Mongolia Travel Blog & News

Mongolia is a country filled with gorgeous sites and memorable adventures. From dry deserts to snow capped peaks, and historical museums to cultural interactions, there’s so much to see and do while visiting here that will help you grow as a traveler and as a person. It helps to know the best places to visit in Mongolia before you plan your trip. That way, you can be sure you’re hitting all the right marks on your journey, and you can come prepared for the activities. So, here are the best places to visit in Mongolia and what there is to do there.

It’s the beginning of the end of Mongolia’s short summer season. Today is a big day for our young monk. Let’s call him Davaa, a good Tibetan name. His name means Monday, and his parents may have chosen his name because he was born on a Monday. The name also honors Tibetan Buddhism, which is practiced in Mongolia. He has only been at the monastery for a year, and he’s going to participate in his first Tsam ceremony. The tsam dances, are morality plays. Their purpose is to remove evil from the area and pass along traditional stories and morals. There can be hundreds of participants, usually monks. Davaa is lucky to participate because he’s still a young monk.

Among the skyscrapers and shopping malls, there sits a white building and a temple in a small clearing. The mountain stands behind it, protecting the city. Not far behind is the mighty Tuul River. The white building is by todays standards, a modest building. The temple is beautiful, but dwarfed by the 6-story mall nearby. However, if you were a lucky visitor to Ich Khirie, as Ulaanbaatar was known then, you would be standing near the largest building in town, if you could even get close enough. This is the home of the Bogd Khan.

Khoomei or Throat singing is one of the most representative traditional arts of Mongolia. Khoomei was originated when people started imitating the voice of nature and animals many thousand years ago, and around 19th century, Khoomei was first developed as an art. Mongolian throat singing was registered in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, as an art native to Mongolia in 2010. At its meeting in Nairobi, the UNESCO Council inscribed Mongolian Khoomii in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of mankind.

Imagine riding a horse over the Eurasian steppe, winter’s cold embrace around you and an eagle on your arm. You feel the bird twitch, and know that it’s got something in its sights. With a flick of your arm, the bird takes off and flies toward an unlucky rabbit. Before you know it, the eagle dives down and in its talons is lunch for your family.

Surviving two destructions and centuries of rejection, Erdene Zuu is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Mongolia, probably in East Asia. The building of the temple was ordered by the Abtai Sain Khan- grandfather of Zanabazar the Great when the Tibetan Buddhism was declared as the main religion of Mongolia in 1586. For Mongolians, who employed nomadic lifestyle, this kind of building or generally anything that stays in one place was not that common. So, the temple has naturally become the religious center, thus the heart of the Mongolia. The geographical situation was carefully thought out too, it’s built in Kharkhorin- near the old city of Karakorum.

Since you have chosen Mongolia as your travel destination, you might be familiar with the fact that Mongolia is a post-soviet country. From 1921 to 1991, Mongolia has been part of the Comintern- a soviet alliance with Soviet Russia in its head. Most of the districts and urban structure of the city has been built during that era with the help of the Russian masters. Ulaanbaatar was mainly designed by Soviet architects, who have employed classicism.

Even if visiting museums is not on your priority during your visit in Mongolia, Zanabazar’s museum of Fine arts is a must see. For just over 2 dollars, you’ll get to experience one of the richest cultures of the Central Asia. Since it has opened with around 300 exhibitions in 1966, the museum has grown to be the biggest museum of art and sculpture in Mongolia. Mongolian art is not exactly worldwide known, so even if you have not heard of it before, I can promise you that every minute you spend there would be worthwhile.

Even though wood carving is usually neglected by most of the dabblers due to its inability to last long and the way they’re much more fragile than its metal cousins, Mongolian carving art is something that simply can’t be overlooked. Quite similar to other countries, artisans have been carving decorations into their daily utensils such as their cupboard, cart, musical instruments and most commonly the place they live- “ger”. Since the shelter they spend most of their time is made out of wood, it’s no wonder why the people have started wondering how to make their home fancier and more comfortable. Since then, the simple wooden carvings have developed into much more complex, thus aesthetically pleasing art which cannot be separated from Mongolians’ daily life. That is mainly because the carving art has taken homage in almost every aspect of their life.

They can ride like the wind but the galloping hooves of time threatened to dilute, perhaps obliterate, their nomadic traditions. Meta Mertens calls it her horse heaven…the sweeping plains of Mongolia, where she is proud to play a part maintaining centuries of equine history. She has witnessed the country's primary nomadic lifestyle resist a drift into the cities for work.