We are sharing the most frequently asked questions from our guests and their answers here about our Mongolia tours. Please follow the links to get the answers. If you can’t find your answer, please send us your question by email, or ask the question directly through our live chat in the bottom right corner of the screen. 

Is Mongolia safe to travel to?

Mongolia is one of the safest travel destinations in the world for travellers. Many travel presses and other credible sources tell that the crime rate in Mongolia is relatively low compared to the western countries and other Asian countries. However, as with any major city, petty crimes including pickpockets and bag slashers have been known to strike in the more crowded areas of Ulaanbaatar, so be mindful that your valuables are not on the show, and common sense is always your best safeguard. 

When is the best time to visit Mongolia?

The Best time to travel to Mongolia depends on what type of traveller you are. In general, from the end of May to early September is the peak tourism season in Mongolia. In recent years, before the pandemic, from September to early October was becoming popular amongst adventure lovers due to the Golden Eagle Festival and the fall atmosphere in the northern Taiga region – home of Reindeer Herders. Choosing the right time in terms of weather and climate would be the key step to enjoying your travel to the fullest. Read more detailed info for choosing your travel date to Mongolia on our best time to visit Mongolia blog.

How to obtain or get a Mongolian visa?

Mongolia has recently relaxed its visa rules (Oct 2021) exempting passport holders of 42 countries from the visa requirement list, who may travel to Mongolia for tourist and/or business purposes without a visa and stay up to 30 days. Please check the lists for visa-free countries here

Besides, the Mongolian Government launched an eVisa System for 36 countries (Oct 2021) allowing travellers to get Mongolian visas easier through evisa.mn. Please check the electronic visa eligible countries list here.

Those who are resident of countries where Mongolia do not have a diplomatic mission can get Mongolia’s travel visa upon their arrival. However, you are advised to make special arrangements with us in advance. Read more detailed info on our Mongolian Visa Information blog here.

How do I get to Mongolia?

All direct flights come into Ulaanbaatar – most of them from Beijing, Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Moscow, Berlin, and Istanbul. The Trans-Mongolian train from Moscow or Beijing makes a particularly exhilarating entry into the country. There are domestic flights and trains from Ulaanbaatar to the rest of Mongolia. Please >Getting to Mongolia to read our detailed blog about getting to Mongolia.

Would you be able to arrange for my flights or train tickets to Ulaanbaatar?

As we are based in Ulaanbaatar, we are also able to book a cheap and convenient air ticket that starts above cities for you. Please visit our website and fill out the inquiry form with your requirements and we will contact you with a quote for flights within 1 working day.

What type of accommodation will we be staying in?

Hotel: Accommodations in Ulaanbaatar, and other provincial towns including Murun, Ulangom, Ulgiy, Khovd, we will use 3 to 5-star hotels due to the choice of our guests. Our accommodation options are carefully chosen, based on our research, our experience, and feedback from clients, to provide the best combination of high-quality accommodations, affordability, and convenient location.
We give clients the opportunity to stay in a wide range of accommodation, depending on tour from 3* to 5* hotels in cities and best tourist Ger camps in countryside trip.

In Ulaanbaatar we suggest Khuvsgul Lake Hotel, Kempinski Khan Palace, The Blue Sky, Shangri La, Bayangol Hotel, and Best Western Premier Tuushin Hotel.

Ger camp: We use traditional ger camps in the countryside where there are no hotels. Ger camps are set in rural locations near areas of cultural, historical or geographical interest. A ger camp typically comprises 20-30 gers, each with 2-4 beds averagely and a traditional wood-burning stove. Separate male & female bathroom blocks with western-style facilities are located a short distance away, as well as a communal larger dining ger or lodge where meals are served. Gers provide an authentic and memorable taste of Mongolian culture and allow you to visit areas that otherwise lack traveller accommodations. Most visitors find their stays at ger camps to be among their most enjoyable experiences in Mongolia.

Community-based ger camp: These are low impact ger camps based around nomadic communities who are involved in the community-based tour programme. They offer a basic service such as providing a traditional ger for staying overnight, which also offers our clients a chance to experience nomadic life and culture closely rather than just visiting briefly. A nomadic community ger camp usually has a limited capacity of up to 20 guests per shift, and provides a simple camp shower and composting toilet facilities. Each ger has 4 beds with clean sheets, comforters, pillows and blankets. Local meals and other additional activities like horse riding, camel riding, yak riding and cultural visits are available to be arranged upon guests’ request.

Camping tent: We use a camping tent for some of our adventure journeys in places where no hotels, ger camps, community-based ger camps, or even nomadic families. We provide spacious, lightweight tents for 2 people on a twin share basis or 1 person per tent for single occupancy. All tents have an extra tarpaulin sheet to protect against the rain. A central dining tent is provided for groups of 6 or more. A double share basis self-inflatable sleeping mattress with an extra protective sheet is also provided. We always recommend bringing your own sleeping bag for hygiene reasons.

What type of transportation are available in your Mongolia tours?

Road travel: We usually recommend Russian minivans (known as Furgon or UAZ 452) for our adventure journeys outside the city. As each journey consists of a maximum of 8 people, each minivan fit 4 people at its maximum. That means there’s plenty of space and comfort. The reason we prefer minivan is the van is functional & practical, most of our guests fall in love with these indomitable vehicles and our fantastic team of drivers. With a high wheelbase, large surround windows, ample luggage space, the flexible sociable layout comfortably seats. Besides, our chosen minivans are very reliable and capable of 4×4s with impressive off-road capability.

In some cases, especially if a guest prefers another type of vehicle, Japanese 4WD vehicles such as Toyota Land Cruisers are available. We recommend this vehicle for couples or small groups of 2 to 3 people.

As the world’s second-biggest land-locked country, and an adventure destination, Mongolia has a lack of infrastructure, and the off-road of Mongolia will challenge you. But at Expedics Travel, our guests’ safety & comfortability is our priority, any necessary long drives are offset by photo stops, picnic lunches, roadside pitstops, tea/coffee breaks, and of course seeing points of interest, leg-stretching walks, dropping in on nomadic families, popping into villages and markets.

Air Travel: There are domestic flight operators including Hunnu Air, Aero Mongolia and Eznis Airways, and we use domestic air travel only in our remote journeys. But as an activist & responsible travel agency in Mongolia, we prefer using as few flights as possible in order to reduce our carbon offset.

Rail journey: The vast majority of the country is not served by any railway system. The mainline carves a path from the Russian border at Sukhbaatar in the North to the Chinese border at Zamyn Ud in the south – a length of 1110 km. This is used for domestic and international freight and passenger transport, with an additional spur to the country’s 3rd city of Erdenet. Although slow and of limited use for tourism purposes, a ride on the soviet-style railway is a characterful and enjoyable experience. We recommend and arrange tickets for the route from Irkutsk or Beijing to Ulaanbaatar, and also forays within the country – from Ulaanbaatar to Erdenet, for example.

How is food in Mongolia?

All your meals in Ulaanbaatar are at the best available restaurants in the city. Oriental, western and traditional Mongolian cuisine is available and the cost of all meals (excluding alcoholic beverages) is inclusive of your tour cost. During camping tours, we offer a selection of salads, soups (such as noodle soup- ‘Lapsha’ and cream soup-‘Bantan’, vegetable cream soup) and main courses (i.e. Mongolian barbecue-‘Horhog’, khuushuur, buuz and steaks). If you have any special dietary requirements, please let us know prior to the trip. As we make special arrangements for you.

What drinks are included?

We always provide drinking water, tea and coffee. Alcoholic and soft drinks are not included.

We do not provide bottled water. We take fresh drinking water from local town pumps and provide stainless steel bottles to each of our guests and staff. The water quality in Mongolia is excellent by world standards but for added security, we provide a Steripen and/or Lifesaver filter for those who wish to neutralise their water. We don’t encourage buying bottled water because of the lack of recycling options. 

There are plenty of opportunities to stop in villages and towns en route to stock up on alcoholic drink supplies although choice in the countryside is more limited than in Ulaanbaatar. If you know you like a good red wine or nice whisky, then visit a supermarket in UB before departure (we usually make a stop en-route out of the city).

The facilities: what type of toilet will we use in our Mongolia tour?

During the day while travelling there is always somewhere to wander off to for a bit of privacy. At ger camps, you will typically be using Asian style long drop toilets, compost toilets or western-style toilets – depending on the standard of ger accommodation. (Rural Mongolians (town and country) do not have access to running water so most toilets are of the outside Asian style long-drop/squat toilet although a few will be ‘sit-down.’). If you’re at a homestay with no toilet or camping then we dig a simple Asian-style squat toilet, with surround. You might like to practice squatting at home to strengthen your legs (as suggested by a few of our clients!)

The toilets are not there to disgust or challenge you. It’s daily life in rural Mongolia.

The facilities: washing & shower

Showers can be limited (because of the lack of infrastructure and running water. If you’re staying at tourist ger camps, most take their water supply from either a tank or deep well and are heated by solar). On all itineraries, in provincial towns or bigger ger camps, there are showers and laundry services. In nomadic families and camping days at rural places, there is no shower or washing machine.

The facilities: Is internet or mobile network available in Mongolia?

Internet access is available at all hotels in Ulaanbaatar, and provincial towns. Outside of the city, some tourist Ger camps offer little charged or free internet access. Mobile phone service is widely available throughout the 21 provinces and 330 soums of the provinces. Therefore, we recommend you to buy a sim card and use it when travelling within the reception areas. But in some of the destinations, especially in remote places would be difficult to use any source of internet.

The facilities: What is the electricity supply and sockets in Mongolia?

The power supply in Ulaanbaatar and other provincial towns are reliable and are only occasional blackouts. Electricity is 220v or 50Hz. The sockets throughout the country accommodate the European style – 2 pin plugs. In the countryside, the power supply is not well and still has frequent interruptions. Some of the ger camps, the remoted ones use a solar plane as their electricity source. In a nomadic family, some families use small solar planes for their refrigerators and TVs but others don’t have any electricity which means in a nomadic family, it’s not available to charge your mobile phone, laptop, or camera.

Which currencies are available in Mongolia?

The official currency is the Tugrug (MNT=₮). Denominations come in 20.000₮, 10.000₮, 5.000₮, 1.000₮, 500₮, 100₮, 50₮, 20₮ and 10₮. The official exchange rate at this time (November 2021) is 2.848₮ to 1 U.S dollar. Visitors are advised to carry credit cards – Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Union Pay– and traveller’s checks that can be accepted by most hotels and major stores and can be exchanged for cash of MNT. Make sure to change money at banks or exchange offices in Ulaanbaatar as it is not always possible in the countryside, especially euros and other currencies. Make a note that damaged notes and older notes before 1995 may not be accepted. We advise having Mongolian tugriks in your wallet for smaller shops and bazaars as well as for necessary supplies in the countryside.

Do you allow children on your tours?

At Expedics Travel, we welcome guests of any age. In our small-group tours, children above 14 years and older are allowed to take part only with their parents. We recommend that families with children of any age take advantage of our private or tailormade journeys. This will give you more flexibility while on tour.

Trip style:

We are an activist travel agency organizing tours in small groups of like-minded travellers and also private departures for any kind of travellers. Most of the journeys at Expedics Travel is designed to help local communities in remote areas of Mongolia, to protect & increase the life quality of endangered wild species including Gobi bear, Snow Leopard & Saiga antelope, and to fight desertification & global warming. Besides our activist mission, we care for each of travellers’ needs and wishes. Our tours are mostly in adventure style,  but some are in classic style.

Trip Style: Small Group Tours – Maximum group size

The average group size in Mongolia journeys at Expedics travel is 6 people, and 8-people-group is considered the maximum regarding our responsible travel policy and community-based programme policy.

Trip Style: Age ranges & nationalities of travellers in our small-group journeys

Expedics Travel sells its scheduled small-group journey in over 16 countries around the world (e.i. the UK, Canada, USA, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Spain). It is, therefore, our groups usually a mixture of the nationalities mentioned above. The age range on our small-group tours is varied widely between 20-year-old to 68-year-old. The average age is between 35 to 65. But younger and older guests of any age are available for our journeys.

Trip Style: Travelling solo

We get slightly more solo travellers than couples. Males and females are split quite equally. As a solo traveller, If you would like to avoid single supplements, we are happy to pair you with a same-sex room companion for the trip. If there is no one available of the same sex as you, we will arrange a single room for you at no extra cost.

Trip Style: Special-interest journey

We organize special interest expeditions: Mongolia Nature Photography Journey, Wildlife Observing Journey, Birdwatching Journey, and Festival Expeditions. As a reminder, each of our special interest journeys is organized once or twice a year as a guaranteed departure. If you are not into a group tour, our special interest journeys are available privately as your need.

Special: I want to experience nomadic life

You will meet with nomadic people on the way, visit nomadic families en route to places, stay with nomads in their homes, and do what nomadic people do in their daily life. Experiencing nomadic culture & nomadic life will be top-notch, and the difference of Expedics Travel from other travel agencies or tour companies organize Mongolia tours.

Do I need vaccinations for travel to Mongolia? What medications are necessary to visit Mongolia?

 Mongolia is fairly a healthy country to travel to, and no vaccinations are required other than COVID-19, to visit Mongolia. But we are not authorised to provide professional medical advice, therefore, we recommend travellers to take advice from their doctor before booking your tour if you are concerned about what precautions you should take. If you are taking regular medication, please bring a sufficient quantity to last for your entire trip as some medications are difficult to find or are non-existent in Mongolia. Please ensure that you carry your medications in your onboard flight bag, rather than in your checked-in luggage.

What to pack for travel to Mongolia?

As some of the travellers say “Mongolia is a land of the unexpected”. According to Mongolia’s geographic locations and its 4 distinctive seasons, what to pack for your Mongolia journey depends hugely on which season you are travelling to Mongolia, what type of journey you are willing to including an organized tour or a wilderness expedition. Click here to read our full advice on the packing lists for Mongolia tours.