Mongolia
This is the riding holiday for those who have already seen and done almost everything – and are looking for something truly different! In Mongolia, an extraordinary adventure awaits, far from conventional tourism. Here, ancient nomadic traditions are still very much alive, and horses remain an essential part of everyday life. You will discover a country where life, in many areas, still follows the rhythms of nature and the changing seasons.
You can choose from several different riding tours, which you will find further down the page.
Ecotourism and a Living Nomadic Culture
Ecotourism is about experiencing nature and local cultures while having as little impact on the environment as possible. In Mongolia, this means travelling through the landscape with respect for nature and traditional nomadic life.
Many Mongolian families still depend on livestock herding, raising horses, yaks, camels, sheep and goats. Horses roam freely in large herds and live outdoors all year round. Children learn to ride at an early age, and knowledge of horses and animal husbandry is passed down through generations.
Mongolia offers remarkable contrasts, from vast open steppes and rugged mountains to northern coniferous forests and the mighty Gobi Desert in the south. In summer, the steppes are dotted with wildflowers. This is a vast, sparsely populated country where nature sets the pace of life – and shapes the riding adventure.
Terrain and Riding – On the Nomads’ Terms
We work directly with local nomads and their horses, making our riding tours different from many other riding holidays. You ride across open, trackless terrain, through expansive landscapes and among the nomads’ grazing herds. There are no marked bridleways or prepared riding trails to follow.
The terrain varies, with open stretches offering opportunities for long canters and gallops, as well as sections where a slower pace is necessary. The riding programme depends on the terrain, the conditions and the composition of the group. Groups may include riders from different countries, with varying levels of experience and riding styles, so the itinerary is not rigidly fixed.
Mongolian horses are small, strong and accustomed to living outdoors in large herds. They are used differently from many Western riding horses and are not trained for activities such as show jumping. Riding takes place on the horses’ and the nomads’ terms, which is part of what makes this experience so special.
This is a trip for those who appreciate adventure, variety and the freedom of riding through unspoilt nature, with periods of faster-paced riding and long, exhilarating gallops across the open steppes.
Camp Life and Camaraderie
Throughout the ride, a cook and provisions accompany the group. Luggage is transported by yak-drawn carts, and each afternoon the communal yurt is set up. It serves as a mobile kitchen and gathering place where meals are prepared and served.
You can choose how involved you want to be in camp life. Those who wish to help are welcome to join in with practical tasks, such as collecting firewood or helping to put up the communal yurt, before setting up their own tents. Here, teamwork is important, and shared tasks take priority over individual arrangements.
Meals are prepared over an open fire by the camp cooks, and dinner usually consists of several courses. The cooks take care of all the food preparation, so there is no need for guests to help in the kitchen. Instead, you can relax after a day in the saddle and enjoy the company and the simple pleasures of life close to nature.
Important Information Before You Travel
Mongolia is a high-altitude country with a pronounced continental climate. Summers can be warm, but the weather can change quickly and nights can be cold. Strong winds are common, and temperatures can drop considerably even in summer. Snowfall is unusual but not impossible.
Make sure to pack warm, windproof clothing suitable for mountain trekking, even if you are travelling in midsummer. Be prepared for changing weather conditions, which may affect the day’s ride and require the guide to adapt the programme accordingly.
This is an adventurous riding holiday where the riding, the natural surroundings and encounters with traditional nomadic life take centre stage. With the right expectations and preparation.
Accommodation and Food
Outside Ulaanbaatar, you will stay in spacious Tentipi Safir tents for most of the trip. Camp beds are provided, but you will need to bring your own warm sleeping bag and towel.
For two nights, you will stay in a camp consisting of traditional Mongolian yurts. These are comfortably furnished with proper beds and bed linen. Shower tents are available, equipped with shower bags that the staff will fill with warm water whenever you wish to take a shower. Toilets are basic outdoor toilets.
Exception – Big Skies Ride: Beds are made up and towels are provided, so you do not need to bring your own sleeping bag or towel.
All meals outside Ulaanbaatar are included during your stay in Mongolia. There are no restaurants or other places to eat in the areas where you ride, but the food provided at camp is good and freshly prepared. Breakfast usually consists of yoghurt, bread, eggs, porridge, coffee and tea. Lunch and dinner generally feature meat dishes with accompaniments, followed by dessert. Please let us know when booking if you are vegetarian, so that vegetarian meals can be arranged.
Ulaanbaatar now has a growing selection of restaurants to choose from. Meals in the capital are not included.
You can book additional nights at a hotel in Ulaanbaatar through us. Please note that hotel bookings cannot always be guaranteed, particularly in July and August, when demand often exceeds the number of available rooms. Changes to hotel arrangements are therefore quite common.
Program - Mongolian Trail Ride
This journey on horseback is a close encounter with Mongolian horsemen and their horses, nomadic people who have thus far survived modern pressure and lifestyles. There is no other nation in the world that so much depends on horses. Mongol horsemanship is famous and strikingly different than anywhere else. The herders keep their horses in a semiwild condition, allowing them to live freely in harem groups. During the harsh winter of subzero temperatures, the horses fend for themselves and protect their foals against predators such as wolves. There are no fences or any stables anywhere. We will ride out on the steppe, which is the summer pastureland of Mongolian nomads. We will ride in two strikingly different areas; first, the treeless steppe and then through the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area, which is in the mountain and forest taiga zone.
Preliminary day-by-day program
Day 1, Ulaanbaatar
Arrival in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital. Transfer to hotel. Information on the ride and a welcome dinner.
Day 2-3, Ulaanbaatar - steppes
In the morning we visit the Gandan Lamasery, the center for the Buddhist revival in Mongolia, possibly in time to see the prayers. Mongolians follow Lamaism (Tibetan Buddhism), with the Dalai Lama being the supreme theocratical leader. We then drive out of the city, and gradually the wide open Mongolian landscape unfolds before our eyes. We have a picnic lunch on arrival, pitching camp near some nomadic families. Here we will meet the local herders with the yak carts and our horses. We will get to know the horses and go an short trial ride.
Day 4-5, Steppe Ride
All our provisions, camping equipment and luggage will be loaded onto yak carts. Even a ger (yurt) will be brought, and we will learn how to set it up. We ride across open steppe, but also cover hilly terrain with occasional patches of birch forest. Throughout the ride we will have the chance to meet with local herdsmen, often relatives and friends of our local horsetrail guides. On the second day, forests will suddenly start to appear and we are now riding towards the Khentii wilderness area, which includes the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area and Gorkhi Terelj National Park. In Mongolia the Siberian boreal forest meets the Central Asian desert and steppe and will be riding through the transitional zone between grasslands and northern Larch forests. We will spend two nights here.
Days 6-7, Sharbulag Valley
The horses will enable us to ride through the Larch forests, up the slopes of the mountains and to follow ridges that offer views of superb scenery, whilst the yak carts will follow along the broad river valleys. We will arrive and pitch camp at Sharbulag Valley. We will spend two nights here, which will allow for some flexibility in the middle of our ride.
Day 8-9, To Jalman Meadows
We ride towards Jalman Meadows, famous for its wildflowers, and reach our semi-permanent ger camp, which is situated next to a beautiful wooded meadow on the upper parts of the Tuul River. Here we say good bye to the herders and their yak carts caravan. We will stay at Jalman Meadows Ger Camp for two nights, having a superb last day ride in the surrounding area.
Day 10, Back to Ulaanbaatar
A.m. Return to Ulaanbaatar and check into the hotel. See the capital city on your own. Distances are short. The local guide is standing by to assist finding out where your points of interest are located. Farewell dinner in local restaurant.
Day 11 Transfer to airport
Program - Big Skies
This is a tour for those that would like a few more comforts than you get on the other rides in Mongolia. You will not have to crawl into a small tent and sleeping bag in the evenings and you will move camp every other night followed by yaks carrying your luggage. You will sleep in yurts heated by a stove with comfortable beds and proper bed linen. This ride will go through the southern outskirts of Khan Khentii and the scenic Gorkhi Terelj National Park.
You start this ride with a short drive to the Khan Khentii Taiga zone. Once you have arrived at the Upper Tuul River, you will be met by your guides and the locals who have already set up your yurts. After one day’s riding in the surrounding area (stay two nights), you continue your ride as a real nomad, without vehicular support and in wild terrain. Accompanied by local nomads, a traditional caravan of yaks carries your baggage and the camp. Your luggage and the yurts are loaded onto yak carts and, while will follow winding trails, the caravan heads straight to your next scenic camp site. You will spend two nights in each location. You will ride over mountains, steppes, forests and through leafy woods. You will generally camp next to a river.
You stay 8 nights in comfortable yurts (a Mongolian tent with camp beds), and 2 nights in a double room with shower / WC.
Preliminary day-by-day program
Day 1: Ulaanbaatar
Arrive in Ulaanbaatar. Transfer to your hotel. Tour briefing followed by dinner and entertainment.
Day 2-3: The Bosog Meadows
In the morning you will visit Gandan Lamasery (hopefully in time for prayers), one of the centers of the Buddhist revival in Mongolia. Mongolians follow the Tibetan version of Lamaism and the Dalai Lama is their highest spiritual leader. You then travel out of the city and the Mongolian landscape gradually unfolds in front of you. You arrive at a valley on the Hadan Hoshuu steppe where there is no longer any trace of the civilization that once flourished here. It is a different world of wandering nomads, their horses, yurts and animal herds all making use of this valley. Picnic lunch along your route. You cross the forested Zamtiin Pass to the Upper Tuul River Valley. You will meet your horses at the Bosog Meadows by the Tuul River. You spend two nights here. Each yurt has a stove and small sturdy beds with bed linen. After a night under the stars in your luxury yurt, there is a full day’s ride along the southern side of the Tuul River. You will ride through the southernmost forests of Siberia and the transition to the Mongolian steppes with valleys, woods and spectacular panoramic views from high on the ridges.
You will then ride downstream together with the yak carts along the small Baruunbayan Valley until you reach the great fields by the Tuul River. You cross the Tuul River again on horseback while your yak train heads straight to Bosog Meadows. A full day’s ride in a loop around the Bosog Meadows takes you through valleys and up on to the ridges on the southern side of the Tuul River.
Day 4-5: The Baruunbayan Valley
Your camp would have been loaded onto yak carts the night before and this morning your luggage is loaded before breakfast. There is no vehicular support. Everything – the camping equipment and luggage – is loaded onto yak carts. You ride north towards the Hentii Mountains, across a wooded ridge and into the next valley, the Baruunbayan Valley, where you will spend the next two nights. The next day, you have an all-day ride from your new base camp at the Baruunbayan River to the temple ruins of Gunjin Summa that are hidden in a forest.
Day 6-7: The Zuunbayan Valley
You break camp for the last time. You leave the yak caravan and ride up on to the partly forested peaks. Most trees are larches, but some of the ridges have large areas covered with pine trees. You may get the chance to see the rare black wood-grouse, and black grouse are common. Your camp is erected next to the Zuunbayan River, a tributary of the Tuul River. You will spend two nights here. You will have a full day's ride up to the tree line in the Hentii Mountains, and enjoy spectacular views in all directions.
Day 8: For Jalman Meadows
Today, you say goodbye to the nomads and yak caravan and ride back to the Sharbulag Valley passing the uppermost parts of the Tuul River. You reach your camp at Jalman Meadows in the afternoon.
Day 9: Jalman Meadows
A full day to enjoy the Jalman Meadows Ger Camp. You can also use the day for another half- or full-day ride, or you can sit in the library and read about Genghis Khan and his Mongolia or you can read about horses, of course. If you prefer, instead of a ride, an inflatable raft can be loaded on to a yak cart, taken to the river and you can enjoy a ride downstream on the river. There is also an opportunity to take a sauna by the river.
Day 10: Ulaanbaatar
In the morning, you return to Ulaanbaatar and check into your hotel. You can explore the capital city on your own. The distances are short and a local guide is available to help show you the local sights.
Day 11: Departure
Horses
The Mongolian horse is very easy to ride. You ride with the reins in one hand and control it like a polo horse. The horse's equipment consists of a halter and lead rope that is never taken off, and a very simple bridle and a Russian leather saddle with steel frame.
Guests receive Russian saddles. Horsemen riding in the Mongolian style use saddles made of birch wood! The horse is small, about 130-140 cm, but very strong, and can easily carry an adult (maximum 90 kg).
The Mongolian horses have distinct herd behavior because the Mongolians keep their horses in the same way as they did during the Bronze Age, that is, not stabled and they get no additional grains or food, etc. They graze on winter pasture, and are kept in ‘harem herds’. Herds must be a certain size, so that they can protect their foals from possible wolf attacks. Therefore, they naturally stay together. Wolves are still a minor problem in the summer when they hunt marmots (which goes into hibernation for the winter).
A herd of 300 horses is required to be able to find 10 horses that are suitable for westerners to ride. Most horses are not broken in the way we in the West are used to. From a western perspective, we have access to suitable horses in all the places we take tours. Mongolians are generally content to ride less broken-in horses.
The horses you will ride are more tolerant than other horses, even if they dislike, for example, patting under the neck, stirrups flapping freely under their bellies or the rustle from Gore-Tex clothing, which they are not used to. They get used to a new rider quickly, however.
Weight limit: 90kg. For those who are over 90kg and up to 100kg, we charge for extra horse, 40 EUR per day.
Travel Information
Ability description: Level, trail ride 3>> (Mongolian trail ride, Big Skies).
Included in the price: Leadership, breakfast every day in UB, and all meals outside Ulaanbaatar. All overnights in hotels in shared double, ger camps and tents . Camping equipment and all local transport.
Not included: Air or train tickets in and out of Mongolia. drinks, laundry. Lunch and dinner in Ulaanbaatar. Visa fee. Bring your own sleeping bag.
Travel: Book flight >>
Flight to Ulaanbaatar (ULN)
Transfer: Book in advance with HorseXplore. You will be picked up at the airport in Ulaanbaatar. If you arrive at an earlier or later date, you can book extra nights at the hotel, and the transfer in Ulaanbaatar is included.
Visa: Check with your nearest Mongolian Embassy or Consulate for visa requirements. Please check carefully at the website or call the Mongolian embassy or consulate nearest to you, what is applicable for your nationality.
Suitable equipment: You will receive detailed information about this after booking.
Field Hygiene: This is, to say the least, an expedition, and you will generally be a long way from the nearest hotel. You will be outdoors most of the time. For the toilet, you dig a pit, around which is erected a toilet tent (a tent without a roof). "Flushing" is done by placing earth on top once you are finished. Toilet paper will be provided, but it's handy to have your own roll when you are on the move. On the steppes, there is limited water. There is a field shower, so a hot shower is possible under outdoor-like conditions. On the steppe there are no rivers, but usually small rivulets of running water.
Single room: Can be booked with a supplement. For price click on ”Book on request” under Dates & prices. If you are willing to share room, you will not have to pay a supplement if you are allocated a single room.
Currency: Tugrik. Bring US dollars, mainly in cash. Cash also in smaller denominations. Dollars are acceptable in hotels and in most shops.
Credit card: Not accepted at trail rides but at hotel.
Tipping: Not required but appreciated.
Wifi: At the hotel, first and last night.
Electricity jack: EU standard is working.
Age limit: None specific but you need to be a competent rider.
Closest village: About 120 km (75 miles) away on trail rides.
Beach: Sometimes you ride beside the Tuul river beaches.
Misc.:
Riding equipment to borrow: None
Saddle bag available: Yes
Special diet: Inform when booking.
Climate
It is important to understand what kind of climate you will meet in Mongolia. The mean elevation of Mongolia is about 1400 meters above sea level (5000 ft), which enhances the sharp continental climate. Mongolia has the highest atmospheric pressure in the World and the pronounced elevation – and the distance from the moderating effects of the oceans – makes Ulaanbaatar the coldest capital city on Earth. This fact does not rule out extreme heat waves in the middle of the summer. Heat waves have in the last two years, during specifically hot days in the end of June and early July also carried with it large quantities of flies and horse flies in forested areas. Due to warmer previous winter, this enhances survival conditions for such insects.
In Mongolia the Central Asian desert zones meet with the Siberian taiga, hence, Mongolia is a transition zone with climatic extremes. Most of the year it is very cold, especially at night. Precipitation is low and skies are usually clear during the wintertime. Summers, however, are very pleasant just as in the US and Europe. There is a short rainy season in July and August during which most of the annual rain will fall. Around 70 percent of all precipitation falls during these three summer months. When raining it tend be heavier and shorter, if extended it may cause floods locally. Occasional strong winds can come and go quickly.
Mongolia is known as the Land of the Blue Sky and throughout the year, there are 278 sunny days and 9-23 cloudy days. All in all, the weather pattern is very variable over short periods of time.
Feedback from our travellers
An unforgettable riding trip with fantastic service
We were well received and taken care of throughout the entire trip. The food during the long ride was absolutely fantastic given the circumstances. The breakfast was better than a hotel breakfast, and it was impressive that we were served four-course dinners every day. Our horseman really looked after us and made sure we had great and varied rides every day in diverse terrain. The horses were well-trained and obedient. The overall experience was enhanced by the fact that everyone was so helpful, competent, and friendly.
Eva Helmersen
Amazing food and incredible riding experiences
The food was wonderful. Additionally, both a welcome and a farewell dinner in Ulaanbaatar were included. We rode between 5 and 6 hours per day. There were long gallop sessions every day, the longest lasting around half an hour, yet the horses never seemed particularly tired. These were amazing little horses that seemed incredibly strong.
Our local guide was very skilled and professional. There was also a team of extremely service-minded staff and an amazing, talented woman who prepared all our meals. We even had our own doctor with us. I have nothing but praise for all those who made this trip such a wonderful memory.
The entire trip exceeded all my expectations.
Torbjörn Svensk
Thrilling gallops and a reliable horse
We slept in tents with camp beds, so there was no need for sleeping mats. For two nights, we stayed in a comfortable yurt with real beds. The food was good, but there was no need to serve Western-style dishes. It would have been more exciting to experience the local cuisine.
Such an amazing riding experience! High-speed gallops! I got a wise and experienced horse—sure-footed and fast as a storm!
Fantastic guide and crew!
Eva Juneborg
Breathtaking views and a safe riding experience
The driver was easy to spot at the arrival hall. The accommodation was excellent—I had expected a much simpler standard and tenting. The chef and the food were very good, including the vegetarian options. The riding was varied and well-planned. There was great attention to safety while still ensuring we had fun and enjoyed fantastic scenery.
The staff was amazing! We played cards in the evenings and even got to hear many of their songs.
Katarina Alakangas
An adventure in magnificent nature
We didn’t have to set up our own tents. Camp beds and warm blankets were provided in the tents. The cook was fantastic, preparing hot lunches and delicious dinners.
Fast-paced and exciting riding. We were well taken care of the entire time. An adventure in magnificent nature with very kind people.
Ulla Ljunglöf
A journey to remember for a lifetime
Both the tents and the yurt camp were very good. The chef did an excellent job given the circumstances. A big plus for the gluten-free meal adaptations. The riding was indescribably good, and the horses were easy to ride and stable.
Overall, the staff was very welcoming. At times, communication was a bit difficult as English (except for the guide) was very limited.
A memory for life!
Eva Johansson
A trip that exceeded all expectations
The horses and riding were excellent! Our English-speaking guide entertained us the entire time. The whole trip was a positive surprise—better quality than we had expected based on the information we read online.
I am so happy I took this trip. I am in love with Mongolia and its people.
Pirkko Santakangas
An exciting trip with fantastic service
I was very well received. I had problems with my flight, but the staff on-site helped me. The food during the ride was also very good, with generous portions.
Great guide with excellent English. They truly took great care of us. My horse was wonderful, and to sum it up—a very good and exciting trip.
Elsa Nylander
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