Mongolia travel tips

4 guides in Mongolia — when to go, how to get around, which ATMs not to use, and what a fair price looks like.

The Khongor sand dunes of the Gobi under a clear sky

Gobi DesertMongoliaSand dunes that sing, flaming red cliffs full of dinosaur eggs, an ice canyon in the desert, and a week in a 4x4 between them

Gers on the hillside above Ulaanbaatar, the city in the haze below

UlaanbaatarMongoliaThe coldest capital on earth, half of it gers on the hillsides, a monastery that survived the purges, and the only city in a country of horses

Lake Khövsgöl from above, larch forest along the shore and the water blue-green

Lake KhövsgölMongoliaA lake with two per cent of the world’s fresh water, larch forest to the shore, reindeer herders in the taiga behind, and no road round it

Gers on the meadow by the river in Terelj National Park

TereljMongoliaThe steppe an hour from the capital: granite tors, a turtle rock, a monastery up a hillside, and a ger to sleep in with horses outside