We decided to have our first full-day trip be a guided tour in Mongolia. After doing some research on what to do in Mongolia this became the best option. Usually when we visit countries we plan and guide ourselves. If you’re only staying inside Ulaanbaatar, you can get away with not having a guide. However, if you are leaving the city limits Mongolia is a country where you need a tour guide because of how vast and sparse the land is.
Booking a Guided Tour
We decided to go through Get Your Guide after seeing some good reviews. We booked the Genghis Khan Statue & Terelj National Park tour provided by Amazing Mongolia LLC, no affiliation. It includes location pick-up if you’re in Ulaanbaatar.
Our guide arrived around 8 a.m. and we picked up another couple and were on our way. Usually, the maximum for tour groups is 4-5 people. Our guide told us that tourism in Mongolia gets very busy in the summer, so if you want to go on one of these tours make sure you book in advance.
Driving in Mongolia
Mongolia is the most sparsely populated country in Asia and the least dense country in the world excluding island nations. As soon as you leave Ulaanbaatar, you are in open countryside for hundreds of miles in most directions. There are occasional small villages, but there are no cities in Mongolia aside from Ulaanbaatar.
Driving in this country feels intense and unlike anywhere else. To get to all of these destinations we had to drive on small and unmarked roads through the snow. This is one of the reasons we recommend booking a guide, rather than driving on your own.
Chinggis Khaan Statue
Our first stop was the Chinggis Khaan Statue. This is by far the most popular stop for a guided tour in Mongolia. We started by taking some pictures outside. Fortunately, our guide took pictures on his DSLR and he got plenty of amazing shots, which he sent a day after the tour. After being in the -1°F (-17°C) temps we went inside the museum. Inside is a multi-story traditional Mongolian boot. Since it was Lunar New Year, there was a ger set up with traditional Mongolian snacks to try.
In the basement of the museum, there are maps showing where the Mongolians historically conquered, ancient Mongolian artifacts, and displays. As I said, I strongly recommend getting a guided tour so you can grasp the history since most of the museum is only in Mongolian.
If you take the elevator or the stairs you can get to the top floor of the museum, which is the mane of the horse Chinggis Khan is riding. It has a great view of the outside and of the statue’s face. He is pointing towards the direction of China, symbolizing their ancient rivalry.
Around the museum, there are vendors that offer camel riding, holding an eagle, and interacting with reindeer. We decided to give it a try because the fee is included in the tour The vendors were super friendly and took pictures with us. One even let us Facetime their daughter to say hi!
Horse Riding
On our way to Gorkhi Terelj National Park, we stopped on the roadside where a local rancher was keeping his horse herd. In Mongolia, many people own horses, and every person learns to ride a horse from a young age. This was Yemisi’s first time on a horse, and she did great! I have ridden horses before because it’s common in Indiana, so I had no problems. I rode around the ranch at a quick canter. As you can see, Mongolian horses have small simple saddles and small stirrups, I was holding on for dear life! Unfortunately, there isn’t a video, but it was a super fun time nonetheless.
Mongolian Food
Food in Mongolia is tricky. If you’re travelling here there’s a good chance you will want to try traditional Mongolian food. Mongolian food is very fermented and in our experience, it is challenging for Western stomachs, and we are not picky at all. Since we booked a guided tour in Mongolia we got around it because he explained all of the food to us.
We spent around 3 hours at the museum and were getting hungry. Our guide was planning to take us to some amazing food stands that have traditional Mongolian food. But due to the Lunar Holiday, they were all closed. But on any other day, you can expect to get some delicious traditional Mongolian food here. After trying a few stalls we decided to go closer to our next destination, Gorkhi Terelj National Park to see Turtle Rock. Our tour guide walked into the restaurant nearby and they were closed for the Lunar Holiday. Thankfully they took pity on us and told us they could only make four things. AND LET ME TELL YOU, It was so good! We didn’t even have the chance to ask what the dishes were because we were so hungry. We devoured it.
Turtle Rock
Across the street from the restaurant is Turtle Rock, so-named due to its resemblance to a turtle of course. Our tour guide told us you can hike up to see a view from on top. He asked us if we wanted to try the hike and of course, we never pass up a good hike! Since it was winter it was icy and we went slow. At some points, we had to push our bodies through tight holes in the rock. After five minutes of climbing, we realized we couldn’t fit through one of the holes with our winter gear. We learned the hard way because our tour guide got stuck in one of the openings in the rock! Luckily I was able to pull him out and no one got hurt, at least it made for a great story.
The view from Turtle Rock is amazing. The surrounding mountain range and valley was a serene landscape, with lots of opportunities for pictures. I recommend hiking up as far as you can to see the view and just sit in the nature.
It is possible to reach the top of Turtle Rock, but even if you do not get up to the top the view is amazing halfway up. Most of our photos were taken in an area that anybody of reasonable health should be able to reach. If you visit in the winter you can slide down as well.
Aryabal Temple
The last stop on the tour was Aryabal Temple a bit further into the park. This is a beautiful monastery on the foot of the mountain at the end of the valley. Even though it was 5°F we surprisingly felt warm due to the uphill walk, so we decided to open our jackets.
It’s about a 20-minute walk from the parking lot to see the inside of the temple. There was a zipline that was not functioning because as our tour guide said “monks aren’t the greatest builders” but it was a great view over the end of the valley. The temple itself was beautiful on the inside, and I think the winter weather enhanced the atmosphere of this location.
Our tour finished around 6 p.m. and we had a lovely sunset drive back to our Airbnb which was in a ger. I’ll address the ger in the next post.
Final Thoughts
We recommend going with Amazing Mongolia LLC (again no affiliation!) if you’re looking for a guided tour in Mongolia. Our guide was so funny and informative and was very passionate about his job. The only way to get to these locations is by car, and even if you’re able to rent one, having the resource of someone who can read and speak Mongolian and knows the history well. Because Mongolia is so sparse and rural, having someone who knows the countryside well is important. Aside from some attractions local to Ulaanbaatar, These attractions are some of the main ones in the country, so more so than most other countries we strongly recommend a guided tour.
Check out our Travel Diary
We had an amazing day tour, thanks to our great guide, beautiful weather, and awesome locations. These are must-do locations in Mongolia. The views of the statue and the countryside are so lovely in winter, and we can only imagine they’re just as gorgeous in the summer.