Went beyond our Expectation with Urtaa and Tuadhuu . . . - I didn't expect this too much but it went beyond our family road trip. Urtaa the Tour Guide as well as his driver Tuadhuu did a great job. They waited after our breakfast and gave us Mongolian history and board game while on the road. The potholes didn't bother us and the short unique 2 hump Winter Camel ride on the Gobi where they belong was a great memories. Ger, baby sheep, cow, horses, birds, eagles, fermented milk teas and organic Mongolian foods were so awesome. I can tell you that animals are kind and well behaved becoz Mongolians are Good Shepherd and animal lovers. They're not cruel like those in the middle east whipping the animals. Just treat this as Road Trip from Ohio to Tennessee Smokey Mountain with lot of stopover for coffee, bathroom and photos, you'll enjoy it. Take the trip Spring to Fall to avoid risky icy road. So far, this once in a lifetime road trip in Mongolia is worth it. Thanks Urtaa and Tuadhuu. We appreciate the crew who made this happen.

Amazing Tour and Even Better Service - Ignore the negative reviews. - We thoroughly enjoyed the tour. I'm not just saying this, but Urtaa the tour guide is the most lovely, genuine person I have ever had the pleasure of being guided by. He makes a huge effort to make sure you are comfortable, and continuously provides great insight to the mongolian life. The trip itself is great. Some people saying the drive is long clearly didn't research before embarking on the tour. Yes the drive is long, but when can you experience the Gobi Desert anywhere else? We had a great time and would highly recommend to anyone. It is a once in a lifetime.

Highly recommended guides - The guides are really friendly and basically took care of everything for us, from picking up to having meals and taking pictures. They even taught us how to play Mongolian horse chess. I had a great time joining this tour. Highly recommend.

An extraordinary experience. - Extraordinary experience. A long, instructive journey h fun. Great landscapes. Our Guide, Ungar, great. Miguel Hernandez

Great experience - Overall good experience. Orta (guide) and the driver were very accomodating and nice and made sure we were comfortable. The semi gobi and camel ride was excellent despite only being 1 hour out of the 11 hour trip. The ride was long but the sceneries were amazing. It is the perfect opportunity to really appreciate nature and relax.

Nice but long - This is a good tour to see the country side and enjoy a good long ride. The car, the driver and tour guide Mary were all nice. Marys English is great and explained things all the way. The ride was long for the short Camel ride. However Mary recognized that and we visited a monastery as a bonus. That was really nice with a cool hike. I suggest combining that as a practice. The lunch place was really nice and clean along the way. If you plan on this plan on being out 12 hours or so. Thanks Mary

Long drive with great views - I'm going to break this review into two parts. First is the trip as planned. The guide and driver picked me and a couple of others up from our hotels then began the long drive west. When booking this tour you need to realise that the drive is the majority of the experience. It takes about 5 hours to reach the Semi-Gobi from Ulaanbaatar, but it is an amazing drive with spectacular views. Our guide (Bat, I believe) always checked if we were ok, bought us sandwiches for a picnic with a great view, and was happy to let us stop to see things or take pictures. When we arrived at the Semi-Gobi we were put on camels and led around the sand dunes for about 30 minutes, stopping for photos. This part of the trip is very short, but 30 minutes is enough before your bum starts getting sore. We also got to see inside the gers there. After that began the long drive back, where the guide took us for lunch at a nice roadside restaurant. Come prepared for a long drive and know what you're in for so you don't set yourself up for disappointment. As mentioned, I was picked up with tourists from other hotels. This in itself is not a problem, and they were good company for the drive. However, Viator advertised this as a solo, private tour and that was what I was charged for. Prices should reflect the group size. I mentioned this to Viator and so far they have refused to refund the difference. I booked solo at a price of around £180 but ended up in a group of 3. If I had booked as a group of 3 it would be £93.21 per person. TO MAKE IT CLEAR - MY PROBLEM HERE IS WITH VIATOR AND NOT WITH THE TOUR OPERATOR IN MONGOLIA. Now the second part. On the long drive back to Ulaanbaatar our car broke down about 100km from the city, in the middle of nowhere. This is bound to happen from time to time when the cars are used for such a long journey on the harsh roads of Mongolia. It added to the experience and was quite fun. However, we were given little information by our guide and you would expect them to have a contingency plan for such an occurrence. We were towed to about 20km outside the city when a replacement car arrived. We moved to that car and towed the broken one behind us. Traffic in Ulaanbaatar is a nightmare so it was slow going from here. Instead of dropping us off at our hotels or in the city centre, we were first driven into the dangerous ger district at night to drop off the broken car. Then we drove further into this district to drop off the driver's daughter. This led to us being stuck in traffic for a long time, and I didn't get back to my hotel until 11pm (it should've been closer to 6 or 7pm). Viator is also refusing to acknowledge this issue. Perhaps find a different tour operator to book through.

nice - It is a long trip, but it allows one to see part of the country. The camel ride was good, and the visit of the nomadic family was great.

You get none of the experiences you pay for. Zero responses from management to compensate. - Unfortunately, I have to leave a 1 star review for this experience. The guide and driver were amazing and I would just give them 5 stars if I could. However, to start pick up was over an hour late. It was supposed to be at 8am and I was not picked up until roughly 9:30am. I looked past this as lateness happens the traffic in UB is really bad. The worst part and why I am leaving a 1 star review was I did not get to do anything that was advertised on the itinerary when I booked this tour online. The 1 hour camel ride was 20 minutes being lead around the property, there was no hike afterwards and there was no traditional Mongolian lunch with the family. When I tried to contact management about a partial refund due to not getting the experience I paid for I was ghosted with no reply to either of my messages. Definitely, not worth the $340 CAD I paid. I would avoid this tour bureau all together and save yourself a headache.

Waste of time - much better things to do from UB. - The guide and driver were fantastic, however this is a terrible trip and a waste of time. The semi gobi is nowhere near the Gobi and the trip is literally just to get to some sand dunes, get on a camel and they take your pictures, then return back. Was on the camel for ten minutes in total. Animals were severely mistreated as well and was glad it was shorter than expected. Guide was engaging though and supplied lots of information on Mongolia.