5 Days Classic Inner Mongolia Tour

Day 1 Hohhot Arrival

Pick up from airport / railway station & hotel check-in

Welcome to Hohhot, the Capital of Inner Mongolia! Upon your arrival, your local travel guide and driver will meet at the arrival hall of the airport / railway station and then escort you to your hotel in Hohhot downtown with a comfortable licensed private vehicle (non-smoking). Your guide will help you check in. The rest of today is on your own to explore the "Blue City" in Inner Mongolia.

Arrival Ideas: Hohhot Baita International Airport has many flights from many domestic destinations like Beijing, Datong, Shanghai, Xian, Guilin, Chengdu, Kunming, Guiyang, Guangzhou, Urumqi, Zhengzhou, Harbin, etc. and direct flight from some international destinations including Hong Kong, Taipei and Ulan Bator. You can also take a high speed train from Beijing (2-3 hrs), Zhangjiakou (1.5 hrs), Datong (2.5-3 hrs), Taiyuan (5 hrs), Shijiazhuang, etc.

• Hohhot - the "Green City" & Milk Capital in China

Day 2 Hohhot - Huitengxile Grassland (B, L)

Today’s highlights: Huitengxile Grassland (Yellow Flowers Valley Geopark, Wokuotai Flowers Prairie, Niudangou Ecological Valley...)

Good morning! After breakfast, your guide and driver will meet you at your hotel and then escort you to explore Yellow Flower Valley, which is the core area of the fabulous Huitengxile Grassland (Average Altitude: 2,100 meters) near Hohhot (110 kilometers away, 2.5 hours’ by car)! Meaning “Cold Ridge”, it is the most popular grassland in China with peculiar stunning prairie sightseeing!

Walk on the boundless prairie with shiny green grass dancing in the breeze under the clear azure sky and cotton-like clouds, where flocks and herds grazing and roaming idyllically and the groups of white windmills rotating for power generation. You will have an amazing exploration of the wonderful grassland by walking and taking local sightseeing cars, sightseeing trains, cable cars and animal-drawn vehicles. Catch the best highlights of the Yellow Flowers Valley Geopark that is the typical geological site of the quaternary glacier of over one hundred million years and where to admire the refreshing rare prairie landscape with abundant golden yellow blossoms. Take your time to visit the Wokuotai Flowers Prairie to appreciate the typical alpine meadow grassland with various colored flowers, which is so ideal for photography. Continue to Niudangou Ecological Valley to inhale the sweet air and enjoy a short leisure hike along the plank road along birch forest. Soak in the pleasant and vast scenery of the Seven-color Flower Field and other charming areas of Huitengxile Grassland. You can also choose to experience riding on a horse back, archery, and other activities based on your interests and time (optional activities with extra payment).

Optional Dinner: enjoy the Mongolian styled Zhama Banquet dinner and experience the interesting dining manner of the no.1 banquet in the past Inner Mongolian court by dressing in aristocratic costumes and tasting delicate Mongolian dishes (individual serving). Besides, appreciate like the past royal families the singing and dancing, playing of morin khuur (horse fiddle), amazing Urtiin duu (traditional Mongolian long song), Khoomei (Tuvan throat singing), and other arts of Mongolian group. (optional activity with extra payment. Please tell us if you are interested in that dinner when booking the tour.)

After today’s discovery, enjoy your night over in the Mongolian styled yurts with private bathroom. Have a nice sleep!

Notice: 1). The detailed scenic areas, optional activities and tourist vehicles in Yellow Flowers Valley may be adjusted based on the scenic area management of the year. 2). You can also choose to accommodate in a hotel with better facilities and services in Hohhot downtown area, however, you will miss out the sunrise the next morning. Please tell your travel expert when booking.

• Tom from UK visited Huitengxile Grassland in July 2021.
• Beautiful Huitengxile Grassland, photo taken by Elana from South Africa in July 2022
• Beautiful Huitengxile Grassland in Inner Mongolia, picture taken by Richard from US from USA in July 2022
• Eleni's group from Poland visited Yellow Flowers Valley, Huitengxile Grassland in September 2021

Day 3 Huitengxile Grassland - Kubuqi Desert (B, L)

Today’s highlights: Huitengxile Grassland Sunrise, Kubuqi Desert (Yemingsha Scenic Area)

Good morning! Today, you can get up early (about 04:00 am) to catch the fabulous sunrise on grassland with the golden sun dying the surrounding sky and sun glow into orange, pink, rose, purple, etc. and gives the soft glories onto the vibrant grass. After breakfast, you can have a refreshing stroll on the eye-pleasing Huitengxile Grassland. 

Then, transfer to discover Yemingsha at the hinterland of Kubuqi Desert with a driving of about 4.5 hours. Kubuqi Desert covering 13,900 s.q.km is the seventh largest desert in China. With closer distance to urban and better facilities, it is also one of the most favorite one for desert hiking, magnificent sunset scenery and desert photography. While, Yemingsha (Night Singing Sand) is the most beautiful part of Kubuqi to appreciate the authentic desert landscape with golden and yellow sand shimmering under vast blue sky and is featured with sharp sand dunes for exciting desert exploration by hiking and driving.

After some break and when the desert is not so hot, have a wild desert hiking on the soft sand surface and catch the appealing different lines, curves and planes of this pure color world. As sun falls gently, savor the magnificent and poetic desert sunset spectacle of the lingering glory of the round orange setting sun sketching the clear outline of dark scarlet desert hills.

After today’s discovery, accommodate at your hotel in the desert. Have a nice sleep! (You can also choose to experience the desert camp if you are interested. Tell your travel consultant when booking the tour.)

Warm Tips: If you want to visit Resonant Dune Bay or other Kubuqi Desert tourist areas for a kid-friendly desert experience with more entertainment items, please tell your travel consultant when booking the tour.

• Ewan's family from visited Kubuqi Desert in July 2022
• Ewan's family from visited Kubuqi Desert in July 2022
• Yemingsha (Night Singing Sand) at Kubuqi Desert

Day 4 Kubuqi Desert - Hohhot (B, L)

Today’s highlights: Kubuqi Desert (Yemingsha Scenic Area)

Good morning! You can get up early (about 04:00 a.m. in June and 06:00 a.m. in October) to welcome the gorgeous desert sunrise and admire the new sun dyeing warm color gradient to the sapphire sky backdrop and shaping the neat and clear waves, peaks and valleys of the desert world.

After breakfast, enjoy your desert hiking. If you are interested, take the fresh challenge of the off-road driving adventure (optional) on the rough and uneven desert with the professional cool desert SUV. Feel the exciting weightlessness sense, thrilling celerity and your own strong heartbeat while the car rushing quickly up to the summits and down to the valleys in the desert. Scream and laugh freely to drive all your nervous far away! Then, enjoy your desert hiking. Also, you can choose to have more fun with special optional activities in desert like camel riding, motorcycling, sliding, carting, etc. (optional activities need extra payment).

Then, your guide and driver will escort you back to Hohhot and help you check in at the hotel. Have a good rest!

• Yemingsha Desert Off-road Driving Experience
• Romantic Yemingsha Desert Sunrise
• Camel Riding Experience at Kubuqi Yemingsha Desert

Day 5 Hohhot & Hohhot Departure (B)

Today’s highlights: Inner Mongolia Museum, Dazhao Temple

After breakfast, your guide and driver will meet at your hotel and then escort you to visit Inner Mongolia Museum. This national first-class museum is a great window to have a comprehensive understanding of the ecological change, culture and historical development of the alpine grassland, deserts, forests, etc. in Inner Mongolia from trillions of years ago. Stroll at each themed hall to take a close look at those collections of local specimens of animal, plant, ores, etc., displays of costumes, lifestyles, national customs, language, art, culture communications, etc. of Mongolian and other Northern tribes living there, logical materials about the famous influential leaders and their dynasties including Genghis Khan and his Yuan Dynasty.

Then, transfer to Dazhao Temple (or called Wuliang Temple) built from 1579 AD, which is the most popular temple and earliest Tibetan Gelugpa monastery in Hohhot representing the Buddhist culture in Inner Mongolia. Take a leisure walk around the temple clusters and courtyards and worship with locals in front of the Buddha statues. You shall not miss the well-known treasurable “Three Excellence” of Dazhao, namely the silver Buddha statue created with thirty tons of fine silver by a Nepalese craftsman, the pair of outstanding carved golden dragons seeming to fly along the two ten-meter high main pillars, and the lifelike mural depicting the scenes of the heaven, the world and the underworld with 770 Buddha and figure statues. Also, the 4.2 meters tall Sakyamuni statue made of Burmese jade and 48,000 gemstones is another visual gift for past artistic skills in Inner Mongolia.

After the tour, your guide and driver will escort you to the airport or railway station to catch your flight or train to your next destination or home. Tour ends!

• Inner Mongolia Museum
• Inner Mongolia Museum Precious Collection of An Ancient Crown
• Dazhao Temple Appearance