Upon arrival in Ulaanbaatar city, our driver and English-speaking guide will pick you up from the airport and transfer you to your hotel in downtown. After you settled in, we will start a sightseeing tour including a visit to Sukhbaatar’s square. The Square is in the centre of Ulaanbaatar, in front of the Mongolian Parliament House. Across from the central square, we will visit the National Museum of Mongolia, the biggest museum with over 54000 exhibitions from the prehistoric period until the 21st century. Our next stop will be the Gandan Monastery.  The monastery is the largest and most significant Buddhist monastery in Ulaanbaatar city over 200 years old. If time permits, we will visit the Zaisan Hill memorial, the hill provides a panoramic view of Ulaanbaatar. In the evening, at 8:20 pm, we will take an overnight train to Erdenet city.

• Travel time: We will spend 12 hours on an overnight train to Erdenet
• Meal(s): Lunch + Dinner
• Accommodation: We will spend the night on the overnight train. 2 guests will stay in 1 cabin on the rail.

Our Trans-Mongolia Railway journey will end at 07:40 in the morning. Once we arrive in Erdenet, our driver will pick us up from the railway station and will eat a light breakfast in Erdenet city. The city is 2^nd biggest in Mongolia and a huge part of the Mongolian economy. After breakfast, we will do a short exploration through the city, then we continue our journey on our main road to the north. En route to the north, we will visit a beautiful extinct volcano named Uran Togoo, and we will take photo breaks in other spots if travellers want. In the evening, we will reach Murun, a provincial town of Khuvsgul Aimag.

• Travel time: 400 km paved road. Approximately 5-6 hours. But in winter, the road becomes slippery which means the average pace will be 50-70 km/hour, depending on the road and weather conditions due to safety reasons.
• Meal(s): Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner
• Accommodation: 50/100 hotel in Murun town, 1 room will be shared with 2 guests.

In the morning we will expand our winter escape closer to the taiga forest. Today we will visit a nomadic horse breeder family in the Darkhad Depression of Ulaan Uul soum. Which is a beautiful valley surrounded by sumptuous Khoridal Saridag Mountains. The Winter view of this valley, and the mountains are picturesque. Before dusk falls, we will reach the nomadic family in their winter pasture. The family is traditionally nomadic and moves at least 5 to 6 times a year through places. We will spend the night with this family, we have been working together for years now through our community-based tour programme. They will tell you their nomadic stories and show us their traditions of centuries old.

• Travel time: From Murun to the nomadic family, approximately 7-8 hours on a dirt road. As a rural area, and in wintertime, the road condition is not good, slippery and bumpy. The average pace will be 35-50 km/hour, depending on the road and weather conditions due to safety reasons.

• Meal(s): Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner
• Accommodation: Mongolian traditional “ger” – a round-shaped felt dwelling with no separate rooms, no shower, no water from the wall, and no western toilet. We will spend the night in the same ger with the nomadic family.

After having breakfast with the nomadic family, we load our pieces of luggage on horseback, leave our vehicles (as landscapes become difficult to access with a car) and begin our trek to the Taiga Forest by horseback ride. The Taiga Forest is a home for Reindeer Herders (Tsaatan People), a small ethnic group of Mongolia. En route to the home of Reindeer herders, we will ride through mountains and forests covered by snow.  In the afternoon, we will reach our main place, and meet Reindeer Herders. Spend the evening with nomadic Tsaatan families by discussing their life and getting acquainted with their culture.

• Travel time: From the nomadic family to the Taiga forest, approximately 5-6 hours by a horseback ride through beautiful Boreal forests and mountain steppe.

• Meal(s): Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner
• Accommodation: Reindeer herders’ teepee – we call it “ortz” or “urts”. We will spend 2 nights being hosted by the Reindeer herder(Tsaatan people) family. Our accommodation will be basic as the life of the Tsaatan is basic. We do not try to change the Tsaatan or their way of life for our own benefit or comfort.
• The Tsaatan people live in canvas teepees. We will sleep in a separate “ortz” provided by the family. The number of people in 1 teepee will depend on the Tsaatan Family’s possibility. In our previous tours, an averagely of 3 guests stayed in 1 teepee. Even you may sleep in the Tsaatan family’s home with the family. In either circumstance, you will more than likely have to sleep on the floor on your Thermarest. 

Today is a free day in the Taiga Forest with the Tsaatan Family. Today we will be a part of the Tsaatan family by having breakfast with the Tsaatan family, talking with the family members, helping them to do their daily routine, helping them to herd their reindeer, wandering through the boreal forest and photographing, experiencing the real wilderness and experiencing the Tsaatan people’s everyday way of life.

• Meal(s): Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner

• Accommodation will be the same teepee you slept in the last night.
• The Tsaatan people do ride their reindeer but this is not for tourism entertainment and we do not promote it to our guests. As our animal welfare policy, reindeer should not carry more than half their body weight, and we should consider our body weight. However, at times our guests are invited to ride on a reindeer at the invitation of the owner of the reindeer. It is not something we pre-arrange as we do not arrange any artificial experiences as they damage the culture, the way of life and the animals.
• Often the Tsaatan people sell items made from the reindeer antlers but they are careful to harvest only from healthy animals. We support the purchasing of these items as they do not endanger the survival of the reindeer and also help to contribute directly to the local economy.

After having a last breakfast with our Tsaatan friends, we will say farewell to them and load our pieces of luggage on the horseback, and head down to the horse breeder family where we left our vehicle. In the evening we will reach the nomadic family, and we spend the night with the family.

• Travel time: From Taiga Forest to the nomadic family, approximately 5-6 hours by horseback ride through beautiful Boreal forests and mountain steppe.

• Meal(s): Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner
• Accommodation: Mongolian traditional “ger” – a round-shaped felt dwelling with no separate rooms, no shower, no water from the wall, and no western toilet. We will spend the night in the same ger with the nomadic family.

Early morning, we will pack up and drive to Khuvsgul Lake. Along the way to the lake, we will pass through Darkhad depression, which has an alpine-like landscape including snow-capped sumptuous mountains, turquoise blue lakes, and freely grazing animals through green valleys. Khuvsgul Lake is the deepest and the 2^nd most voluminous freshwater lake in Asia. The lake is surrounded by snow-topped mountain ranges from its west side, and by flat-topped mountains with slopping mountainsides, covered by forest from the east side.  Once we reach Khuvsgul Lake, we will check in to our ger camp on the west shore of the lake which means you will see the view of the lake just outside of your ger’s door.

• Travel time: From the nomadic family to the camp near Khuvsgul Lake, approximately 7-8 hours of drive through a dirt road. The road is bumpy and it becomes slippery in winter.
• Meal(s): Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner
• Accommodation: We will sleep in a small ger camp provided by our local-community partner nomadic family. Usually, 2 guests will share 1 ger but depending on the situation a maximum of 3 guests in a ger.
• In winter, the lake becomes frozen, and it is available to do a horse-sleigh journey through the frozen lake. But it fully depends on the climate, if the winter beginning is warmer, the lake is not safe for sleighing on it.

After having breakfast at the ger camp near the lake, we will drive back to Murun, the provincial town we visited on the 2^nd day of our journey.  From the lake to the towns, we will make short photo breaks through a beautiful river shore and some other photogenic spots in the winter wonderland. In the evening, we will reach the town, and will do a short exploration through the town. We will stay in the same hotel we stayed in on the second day.

• Travel time: From the lake to the town, approximately 5-6 hours of drive on a paved road. The road becomes slippery in winter.
• Meal(s): Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner

• Accommodation: 50/100 hotel in Murun town

With an easy morning, we head back from Murun town to Erdenet city through a winter wonderland – Khuvsul and Bulgan province. En route to Erdenet city, we will stop over the Selenge River, a beautiful river and one of the biggest rivers that runs through Mongolia. In the evening, we will reach Erdenet city. Once we arrive in Erdenet, we will have dinner, and head to Railway Station to catch a train back to Ulaanbaatar. The train will depart from Erdenet at 8:40 pm.

• Travel time: From Murun town to Erdenet city, it takes approximately 6-7 hours of drive on a paved road. But in winter, the road becomes slippery which means the average pace will be 50-70 km/hour, depending on the road and weather conditions due to safety reasons.
• Meal(s): Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner
• Accommodation: We will spend the night on the overnight train. 2 guests will stay in 1 cabin on the rail.

We will arrive back in Ulaanbaatar city at 7:50 am. On arrival back into Ulaanbaatar, we will transfer you to a centrally located hotel in Ulaanbaatar and the rest of the day will be yours to create your own experience. You can get help from our team to guide you through souvenir shops, cashmere factory stores, or go anywhere. In the evening, the farewell dinner will take place near your hotel. Our driver will pick you up from your hotel in time for the farewell dinner, and drop you back at the hotel after the dinner.

• Meal(s): Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner
• Accommodation: You will stay in a centrally located 4-star hotel – Khuvsgul Lake hotel or similar. The accommodation is twin-based.

Today is the end of the Christmas Escape to Reindeer Herders tour. Our team will transfer you to the airport in time for your international flight. Have a nice & safe trip back to your home and thank you for choosing Way To Nomads Mongolia.

• Meal(s): Breakfast
• Transport: Transfer to the airport from the hotel by vehicle.