The Gobi Desert: Two Countries, One Desert, Very Different Trips

The Gobi covers approximately 1.3 million square kilometres across southern Mongolia and northern China. It is not a single landscape: the desert contains sand dunes, rocky plains, saxaul forests, seasonal rivers, and mountain ranges within its boundaries. Most of what visitors picture when they think of the Gobi - the Khongoryn Els dunes, the flaming cliffs of Bayanzag, the ice-filled valleys - is on the Mongolian side. The Chinese Gobi, accessed through Gansu Province and cities like Dunhuang, is a different kind of trip: easier logistics, the Silk Road heritage layer, and access to the famous sand dunes near Dunhuang.

The Mongolian Gobi

The Mongolian approach to the Gobi is inherently an expedition. There is no significant road network in the desert interior. Travel is in 4WD vehicles (usually Russian Furgon vans) across tracks that follow GPS waypoints rather than tarmac. You navigate through nomadic settlements, ask permission to cross private land, and sleep in ger camps or wild camp. This is genuinely remote travel, and the logistics require a local guide and driver for any visitor who does not speak Mongolian.

The key sites in the Mongolian Gobi:

Khongoryn Els (singing sands) is the largest dune field in Mongolia: approximately 100 km long and up to 800 metres high. The dunes are pure sand and the scale is disorientating. In windy conditions, the movement of sand grains produces a low rumbling sound - the origin of the “singing” description. Camel riding at the base is available from local families; the standard rate is around 20,000 MNT (approximately $6 USD) per hour.

Bayanzag (the Flaming Cliffs) is the site where American palaeontologist Roy Chapman Andrews discovered the first dinosaur eggs ever found in 1922. The orange-red sedimentary cliffs are still productive for fossils; palaeontological digs continue here. The site is viewable from the cliff edge above; the descent to the cliff base is straightforward. An on-site guide is not required but adds context.

Yolyn Am (Eagle Valley) in the Gurvan Saikhan National Park is a narrow gorge in a mountain range, cold enough that ice accumulates year-round in the shaded sections of the valley floor. In summer, the contrast between the surrounding desert heat and the ice in the valley is startling. The valley walk is 3-4 km.

Getting to the Mongolian Gobi: The gateway is Dalanzadgad, the capital of Umnugovi (South Gobi) province, with daily flights from Ulaanbaatar on MIAT Mongolian Airlines and Hunnu Air (approximately $80-120 USD, 2 hours). From Dalanzadgad, all further travel requires a rented 4WD with driver-guide. Reputable Gobi tour operators based in Ulaanbaatar include Goyo Travel, Mongolian Gobi Tours, and Nomadic Expeditions. A typical 5-7 day Gobi circuit departing from Dalanzadgad costs approximately $120-200 USD per person per day all-inclusive.

Accommodation: Ger camps (tourist ger camps) operate in the main areas between May and October. These range from basic (plywood floors, communal toilets, meals cooked over the camp fire) to surprisingly comfortable (proper beds, proper bathrooms). Wild camping is possible and common for itineraries that visit sites between the established camps. The overnight temperature even in summer can drop to near freezing, and in spring and autumn sub-zero nights are common.

The Chinese Gobi: Dunhuang and the Silk Road

Dunhuang is a city of around 180,000 in Gansu Province, sitting at the western end of the Hexi Corridor - the narrow strip of land between the mountains and the desert through which the Silk Road ran. The city is the access point for the Mogao Caves and the Mingsha Shan dunes.

Mogao Caves (also called the Dunhuang Caves or Thousand Buddha Grottoes) is the most significant repository of Buddhist art in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Carved into a cliff face from the 4th to 14th centuries AD, the 492 preserved cave temples contain murals and sculptures spanning a thousand years of Buddhist artistic development. The murals are extraordinary - narrative scenes from the Jataka tales, celestial musicians, donor portraits, maps - painted across thousands of square metres of cave walls that survived because of the desert’s extreme dryness.

The standard ticket ($130 CNY for Chinese citizens, $238 CNY for foreigners) allows access to 8 caves in a guided group tour. The caves with the most significant murals are on a separate system of “special caves” requiring an additional ticket and advance booking through the official website (e-dunhuang.com). Go in the morning when light levels and crowd density are better. Photography is not permitted inside the caves.

Mingsha Shan (Singing Sand Mountain) is the 40-metre dune field outside Dunhuang, accessible by a 20-minute drive from the city. The crescent lake at the base of the main dune, Crescent Moon Spring (Yueyaquan), has been photographed for 2,000 years. The commercial apparatus around the dune (camel rides, dune buggies, entrance ticket around $138 CNY) is heavy but the dune itself is spectacular and the sunrise and sunset light on the sand is genuinely extraordinary.

Getting to Dunhuang: High-speed rail from Lanzhou (5 hours, approximately 200 CNY) and onward connections from Xian, Xi’an, and Beijing. Dunhuang also has an airport (DNH) with direct flights from Beijing, Xi’an, and Urumqi. Accommodation is available across all price ranges; mid-range hotels in central Dunhuang cost 300-600 CNY per night.

Planning Considerations

Visiting both sides of the Gobi on the same trip requires routing through either Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) or Beijing/Urumqi (China) - the border crossings available to independent tourists between Mongolia and China are limited and require advance planning. The Trans-Mongolian Railway route (Beijing to Ulaanbaatar, 30 hours) passes through the Gobi and is a good way to connect the two countries if time allows.

Best travel months for the Mongolian Gobi are May-June and September-October; July and August are high season with higher ger camp prices and more visitors. The Chinese Gobi (Dunhuang) is accessible year-round but summer (July-August) temperatures reach 38-42 degrees Celsius. Spring sandstorms are common across the entire Gobi region in March and April.