Back when I first started planning my trip to Mongolia, I quickly discovered that for most travellers, the country’s polluted capital was more of an obligation than a destination. It was a place in which to land, get your bearings, and organise your transport, before promptly heading to the steppe.

Very few people have positive things to say about Ulaanbaatar, and even the statistics are depressing.

This is the coldest capital city in the world, with winter temperatures regularly dropping as low as -40°C (-40°F), and many locals having no option but to heat their homes with coal in order to stay alive. It’s one of the most polluted cities because of this, with the winter’s thick, toxic smog resulting in numerous health issues for its residents.

Think: sky-high rates of carbon monoxide poisoning, lung cancer, pneumonia, bronchitis, and asthma. Pneumonia is the second highest cause of death for those under five, and children living in Ulaanbaatar have 40% lower lung function than those who live in the countryside. Local women will even time their pregnancies so they give birth in the summer, to avoid the higher risk of miscarriage.

The housing shortage in Ulaanbaatar means that more than half of the city’s population live in gers (Mongolian yurts) without running water, heating, sanitation, or paved roads. At -40 degrees, with coal as your only option for heating, your options are to freeze to death or slowly poison the lungs of your family.

If that wasn’t enough, Mongolia still has the occasional case of bubonic plague. Yep, dozens of people still die of the plague in this country each year.

Needless to say, I was expecting my time in Ulaanbaatar to be more than a little bleak.

At first, that’s exactly what it was.

My first impressions weren’t great. The traffic was abysmal, the sidewalks were falling apart, and there was a sense of depression lingering in the air. I’d read that pickpocketing was rife before arriving, so I held my bag close as I walked, unsettled and uncomfortable, tripping over rocks. It didn’t feel welcoming and I didn’t feel welcomed.

And now, at this point in my introduction, I have to somehow convince you guys that three days later, I came away announcing that I loved Ulaanbaatar. Given what I just wrote, I’m not quite sure how to explain my abrupt change of heart.

Slowly, though, I began to warm to the city. Ulaanbaatar is home to some of the best museums I’ve ever stepped foot in — no exaggeration! — and I learned more about Mongolia than I thought I would without leaving the city.

I had fun shopping here, too, from the chaotic stalls of the local Black Market of Narantuul to picking up world-class cashmere at factory prices. I took an incredible tour that introduced me to Mongolian culture, and promptly developed an obsession with Mongolian metal band the Hu. I wandered around colourful temples and monasteries, met friendly locals, and began to understand that what I’d mistaken for bleakness was more like resilience.

If you receive my newsletter, you’ll know I love a bit of resilience.

Yes, the more time I spent in Ulaanbaatar, the more I began to warm to it.

It’s polluted, dirty, chaotic, and absolutely not set up for pedestrians, but it’s also a fascinating city, where can dive into the country’s history, culture, and recent transformation, all in one place.

If you’re heading to Mongolia and wondering how much time to give its capital — or whether it’s worth your time at all — I recommend a minimum of two days, or three days with a day trip out to the nearby countryside.

To get the most of your time in Ulaanbaatar, it’s useful to know a little bit about the events that shaped this city.

A Quick Primer on Mongolian History

If you’re anything like me, you’ll arrive in Ulaanbaatar slightly confused.

Why are there ornate Buddhist temples sitting next to Soviet apartment blocks? Why does everything feel both ancient and brand new at the same time?

To make sense of the city, it helps to understand Mongolia’s four big eras: the Mongol Empire, Buddhism, Communism, and the country’s pivot to democracy.

First, the empire. In the 13th century, Genghis Khan united the Mongol tribes and went on to build the largest contiguous land empire in history. The Mongol Empire stretched from Eastern Europe to the Sea of Japan. After his death, the empire fragmented, and over the centuries Mongolia’s global dominance faded. But Genghis Khan remains a respected national figure, and you’ll see his face everywhere, from statues to vodka bottles.

Centuries later, Tibetan Buddhism became central to Mongolian identity. Monasteries flourished, religious leaders held political power, and spiritual life shaped the country. Many of the temples you’ll visit in Ulaanbaatar today reflect that era, although much of what you see now are reconstructions.

Because in the 20th century, everything changed again.

In 1921, Mongolia became the world’s second socialist state after the Soviet Union. Under strong Soviet influence, religion was brutally suppressed. Thousands of monks were executed, monasteries were destroyed, and Buddhism was pushed underground. Ornate temples were replaced by concrete apartment blocks and vast public squares. The name Ulaanbaatar even means red hero in Mongolian.

In the 90s, the Soviet Union began to collapse and Mongolia had a peaceful democratic revolution. Suddenly, people could vote freely, start businesses, and live life outside of strict government control. The transition was rocky, but it reshaped the city once again. Today, you’ll see glass skyscrapers, Korean coffee chains, traditional gers on the outskirts, and Soviet architecture all blended together.

With that context in mind, here’s how I recommend spending three days in Ulaanbaatar.

Day One: Monasteries and Museums

I’ll talk more about where I stayed while I was in Ulaanbaatar at the end of this guide (Danista Nomads at a price of $23 a night for a single room!), but it was located in the west of the city, so I’m starting the itinerary from that area.

I had quite the magical introduction to Gandan Monastery, when I accidentally timed my visit with the temple’s morning prayers. Every morning, at 9 a.m. on the dot, a monk emerges and bangs on a gong to let his fellow Buddhists know that it’s time to get it on pray. It felt like I was especially far from home as I stood in the street, gongs reverberating around me; monks beginning to gather.

This is the main monastery of the city, so if you’re only going to see one of them, make it Gandan.

It’s a miracle it’s still standing today. Founded in the 19th century, it was once the most important structure in the city for Buddhists. As I mentioned above, when communism took over Mongolia, thousands of monks were executed and most of the monasteries were destroyed. Gandantegchinlen was one of the very few to be left standing.

Inside, you’ll find a huge, 26-metre-tall golden statue of Migjid Janraisig, a figure representing compassion in Buddhism. The original statue was dismantled during the aforementioned communist takeover, so the one you see today was rebuilt in the 1990s after Mongolia’s democratic revolution.

It’s well-worth having a peek inside, though, to see the giant golden statue, and its a great first stop for gaining an insight into modern Mongolian culture and religion. You’ll need to pay extra to take photos inside, which brings me to my next point.

A Note on Photo Permits

The most infuriating aspect of travel in Ulaanbaatar is the photo permits.

Pretty much every single paid tourist attraction in this city will charge you extra if you want to take photos while you’re inside. But not just that: they’ll charge you three or four times the entrance fee to take photos.

As a travel writer who needs photos of every attraction in a city, this was more than a little maddening.

Entrance fees for most of the museums and monasteries are reasonable, but it quickly adds up if you want to take photos. Entrance to Choijin Lama Temple is $2.25. A photo permit? $15.

When you pay for a permit, you’ll be given a red lanyard to wear around your neck. If you don’t have one of these, staff will follow you around to check you don’t take any photos!

Have the Dinosaurs All to Yourself

A fifteen minute walk from Gandan Monastery brings you to the Natural History Museum of Mongolia, which was one of my favourite stops in the city.

Did you know that Mongolia’s Gobi Desert is home to the largest dinosaur fossil reservoir in the world?

It’s true: over 80 different types of dinosaur have been discovered in this country, and palaeontologists are still finding new ones to this day.

So what makes the Gobi Desert such a hotspot?

Millions of years ago, this part of Mongolia was actually a lush land of rivers, lakes, and forest: the perfect environment for dinosaurs to live and thrive. When they died, their bones were buried in sand and mud, which later turned to rock, preserving the fossils.

The region’s dry climate today means those fossils aren’t destroyed by water or dense vegetation like in other places around the world. Instead, wind and erosion have been slowly exposing the remains, making them easy for scientists to find.

All that to say: there are so many dinosaurs in Mongolia, so of course there’s a dinosaur museum in Ulaanbaatar.

And you know the best part? When I was there, I was the only person in the museum. I kept thinking of London’s Natural History Museum and its 20,000-odd visitors a day, all crowded around the skeletons of dinosaurs. What a privilege it was to have these equally impressive versions all to myself.

The star of the Dinosaur Museum show is a huge Tarbosaurus skeleton, pictured above. It’s Mongolia’s version of the T. rex: an apex predator with a huge skull, sharp teeth, strong legs, and teeny-tiny arms.

Beyond the Tarbosaurus, the museum has a bunch of other fossils to marvel at. You can see smaller predatory dinosaurs, herbivore dinosaurs with duck-bill snouts, and some of the earliest bird-like dinosaurs. There are fossilised eggs, claws, and skulls, and — my favourite — a taxidermied Mazaalai.

The Mazaalai, or Gobi Bear, is one of the world’s rarest bears, living only in the Gobi Desert, and there are less than 50 of them left in the world. And when I tell you that the climate this bear has to survive in is harsh: summer temperatures as high as +40°C (104°F), winter temperatures as low as -33°C (-27°F), with an annual rainfall of less than 100 mm!

Once you’ve had your fill of fossils, it’s time to take the 10 minute walk to the Chinggis Khan Museum.

Next Up: The Best Museum in Mongolia

What an absolute delight it was to wander the rooms of the Chinggis Khan Museum.

This building is enormous, and you could spend hours here, learning all about the life and legacy of Genghis Khan… which raises the question: why is it called the Chinggis Khan Museum?

Well, to start with, Chinggis’s actual birth name was Temüjin. It was after he created the Mongol Empire that he was given the title Chinggis, which in the Mongolian language roughly translates to oceanic. (For nomads living far from the sea, the ocean represented something unimaginably vast, so the title described a ruler whose empire they believed would be equally as large.)

When Europeans first heard about the Mongols, there was no standard way to write Mongolian sounds using the Latin alphabet. Instead, they had to rely on how the names were pronounced by Persian, Chinese, and Russian sources. In those languages, the Ch sound often came across to Western ears as a hard G, so Chinggis became Genghis.

But Chinggis is the correct spelling and actually how his name is pronounced.

As you can see, I spent a lot of time in the Chinggis Khan Museum!

But back to the size of this museum. If you can believe it, the exhibitions here are spread out over nine floors, with over 12,000 artefacts on display — many for the first time ever. It covers Mongolian history from the first nomads to the Mongol Empire, showing how Chinggis fits into the timeline of the country, rather than just focusing on his life alone.

It’s impossible to see it all in an hour — trust me, I’m generally a speed-sightseer at museums! — so pace yourself, and expect to spend two or three hours there in total.

Each floor has its own focus.

You’ll start with the very beginnings of nomadic states, and see things like carved deer stones, jewellery and burial reconstructions that give you a sense of how people lived and moved on the steppe long before the Mongol Empire.

As you move up, you hit the Mongol Empire itself: the rise of Temujin, and the rapid expansion under Chinggis and later Khans.

By the mid-levels, the focus changes from battles and leaders to how everyone from aristocrats to ordinary people lived under the Mongol Empire. You’ll see robes, tools, household items, and objects connected to Silk Road trade, and there’s a section covering why the Mongols were so successful, which I found particularly interesting.

On the upper floors, you’ll learn about the empire at its peak and how life worked behind the scenes. Colourful religious objects, ceremonial items, and other artefacts show how people lived, what they believed in, and how society, from everyday families to the rulers, was organised.

I loved the museum, learned a lot, and was really impressed by the items on display.

But one complaint: it didn’t really feel like the museum was set up for English-language visitors.

There were very few descriptions in English, and instead, the items had accompanying QR codes that you could scan for more information (there is Wi-Fi). But who wants to stand at a display of 30 different jewellery pieces and scan 30 QR codes one by one, reading meandering descriptions of each individual item? It was kind of a pain in the ass, but still worth visiting.

Head Next to Dashchoilin Monastery

Dashchoilin Monastery is a little out of the way in this itinerary, so I’ll say now that I consider this to be an optional stop. It’s not the most mind-blowing attraction in Ulaanbaatar, so if you can’t be bothered to tackle the 20 minute walk over there from the Chinggis Khan Museum, I won’t hold it against you.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, most of the city’s monasteries were destroyed decades ago, but this one was restored in the 1990s and provides peaceful respite from the traffic of Ulaanbaatar. It’s less busy than Gandan Monastery, but I enjoyed wandering the complex just as much, marvelling at Buddhist statues and faded-but-still-colourful murals.

Roughly one hundred monks still live here, and if you’re lucky, you might catch a ceremony with chanting and drums. If you’re unlucky, you might do as I did and enter a temple ger and interrupt a group of monks having a meeting.

There’s Lots to See at Sukhbaatar Square

Next up: Sukhbaatar Square, in the heart of the city! It’s a 20 minute walk back from Dashchoilin Monastery.

You can think of Sukhbaatar Square as the main town square: a wide open, concrete plaza in the centre of town, surrounded by all of the most important buildings, like Government Palace, the Mongolian Stock Exchange, the Opera House and Central Post Office.

The square is named after Damdin Sukhbaatar, a key figure in Mongolia’s 1921 revolution against Chinese influence, which paved the way for decades of Soviet influence, and a large bronze statue of him on horseback stands in the middle of the square.

Throughout the 20th century, Sukhbaatar Square was where official parades and state ceremonies happened under the socialist government. In 1990, it became one of the main gathering points for the peaceful protests that eventually helped bring about Mongolia’s democratic transition.

Today, the space still hosts public events, concerts and celebrations, and is a relaxed place to hang out, take photos or just watch locals and travellers pass through on a sunny afternoon. There’s lots of grand, interesting architecture to take photos of, although most of the time, I’ll confess there isn’t tons going on.

Conveniently, our next stop is located just off of Sukhbaatar Square.

Pick Up Some Cashmere from GOBI Cashmere Galleria Store

I am fully aware that the next sentence I am going to type is going to sound like such a lie.

But.

Every single time I have worn the sweater I bought from GOBI Cashmere, somebody has stopped me and told me it looks amazing.

I know this sounds like a lie.

As someone who is not fashion-forward, this may be an indictment of how I typically dress, but also, I have never had this reaction to any item of clothing I’ve worn before.

If I wasn’t convinced that AI was going to take my job within the next year, I’d be ordering everything GOBI Cashmere sells, in every colour available.

If you weren’t aware, Mongolia is home to the best cashmere in the world. It’s all thanks to the freezing winters of the steppe, which causes the local goats to produce a wool that is finer and warmer than you can find anywhere else in the world. Cashmere is already unbelievably soft, warm, and lightweight, but Mongolian cashmere? It’s on a whole other level.

GOBI Cashmere is one of the biggest producers of cashmere in Mongolia, and they’re one of the few companies to process the wool entirely within the country. (Many other producers will send the wool to China to be processed to save money.)

They’ve got a wide selection of clothing up for grabs: soft sweaters, cosy cardigans, long scarves, socks, gloves, and coats. I bought a couple of sweaters, two scarves (one a gift for my mum), and pair of knee-high socks that I live in over winter.

You can get a tax refund on your purchase if you give staff your passport number, and prices were honestly pretty reasonable for some of the best cashmere you can buy ($180 for the sweater that everybody compliments; $90 for a scarf).

Swing Past Ulaanbaatar Signs and Statues

With my arms laden with alarmingly conspicuous GOBI Cashmere bags, I decided it best to head back to my accommodation so as to not attract attention to my splurges.

If you’re staying in the west of the city, like I was, you can cross off several tourist attractions along the way.

First: Chinggis Khan Garden, which is located to the south of Sukhbaatar Square. It’s most well-known for its bronze Marco Polo statue (not as random as it sounds: he lived at Kublai Khan’s [Chinggis Khan’s grandson] court and wrote Europe’s first detailed accounts of Mongolia).

Just south of there, you’ll find the bright-red Ulaanbaatar city sign. It is what it is: not exceptionally exciting, but a good opportunity for posing for photos if you want to prove just how off-the-beaten track you’ve ventured to friends.

A little further along and you’ll come across the Beatles (marked on Google Maps as Beatles Statue), an unexpected statue of the four Beatles strolling in front of a red-brick wall in the shape of an apple. Around the back, there’s a statue of a Mongolian teenager playing the guitar.

Unveiled on John Lennons’ birthday in 2008, it was built to celebrate the Beatles’ cultural influence on Mongolia. The story is actually pretty interesting.

During the Soviet-influenced era of Mongolia, Western pop music was officially banned in the country. Local teenagers responded in exactly the way you would expect: secretly sharing contraband records and cassettes with friends, hiding out together to listen to exciting bands like the Beatles.

To them, listening to Western music became a symbol of freedom, which some say laid the groundwork for Mongolia to later become a democracy.

Day Two: More Museums, More Monasteries

I’ll confess to having low expectations of the Fine Arts Zanabazar Museum.

Honestly, I went purely because there aren’t a ton of tourist attractions in Ulaanbaatar, so I figured I might as well cross it off while I was in town.

The museum is named after Zanabazar, a 17th century Mongolian spiritual leader, descendent of Chinggis Khan, sculptor, painter, and philosopher, who helped shape Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. Some refer to him as the Asian Michelangelo, as he created a kind-of Mongolian renaissance in the 17th century.

He was even identified as the reincarnation of a high-ranking Tibetan Buddhist leader at just four years old, which, uh, would have made for quite a dramatic start to his life.

Inside the museum, you’ll find Bronze Age deer stones (4,000-year-old stones featuring carvings of deer and hunting scenes, believed to honour the dead and protect them in the afterlife) alongside Buddhist sculptures and paintings by Zanabazar.

My highlight were the colourful tsam masks and outfits, which you can see in my photo above. These elaborate costumes were used in traditional Buddhist ritual dances, intended to scare off evil spirits and protect communities in one fell swoop.

Another Museum! But the National Museum of Mongolia is Worth it

It’s no secret that I spent a significant amount of time patrolling the museums of Ulaanbaatar, and I walked the five minutes to the National Museum of Mongolia with a fear that there was going to be a lot of overlap.

Fortunately, the National Museum had its own focus, too.

And it was visiting this museum that helped bring together everything I’d learned about the country so far.

You learn about the rise of Tibetan Buddhism, and how it shaped art, culture, and daily life, and then the dramatic shift under Soviet-style communism, when religion and much of that traditional culture were suppressed. By the time you reach the sections on the 1990 democratic revolution, it all clicks and you’re celebrating Mongolia’s independence.

It takes you far back in time, too, to the prehistoric humans who lived in Mongolia, and how its residents developed their nomadic way of living. They’ve got a full-on ger in the middle of the museum, as you can see from my photo, as well as examples of the tools, horse gear, and household objects that helped families survive the harsh winters. I still can’t comprehend having to deal with -40 degree temperatures every year.

To my excitement, there was even a spacesuit on display! It turns out there was a Mongolian cosmonaut called Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa, who was the 100th human to travel into space.

Wander the Impressive Interiors of Choijin Lama Temple Museum

Next up on the list is Choijin Lama, which is a 15-minute walk south of the National Museum.

I really enjoyed wandering around the temple complex of Choijin Lama, and would probably name it my favourite in the city.

It was built in the early 1900s for Luvsan Haidav Choijin Lama: basically one of the most powerful monks at the time and the brother of Mongolia’s last king (Bogd Khan). Like the other monasteries I’ve recommended Ulaanbaatar, this one also survived the 1930s destruction of religious buildings, but in this case because it was because it was turned into a museum.

What means is that many of the statues, masks, and objects inside the complex are pre-1930s, which is super-rare in Ulaanbaatar.

The halls are full of statues, as you would expect, including Buddha, Choijin Lama, and the Bogd Khan’s teacher, whose mummified remains are actually inside the statue of him. They even have some sculptures by Zanabazar, who we learned about earlier this morning, on display, and a tiny stupa brought all the way from Tibet.

Choijin Lama borders Ulaanbaatar Park, so it’s an easy stroll from the museum to our next destination.

Swing By the Gigantic Mongolian Flag

Ulaanbaatar Park is a relatively new addition to the city’s attractions, opening in 2024 and giving residents a much-needed green space in which to escape the dust and traffic jams of the city.

What drew me to the park, however, was the huge Mongolian flag, 60 metres tall. Unsurprisingly, it’s the tallest flagpole in Mongolia. I really like flags, and always try to find a huge one whenever I travel. On my trip through Mongolia and the Stans, this was not a difficult task.

There’s a whole bunch of different areas in the park to check out, too, like a skate park, playground, pond, walking trails, and an amphitheatre. And if you’re a runner, this is likely the only place in the city you’ll find enjoyable for a jog.

As you can see from my photo, the weather was pretty mediocre while I was there, so I didn’t get to see the park at its very best. If you luck out with blue skies, you’ll likely spend longer than the 10 minutes I spent wandering around.

Shop for Everything at Narantuul Market

People will often describe large and busy markets as selling everything but the kitchen sink, so I can’t describe the level of excitement I felt when I turned a corner at Narantuul and found a stall selling kitchen sinks.

One of my friends from the tour I took actually bought a full-on, full-size Mongolian ger from the market to put in their garden back home!

Yep, Narantuul is huge. There’s around 10,000 vendors operating here, with 100,000 daily visitors wandering around the stalls. The locals refer to it as the Black Market, and there are stories of sketchy items being sold here in the past, from guns and bullets to prescription drugs, but for the most part, the stuff for sale is less illegal, and the market isn’t scary.

I don’t even know how to begin to describe the kind of items you can buy from this market. If you can think of it, odds are, it’s for sale here.

In my photos above, old Soviet medals and tobacco snuff bottles are for sale, but other items that stood out were horse riding saddles, Mongolian musical instruments, deels and gutals (traditional clothing and boots), bows and arrows… and then you’ll turn a corner and find beds and carpets and motorbikes and more.

As you may have gathered, this is more of a market for locals than tourists, which I think makes it all the more interesting. Keep an eye on your belongings in case of pickpockets, but otherwise aim to spend a couple of hours marvelling at the sheer variety of items that are for sale here.

Climb Up to the Soviet Zaisan Memorial

I love myself a good Soviet mural, so you can imagine my devastation when I discovered Zaisan Memorial was closed while I was in town — hence my use of the stock photo above.

Zaisan Memorial sits quite a way out of town — it’s a 90-minute walk south of Narantuul — so you’ll want to hire a taxi to take you there (and ask them to wait around to bring you back to the city afterwards), or jump on a city bus.

Prepare yourself for a strenuous climb, too, as there’s roughly 600 steps to scale in order to get to the top. If you’re feeling lazy, you can also enter the Zaisan Hill Complex shopping mall, take the elevator up to the seventh floor, and cross the bridge that takes you to the half-way point of the staircase, cutting out a solid 300 steps.

The structure was built to honour the Soviet soldiers and Mongolian-Soviet friendship after World War II, and the mural on the interior is full of bright colours and heroic poses; giving that slightly over-the-top socialist vibe. Today, most locals see the memorial less as glorifying the USSR and more as honouring the Mongolian soldiers who fought in WWII, as well as an excellent vantage point over Ulaanbaatar.

Because yes, even if Soviet architecture isn’t your thing, the views from the top are panoramic. You’ll get 360-degree views over Ulaanbaatar from up here: the ger districts, the new glass skyscrapers, and the hundreds of concrete Soviet-era buildings that still dominate of the city, with mountains and the steppe stretching into the distance.

Shop for Souvenirs at Mary & Martha

Back in the city, it’s time to finish off our explorations with a little bit of souvenir shopping.

Yes, I highly recommending swinging by Mary & Martha to pick up some souvenirs and gifts. As somebody who buys trinkets from every country I visit — the vast majority of which I’m sure were made in the same factory in China — this place was such a breath of fresh air.

Every item in the store is made in Mongolia, ethically-sourced, and created by local artisans who are paid a fair wage. I bought a felt coaster and it had a little label on it telling me the name of the artist and where in the country they were from! I wish all souvenir shops were like this one.

There’s a decent amount of products to choose from, too.

Artwork, jewellery, magnets, postcards, bags, cashmere scarves, yak slippers and socks, yarn, cushions, purses, plus an alarming amount of nativity scenes (complete with ger and camels!): I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find something you liked here. They have a whole bunch of truly Mongolian items, too, like knuckle bones (used for fortune telling) and handcrafted knives.

Day Three: An Epic Day Trip into the Countryside

I’m still raving about the day trip I took into the Mongolian countryside.

Seriously — I think this is one of my favourite tours I’ve ever taken.

Not only were our tour guides exceptional, but all of my fellow participants were so much fun to hang out with, so it felt like I was driving around the countryside with friends. We learned a ton about Mongolian culture, what life is like in Ulaanbaatar today, and the aspects of the country that its residents love.

The tour was also more than a little action-packed, whisking us from an extravagant stainless steel statue of Chinggis Khan to the humble interior of a local family’s ger. We had the opportunity to try local dishes and drinks, ride camels, meet hunting eagles, and learn archery. In Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, we hiked to the top of a rock shaped like a turtle, then paid our respects at the colourful Aryabal Meditation Temple, carved into the side of a mountain.

By the end of the day, I was dusty, tired, and smitten with Mongolia. It’s a long and busy tour, but if you want to see this part of Mongolia (it’s not on most overland itineraries, as it’s a bit out of the way) this is one of the easiest ways to see it.

Let me tell you about it all in more detail.

I’d read that the Chinggis Khan statue made for a ridiculous sight, but even I was surprised by just how over-the-top it was.

One minute you’re driving through open steppe with little more than grass and sky in every direction. The next, there’s a 40-metre tall stainless steel Chinggis Khan plonked atop a hill, glimmering in the morning sun.

It is, for the few people who care, the tallest equestrian statue in the world.

So, why is it here? It was built to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Mongol Empire, facing to the east, towards the region where Chinggis Khan was born, with the statue marking the spot where he supposedly stumbled upon a golden whip.

To my delight, you can go inside and climb to the top of the horse’s head.

But first, the basement, where there’s a small museum that goes over Chinggis Khan’s life and legacy. If you’ve already been to the many museums I’ve recommended in Ulaanbaatar, there won’t be anything new to learn here, but there is, however, the world’s largest shoes to admire. These traditional Mongolian boots are a whopping nine metres tall!

We ventured up to the viewing platform, which is located on the horse’s mane. From up there, you can really gain a sense of how vast and empty Mongolia is, with little to see but grass and gers.

Back on the ground, it was time to dive into Mongolian culture.

This was a particularly fun part of the tour, with everyone scattering in different directions to try whatever caught their eye.

I ran straight to the archery set-up.

Archery has played an important part in Mongolian culture for centuries, used for hunting and fighting, and showcased every year in the colourful Naadam festival. These days, it’s one of Mongolia’s three traditional sports, along with wrestling and horse racing. Turns out: I’m a natural.

After being handed the surprisingly heavy bow, I positioned the arrow, and attempted to steady my shaking arms. I drew, aimed (sort of) and fired, and the arrow hit the board! Then ricocheted off. I have no idea if that’s good or not, but it was more success than I was expecting.

Before I knew what was happening, I had an enormous hunting eagle perched on my right hand.

To this day, eagles are trained for hunting in western Mongolia, used to track foxes and other small game across the steppes. Beyond hunting, they’re symbols of strength and freedom, which is why they feature so prominently in local festivals and, yes, at tourist stops. What a magnificent animal!

Speaking of animals, if there’s one that rivals the eagle in importance to Mongolian culture, it would have to be the camel.

I’ve rode on camels twice before on my travels — in the Sahara Desert in Morocco and the Thar Desert in India — but the ones in Mongolia are different. They’re Bactrian camels, which I view as proper camels, because they have two humps instead of one! They’re stockier than single-hump camels and better suited for the icy steppe rather than endless sand.

Never fear: they still provide just as uncomfortable a ride as any other camel anywhere else in the world, with all the wobbling, swaying, and jostling you could dream of.

After trying our hands at all the local activities, it was time to head further into the steppe. Our next stop was a visit to a family’s ger, and I couldn’t wait to take a peek inside these iconic homes.

Gers have been used by Mongolian nomads for centuries.

It’s made of a collapsible wooden frame that’s covered in a thick felt, which helps keep out the cold. To my amazement, the entire thing can be packed up and carried on camels or horses whenever families decide to move on, so it’s super-practical for a nomadic existence.

Inside, there’s a central stove for warmth and cooking, and every piece of furniture has a purpose. Beds and low benches line the edges, acting as seating during the day and sleeping spots at night. Cupboards store clothes, blankets, and other essentials. In one corner, there’s often a small altar for offerings and prayers.

The mum of the family motioned for us to come inside, and we gathered in one cosy area, watching as she prepared a snack for us.

Now.

The white, tubular objects you can see on the tray in my photo are called aaruul, and they’re a staple of Mongolian nomadic life.

To make it, you ferment the milk you’ve collected from your camels then boil it to separate the curds and whey. The curds are then shaped into small tubes and placed on top of the ger to dry over several days. You can see the mum putting trays of them on her ger’s roof in my photo of the exterior.

The result is a hard, tangy snack that can last for months, is high in protein and calcium, and helps maintain strong teeth. As somebody who doesn’t usually consume dairy, I took a hesitant bite of one and decided I didn’t need a second.

We were handed a warm cup of airag next: fermented horse milk that’s infamous to travellers in Mongolia. It’s alcoholic, sour, and fizzy, and… challenging to enjoy. I read an alarming amount of stories from fellow travellers who vomited after drinking it!

Its definitely an acquired taste, but when in Mongolia…

Fortunately, we were having more than aaruul and airag for lunch. After bidding the family farewell, we set off for a local roadside restaurant, built inside a gigantic ger. As soon as we stepped inside, the smell of sizzling meat wafted through the air, and I wondered what was in store for us.

They say that nobody travels to Mongolia for the food, and I can tell you that the cuisine is exceptionally bleak, ranging from vital organ soup to grilled marmot that comes with a minor risk of dying of bubonic plague.

We let our guides order for us, and soon enough, our table was piled with a dozen local specialities.

There were noodle dishes, rich stews, rice, and grilled meat. And then there was khuushuur. Deep fried dough wrapped around juicy, spiced mutton, it was easily the best thing I ate in the country. Although as you may have gathered, that isn’t saying much.

Next up: Turtle Rock! We were now inside Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, famous for its dramatic rock formations, dense forests, and wide-open steppe. The park stretches for miles, but Turtle Rock is one of the easiest spots to reach.

To my surprise, it really did look like a turtle.

Our guides led us around the back of the shell and urged us to follow them up. The hike is short but tricky, with narrow chasms that I could barely fit through, uneven ground, and large boulders blocking your way. At one point, I got stuck when I needed to scale a rock as tall as my waist, requiring one person to push me up while someone else tugged on my arms.

Once near the top, the view was worth the struggle. Forest, mountains, and clusters of ger camps stretched out in every direction.

This wasn’t what I expected Mongolia to look like at all. With the trees, mountains, and clean air, you could have told me I was in Switzerland and I wouldn’t have been surprised.

We took turns climbing out on to the rocks and posing for photos, dragging out the experience for as long as possible, partly to delay the treacherous climb back down, and partly because we knew our next stop would be the final one of the day.

The last attraction on our itinerary was Aryabel Temple: a Buddhist meditation centre and temple that’s been carved into the side of the mountain. Back in the 1800s, it was used as a meditation retreat, where monks would climb to caves high in the cliffs and meditate for months or years.

To get there, you’ll need to climb 108 stone steps,

Aryabal Temple is a Buddhist meditation spot that’s been carved into the side of a mountain; to get there, you need to climb 108 stone steps, but the view makes it more than worth it.

The temple is relatively modern, built as a place for meditation and reflection within the beauty of Gorkhi-Terelj National Park. Inside, its walls are painted in bright reds, yellows, blues, and greens, with traditional Buddhist symbols like the wheel of Dharma and lotus flowers to take photos of.

It’s an active site, so you often see monks meditating and locals coming to pray, so it’s important to be respectful when you visit. And don’t forget to turn around and take some photos of the mountain vistas from the top, too! Some of my favourite views of the day trip were from this temple.

And with that, it was time to turn around and spend two hours driving back to Ulaanbaatar, followed by two hours sitting in its traffic.

I highly, highly recommend jumping on this day trip while you’re in the city. Our guides were so much fun, full of facts about the country, and felt like family by the end of the day. We crammed in tons of attractions without feeling rushed, and laughed the whole way around.

Where I Stayed in Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar is far from an expensive city, so accommodation bargains are easy to find.

If you’re travelling to the city as part of a couple, I would wholeheartedly recommend staying at Danista Nomads. The staff were so helpful and friendly, and really made me feel at home while I staying there. A free breakfast is included, which is served inside a ger that has been set up inside the dining room; something I found so delightful!

The internet worked well and I was able to video chat with Dave and watch Youtube without issue. And it was in a decent location, too; around an half-hour walk to Sukhbaatar Square. The rooms were cleaned every day.

Here’s the thing: I had the misfortune of being placed in a terrible room at Danista Nomads. There is one room in the property where, due to some kind of plumbing issue, every time the bathroom was used by a guest, the smell immediately wafted into my room where it would linger for the next half an hour.

Based on other reviews of the hotel there is one room — room 18 — in the property that suffers from this issue, and after I brought this up with the staff after leaving, they told me they fixed the problem.

Sooo, if you are travelling as a couple, this is the place to stay. If you’re travelling solo, maybe request that you’re not placed in room 18, just in case.

And That Was Ulaanbaatar!

When I first touched down in Ulaanbaatar, it felt overwhelming.

This is a city that’s noisy, polluted, and confusing, and walking around it can feel sketchy the vast majority of the time. The streets aren’t set up for exploring, and I definitely had moments of feeling lost and frustrated amongst the concrete blocks and traffic.

But the more time I spent there, the more it started to grow on me. The city has a weird kind of energy, but you get used to it the longer you’re there, and you really do start to warm to it. Wandering through markets, temples, and museums, meeting friendly locals, and seeing the mix of Soviet architecture and modern skyscrapers made me appreciate just how complex this city is.

Ulaanbaatar is far from perfect, and it’s definitely not a polished tourist town, but that’s kind of part of its charm.

If you’re heading to Mongolia, give yourself a couple of days in the capital to see a side of the country away from the steppe. Visit all the museums, wander through the colourful temples, and see if it starts to grow on you.

(My apologies, if it doesn’t.)

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