BULGAN MOUNTAIN BIKE TOUR

ITINERARY

• Arrival in Ulaanbaatar. Group meeting at a welcome dinner

  Arriving in Ulaanbaatar, meet your guide and transfer to the group hotel. Depending on your arrival time, you may enjoy an opportunity to explore the capital city, where nearly half of Mongolia’s 3 million inhabitants reside today. You will feel the vibrancy of recent changes towards modernity. Meet with the rest of the group at the welcome dinner and get an informal introduction to the exciting cycling tour ahead of you. Overnight at the group hotel. (Dinner/hotel)

• Ulaanbaatar city tour, overnight train journey to Northern Mongolia

  The introductory city excursion starts with a visit to the largest Buddhist center in Mongolia. The awe-inspiring gigantic gold-plated Buddha statue is the principal object of worship. You will see believers conducting various rituals and praying, many wearing colorful traditional costumes. We proceed to the central square beside the parliament building with a facade adorned by marble statues of Genghis Khaan and his successors. The square is always busy with newlyweds, reunification parties, and the public in general. Consider hearing an overview of Mongolia’s history from the Stone Age period to the modern era at the National Museum and seeing a few iconic dinosaur fossils such as intact nests containing eggs, carnivores fighting herbivores, and embryos still in the eggshell in the Paleontology Museum of Mongolia. A panoramic view of Ulaanbaatar from an elevated hill on the city’s edge gives an idea of its size and topography. Finally, having enjoyed a show of traditional music, songs, and famous throat singing, board a train to northern Mongolia. It's a chance to meet some local passengers and see Mongolia’s wheat-producing region through the windows of the coal-fueled soviet era train. (breakfast, lunch, dinner / hotel)

• Arrive in Erdenet, acclimatization ride through open grassland and wooded hillsides

  Arrive in Erdenet just in time for breakfast and meet with your support team. Sitting on one of Asia’s largest copper deposits, the Erdenet town deserves to be told by your guide. Having made the last adjustments to bikes, we start our mountain biking adventure by riding through the suburbs and a few crop fields on the outskirts of the town. Out in the wild, leisurely pedal across wooded hills and a wide-open valley dotted by nomadic tents and massive herds of livestock. It is an easy day with plentiful stops for familiarizing yourself with your new environment and cycling routine. By early evening, we arrive at our first campsite on a small hill overlooking the open valley with some time left for exploring neighboring ridges. On most of the nights on this trip, you will sleep in a comfortable tent camp erected every afternoon upon finishing the day’s biking. It provides all the amenities of a good wilderness camp, including tents designated for dining, showering, and bathrooms, not to mention great meals cooked by a chef. (breakfast, lunch, dinner / tent / 50km) 

• Cross a rocky pass and enjoy scenes of authentic nomadic life

  Every morning, we start biking, enjoying the invigorating fresh air. The day's first challenge is a gradual 400m ascent to the top of a rocky pass through lush meadows and mixed forest dominated by larch and birch. The following long descent brings views of more wooded mountains alternated by wide-open grassy valleys. A couple more easy climbs and we free-wheel through some lush pastures, passing in just a few yards by many nomadic encampments and massive animal herds. Horses get particularly agitated on seeing cyclists and excitedly run alongside your way. We certainly stop to chat with nomads and sample milk, tea, and dairy. Tonight, we camp at the base of a wooded mountainside. (breakfast, lunch, dinner / tent / 64km) 

• Descend to rich steppe pastures where large flocks of horses gallop across your way

  Continue cycling, enjoying the idyllic scenery of the traditional herding life. This part of Mongolia is famous for producing fermented horse milk of exceptional quality and taste, and today, you will notice many mares and foals separately tethered outside of nomadic homes. Making airag, as it’s locally called, is a continuous and labor-consuming process: mares are milked every two hours throughout the day, and the milk is then churned up thousands of times in large barrels or ox hide sacks to boost fermentation. Compared to the previous days, we cycle through even more expansive grasslands, the classical landscape associated with Mongolia by most people, until arriving at our campsite amidst a flat grassy valley surrounded by distant mountains. (breakfast, lunch, dinner / tent / 88km)

• Bike along the Khunui river meadow, the nesting ground of migratory birds

  Continue cycling leisurely and soak up pretty views of wooded mountainsides and rocky ridges. A group of Bronze Age ritual site markers decorated with images of flying deer lies on the way, a suitable place to get introduced to Mongolia’s rich historic heritage. Visiting nomads in their summer camp can become a first-hand experience of a lifestyle that has not changed for many millennia. After lunch, we cross the day’s high point and finish the ride with a 25km fast spin to our campsite. (breakfast, lunch, dinner / tent / 72km)

• Easy cycling, break at a Bronze Age megaliths and burial sites, visit to a nomadic family

  Continue cycling at a leisurely pace and soak up pretty views of wooded mountainsides and rocky ridges. A group of Bronze Age ritual site markers decorated with images of flying deer lies on the way, a suitable place to get introduced to Mongolia’s rich historic heritage. Visiting nomads in their summer camp can become a first-hand experience of a lifestyle that has not changed from a couple millennia. After lunch we cross the day’s high point and finish the ride with a 25km fast spin to our campsite. (breakfast, lunch, dinner / tent / 83km)
  

• Cycle to foothills of the Khangai range and to Tsetserleg town

  It is a challenging day compared to all previous riding. This morning, we reach the Khangai mountain foothills and cycle to Tsetserleg town, a pretty provincial capital in the shelter of a spectacular granite massif. After crossing the Tamir River, the road twists and turns along narrow grassy valleys and through dense woods and finishes at our lunch spot at nearly 2000m, the day’s highest point. A fast downhill and a brief climb finally open a view of traditional residential districts, geometrically aligned and displaying colorful rooftops. We will have ample time to explore the town and its busy market, where local people sell pine nuts, wild berries, and other natural produce from the Khangai region. In just half an hour’s pedaling, we settle in a traditional-style guest accommodation with the relative comforts of a conventional hotel, such as running water, showers, and bathrooms. For a guest room, you will get an authentic Mongolian yurt. (breakfast, lunch, dinner / ger resort / 72km) 

• Ride to Tsenker hot springs resort and sooth your muscles in hot pool

  This morning, we negotiate 3 short climbs followed by fast descents on packed soil and arrive at Tsenkher – a lush valley famous for its mineral hot spring. Although somewhat crowded with local and foreign travelers during the short summer season, it certainly feels good to soothe your muscles with beer in your hand. Relaxing massage and laundry service is available. We spend another night in traditional Mongolian tents. (breakfast, lunch, dinner / ger resort / 25km)

• The longest cycling day, last night camping at Orkhon river bank

  A fast cycling day on excellent soils with three challenging climbs. Great views of the immense wilderness open from their tops with extinct volcano craters seen from the last pass. A 20km breathtaking downhill to the Orkhon Valley floor completes today’s ride. A UNESCO-designated history heritage site, the Orkhon Valley contains an overwhelming wealth of historical data, such as burial mounds, deer stones, and prehistoric settlements. For the last time, we establish our tent camp beside the river and take a refreshing dip. (breakfast, lunch, dinner / tent / 76km)

• Last cycling day to Genghis Khaan’s capital site, visit Mongolia’s first Buddhist monastery

  We cycle downstream along the Orkhon River and lose altitude throughout the day. Our destination is the town of Karakorum - the site of the Mongol Empire capital in the 1200s. However, its glory was short-lived, as it soon fell into obscurity and was eventually destroyed by invading Chinese armies in the late 14th century. Today, the main attraction here is the monastery museum of Erdene Zuu, established in the 16th century by a Mongol khan when Buddhism was introduced as the main religion. The monastery then suffered almost complete destruction during the anti-religion campaign of the 1930-ies, with just a dozen temples surviving till the present. We visit the monastery and the local museum to glance at a few surviving artifacts of the old capital before heading to a yurt camp to celebrate our ride. Alternatively, you may choose to relax in the tourist resort. (breakfast, lunch, dinner / ger resort /72km)

• Transfer back to Ulaanbaatar, farewell dinner

  After breakfast, we set off on a journey back to Ulaanbaatar. The 7-hour drive is uneventful. Enjoy the timeless landscapes for the last time and a picnic lunch at some scenic spot. We aim to reach your hotel by mid-afternoon with some time left for showers and rest before a goodbye dinner with your guide. (breakfast, lunch, dinner / hotel)

• Departure day

  Transfers to Ulaanbaatar airport are provided. (breakfast)