Mongolia, planned around a season that lasts four months
Ten days is the number that works for a first visit. Fourteen adds the western Gobi or the far north. Twenty-one reaches the Altai and the Kazakh eagle hunters, which is the trip most people who research Mongolia end up wanting.
Plan my Mongolia trip Read the complete guide
- Best time to go
- Mid-June to mid-September
- Worst time to go
- November to April
- How many days
- 10 to 14, or 21 for the far west
- Entry
- Visa-free or e-visa for many nationalities
The first thing to understand is the calendar. Mongolia’s travelling season runs roughly from June to September. Outside it the ger camps close, the domestic flights thin out, the roads freeze or turn to mud, and most of what you have read about is not available. That is the shape of the year, not a soft recommendation.
The second thing is how we run it. Mongolia is not one of our own offices. We work there through a long-standing local partner whose guides and drivers we know by name. Our own offices are in Japan, Vietnam, India and the Philippines, and we would rather say that plainly than imply a presence we do not have.
Why plan Mongolia with us
A specialist who knows the country. Your Mongolia trip is written by Osnat Angerman or Paz Prosianoy, our Southeast and Central Asia specialists, working with our partner in Ulaanbaatar. One named person owns your file.
A partner, not a booking engine. Our partner supplies the drivers, the guides and the camp relationships. We choose the camps and the routing ourselves, and we have driven them.
We describe the camps honestly. Which nights have a shared shower block, which have a bathroom in the ger, which have neither. That single paragraph in a proposal is the one most clients tell us mattered. The first proposal is free and it carries real drive hours, real road surfaces and real camp names.
A WhatsApp group while you travel. Your specialist here and our partner’s operations team there, network permitting, which in the Gobi it often is not.
The short answers
| Question | Short answer | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Best time to go | Mid-June to mid-September | July and August are warmest and busiest. Early September is our own preference: cool, clear, and the camps are quiet. |
| Worst time to go | November to April | Camps shut, roads freeze and Ulaanbaatar is one of the coldest capitals on earth. A winter trip is a different, specialist product. |
| How many days | 10 to 14, or 21 for the far west | Under 8 means Ulaanbaatar, Terelj and one other thing. |
| Entry | Visa-free or e-visa for many nationalities | Rules changed recently and differ by passport. We confirm yours before quoting. |
| Getting around | Russian van or 4×4, plus domestic flights on long routes | Outside the paved corridors there are tracks rather than roads. Six to eight hours in a vehicle is a normal day. |
| Naadam | 11 to 13 July | The national festival. It fills every bed in the country and prices rise accordingly. |
| Typical budget | $150 to $650 per person per day | Land only, excluding international flights. |
The full breakdown is in our complete guide →
Eight ways to travel Mongolia
Every route below is a real itinerary we build, published day by day with honest drive hours. Start from one and we will rebuild it around you.
- Classic Mongolia in 10 days, Ulaanbaatar, Kharkhorin and the Gobi
- Mongolia with children, 10 days, shorter drives, horses and a herder family
- The Altai and horse trekking, 14 days, glaciers, lakes and five days in the saddle
- Romantic Mongolia, 9 days, two camps, a private ger and very few people
- Naadam and culture, 11 days, the festival, the countryside version, and the steppe
- Boutique ger camps, 10 days, the camps with proper bathrooms, valley by valley
- Gobi and central Mongolia, 14 days, dunes, cliffs, volcanoes and a lake
- Mongolia in 21 days, the far west and the Kazakh eagle hunters
Mongolia in the magazine
What a ger camp is actually like · Mongolia month by month · Naadam, and whether to plan around it · How much does a Mongolia trip cost? · The eagle hunters of Bayan-Olgii · Driving distances in Mongolia
Mongolia itineraries
Every one of these is a starting point, not a fixed departure. We change the length, the pace and the hotels to fit you.
Classic Mongolia in 10 days: Ulaanbaatar, Kharkhorin and the Gobi
The first-visit route. A day and a half in the capital, the old Mongol capital at Kharkhorin and the Orkhon valley behind it, then…
Mongolia with children in 10 days
Mongolia is one of the best countries in Asia for children and one of the worst for a badly built itinerary with children. The…
Adventure Mongolia: the Altai and five days on horseback, in 14 days
The far west of Mongolia is a different country from the steppe most people picture. Bayan-Olgii province is Kazakh rather than Mongol, Muslim rather…
Romantic Mongolia in 9 days
Mongolia is not a conventional honeymoon country and it is a very good one for a particular kind of couple. What it offers is…
Culture and Naadam: Mongolia in 11 days
Naadam is the Mongolian national festival, held on 11 to 13 July, built around what Mongolians call the three manly games: wrestling, horse racing…
Boutique Mongolia: 10 days in the best ger camps
Mongolia has a very flat hotel market outside Ulaanbaatar. Most tourist ger camps are close to identical: a ring of gers, a dining hall,…
Gobi and central Mongolia in 14 days
The overland loop. South from Ulaanbaatar into the Gobi, west along the desert to the dunes, then north out of the sand into the…
Mongolia in 21 days: the Gobi, the north and the eagle hunters of the far west
Three weeks is what Mongolia actually asks for. It is the only length that reaches all four of the countries inside it: the Gobi…
What is in every Mongolia trip we build
- A day-by-day document with real drive hours and real road surfaces, not distances
- An honest description of every camp, including where the bathroom is
- Domestic flights booked early, because schedules are thin and the baggage allowance is small
- English-speaking Mongolian guides we use repeatedly, and drivers who can fix their own vehicle
- Contingency around weather and domestic flight changes, which are routine
- Our partner's operations team reachable while you travel, network permitting
Planning Mongolia, in detail
What we would skip in Mongolia
In Mongolia, a bad decision costs you a day in a vehicle. Not an hour, not a wasted morning: a full day…
What to eat in Mongolia, honestly
Mongolia is the one country in our library where we tell people to bring snacks, and we would rather explain why than…
The Gobi in detail: what is actually out there
The first thing to say about the Gobi is that it is not sand. For the great majority of its area it…
What does a trip to Mongolia really cost?
Mongolia is cheaper than most people expect and priced in a way that surprises them. The hotel line, which dominates a budget…
Mongolia for the first time: what surprises people
Mongolia is the emptiest country on earth by population density and that emptiness is the whole appeal. It is also the whole…
Mongolia month by month: a season that lasts four months
Most destinations have a best time to go. Mongolia has a season, and outside it most of what you have read about…
Frequently asked questions
Do the ger camps have bathrooms?
How bad are the roads?
Is Mongolia possible outside summer?
Should we go for Naadam?
Do we need a visa?
Tell us roughly what you want. We will tell you honestly what works.
A named consultant in Tel Aviv, our own people on the ground, and a written plan you can argue with before you commit to anything.