Mongolia

Mongolia, in a few days

From Ulaanbaatar to the herders' gers of the steppe and the dunes of the Gobi, by 4x4: the map, what is worth booking, everything that costs nothing, and where to sleep at three budgets.

Day by day

1

Ulaanbaatar

Days 1-2

Home to nearly half the country's people, with glass towers in the centre and ger districts on the hills around it. Gandan, its largest monastery, reopened in 1944 after the purges.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Gandan monastery and the National Museum, guidedHalf day · from €15
  Morning chanting and the 26-metre statue of Migjid Janraisig, then the museum's account of the country from the Huns to the present.
• Folk show and Sükhbaatar SquareEvening · from €12
  An evening of throat singing, horse-head fiddle and contortion, after a walk across the great central square.

✦ Free to visit

• Sükhbaatar Square, the central square
• Naran Tuul market
• Zaisan hill and its memorial

📲 Book things to do in Ulaanbaatar on GetYourGuide

2

The steppe and Kharkhorin

Days 3-4 · 🚙 4×4 5h

Grassland to the horizon, herders' gers and horses. At Kharkhorin lie the remains of Karakorum, capital of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century.

🎟️ Worth booking

• A night in a herding family's ger1 night · from €40
  Dinner, the evening milking and a bed in the family's felt tent. Hospitality comes with its own rules, so ask your guide.
• Riding and ancient KarakorumFull day · from €45
  A morning in the saddle on the small, tough Mongolian horses, then the site of the old imperial capital.

✦ Free to visit

• The open steppe
• Erdene Zuu monastery
• Herds and horses
• Sunset over the plains

📲 Book things to do in The steppe and Kharkhorin on GetYourGuide

3

The Gobi desert

Days 5-7 · ✈️ Flight 1h15

Mostly gravel plain rather than sand, broken by the Khongoryn Els dunes, the red cliffs of Bayanzag and herds of two-humped Bactrian camels.

🎟️ Worth booking

• 4x4 to the Khongoryn Els dunesFull day · from €70
  A day's drive to the singing sands, a wall of dunes around 100 km long that hums when the sand slides.
• The Flaming Cliffs of BayanzagHalf day · from €40
  Red sandstone cliffs where the American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews found dinosaur eggs in 1923. Best at sunset.

✦ Free to visit

• The singing dunes
• Yolyn Am canyon and its ice
• Bactrian camels
• The night sky

📲 Book things to do in The Gobi desert on GetYourGuide

Worth sorting before you go

A 4x4 and a domestic flight · A 4x4 with a driver for the steppe tracks, where road signs are rare. A flight to Dalanzadgad, in the south Gobi, saves two long days on the road.

📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly

🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta

🚗 Car hire
Compare the agencies before you land.
Compare · Booking

💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut

🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer

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Flavours & local habits

🍽️ Worth tasting

• Buuz: steamed dumplings filled with mutton, made by the hundred for Tsagaan Sar, the lunar new year.
• Khuushuur: flat fried pastries stuffed with meat, the food of the Naadam festival.
• Boiled mutton: the everyday meal of the herders, with fat and offal valued as much as the meat.
• Dairy: aaruul, hard dried curds, and airag, fermented mare's milk, offered to every guest in summer.
• Suutei tsai: milk tea with a pinch of salt, drunk all day long.

⚠️ Best avoided

• Setting off into the countryside without a guide or driver: tracks split and signs are rare.
• Packing for summer heat only: nights on the steppe and in the Gobi can be cold, even in July.
• Stepping on the threshold of a ger, or walking anticlockwise inside it.
• Relying on cards and phone signal: carry cash, and expect no network for long stretches.

Words that help

English ↔ Mongolian

✈️ Flight delayed by 3 hours or more, or cancelled? You may be owed up to €600. Check your flight on AirHelp.

The practical page

Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/mongolia

Packing checklist

Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.