Mongolia itinerary, day by day

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.

🗓️ 3, 7 or 14 days📍 3 stops☀️ Best time: June to September

Oulan-Bator · Photo Dal Tamiraa / Pexels

Route map (numbers = order of the stops).

Mongolia in 3 days

2 stops · 11 things to do · ≈ 360 km

1Ulaanbaatar

Day 1

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
Folk showEvening · from €12
An evening of throat singing, horse-head fiddle and contortion.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Sunpath Hostel (€15 a night) · Mid-range: Blue Sky Hotel (€90 a night) · Luxury: Shangri-La Ulaanbaatar (€180 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Namaste Baga toiruu ↗ ★ 4.6 · 555 reviews · €€
Namaste Olympic Street ↗ ★ 4.6 · 473 reviews
Restaurant Veranda ↗ ★ 4.4 · 795 reviews · €€€
Hazara Indian Restaurant ↗ ★ 4.4 · 682 reviews · €€
Choijin Temple Restaurant ↗ ★ 4.4 · 668 reviews · €€€

Photo Phaeng Yo / Pexels

🚙 4×4 · 5h · 360 km

2The steppe and Kharkhorin

Days 2-3

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Gaya's Guest House (€15 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Restaurant Veranda ↗ ★ 4.4 · 795 reviews · €€€
King Restaurant ↗ ★ 4 · 126 reviews · €€

Photo Eric Prouzet / Pexels

Mongolia in 7 days

3 stops · 17 things to do · 4×4 & flight

1Ulaanbaatar

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
Folk showEvening · from €12
An evening of throat singing, horse-head fiddle and contortion.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Sunpath Hostel (€15 a night) · Mid-range: Blue Sky Hotel (€90 a night) · Luxury: Shangri-La Ulaanbaatar (€180 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Photo Phaeng Yo / Pexels

🚙 4×4 · 5h · 360 km

2The steppe and Kharkhorin

Days 3-4

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Gaya's Guest House (€15 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Restaurant Veranda ↗ ★ 4.4 · 795 reviews · €€€
King Restaurant ↗ ★ 4 · 126 reviews · €€

Photo Eric Prouzet / Pexels

✈️ Flight · 1h15 · heading south

3The Gobi desert

Days 5-7

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Chimgee's Guesthouse & Gobi Tours (€16 a night) · Mid-range: Green Gobi Hotel (€85 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Restaurant Veranda ↗ ★ 4.4 · 795 reviews · €€€
Hazara Indian Restaurant ↗ ★ 4.4 · 682 reviews · €€
Restaurant Green Zone ↗ ★ 4.4 · 373 reviews · €€
Hutong Restaurant, Shangri-La Ulaanbaatar ↗ ★ 4.4 · 290 reviews
Greyseed Ulaanbaatar ↗ ★ 4.3 · 220 reviews · €€

Photo Bernard Gagnon / CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Mongolia in 14 days

4 stops · 22 things to do · 4×4 & flight

1Ulaanbaatar

Days 1-3

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
Folk showEvening · from €12
An evening of throat singing, horse-head fiddle and contortion.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Sunpath Hostel (€15 a night) · Mid-range: Blue Sky Hotel (€90 a night) · Luxury: Shangri-La Ulaanbaatar (€180 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Photo Phaeng Yo / Pexels

🚙 4×4 · 5h · 360 km

2The steppe and Kharkhorin

Days 4-7

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Gaya's Guest House (€15 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Restaurant Veranda ↗ ★ 4.4 · 795 reviews · €€€
King Restaurant ↗ ★ 4 · 126 reviews · €€

Photo Eric Prouzet / Pexels

✈️ Flight · 1h15 · heading south

3The Gobi desert

Days 8-13

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Chimgee's Guesthouse & Gobi Tours (€16 a night) · Mid-range: Green Gobi Hotel (€85 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Photo Bernard Gagnon / CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)

✈️ Flight · 1h15 · return

4Ulaanbaatar

Day 14 · return

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
Folk showEvening · from €12
An evening of throat singing, horse-head fiddle and contortion.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Sunpath Hostel (€15 a night) · Mid-range: Blue Sky Hotel (€90 a night) · Luxury: Shangri-La Ulaanbaatar (€180 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Photo Phaeng Yo / Pexels

Hotel prices are per room per night, activity prices per person, checked when written. Some links are affiliate links (Booking, GetYourGuide): we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

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The free printable Mongolia guide: map, stops day by day, hotels by budget. Works offline.

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Good to know before you go

🍽️ What to eat

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.

⚠️ What to avoid

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.

Plan this trip

📒 The free printable Mongolia guide→ 🗓️ Best time to visit Mongolia, month by month→ 🎟️ What to book before you go→

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