Monasteries and Mountains

We will welcome you at the airport or trainstation and take you to your hotel. 

After few hours of rest, we will take you on city tour. The tour will take you to the Gandan, the main buddhist center of  Mongolia. Here you will see 26.5 meter high statue of Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of compassion. After this we will walk to the Choijin Lama or State Oracle Residence-museum displaying best samples of Buddhist artwork and religious masks.

Enjoy traditional music and dance featuring buddhist mask dance followed by welcome  dinner.

After breakfast visit the Fine Arts musuem named after H.E Zanabazar. The building of the museum was built in 1905, the first ‘European style’, two-storey building in Ulaanbaatar. The museum is named after Gombodorjiin Zanabazar, the First Bogd Jebtsundanba of Mongolia and a central figure to Mongolia during the 17th and 18th centuries and is well known for his contributions to the development of Mongolian art.

In the afternoon visit the Winter palace of Bogd Khan (1869-1924), the 8th Bogd Jebtsundanba and the last king of Mongolia who was enthroned as the Emperor (Khaan) of Mongolia on 29 December 1911, when the country declared independence from the Qing Dynasty. As the eighth Jebtsundamba Khutugtu, he had already been the spiritual leader of Mongolia's Buddhism that time. The palace museum is a must see place showcasing rare statues of Buddhist deities and items of personal use of this last theocratic ruler of Mongolia is also worth considering.

In the morning after breakfast our staff will pick you up from your hotel and head towards Karakorum town located in the Orkhon valley recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage as cultural landscapes in 2004. Once Karakorum was the capital of the Great Mongolian Empire in the 13th century. 

Local monk will guide us around the monastery. Today the main attraction here is the monastery museum of Erdene Zuu established in 16th century by a Mongol khan as part of introduction of Buddhism as the main religion. The monastery then suffered almost a complete destruction during the anti-religion campaign of 1930-ies with just a dozen of temples surviving till present. Spend some time in the peaceful premises of the monastery and take a glance at a few surviving artifacts of the old capital. You may as well walk the earthen hills nearby that still contain remains of the imperial capital. 

After the monastry tour we will have a tea with the monk and ask questions related to the monastic culture of the area.  

Why not have a meditation guided by the monk to relax our mind and absorb the spirituality of the site? 

Stay overnight at a tourist ger camp. 

After breakfast we will drive to Tuvkhun temple via Shankhiin temple. Tuvkhun monastery was built by H.E Zanabazar and he did retreats and created most of his great religious art work and masterpiece. This significant temple is built on rocky mountain surrounded by beautiful view to the valleys.

If you wish you can ride a horse to go up to the mountain. It takes is indeed a good hike or riding.

Every summer, monks stay nearby this temple and continue their studies. You will see some of them and get the know their daily life. You are offered a short meditation guided by a local monk at the temple site in order to relax and enjoy the creative energy of the area.  

Have lunch during the trip and rest at the ger camp after dinner.

In the morning we will head to Erdenet, the second largest city  of Mongolia and was founded in 1974 in an area where large deposits of copper had been discovered in the 1950s. During 1980s, more than half of the inhabitants were Russians working as engineers or miners. After the fall of Soviet Union, most Russians left Erdenet and today, about 10% of the population is Russian.

Enjoy the city and rest well at a hotel.

Today`s destination is Amarbayasgalant monastery.

Meet local a local monk as your guide and enjoy the monastery tour.

The monastery name Amarbayasgalant means "Monastery of Tranquil Felicity" and it that was built  with initiative and financial investment of Manchu King during 1727-1736, in the honour of Undur Gegeen Zanabazar, the first Religious leader of Mongolia. It is one of the most authentic Buddhist monasteries that have been survived the 1930s political upheavals. Although, it has been damaged during these political victimization of national and religious culture, 28 temples were survived and protected by the State since 1944. In 1972, with support from UNESCO, restoration of the monastery started and has been continuing until today. The restorations of the Temple were performed with Monastery’s original materials and design archive photos. 

The Amarbayasgalant is characterized by a mixture of Manchu-style spatial arrangements and Chinese Buddhist architectural arts, and lively and unique Mongolian local elements of architecture. 

The local monk will offer a short meditation at the temple site in order to relax and enjoy the spiritual energy of the area.  

Overnight at ger camp.

Today we will  drive back to Ulaanbaatar. Have lunch on the way. You will transferred to your hotel and our staff will confirm about the time to pick you up for  airport or train station transfer.  

Our staff pick you up at the hotel and take you to the airport/train station. Have safe trip back home!