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Voykit pocket guide · Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar
Улаанбаатар
Ulaanbaatar is a car-and-coat city: do the square and the monastery in the morning, leave two hours for any airport ride, and check the season before you pack — winter is −20 °C and smoggy, summer is short and busy.
Ulaanbaatar's sights are spread over several kilometres of congested roads, on ground that ices over for five months. The city is small enough for one base and four clusters, but every ride takes twice as long at rush hour, the airport is an hour out of town, and cold or smog can cancel an outdoor day. The trips that go wrong assume a 15-minute taxi, arrive at night with a hotel that will not open, or plan an evening at Zaisan in January.
- Country
- Mongolia
- Local name
- Улаанбаатар
- Best months
- May · Jun · Aug · Sep
- Time zone
- Asia/Ulaanbaatar
- Stay
- 2 days: Sukhbaatar Square + Gandan; Zaisan at sunset if clear
Checked 2026-09. Prices, hours and rules change; anything marked (check) is not confirmed.
Essentials
- Currency
- MNT
- Money
- Keep ₮100,000 in small notes; withdraw inside banks or malls, not on dark streets.
- Daily spend
- Budget ₮60,000–120,000 excl. bed · Mid ₮120,000–300,000 excl. bed · High ₮300,000+ excl. bed (estimate; check)
- SIM and data
- Unitel, Mobicom, Skytel and G-Mobile sell prepaid SIMs at the airport and in town; bring your passport to register.
- Emergency
- Police 102 · Ambulance 103 · Fire 101 · Emergency management (disasters) 105
- Plugs
- Types C, E · 230 V · 50 Hz · European round-pin plugs work; UK and US devices need adapters. Ger camps offer charging for a few hours a day.
- Tipping
- Restaurants in Ulaanbaatar: Not expected; round up or leave 5–10% in tourist places if no service charge.; Taxi: Round up.; Driver on a tour: ₮15,000–30,000 per day, given at the end.; Guide on a tour: ₮20,000–40,000 per day, given at the end.; Cook and camp staff: ₮10,000–20,000 per day, pooled.; Nomad family stay: Pay the agreed fee; a small gift (fruit, sweets, photos, tea) is better than extra cash.
- Water
- Not drinkable from the tap. Bottled water is everywhere in towns; in camps, boiled or filtered water — bring a filter bottle for long trips.
- Toilets
- Western toilets in Ulaanbaatar. In ger camps: a shared shower block with flush toilets in better camps, pit latrines in simpler ones. With nomad families and on the road: a long-drop or the open steppe; carry paper and a trowel.
Get in
By air
- Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN)
- UBN to the city: a pre-booked car or hotel transfer to the door, 60–90 minutes; the airport is about 50 km out, many flights land at night, and the risk is not the ride but a hotel that does not open its door at 03:00.
Get around
Walk inside a cluster; taxi or ride-hailing car between clusters.
- Passes
- No pass. Ride-hailing shows the fare in advance; agree the fare before you get into an unmarked car.
- Late at night
- No metro; taxis run late, but availability drops in heavy snow and on holidays.
See and do
01Gandan MonasteryГандантэгчинлэн хийд
Go in the morning, ideally during prayers; 60–90 minutes on foot around the temples; a working monastery, so dress covered and ask before photos.
02Zaisan MemorialЗайсан толгой
Go on a clear late afternoon: taxi to the foot, 300 steps up, 45 minutes at the top; skip it in ice, snow or heavy smog.
Hours and prices are desk estimates (checked 2026-09); anything marked (check) is not confirmed. Coordinates open in any map app.
Eat
- Guanz (canteen) lunch — buuz and khuushuur
- Walk-in canteen lunch of steamed buuz, fried khuushuur or tsuivan; go before 12:00 or after 14:00; cash only in most places.
Sleep
- South side (Bogd Khan Mountain view)
- Quieter nights near the Bogd Khan Palace and Zaisan; you pay with a 20–30 minute ride to the square in traffic.
- Sukhbaatar Square area
- First nights: hotels with 24h desks, museums and restaurants on foot; noisy, and traffic-choked at 17:00–20:00.
Language
Mongolian is written in Cyrillic with two extra letters (Ө ө, Ү ү); the traditional vertical script appears on signs and banknotes. English is common among younger people in Ulaanbaatar and tour staff, rare in the countryside. Russian still works with many over-40s. A handful of phrases earn a lot of goodwill.
- Hello: Сайн байна уу (sain baina uu). Reply: Сайн (sain).
- Thank you: Баярлалаа (bayarlalaa). Yes / no: Тийм (tiim) / Үгүй (ügüi).
- How much? Хэд вэ? (khed ve?). Goodbye: Баяртай (bayartai).
- Hold the dogs!: Нохойгоо хориорой (nokhoigoo khorioroi) — called out as you approach a ger.
- I don't understand: Би ойлгохгүй байна (bi oilgokhgüi baina). Toilet: Жорлон (jorlon).
Etiquette, safety and scams
Etiquette
- Entering a ger: Call 'Nokhoi khorio' from a distance, enter right foot first without knocking, move clockwise to the left (west) side; avoid: Stepping on the threshold, walking between the two pillars, turning your back to the altar
- Offered food or drink: Receive with the right hand (left hand supporting the elbow), taste a little; avoid: Refusing outright or taking with the left hand only
- Snuff bottle exchange: When a man offers his snuff bottle, take it with the right hand, open slightly, sniff and hand it back; avoid: Taking snuff if you do not want it — just smell the cap
- Feet and knocks: If you step on someone's foot, shake their hand straight away; avoid: Leaving the touch unacknowledged — it is seen as the start of a quarrel
- Fire and stove: Treat the stove as sacred; avoid: Throwing rubbish into the fire or pointing your feet at it
- Hats: Hold a hat by the crown, remove it inside; avoid: Stepping over or throwing a hat
- Guests and gifts: Bring small gifts (fruit, sweets, vodka for elders, photos of your family) to a nomad family; avoid: Handing out sweets to children on the roadside
- Leaving: Keep goodbyes short; your guide will lead them; avoid: Whistling inside a ger
Red lines
- Gandan and other temples: no photos inside without asking; walk clockwise round the prayer wheels.
- Do not photograph soldiers, police or government buildings.
- Do not step on the threshold of a ger or temple door.
Scams (Mongolia page)
- Unlicensed tour 'agents': Book with a registered operator with reviews and a written itinerary; pay the balance in stages, not all up front.
- Extra 'fuel' and 'road' charges mid-trip: Get fuel, driver's meals, camp fees and park tickets written into the quote; a confirmed price is the price.
- Airport taxi overcharge: Use the official taxi desk or a hotel transfer; agree the fare before loading bags.
- Pickpockets and bag slashers: Front pockets, zipped bags; carry a copy of your passport, not the original, around the market.
- Fake Naadam tickets: Buy through your hotel, tour operator or official outlets.
- Street money changers: Change at banks or licensed exchange counters; counterfeit notes and short counts happen.
One and two days
1 day
The first day of the timed plan.
Day 1 — Sukhbaatar Square, Choijin Temple, a 12:30 lunch table
- 09:30Sukhbaatar Square area
- choijin lama temple (optional)
- 12:30Lunch table 12:30 (Sukhbaatar Square)
- Hotel or a warm café 13:30–16:00; museums are a wet-day fallback.
2 days
The first two days of the timed plan.
Day 1 — Sukhbaatar Square, Choijin Temple, a 12:30 lunch table
- 09:30Sukhbaatar Square area
- choijin lama temple (optional)
- 12:30Lunch table 12:30 (Sukhbaatar Square)
- Hotel or a warm café 13:30–16:00; museums are a wet-day fallback.
Day 2 — Gandan Monastery, then the Bogd Khan Palace Museum
- 09:00Gandan Monastery
- Bogd Khan Palace Museum (optional)
- Late afternoon: guanz supper near the square.
Sources
Written by Voykit; facts cross-checked against these sources, last desk check 2026-09. Prices, hours and rules change: check on the day.
- Mongolia National Tourism Organization: www.mongolia.travel/
- Wikivoyage — Ulaanbaatar: en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Ulaanbaatar
Pocket card
Cut along the border and keep it in your wallet. Show the local-script lines to a driver.
Printed from Voykit (/ulaanbaatar). Written by Voykit; checked 2026-09. Estimates only: confirm prices, hours and entry rules on the day.