Top list
Gobi Desert highlights
The places a Gobi trip is built around: the Khongoryn Els dunes, the Flaming Cliffs, the Yolyn Am canyon and the eroded walls of Tsagaan Suvarga. A driving loop takes about a week.
- Khongoryn Els (Deserts & dunes): Mongolia's largest sand dunes, about 100 km long and up to 300 m high, at the foot of the Gobi Altai mountains.
- Bayanzag (Flaming Cliffs) (Nature & landscapes): Red sandstone cliffs where the first dinosaur eggs known to science were found in the 1920s.
- Yolyn Am (National parks & wildlife): A deep, narrow gorge in the Gurvan Saikhan mountains that often keeps a sheet of ice well into summer.
- Tsagaan Suvarga (Nature & landscapes): Eroded limestone cliffs in bands of white, pink and orange, often called the 'White Stupa'.
- Baga Gazriin Chuluu (Mountains & hikes): A cluster of granite rock formations in the steppe with hidden springs and old monastery ruins.
- Khermen Tsav (Nature & landscapes): A remote canyon of red cliffs in the far Gobi, rich in dinosaur fossils.
- Ongi Monastery (Monasteries & temples): The ruins of two large monasteries on the banks of the Ongi river, once home to over a thousand monks.