Mongolia with children: what works and what we change
Mongolia is a surprisingly good family destination and a bad one for the wrong family, and the difference is entirely in how the route is built.
The good version has horses, camels, dinosaur cliffs, sand dunes to run down, a ger with a stove in it and other children in every valley. The bad version is six hours a day in a van on a corrugated track with nothing outside the window and a shared shower block at the end of it.
Here is how we build the first one.
What we change on the route
The first ger night is at Terelj. Ninety minutes from Ulaanbaatar, granite outcrops, meadows, a river, the most comfortable camps in the country and, not incidentally, ninety minutes from a hospital. It is the right place to discover what a ger night is like.
No driving day longer than about five hours, and most much shorter. The adult overland loop has seven and eight hour days in it. A family route does not, which means flying rather than driving to the Gobi and accepting that the middle of the country is for another trip.
A domestic flight, always. Ulaanbaatar to Dalanzadgad and back removes two full driving days each way. On a family trip it is not a luxury, it is the thing that makes the itinerary work. The cost article explains what flights buy.
Camps chosen for the bathroom. Many ger camps have shared shower blocks, with hot water at set hours. With children we route through the camps with private bathrooms in the ger wherever the geography allows, and we tell you plainly on the nights where it does not.
Two nights in the places worth two nights. Packing up a family every morning is the fastest way to ruin a trip.
Our ten day family route is all of that written out day by day.
What genuinely works
The dinosaur cliffs at Bayanzag. Red cliffs where the first identified dinosaur eggs were found in the 1920s. This is the single best sell for a child on a Mongolia trip and it does most of the work of getting them excited about the whole country before you leave home.
The sand dunes. Khongoryn Els runs about 110 miles (180 km) and rises to around 1,000 feet (300 m). The climb up the ridge at sunset is forty minutes of hard work in soft sand, and children generally beat their parents to the top. Then they run down it, repeatedly.
Bactrian camels. Two humps, walking pace, about twenty minutes, which is exactly as much camel as most children want.
Horses. Led rides at camps, on quiet horses, from about age six. Mongolian children ride from far younger and this is the country where a child seeing that lands.
A herder family visit. Milking, animals, the inside of a working ger, and children who will want to play whether or not they share a language. This is consistently the afternoon families talk about afterwards.
The Chinggis Khaan statue at Tsonjin Boldog. A 131 foot (40 m) stainless steel horseman on the way east from the city, with a lift up through the body and out onto the horse’s head. It is exactly as strange as it sounds and children love it.
The National Museum. Armour, arrows and a full ger set up inside. Children get more out of it than adults expect, and it makes the following week legible.
The ger itself. A round tent with a stove someone comes to light. For most children this is the trip.
What does not work
Long track days. The corrugation is relentless and children feel it more than adults. This is the single thing that ruins family trips to Mongolia and it is entirely avoidable by building the route differently.
The far west. Bayan-Olgii is three hours by air, then six to seven hours by 4×4 to reach the good parts, and the accommodation is tents. It is a wonderful trip and it is not a family one.
Multi-day horse treks. Five or six hours a day in a Mongolian saddle is hard on adults. Led rides are the family version.
Expecting infrastructure. There are no playgrounds, no children’s menus and no aquariums. What there is instead is animals, space and other children.
The shoulder months. May and October have limited camps, cold nights and real weather risk. With children we stay inside the season, which runs roughly mid-June to mid-September, and July and August are the practical family window even though early September is our own favourite.
Comfort, cold and the honest bits
Nights are cold in every month. Freezing at night in the Gobi in June is normal. Camp stoves are lit at dusk and go out at around two in the morning, at which point the temperature drops. Bring a fleece, a hat and a sleeping bag liner for each child, and expect somebody to end up in somebody else’s bed.
Bathrooms. Shared blocks are the common arrangement and a short walk in the dark is part of it. A head torch each solves most of this. Where private bathrooms exist we route through them.
Food repeats. Mutton, noodles, potatoes, soup and dumplings. Bread, eggs and jam for breakfast. Most children are fine with this and fussy eaters need reinforcements from home, which is advice we give for Mongolia and almost nowhere else.
Dust. Everywhere, and showers are not always available. Wet wipes are the most useful thing in the bag.
Connectivity. Good in and near towns, absent in the Gobi. Tell family at home before you go, and tell teenagers before you go too.
Medical. Ulaanbaatar has the country’s main hospital. In the countryside your guide is the first call and the nearest town clinic is the second. We keep family routes within reasonable reach of a flight home from the Gobi.
Ages, honestly
Under five. The driving is the obstacle rather than the country. Workable with a very short route based on Terelj and the Orkhon valley, and we would ask whether the year matters.
Six to eleven. The sweet spot. Old enough for the camel, the dune and a led ride, young enough to find a ger and a dinosaur cliff genuinely thrilling.
Twelve and up. Excellent, with more riding, longer walks and a herder family day that teenagers engage with more than they expect to. This is also the age at which the emptiness starts to register as remarkable rather than as boring.
Our wider article on Asia with children sets Mongolia against the alternatives if you are still choosing a country.
Plan this trip
Tell us your children’s ages, your dates and how much driving your family can genuinely tolerate, and one of our Southeast and Central Asia specialists will build a route around that, with the bathroom stated for every night. Free first outline, no obligation.
Keep reading
- Mongolia with children, 10 days
- Mongolia for the first time
- What does a trip to Mongolia really cost?
- The Gobi in detail
- Asia with children
- All our Mongolia trips
Frequently asked questions
Is ten days the right length?
Which is better for children, the Gobi or the Orkhon valley?
Can we all sleep in one ger?
Is Naadam good with children?
Is it safe?
Plan a trip to Mongolia, planned around a season that lasts four months All Mongolia, planned around a season that lasts four months trips
