How To Spend 1 Day In Mongolia (Travel Itinerary)

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If you solely have in the future in Mongolia, how do you have to spend it? What are the very best issues to see and do close to Ulaanbaatar?

I confronted this query just lately after I had a really brief keep within the nation after touring in China. Don’t get me flawed, I wished to see extra of Mongolia, but it surely’s a giant nation and also you want loads of time to actually do it justice.

I made a decision to hitch a tour group for the day, and we visited the Genghis Khan statue, ate lunch in a conventional yurt with a nomad, noticed the Terelj National Park, and did another good actions within the Ulaanbaatar space.

It was a day effectively spent, and we achieved fairly a little bit of sightseeing for such a brief period of time. Read on for a full writeup of my expertise!

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It included transportation, lunch, and a useful English-speaking native information who defined the historical past and different issues as we went. They even have 3 day excursions of Mongolia should you plan to remain longer within the nation.

I’ve used this firm for plenty of excursions and actions around the globe, they usually’re nice. Highly advisable!

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How I Spent One Day In Mongolia

• Genghis Khan Statue

We began by visiting the enormous statue of Genghis Khan exterior Ulaanbaatar.

It’s a 1 hour drive from town, the place our information picked us up, however the roads aren’t dangerous and we have been in a snug van, so we didn’t thoughts.

This is the nation’s most well-known landmark, and it’s additionally the most important equestrian (horse driving) statue on the earth.

The stainless-steel statue was completed in 2008, and it’s 40 meters tall (130+ ft). It sits on high of a customer heart that has a small museum, cafe, and reward store.

First we went to the basement, the place our information talked concerning the historical past of the Mongol empire and confirmed us some artifacts, together with just a few weapons and a golden ‘paiza’ (diplomatic passport utilized by the Mongol officers).

       
 
Next, we went to the highest of the statue to see Genghis up shut.

Normally there’s an elevator you’ll be able to experience to the highest, but it surely was damaged after I was there, so we needed to climb a bunch of very slim flights of stairs as a substitute.

The high has good views of the rolling plains, plus the face of the good Khan, however there’s solely a restricted quantity of house the place you’ll be able to stand, so it will get very crowded throughout the day. I might barely transfer up there.

This was one in all my solely gripes concerning the tour. We might’ve prevented the worst crowds by going to the highest of the statue first, after which doing the historical past lesson within the basement afterwards.

It wasn’t a giant deal, however I hope they’ll regulate their itinerary to take this into consideration. Learn from our mistake should you can!

Before leaving the statue advanced, there was a fowl handler exterior who allow us to maintain a steppe eagle. They’re educated and utilized by the native hunters. Cool!

Our information inspired us to do that because it was included free of charge as a part of our tour. There wasn’t any cost they usually didn’t ask for a tip.

They additionally gave us a chance to experience camels, however I’ve already accomplished that in different nations, so I handed.

       

 

• Lunch In A Yurt

After seeing the statue, we stopped at a close-by yurt (conventional tent home) owned by a nomad, and sampled some yak cheese and cream, which was good.

This man was quiet, but it surely seems he really was a nationwide horse driving champion in Mongolia, which was cool. He had every kind of medals hanging on his partitions.

For lunch, we moved to a different yurt and ate Mongolian meals (primarily mutton), which was nice. This was included with the tour and it was very filling.

 

• Gorkhi Terelj National Park

Our subsequent cease was Terelj National Park. It’s a 1 hour drive from the statue, or barely farther from Ulaanbaatar. This time there was a bumpy gravel street a part of the best way there.

Here, we did a brief hike to the highest of Turtle Rock, which concerned climbing some rocks and squeezing by means of just a few crevices. It was enjoyable and never too laborious for anybody within the group.

As you would possibly guess from the identify, this big rock received its identify from the form. Looking at it from the east aspect, it seems identical to a turtle.

       

Terelj appeared like a pleasant park, however I used to be upset by the widespread growth contained in the park.

It appeared like there was new development occurring in every single place, and it form of detracted from the pure magnificence.

Since it’s a nationwide park, I hope the Mongolian authorities will take higher care of it.

 

• Aryapala Monastery

For our final cease, we went to see Aryapala, a Buddhist temple from the 1800s.

It’s within the hills of the nationwide park, only a 10 minute drive from Turtle Rock, but it surely was the bumpiest street we had all day.

You have to climb a bunch of stairs to succeed in the highest, after which you’ll be able to take pleasure in a pleasant view of the entire valley.

It was peaceable there, and appeared like a great way to complete our in the future tour of Mongolia.

 

Final Thoughts

Overall, I believe this tour was a fairly good introduction to Mongolia and some of the very best sights close to Ulaanbaatar.

In simply in the future, you received’t have time to see the Gobi desert, or actually get misplaced within the nation, but it surely was nonetheless attention-grabbing and gave me a greater really feel for the tradition and landscapes.

I had an excellent expertise in Mongolia, and I hope I can come again once more sometime to get deeper into the countryside.

If you need to e book the identical tour I used, you are able to do that right here.

 

More Asia Travel Guides

Thanks for wanting! I hope you loved this in the future itinerary for Mongolia.

Don’t neglect to take a look at my different Asia journey guides earlier than you go! This continent is my second dwelling and it has so many nice issues to see and do.