In May 2019, four friends set off on an ambitious overland journey from Mongolia to Istanbul. Our adventure began in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s fascinating, slightly chaotic, and endlessly energetic capital city.

We stayed at the excellent Golden Gobi Guest House, which quickly became our home base. After enduring multiple flight delays and one of us spending an unplanned night in Moscow, we were finally all together and eager to begin the trip we had planned for so long.

Our plan in Mongolia was simple but epic: hire a guide and driver and immerse ourselves in the vast Gobi Desert. Through Golden Gobi Guest House we found the perfect operator — professional, knowledgeable, and genuinely passionate about their country.

After a couple of days exploring Ulaanbaatar’s streets, markets, monasteries, and food scene, we loaded up the 4×4 and headed south into one of the most spectacular wildernesses on Earth.

Over the next eleven days we covered more than 2,200 km through the Eastern, Central, and Southern Gobi. Words and photos can never fully capture the sheer scale and beauty of this land. The landscape changed constantly — from rolling steppe to dramatic rocky formations, from endless golden dunes to flaming red cliffs, and from arid desert to surprising green oases.

We were continually in awe of the resilience of the nomadic families living in such a harsh environment. Their hospitality, warmth, and connection to the land left a deep impression on all of us.

Each day brought new wonders: towering sand dunes that sang in the wind, ice-filled canyons in the middle of the desert, ancient monasteries, fossil-rich badlands, and nights spent in traditional gers under skies so clear the Milky Way felt close enough to touch.