Mongolia in 14 days: Gobi, Orkhon Valley and Lake Khövsgöl

Thirteen nights, two tours and a day trip

The route has three parts. Book Ulaanbaatar for night 1; a road loop through the Gobi and the Orkhon Valley for nights 2 to 8, one ger camp a night; Ulaanbaatar for night 9; Lake Khövsgöl for nights 10 and 11; and Ulaanbaatar for nights 12 and 13, with a day trip to Terelj on day 13. Fly home on day 14. The lake is reached by air because the road is so long: Travel Gobi Mongolia's own lake itinerary takes two days back to the capital, 430 km and 7 hours to the Uran volcano and then 540 km and 8 hours to Ulaanbaatar, and View Mongolia gives 1,000 km and 14 to 15 hours of driving from the city to the lake.

Outside Ulaanbaatar, travel with a licensed operator's driver and guide: distances are long, many roads are unpaved tracks, and there is no mobile signal in large areas. The road loop is Travel Gobi Mongolia's private eight-day Gobi and central Mongolia overland tour, which follows exactly this order. For two people sleeping in tourist ger camps it costs USD 2,130 per person, with seven camp nights, meals, the car and driver, an English-speaking guide, all entrance fees and government charges, the activities and mineral water; tips are extra, and so is a city hotel. It starts with an 08:00 pickup at your Ulaanbaatar hotel on day 2 and drops you back there on the evening of day 9.

The lake is Amicus Mongolia's private three-day Khövsgöl Lake tour: USD 1,390 per person for two, with return flights between Ulaanbaatar and Mörön, hotel and airport transfers, two nights in a lakeside tourist camp on a twin share, two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners, an English-speaking guide, entrance fees, a half-day horse ride and drinking water. It runs from 10 June to 10 September; because it includes a domestic flight, Amicus takes full payment at booking, after checking seats on the flights. The Terelj day is Amicus's private day trip at USD 176 per person for two. On Hunnu Air's 2026 summer timetable (15 June to 20 September), the one-hour flight to Mörön left Ulaanbaatar at 12:00 on Mondays and Fridays and at 10:00 on Wednesdays, and came back at 13:40 on Mondays and Fridays (landing 14:40) and at 11:40 on Wednesdays (landing 12:40). Day 10 must therefore be a Monday or a Wednesday: book the lake trip first and count back from its date to fix your arrival and the road loop. The 2027 summer timetable was not yet out on 31 October 2026; Amicus fixes the seats when you book.

Your hotel or camp registers you with the immigration authority within 48 hours of arriving at each address. Our Mongolia entry guide covers visas by passport.

The operators allocate the camps; the ones listed below are examples close to each sight, with their own published facilities. In Ulaanbaatar, book Royal Mountain Hotel in Khan-Uul yourself for all four city nights: its Superior Twin costs USD 170 a night with breakfast, 10% VAT and 1% city tax included. It stands on Sharav Street off Chinggis Avenue, south of the centre. Our Ulaanbaatar where-to-stay guide compares other areas.

Day 1: arrival in Ulaanbaatar

Day 1 — land at Chinggis Khaan International Airport: Flights arrive at Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN), south of the city. The airport's official taxi charges MNT 120,000 per vehicle to the city centre. My Mongolia Travel, which runs airport transfers, gives about 50 to 60 minutes early in the morning, late in the evening or at night, and 1.5 hours or more on weekdays between 07:00 and 21:00. Buy a Unitel tourist SIM: the twenty-day plan, which covers the whole trip, costs MNT 40,000 for 25 GB plus MNT 5,000 for the card. If you land early enough, visit the Chinggis Khaan National Museum near Sükhbaatar Square: the permanent exhibition costs MNT 30,000 for an adult, and from 15 May to 14 September it opens from 09:00 to 20:00, last entry 19:00. Go to bed early; the loop starts at 08:00. Sleep at Royal Mountain Hotel: night 1.

Days 2–6: across the Gobi

Day 2 — Tsagaan Suvarga: Travel Gobi gives 470 km and 6 hours on paved road to Tsagaan Suvarga, the 'White Stupa', a former seabed eroded into banded cliffs over 50 m high and about 400 m long that look like a ruined city from a distance; walk along them in the evening. Sleep at a ger camp near the cliffs: night 2.

Day 3 — Yolyn Am: 200 km and 3 hours on paved road to the Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park, which stretches more than 450 km from west to east; its administration dates the park's beginnings to 1965, when the gorge of Yolyn Am was made a protected reserve. The gorge runs for more than 10 km between narrowing walls; in the shaded depths, ice from the winter stream can last until mid-July. Travel Gobi walks for about an hour and stops at the small natural history museum. Sleep at a ger camp near the park: night 3.

Day 4 — Khongoryn Els: 190 km and about 5 hours on dirt to Khongoryn Els, the largest field of dunes in the Mongolian Gobi: a long wall of pale sand under the mountains of the national park, with an oasis on the Khongor river at its northern edge and sand that booms in the wind, which gives the dunes their name of singing sands. The day includes a camel ride; climbing a high dune is hard work and optional. Our Gobi guide covers the park in more depth. Sleep at a ger camp near the dunes: night 4.

Day 5 — Bayanzag (the Flaming Cliffs): 150 km and about 4 hours on dirt to Bayanzag, the red sandstone cliffs that the American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews named the Flaming Cliffs; Protoceratops skeletons and the first dinosaur eggs known to science were found here. Stay for sunset, when the cliffs turn deep red, and leave any fossil where it lies. Sleep at a ger camp near Bayanzag: night 5.

Day 6 — Ongi: 155 km and about 4 hours on dirt north to Ongi Monastery, founded in 1760 on the Ongi river and once one of the largest monasteries in the Gobi, destroyed in 1937 in the communist purges. A ger museum of rescued objects and a small active temple stand among the ruins. After four long days in the van, the shorter afternoon here is welcome. Sleep at a ger camp by the ruins: night 6.

Days 7–9: Orkhon Waterfall, Kharkhorin and Khustai

Day 7 — to the Orkhon Waterfall: The hardest day: Travel Gobi gives 340 km and 8 hours on dirt from Ongi to the upper Orkhon Valley, out of the desert and into green, volcanic country. At the Orkhon Waterfall (Ulaan Tsutgalan) the Ulaan river drops into a gorge cut through lava that covered the valley about 20,000 years ago; a short drive from the camp takes you there in the evening, and you hear it before you see it. In some dry summers the fall shrinks, but the gorge and the valley are worth the drive. Sleep at a ger camp near the falls: night 7.

Day 8 — Kharkhorin and Erdene Zuu: 125–136 km and 3 to 4 hours down the valley to Kharkhorin; the first 30 km, as far as Bat-Ölzii, are bumpy and muddy, with several streams to ford. Kharkhorin stands on the site of Karakorum, capital of the Mongol Empire. Its stones went into Erdene Zuu Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery built in Mongolia, in the 16th century; inside its walls, temples have been a state museum since 1965, with exhibits in eight temples and a hall, open daily from 09:00 to 18:00 from 1 May to 30 September. The Kharkhorum Museum, opened in 2011, shows finds from the old capital and keeps the same summer hours from 1 April. Both lie within the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape, a World Heritage site since 2004. Our Kharkhorin and Orkhon Valley guide covers Tövkhön Monastery and the rest of the valley. Sleep at a ger camp in Kharkhorin: night 8.

Day 9 — Khustai National Park and back to Ulaanbaatar: 300 km and 5 hours on paved road east to Khustai National Park, where the takhi, or Przewalski's horse, the last wild horse, has been reintroduced since 1992. Your guide searches for the herds with binoculars. Park rules forbid approaching takhi or other wildlife closer than 300 m and driving faster than 40 km/h. The last leg into Ulaanbaatar takes about 2 hours, mostly on paved road. Sleep at Royal Mountain Hotel: night 9.

Days 10–14: Lake Khövsgöl, Terelj and home

Day 10 — fly north to Lake Khövsgöl: Amicus collects you from the hotel for the one-hour flight to Mörön, the provincial centre. Hunnu Air's domestic economy fare includes one checked bag of up to 15 kg, and Amicus lists excess luggage at USD 1.5 per kg, so pack light for the lake. From Mörön it is about 102 km, 2 to 2.5 hours, by road to Khatgal, the village and port at the southern tip of the lake, and about 3.5 hours in all to the camp. On the way, Amicus's itinerary visits Tsaatan reindeer herders: some families bring their reindeer from the taiga to a summer camp near the lake from June to the end of August, so a trip in September may not find them there. Sleep at a lakeside ger camp: night 10.

Day 11 — on the lake: Lake Khövsgöl is the largest freshwater lake in the country: 136 km long, 36 km wide and 262 m deep at its deepest, lying at 1,645 m on the southern edge of the Siberian taiga. More than 90 rivers feed it and one, the Egiin Gol, flows out of its southern tip towards the Selenge and Lake Baikal; the water is so clear that you can see 24.5 m down. Larch forest comes down to the shore, and the national park around the lake dates from 1992. The morning is Amicus's guided horse ride along the shore; the afternoon is free for a walk in the hills or a boat trip, which camps such as Toilogt offer at their own prices. Sleep at the lakeside camp: night 11.

Day 12 — back to Ulaanbaatar: An early drive to Mörön stops at Uushig, a group of Bronze Age deer stones carved with deer, a horse, the sun and the moon, a shield, a knife and a belt, before the flight back, which landed at 12:40 on Wednesdays and 14:40 on Fridays on the 2026 timetable, and the transfer to your hotel. That leaves the afternoon for the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan, 2 km north of the Zaisan Memorial: the only one left of the four residences of Mongolia's last spiritual ruler, with one of the country's largest museum collections beside it. Sleep at Royal Mountain Hotel: night 12.

Day 13 — the Chinggis Khaan statue and Terelj: This is the trip's spare day: if the flight from Mörön is late, or fuel shortages held up flights or roads, it can move or be dropped. Amicus collects you at 09:00 for the Chinggis Khaan Equestrian Statue at Tsonjin Boldog, east of the city: a 40-metre statue of Chinggis Khaan on horseback. In Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, an area of forested mountains and weathered rock, lunch at a tourist camp is followed by Turtle Rock and the walk up to Aryabal Meditation Temple, and a visit to a herding family; you are back around 18:00. Our Terelj and statue guide has more. Sleep at Royal Mountain Hotel: night 13.

Day 14 — fly home: If your flight leaves in the afternoon, spend the morning at Gandan Monastery (Gandantegchinlen), the centre of Mongolian Buddhism, which the city tourism department suggests visiting in the morning, when the monks chant. Allow MNT 120,000 for the car to the airport, the official taxi fare between the airport and the centre, and 1.5 hours or more for the drive in weekday daytime traffic.

Roads, camps, health and good manners

Much of the road loop is on dirt after Yolyn Am. Tourist ger camps have felt gers with beds, a restaurant and a block with hot showers and toilets, usually shared; at the lake, Amicus's camp is a twin share. Tell both operators before you travel if you are vegetarian. Card withdrawals are rarely possible in the countryside, so carry the tögrög you need for drinks and tips. Our ger stays guide explains what a night in a camp includes.

British, German and French travel advice agree on the main points. France keeps the whole of Mongolia under heightened vigilance because of the distances, the roads and weak medical facilities. Do not drive after dark. Medical care outside Ulaanbaatar is limited and hospitals may ask for most of the cost up front, so take insurance that covers evacuation and repatriation. On horseback, including the ride at the lake, wear a helmet and a back protector. Rabies is present across the country, so keep away from stray dogs and wild animals, and never handle marmots, which can carry plague. Other governments may draw the line differently, so read your own country's advice as well.

In a family's ger, do not step on the threshold, go to the left as you enter, and accept a bowl of tea or a piece of dried curd with your right hand, even if you only taste it. Walk clockwise around temples, stupas and ovoos, and ask before photographing people or the inside of a temple.

When to go, and how to change the route

15 June to 10 September is the window in which the flights and both tours run. Naadam, the national festival of wrestling, horse racing and archery, is held every year from 11 to 13 July; if you want to see it, put your Ulaanbaatar nights on those dates. Our festivals guide covers the dates.

If the Mörön flights do not fit. Drive instead, and add at least two days to the trip.

A shorter trip. Our ten-day itinerary keeps the Gobi loop and Kharkhorin but leaves out the waterfall, Khustai and the lake.

Without a guide, or with others. Travel Gobi takes USD 400 off the total if you travel with the driver alone, communicating through translation apps, and matches small shared groups of up to six on request; neither is priced below, and the guide makes most difference on the long days.

What fourteen days cost, all in

About MNT 16,570,000 (USD 4,600) per person, MNT 33,130,000 (USD 9,210) for two, for fourteen days and thirteen nights on the ground at the mid level: both private tours and the day trip, four hotel nights, every meal, airport taxis, city buses, the Chinggis Khaan National Museum, two SIMs and a 10% buffer. Sleeping in local ger guesthouses on the road loop brings it down to about MNT 14,680,000 (USD 4,080) per person. A return economy flight from London adds about GBP 800–850 (about MNT 3,830,000–4,070,000) per person.

The model is two adults sharing a twin room or ger, thirteen nights between 15 June and 10 September outside Naadam week, with prices read on 29 October 2026. US dollar prices are converted at the Bank of Mongolia's rate of USD 1 = MNT 3,599.08 for 29 October 2026. Both levels are private tours: no operator publishes a fixed group departure for this route. Mid-range is the plan above. Budget takes Travel Gobi's other published price for the same loop, USD 1,680 per person for two, with the seven countryside nights in local ger guesthouses instead of tourist ger camps, and cheaper meals in the city; the Royal Mountain room, the lake trip and the Terelj day stay the same. A cheaper city room is the Mika Hotel's Standard Twin on Foreign Embassy's Street, from USD 77 a night with breakfast; its rate does not say whether tax is added at the desk. Four nights there instead save about MNT 1,470,000 for two, buffer included, and bring the budget level to about MNT 13,940,000 per person. There is no comfort level, because neither operator publishes a higher grade of these tours; eating at the dearer end of the Modern Nomads menu adds about MNT 290,000 per person, or MNT 320,000 with the buffer.

Tours: Travel Gobi's USD 4,260 for two in tourist camps or USD 3,360 in guest gers, Amicus's lake trip at USD 2,780 and its Terelj day at USD 352; together they pay for nine camp nights, the domestic flights, the countryside meals, the cars, drivers, guides, entry fees and activities, so they appear as one line. Hotel: four nights at Royal Mountain at USD 170 at both levels, breakfast and taxes included. Meals: seven paid meals each in Ulaanbaatar (lunch and dinner on day 1, dinner on days 9, 12 and 13, lunch on days 12 and 14), priced from the Modern Nomads menu at its Metro Mall branch: MNT 32,900 for a bowl of dumplings in milk tea (MNT 23,900) with milk tea and water at budget level, and MNT 46,900 for roast mutton (MNT 37,900) with tea and water at mid level; a Mongolian steak, salad, coffee and water comes to MNT 88,200. Getting around: the airport taxi both ways at MNT 120,000 per vehicle and two bus rides each on five city days at MNT 1,000 a ride. SIMs: two Unitel twenty-day tourist SIMs at MNT 45,000. Tips, snacks and drinks come out of the buffer. The 2027 visa is an extra outside the totals; the FAQ below explains it. Park fees: both tours include national park entry. Our budgets include the national park fee at MNT 15,000 per foreign visitor. Travel insurance is not included, because its price depends on your age, home country and policy.

Flights: Turkish Airlines' economy returns London–Ulaanbaatar via Istanbul for November and December 2026 dates were GBP 811 from Gatwick and GBP 848 from Heathrow, so we count GBP 800–850, about MNT 3,830,000–4,070,000 at the European Central Bank's reference rates for 29 October 2026 and the Bank of Mongolia's dollar rate. Our Mongolia trip-cost guide compares the price levels for a shorter trip.