were incredible as to how they find their way without navigation and or paved roads and how fast they could fix any mechaical issues. Food was always pletifull with lots of veggies for lunch and dinner. Our Tour Manager Ben, was always on duty, making sure we got settle in our gers, and that we had our meals. Dawa lour local guide was very knowledgeable of the history, the nomadic families customs, and very appreciative that we visited her country. Mongolian people were very welcoming. Excellent trip!