Top attractions in Mongolia

Mongolia is defined by space rather than sights: the Gobi desert in the south, steppe and mountains elsewhere, and Ulaanbaatar holding roughly half the country's population. Travel outside the capital generally means long drives on unpaved tracks and nights in ger camps.

The guides on this page cover Mongolia as a whole. The season is short — June to September, with July's Naadam festival the busiest period. Winters are severe enough to restrict most travel. Distances are deceptive because there are few paved roads, so a driver or organised trip is standard rather than optional for anything beyond Ulaanbaatar and its immediate surroundings.