Things to do in Mongolia: 10 you can’t miss

Mongolia is beautiful, but... what are the best things to do in Mongolia? Here are our top 10 favorites:
 

Things to do in Mongolia: take a look!

1. Explore the capital

Ulaanbaatar is Mongolia’s only real city. It’s definitely worth a visit! Its architecture is a tangle of crumbling Soviet-era apartment blocks, ghetto-like districts, and gleaming Chinese skyscrapers. It has changed a lot in recent years, and it’s even home to one of the best LEGO stores in the world (who would have thought?). 
 

2. Go dinosaur hunting

At the Natural History Museum in Ulaanbaatar, you can find incredible dinosaur fossils. One of the most famous specimens is the “terrible hand,” with claws over 30 centimeters long. Until recently, the creature those claws belonged to was one of paleontology’s unsolved mysteries. The arms were discovered in 1960 in the southern Gobi Desert in Mongolia, but the full body wasn’t found until 2014.

3. Try boodog

In Ulaanbaatar you can eat just about anything, from Asian food to fast food. But once you leave the capital, things change! Mongolians love meat-based meals, especially marmot meat. We know, for those of us used to thinking of cute alpine marmots, it may not sound ideal. But this traditional dish, called boodog, is prepared according to the rituals of the nomadic people.
 

4. Meet Genghis Khan

We all know Genghis Khan (more or less). He was Mongolia’s fiercest warrior! Today, his name has become a brand for energy drinks, cigars, vodka, and hotels. The region associated with Genghis Khan, father and almost a deity to the Mongolian people, is in Khentii, where you’ll find not only evocative places but also fascinating Siberian-style landscapes.
 

5. Travel by UAZ

You can’t say you’ve really been to Mongolia unless you travel in a UAZ, a wonderfully quirky and iconic Soviet post-war van used by Mongolians to cross the steppe and the desert.
 

6. Sleep in a ger

Getting direct contact with the people of the steppe and the desert is something you have to experience. But a handshake isn’t enough! To truly immerse yourself in Mongolian culture, you have to sleep in a ger (or yurt), the nomads’ traditional home and an integral part of the Mongolian landscape. Even in Ulaanbaatar, more than 200,000 people still live in their own tent. 

7. See breathtaking landscapes

Mongolia is one of the least densely populated countries on Earth! And since there are so few people and buildings, there is plenty of nature and scenery. One of the best things to do is lose yourself—ideally only with your eyes—in the endless expanses of grasslands and horizons.

8. Watch the stars in the Gobi Desert

Among the things to do in Mongolia, this is our absolute favorite: stargazing in the Gobi Desert! The desert is a much more welcoming place than you might think, at least in some areas. Once you’ve seen the endless sea of stars in the Gobi Desert, you’ll understand what absolute peace feels like.

9. See the Flaming Cliffs and White Lake

The Flaming Cliffs look like a miniature version of the Grand Canyon: intensely red and spectacular. Then there’s White Lake too: it’s not actually white, but it is definitely a lake! And it’s spectacular as well.

10. Take a dip in natural pools

More precisely, at Tsenkher Hot Springs. In Mongolian, Tsenkher means: “arriving at an amazing place near a camp of Mongolian tents, where there is a river of hot thermal water, and where you can relax and wash.” Incredible that all of that fits into just one word.

10 + 1. A spiritual experience

Erdene Zuu Monastery, Mongolia’s most important Buddhist site, was built using the ruins of Genghis Khan’s capital, Karakorum. Here, and at the wonderful Amarbayasgalant (“Monastery of Tranquil Felicity”), as in many other Buddhist monasteries, you can attend the monks’ morning religious ceremonies every day. 

If you liked at least 5 of these, take a look at this MONGOLIA ADVENTURE TRIP! Otherwise, maybe not.