Ulaanbaatar is the trailhead. Everything good is a drive from here.
Whether the Genghis Khan statue and Terelj really fit into one day. What a Gobi run costs once you count the nights. Reviews of every tour you can book in Mongolia.
Four bookings that decide the shape of a Mongolian week.
One day out, two days to the near sand, three across the central steppe, and a morning in the saddle. What each costs, and what the travellers who took it say.
01The one-day versionGenghis Khan Statue NationalPark CamelRideThe statue, a national park and a camel in one run. More travellers take this than anything else in the country.
02Two days, sand and ruinsSemi Gobi and Ancient Kharkhorin TourSemi-Gobi dunes and the old imperial capital on the same road. The short way to see sand without giving up a week.
03The three-day runCentral Mongolia Guided 3-Day TourAcross the central steppe with the nights in ger camps. Long hours in the vehicle, and the part people come back for.
04A morning on a horseHorseback Riding Tour to Turtle Rock & AryabalOut to Turtle Rock and up to the Aryabal temple on a Mongolian horse. Short, cheap, and the thing you will actually describe at home.
The statue, Terelj and the wild-horse park are each a morning from Ulaanbaatar.
Almost everyone gets one clear day before the long drives start. Three ways to spend it, what each costs to board, and how far east or west of the city it takes you.
The Gobi and the central steppe are measured in nights, not hours.
Past the city ring road the distances stop being negotiable. The sand is a full day of driving before you see a dune, and Kharkhorin and the central steppe fill three days to five. These are the runs travellers rate highest.
- 1Central Mongolia Guided 3-Day Tourfrom $400
- 2Small Group 3-Day Best of Central Mongolia Tourfrom $425
- 3Semi Gobi and Ancient Kharkhorin Tourfrom $270
In Mongolia the question is not what to see. It is how many nights you can give it.
Distance does the pricing here, and the jump between one rung and the next is steep. Each extra night on the road buys a different part of the country. Here is what each length actually reaches.
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Three days from $400 The central steppe loop, where the driving and the grassland start to make sense. See the full list → -
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Four days and up from $500 The deep Gobi, and the runs where most of the daylight is spent moving. See the full list →
Mongolia’s most popular days out.
Every tour in Mongolia →The trips more travellers take than anything else in the country, and what earns each of them the slot.
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Genghis Khan Statue NationalPark CamelRide
Review of Ulaanbaatar’s Genghis Khan statue and Terelj day tour, with camel riding, eagle photos, lunch in a ger, and practical tips.
From · $86
Read our review →
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Genghis Khan Statue Day Tour+National Park+Camel Ride+Eagle
from $49
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Central Mongolia Guided 3-Day Tour
from $400
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Small Group 3-Day Best of Central Mongolia Tour
from $425
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Terelj national park transport /Best price tour
from $36
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Chinggis Khaan Statue and Turtle Rock Day Tour
from $59
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Semi Gobi and Ancient Kharkhorin Tour
from $270
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Genghis Khan Tour – Mongolia’s #1 Daily Escape
from $49
Six places the road out of Ulaanbaatar actually reaches.
A national park an hour east, a forty-metre statue above the Tuul, wild horses to the west, the old imperial capital, and the sand. Six starting points, and the best day out in each.
Much of Mongolia still moves with the seasons.
A large share of the country lives in gers and follows the grazing, and most of these trips put you inside one for a night. Horses broken for work rather than for visitors, a camel string on the dunes, and a golden eagle sitting on somebody’s forearm.
Three things Mongolia has that nowhere else does.
Grassland and desert are common enough. A horse species that was extinct in the wild, the largest equestrian statue on earth and the grass over Genghis Khan’s capital are not.
The Takhi of Hustai
Przewalski’s horse went extinct in the wild in the 1960s and survived only in zoos. Hustai took the first of them back onto Mongolian grass in 1992, and the herd there now runs into the hundreds. They were never domesticated and never have been ridden, which makes them the only genuinely wild horses left anywhere. Late afternoon, when they come down towards the water, is the hour worth timing a visit for.
- 1Day tour to Hustai national park★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 22 reviews
- 2Day Trip to Hustai National Park★★★★★★★★★★ 3.8 · 21 reviews
- 3Day Tour of Hustai National Park★★★★★★★★★★ 3.0 · 18 reviews
The Statue at Tsonjin Boldog
It stands on the bank of the Tuul about an hour east of the city, at the spot where the story puts him finding a golden whip. Two hundred and fifty tonnes of stainless steel, facing east towards his birthplace, with a lift inside the body that puts you out on the horse’s mane looking back at the head. Nearly every day trip out of Ulaanbaatar stops here first, which is why the early departures are worth the alarm.
- 1Genghis Khan Statue NationalPark CamelRide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 353 reviews
- 2Genghis Khan Statue Day Tour+National Park+Camel Ride+Eagle★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 261 reviews
- 3Chinggis Khaan Statue and Turtle Rock Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 132 reviews
Karakorum and Erdene Zuu
The Mongol capital was built here in the 1230s and held the court for only a few decades before it moved south to Beijing. What is left of it sits under grass and a few stone tortoises. The monastery raised beside it in 1586 used the ruins for stone, and its wall carries one hundred and eight stupas. It is a long day from the city, or a night in Kharkhorin and a slower look.
- 1Semi Gobi and Ancient Kharkhorin Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 114 reviews
- 22-Days Tour to Kharhorin and sand Semi Gobi★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 17 reviews
- 3Semi-Gobi and Kharkhorum overnight private trip★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 14 reviews
Ulaanbaatar, Terelj, Kharkhorin, the Gobi: the loop most first trips make.
Ulaanbaatar
KharkhorinBy place — the city, and what the road reaches
By kind of day — saddle, dune, monastery or road
The newest Mongolia tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Terelj ,Khar khorum ,Horse ride , Camel ride , Monastery
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Guided Day Tour Terelj National Park Chinggis Khaan Statue
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Terelj National Park & Chinggis Khan Statue Day Tour
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6 Days Gobi Desert Tour with complimentary airport pickup
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Terelj and World energy center Gobi overnight train tour
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Ulaanbaatar Signature Tour – Mongolia’s Capital in One Day
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2 Days Tour: Terelj National Park And Chinggis Statue
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