What do ten days in Mongolia cost? Three all-in budgets for two

The totals

These totals cover everything on the ground for ten days and nine nights: three nights in Ulaanbaatar and six in ger camps, every meal, the car, driver and English-speaking guide, entry to the parks and museums on the route, horse and camel rides, a private day trip to Terelj and the Chinggis Khaan Equestrian Statue, the Chinggis Khaan National Museum, airport cars, city buses, two tourist SIM cards and a 10% buffer for drinks, tips and small extras. Our budgets include the national park fee at MNT 15,000 per foreign visitor. Every tour here includes it. The flight is priced separately at the end. Per person that is about MNT 680,000 a day at the budget level, MNT 1,030,000 mid-range and MNT 1,290,000 in comfort.

The cheapest way to see the same country is to sleep in herding families' guest gers instead of tourist camps: Travel Gobi Mongolia's eight-day loop costs USD 1,680 per person for two that way, against USD 2,130 in tourist camps, as the last section describes.

Mongolian operators and many hotels price in US dollars and bill in tögrög (MNT); dollars here are converted at the Bank of Mongolia's rate of USD 1 = MNT 3,599.08 for 29 October 2026. A hotel that bills in tögrög uses its own daily rate, so the final figure on a card can differ a little.

The ten days behind the numbers

Two adults share a twin room or a two-bed ger for ten days and nine nights in the summer camp season, June to early September, outside Naadam week; prices were read on 29 October 2026. Every level follows the same night pattern as our 10-day itinerary: you land at Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN) on day 1 and sleep in the tour's city hotel, spend nights 2 to 7 in ger camps at Tsagaan Suvarga, Yolyn Am, Khongoryn Els, Bayanzag, Ongi and Kharkhorin, return to Ulaanbaatar on day 8 for two nights in a hotel you book yourself, take the day trip to Gorkhi-Terelj National Park and the Chinggis Khaan Equestrian Statue on day 9, and fly home on day 10.

The Gobi loop is View Mongolia's eight-day Gobi Desert and Orkhon Valley tour: the painted cliffs of Tsagaan Suvarga, a walk of 2.5 to 3 hours into the gorge of Yolyn Am, the dunes of Khongoryn Els with a camel ride, the red cliffs of Bayanzag where Roy Chapman Andrews found dinosaur eggs, the ruins of Ongi Monastery, and Erdene Zuu Monastery and the Kharkhorum Museum at Kharkhorin, with a horse ride at a herding family's camp on the way back. Most drives take 3.5 to 6 hours, with one day of 7 hours plus a lunch stop; the first leg, Ulaanbaatar to Tsagaan Suvarga, is 470 km on paved road. Between drives you sleep in tourist ger camps, felt tents set around a restaurant, with flush toilets and showers in a separate block.

British and German advice warns that fuel shortages can disrupt domestic flights and road travel, so keep a spare day before your flight home; the Terelj day on day 9 is that day.

Why every level is a tour

A car with a driver costs less on paper: Tengri Tours hires out a UAZ van or a Hyundai Starex at USD 120 a day and a Land Cruiser or Lexus SUV at USD 150, driver included. That price is for the vehicle and driver only; the guide, fuel, camps, meals and park fees come on top, and the guide is the person who books the camps, talks to the herding families and knows which track to take. A tour bundles all of that, and the three levels below are one operator's published prices for the same eight-day loop, so the difference between them is the grade of service, not the route.

View Mongolia, which describes itself as a fully licensed, Mongolian-owned company, publishes the most complete price table for this loop: a group price, private prices from two to five travellers and a VIP grade. Two other Mongolian operators price a similar private week for two at almost the same figure: Guru Travel Mongolia, a member of the Mongolian Tourism Organization, charges USD 2,150 per person for seven days and six nights through the Gobi and Kharkhorin, and Travel Gobi Mongolia USD 2,130 for eight countryside days that add the Orkhon Waterfall and Khustai National Park. The Terelj day at every level is Amicus Mongolia's private day trip, USD 176 per person for two, with the guide, car, lunch at a tourist camp, entry fees and drinking water.

What none of the tours includes is the second airport run, your meals and nights in Ulaanbaatar outside the tour, drinks beyond the bottled water, and tips for the guide and driver. Those are the extra lines in each budget. Tips are optional; Guru Travel Mongolia suggests USD 10-20 per traveller a day for the guide and driver together on a group tour, about MNT 580,000-1,150,000 for two over eight days, and 10-20% of the price on a private tour. The 10% buffer at each level covers tips at the lower end of that range, with a little left for drinks.

Budget: about MNT 13,520,000 for two

Join View Mongolia's group departure of the same tour, at USD 1,373 per person with a shared twin room, and add the Terelj day on your own at the end. Groups run from 1 to 15 travellers; the 2027 dates are 22-29 May, 8-15 June, 17-24 June, 15-22 August, 7-14 September, 23-30 September and 2-9 October, with no departure in July; the 23-30 September and 2-9 October dates fall after the Gobi camps' full season, which runs from 15 May to 20 September on View's Gobi page; outside it, some camps are partly open or closed. Arrive on the group's first day, when the tour's airport transfer and city hotel are included, and spend days 9 and 10 in Ulaanbaatar after the group ends.

• Group tour, USD 1,373 per person. One night in a three-star city hotel and six in ger camps, all meals from breakfast on day 2 to lunch on day 8, the van, driver and English-speaking guide, two 0.5-litre bottles of water a day, horse and camel riding, entry to the national parks and museums, and the arrival transfer. A room of your own costs USD 380 more.
• How it fits the ten days. The group's eight days are days 1 to 8 of the trip; you then add two nights at the Mika Hotel and the Terelj day on day 9.
• The city room, about MNT 550,000 for two nights. The budget level books the Mika Hotel's Standard Twin in central Ulaanbaatar at USD 77 a night with breakfast; Mika's page does not say whether VAT and city tax are included, so we count the rate as shown. Mid-range and comfort use the Royal Mountain Hotel's Superior Twin at USD 170 a night with breakfast and taxes.
• Meals in Ulaanbaatar, about MNT 330,000 for two. Five meals each are not covered by the tours or a hotel breakfast: lunch and dinner on day 1, dinner on days 8 and 9 and lunch on day 10. Each is priced at about MNT 32,900 from Modern Nomads' menu: a bowl of dumpling soup in milk tea (MNT 23,900) with a Mongolian milk tea (MNT 3,500) and a bottle of water (MNT 5,500), or a Naadam khuushuur, the fried meat pasty (MNT 28,900), with milk tea for MNT 32,400.

Mid-range: about MNT 20,560,000 for two

The same tour as a private trip for the two of you, at USD 2,150 per person: your own car, driver and guide, on the dates you choose, starting on the day you land. The price for two is USD 777 more per person than the group departure; it buys the freedom of your own dates, a car that stops where you want to stop, and a guide who answers only your questions.

• Private tour, USD 4,300 for two. What the group tour includes, for two people alone: one night in a three-star city hotel, six in standard ger camps, all meals from day 2 breakfast to day 8 lunch, the van, driver and guide, water, rides, park and museum entry and the arrival transfer.
• How it fits the ten days. The same pattern as the group level: View's eight days as days 1 to 8, then two nights in the Royal Mountain Hotel's Superior Twin (USD 170 a night) and the Terelj day on day 9.
• Meals in Ulaanbaatar, about MNT 470,000 for two. The same five meals each at about MNT 46,900: roast mutton (MNT 37,900) with milk tea and water, or a khuushuur with a Niislel salad (MNT 13,900) and milk tea for MNT 46,300.
• A Gobi alternative at the same price. Guru Travel Mongolia's seven-day private Gobi and Kharkhorin tour costs USD 2,150 per person for two, with four of its six camp nights in ensuite gers; it has no city hotel night, so a third Ulaanbaatar night would be added.

Comfort: about MNT 25,860,000 for two

View Mongolia's VIP grade of the same private tour costs USD 2,762 per person for two, USD 612 more than the standard price, on the same route and the same nine nights. View's VIP grade is the dearer version of the same trip; at several camps, ensuite gers with their own toilet and shower cost extra. Our ger stays guide explains what a camp night includes at each grade. In Ulaanbaatar the comfort level keeps the Royal Mountain Hotel's Superior Twin, about 29-32 m²; for USD 10 more a night, with breakfast and taxes, its Royal Apartment gives you 63 m² with a kitchen and a bathtub as well as a shower.

• Meals in Ulaanbaatar, about MNT 880,000 for two. About MNT 88,000 a meal at Modern Nomads: the Mongolian steak (MNT 59,900) with a Niislel salad (MNT 13,900), an Americano (MNT 8,900) and water on some evenings, roast mutton (MNT 37,900) with a Naadam khuushuur (MNT 28,900), the salad and an Americano (MNT 89,600) on others.
• The rest is unchanged. The same Royal Mountain room as mid-range, and the same airport taxi, museum, buses and SIM cards as every level.

Ulaanbaatar: the rooms, meals, museum and SIM cards

The tours include one night in a three-star city hotel; you book the other two. Mid-range and comfort use the Royal Mountain Hotel in Khan-Uul district, south of the centre and less than 1 km from the Bogd Khan Palace Museum: its Superior Twin costs USD 170 a night (about MNT 612,000) with buffet breakfast, 10% VAT and the 1% city tax included, and its Royal Apartment USD 180 (about MNT 648,000). These are the hotel's published autumn 2026 rates. The budget level uses the Mika Hotel's Standard Twin, on Foreign Embassy's Street in central Sükhbaatar district, from USD 77 a night with breakfast (about MNT 277,000): 30 m², two single beds, a sitting area and a shower, with free luggage storage while you are out on the loop. Our Ulaanbaatar where-to-stay guide compares the areas and other hotels.

Meals are priced from the menu of Modern Nomads, a Mongolian restaurant chain, at its Metro Mall branch in the city centre: Mongolian milk tea (suutei tsai) MNT 3,500, a 0.5-litre bottle of water MNT 5,500, dumpling soup in milk tea MNT 23,900, roast mutton MNT 37,900, a Naadam khuushuur, the fried meat pasty of the summer festival, MNT 28,900, and a Mongolian steak MNT 59,900.

The Chinggis Khaan National Museum charges an adult MNT 30,000 for its permanent exhibition, MNT 45,000 with the Hall of the Great Khaan; in summer, from 15 May to 14 September, it opens daily from 09:00 to 20:00, last entry 19:00. City buses cost MNT 1,000 a ride, paid in cash or with a contactless bank card, and the budget counts two rides each on four city days. Unitel's tourist SIM costs MNT 25,000 for 10 days and 15 GB plus MNT 5,000 for the card, MNT 30,000 each; the 20-day plan is MNT 40,000 plus the card.

A mid-range day 9 for two comes to about MNT 2,170,000: the Royal Mountain room about MNT 612,000, the Terelj day trip USD 352, about MNT 1,267,000, with lunch at a tourist camp included, dinner for two at Modern Nomads MNT 93,800, and the 10% buffer.

The flight from London and the total with it

Turkish Airlines flies from London to Ulaanbaatar via Istanbul; its economy returns for November and December 2026 dates were about GBP 810-850 per person, 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 (GBP 1 = about USD 1.33) and the Bank of Mongolia's dollar rate for the same day. With the flight, the whole trip comes to:

Two costs sit outside these totals. Travel insurance with evacuation cover depends on your age, home country and policy. The visa concerns a 2027 trip on a UK passport or most EU passports: if the visa-free scheme that runs to the end of 2026 is not extended, such a trip needs a tourist visa, applied for at a Mongolian embassy unless e-visa eligibility is announced. The Mongolian embassy in London charges USD 50 (about GBP 38) for a single-entry tourist visa, fee and service charge together; our entry guide has the steps.

Ways to spend less, or more

The group departure is the big saving: USD 777 less per person than the private tour for exactly the same nights, camps and sights. Going as three also lowers the private price, to USD 1,745 per person, and as four to USD 1,511. The budget level already uses the Mika Hotel's twin; at mid-range or comfort, the same swap from the Royal Mountain saves about MNT 740,000 for two, buffer included. The X:19 bus to the airport, MNT 15,000 per adult, costs MNT 90,000 less than the taxi for two.

Travel Gobi Mongolia's eight-day loop shows the other way to save: its local guest-ger version costs USD 1,680 per person for two, against USD 2,130 in tourist camps, with nights in herding families' guest gers instead of camps.

Spending more mostly means time. Flying to Dalanzadgad, the airport for the southern Gobi, saves the long drive south, 470 km to Tsagaan Suvarga alone; the tours priced here go by road. Travel Gobi Mongolia's 2026 fare page lists returns of USD 280 per adult on Chingis Airlines and USD 320 on MIAT, about MNT 1,010,000-1,150,000 per person, with flights from spring to October and extra ones in July. Our 14-day itinerary adds the Orkhon Waterfall and Lake Khövsgöl with a domestic flight and prices that longer trip. Naadam week in July is priced in the festivals guide.