Hey there!

Dear NextTriber:

This one takes you out of your comfort zone — out of your sense of time, your frame of reference, your sense of what life on this planet looks like. And if your jaw doesn’t drop from the scenery, you’ll need to check your pulse. Are you even alive? If this place doesn’t wow you, I don’t know what will.

We're excited to offer you The Essence of Mongolia — a new NextTribe journey through one of the last truly wild places on Earth. Join us July 25–August 4, 2027 for 11 days in the heart of the Mongolian steppe.

Check out the itinerary

For more than 5,000 years, people have lived here in essentially the same way: moving with the seasons, reading the land, raising their animals, building their homes in hours. The Mongol Empire once stretched across half the known world, and yet its people chose to remain in felt tents on an open steppe — under a sky so vast it makes Montana look like an urban environment!

If you’re interested, please join our Trip Preview on Thursday, June 25th. We’ll talk through all the destinations. You’ll have questions answered. We’ll get excited together for this incredible adventure! RSVP here.

This is one of the last places on Earth where nomadic herding isn't something their ancestors did. It's how they live today. Even the women and girls.

Herding is often called men's work in Mongolia — but the women running these households tell a different story. They milk the animals, process the dairy and wool, and make the decisions that keep the family afloat. You'll see it firsthand.

🐪 Camel riding at Khogno Khan— where granite peaks rise above sand dunes, alongside the Davaasurens, with a Bascritan camel family who knows this terrain well.

🫖 Into the gers — multiple chances to spend real time with local families: sharing meals, lending a hand, learning how life works when your home moves with the seasons. The Galbadrakh yak herding family. Tumee and Jargaa in the Orkhon River Valley. This is access most travelers never get.

♨️ Two nights at Tsenkher Hot Springs — thermal pools in a mountain forest, birds of prey overhead, zero obligations. We built in a full rest day here.

🏛️ Kharkhorin and Erdene Zuu Monastery — Mongolia's oldest monastery, enclosed within a wall of 108 stupas, on the very site of the ancient Mongol capital.

🐴 A traditional barbecue in the Orkhon Valley — your last night in the countryside, eaten in the open air, with optional horseback riding across the steppe as the sun goes down.

A word on how we've built this trip. Mongolia is enormous, and we've been deliberate. By focusing on the central heartland, we've cut the domestic flights and long detours that fragment other itineraries — so you spend more time around fires and at family tables, less time in transit (though there is still driving we have to do). We’re also working with a local women-owned business that has helped us design the perfect itinerary for the type of traveler we know you are: curious, adventurous, not afraid of roughing it if it means really getting the authentic experience.

See the Full Itinerary

Not gonna lie, this trip we will be roughing it. No soft sheets, no hair dryers. It’s going to be epic. You have to bring your most adventurous spirit!

You'll arrive in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's surprisingly vibrant capital, before heading west into the heartland. At Khogno Khan Nature Reserve, granite peaks rise above sand dunes in a landscape that genuinely confounds expectations — and a camel ride with the Davaasuren family across those dunes is simultaneously ridiculous and completely wonderful.

The Khangai Mountains bring you to a yak herding family — milking, wool-spinning, cheese-making, and a warm welcome — before you reach Tsenkher Hot Springs, where a full day of doing absolutely nothing is not only permitted, it's encouraged.

Then on to Kharkhorin, site of Mongolia's ancient imperial capital, where Mongolia's oldest monastery sits within a wall of 108 stupas. And the Orkhon Valley — a UNESCO World Heritage site and the cradle of Mongolian civilization — closes the journey with a traditional barbecue under an open sky and, for those who want it, a half-day on horseback across the steppe.

Your last evening back in Ulaanbaatar ends with a farewell dinner and panoramic city views. Mongolia tends to get under your skin. This is your chance to let it.

Congratulations! You’re among the first to know about this exciting new trip. So if you’re interested, don’t hesitate.

Hugs and thanks to all of you—

Jeannie Ralston, Co-founder and CEO