Mongolia holidays

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• Overview
• Country info
• Holiday ideas
• Holiday offers

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Destinations » Far East holidays » Mongolia holidays

In 1220, Genghis Khan built the capital of his Mongol empire at Karakorum. Visitors including Marco Polo marvelled at its grandeur, but just 40 years later Kublai Khan moved the Mongol capital to Beijing - which is still a major capital

Taken from The Traveller's Handbook.

Mongolia holiday experts at WEXAS will tailor-make all aspects of your itinerary to create a Mongolia holiday, personal to you.

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Mongolia tailor-made holiday highlights

The Naadam
The biggest event of the year for visitors to Mongolia and locals, this colourful annual event is a fascinating occasion of sporting prowess on the field and excessive drinking off of it. Normally held around 11-13 July, it's all based around the three 'manly' sports of wrestling, horseracing and archery. These disciplines have been central to Mongol life since before the days of Genghis Khan. The main celebration takes place in Ulaanbaatar, but smaller festivities occur in some centres close to the capital, enabling people to attend both local and national events.

Ulaanbaatar
The country's political, commercial and cultural centre. Home to a quarter of the country's population, the capital has some atmospheric Buddhist temple museums and the still-functioning Gandan Monastery. The city's museums, especially the Museum of Natural History, with its fine collection of dinosaur skeletons, are well worth a look.

Gobi Desert
Arid expanse, home to rare animals, such as Bactrian wild camels, snow leopards, Prezwalksy horses and Gobi bears. If you're more interested in extinct species than live ones, it's also a great place for finding dinosaur bones.

The Steppe
Ride horses across the grass plains by day, then sleep overnight in a traditional canvas yurt as nomadic Mongols have for centuries.

Karakorum
Ruins mark the site of the capital of the Great Mongol Empire of the thirteenth century capital.

People & place

Mongolia facts

Capital: Ulan Bator
Language: Khalkha Mongol (90%), Turkic, Russian
People: Mongol, mostly Khalkha (94.9%), Turkic, mostly Kazakh, Chinese and Russian minorities.
Religion: Buddhist Lamaist, Shamanist and Christian, Muslim.
Size (sq km): 1,564,116.
Population: 2,996,081.
Population density/sq km: 1.9.

Etiquette

Visitors should respect local customs. Photography is not permitted in temples and monasteries, while in some places fees for photography may be payable.

Shopping

Pictures, cashmere garments, camel-wool blankets, boots, jewellery, carpets, books, handicrafts.

Food & drink

Meat based diet, with plenty of, horse, yak and camel meat, mutton and beef. A notable speciality is boodog, a whole goat filled with burning stones and roasted from the inside. Mongolian vodka and beer is excellent. Mongolian tea, suutei tsai (salty tea, with milk), is very popular.

International Airports

Ulaanbaatar - Buyant Ukha (ULN) 15 km from the city.

Internal travel

Internal flights are recommended for travel to remote regions. Limited rail network, the main line is part of the Trans-Mongolian Railway from north to south through Sukhbaatar, Darkhan, Ulaanbaatar and Sainshand. Paved roads are only found in and around major cities. Some fuel shortages. Camels and horses are often used.

Red tape

Visas

Required.

Vaccinations

BCG, Hep. A, Hep. B, Rabies, TBE, Typhoid.

Driving requirements

International Driving Permit.

Reps in UK/US

UK: 7 Kensington Court, London W8 5DL, tel (020) 7937 0150. US: 2833 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007, tel (202) 333 7117, fax (202) 298 9227, email monconsul@mongolianembassy.us.

UK/US reps in Mongolia

UK: 30 Enkh Taivny Gudamzh, PO Box 703, Ulaanbaatar 13, tel (11) 458 133, fax (11) 458 036. US: PO Box 1021, Ulaanbaatar 13, tel (11) 329 095, fax (11) 320 776, email cons@usembassy.mn.

Currency

Tugrik (MNT)

Finance

Limited acceptance of credit cards and traveller's cheques outside of Ulaanbaatar.

Business hours

0900-1800 Mon-Friday.

Safety & life expectancy

Safety information

Safe. Be aware of the risk of crime in the capital walking the city alone at night should be avoided.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy: M 64.92, F 69.84.

Useful websites for travel

www.embassyofmongolia.co.uk, www.mongolianembassy.us, http://mongolia.usembassy.gov/, www.travelmongolia.org.

Local media

The Mongol Messenger and The UB Post are Mongolia's English-language papers.

Tourist boards

n/a.

Mongolia tailor-made holiday ideas

The Naadam
The biggest event of the year for visitors to Mongolia and locals, this colourful annual event is a fascinating occasion of sporting prowess on the field and excessive drinking off of it. Normally held around 11-13 July, it's all based around the three 'manly' sports of wrestling, horseracing and archery. These disciplines have been central to Mongol life since before the days of Genghis Khan. The main celebration takes place in Ulaanbaatar, but smaller festivities occur in some centres close to the capital, enabling people to attend both local and national events.

Ulaanbaatar
The country's political, commercial and cultural centre. Home to a quarter of the country's population, the capital has some atmospheric Buddhist temple museums and the still-functioning Gandan Monastery. The city's museums, especially the Museum of Natural History, with its fine collection of dinosaur skeletons, are well worth a look.

Gobi Desert
Arid expanse, home to rare animals, such as Bactrian wild camels, snow leopards, Prezwalksy horses and Gobi bears. If you're more interested in extinct species than live ones, it's also a great place for finding dinosaur bones.

The Steppe
Ride horses across the grass plains by day, then sleep overnight in a traditional canvas yurt as nomadic Mongols have for centuries.

Karakorum
Ruins mark the site of the capital of the Great Mongol Empire of the thirteenth century capital.

Mongolia’s Winter Festivals

Mongolia has a rich tradition of festivals; Travel from the capital Ulaanbaatar to witness some of these in action and gain an insight into a country few come to know well. Three of the most celebrated events are the Eagle Festival, Camel Festival and Ice fest...

Please call 0845 643 6561 for price details.

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Mongolian Summertime Splendours

Mongolia is enormous. Three times the size of France, it is nonetheless sparsely populated; horses outnumber people three to one here. Many of these people pursue a nomadic existence. Travel from Ulaanbaatar to the stark but beautiful steppe in order to get a ...

Please call 0845 643 6561 for price details.

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