Everything we are asked in the first week.

Write a few lines through the plan page, WhatsApp or email: who is travelling, roughly when, and what caught your eye. A senior host replies within four hours in Ulaanbaatar office time, and always within 24. Then a twenty-minute call on the route, the comfort level, the pace and the people you would like to meet. Within 72 hours you receive a private proposal, day by day, everything included, priced to your party. We hold your dates for 10 business days at no cost while you decide. Nothing is booked until you say so.

Twelve weeks before departure is our standard lead time, and eight is possible for most private journeys. Signature events and Altai expeditions need six months at least, because permits, flights and vehicles are scheduled well ahead. For the Golden Eagle Festival we hold flights, the family stay and a viewing position from June. Naadam runs 11 to 13 July every year, so tell us early if the festival is the point of the trip. Discover Mongolia, our joinable expedition, has two departures in 2027: 12 to 23 June and 14 to 25 August, sixteen places each.

Almost everything we do is private: your own guide, your own vehicle, dates of your choosing, priced to your party. Prices on our tour pages are per person for two travellers in season, and solo travellers are welcome on request. The one journey you can join is Discover Mongolia, a twelve-day loop south into the Gobi and back through the Orkhon Valley. It runs twice a year with never more than sixteen guests, two senior guides, our own Land Cruisers and drivers, and a cook. If a departure does not reach eight guests we run it anyway, in fewer vehicles, at the same price.

Every proposal states accommodation, meals, guide, vehicles and park fees in plain language before you book. On a private journey that means every night, every meal, an English-speaking guide, a private 4WD with driver, and all park and entry fees. Domestic or charter flights are included where the route uses them: the flight to Ulgii for the eagle hunters, the charter to Murun for the reindeer people and for taimen fishing, reserved seating at Naadam. Discover Mongolia also includes bottled water and airport transfers on the first and last day. What we quote is what you pay, with no hidden fees and no last-minute surcharges.

As a guide: six days in the Gobi with a private guide and vehicle is USD 4,900 per person, seven days at Naadam is USD 6,400, eight days with the eagle hunters of the Altai is USD 6,900, nine days with the reindeer people and Khuvsgul Lake is USD 7,200, and the thirteen-day Great Journey across four regions is USD 9,800. All are per person for two travellers in season. Discover Mongolia, the joinable expedition, is from USD 5,400 per person sharing with a single supplement of USD 950. A bespoke route is priced to your party in the proposal, and you see the whole figure before anything is booked.

Yes. Level 1 journeys are family-friendly and can be arranged for mobility limitations on request: no more than four hours of driving a day, no hikes over four kilometres, beds or a heated ger, three meals cooked for you. Level 2 assumes good general fitness and three to four hours a day on your feet. Levels 3 and 4 are expedition country, and Level 4 is application-only with a doctor's sign-off. Age is not a major factor at altitude; we regularly have guides of 70 and over in the mountains. Tell us the ages, fitness and any medical concerns in your party and we will suggest the right level within 24 hours. See trip levels for what each one looks like on the ground.

Yes. Every private journey is built to your party, so days can be added, the pace changed, or a domestic flight swapped for the drive. The Gobi, for example, can be flown in one direction to shorten the road. Guests often stay on after the Altai or the Great Journey, and we are glad to extend. Tell your host what you have in mind and we will say what can move. Routes that start from a blank page begin at bespoke journey design.

Once you accept the proposal, a 50 percent deposit confirms the booking. Guides are assigned, vehicles reserved and permits applied for. The remaining 50 percent is due 30 days before travel, when your departure briefing is sent and your contact at our Ulaanbaatar office is introduced by name. For Discover Mongolia a deposit of USD 1,500 holds a seat and the balance is due sixty days before departure. The full schedule is on the booking and payment page.

Your deposit is refunded in full if you cancel more than 180 days before travel. Between 180 and 30 days before travel, 50 percent can be transferred to a later journey. Within 30 days of travel, payments are non-refundable, because guides, camps and vehicles are already committed. We ask every guest to hold travel insurance with trip cancellation cover for exactly this reason. The full wording is in our terms and conditions.

We invoice in US dollars. International wire to our USD account at Khan Bank in Mongolia is the preferred route for larger bookings, with no processing fee; SWIFT instructions come with your confirmation. Visa, Mastercard and Amex are accepted through Stripe with a 2.9 percent processing fee, which suits deposits and smaller amounts. Wise works well for guests in the UK, EU, Australia and the US: we invoice in USD, you pay in your own currency, and it settles in about 48 hours. The final balance can also be paid in cash, in USD, at our Ulaanbaatar office. Card and bank payments are held by Stripe and Airwallex, two regulated platforms.

Our packing list asks for at least USD 200 in cash, carried with your passport, insurance card and printed return ticket. Meals, accommodation, guide, vehicle and park fees are already in your price, so day-to-day spending is small. Only cash above USD 10,000 needs to be declared at customs on arrival. If you would rather settle your final balance in person, that can be done in USD at our office in Ulaanbaatar.

Many passports do not. Holders of passports from the USA, the UK, EU countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and dozens more enter visa-free for stays of up to 30 days: a stamp at the counter and you are through. Chinese and Indian passport holders need a visa. India and most other nationalities can apply for an e-visa at eVisa.gov.mn at least 10 days before travel: five business days to process, USD 50 to 80, single entry, 30 days. Your passport must be valid for six months beyond your entry date. We provide an official invitation letter free of charge with every booking and support any embassy application. Passport-by-passport detail is in our Mongolia visa guide.

Yes. Extensions are handled at the Department of Citizenship and Migration in Ulaanbaatar. The fee is 40,000 MNT, about USD 12, it takes two days, and extensions of up to 60 additional days are routine. We handle this for guests who need it. For multiple entry or a longer stay from the outset, apply for a consular visa at your nearest Mongolian embassy.

Chinggis Khaan International Airport at Ulaanbaatar has direct flights from 14 cities. For example: Seoul with Korean Air in 3 hours 45 minutes, Tokyo with MIAT in 5 hours 30, Istanbul with Turkish Airlines in 8 hours 20, and Frankfurt with MIAT in 10 hours. Tell us your dates and we will send your invitation letter, airport pickup details and a packing list. Overland, the Zamiin-Uud crossing from China is open around the clock, the Altanbulag crossing from Russia is slower but works, and Trans-Mongolian rail travellers coming from China cross at Zamiin-Uud. More on how to get to Mongolia.

Immigration is a passport stamp: usually about 20 minutes in the queue and two at the counter, no form for visa-free nationals, no fingerprinting. Your driver waits inside the terminal at Arrivals with a Rara Avis name board, never at the kerb, and we track your flight so a delay costs you nothing. It is 55 minutes to central Ulaanbaatar and about 90 minutes to Big Sky Lodge, with hot tea in the car and a Wi-Fi hotspot to message home. Transfers are built into your journey, and a transfer on its own can be booked on the airport services page.

The main season runs from late May to early October. May and June give the greenest steppe and the longest light. Naadam is 11 to 13 July. The Gobi is at its best in spring and autumn, though we run it from May to mid October. Khuvsgul and the reindeer people are a mid June to mid September journey. The Altai is best from July to September, and the Golden Eagle Festival falls on the first weekend of October. Taimen fishing is August and September only. Winter journeys are possible for experienced travellers in the Khentii. Mongolia has more than 280 sunny days a year, but expect swings of 20 to 25 degrees between afternoon and night in the countryside, so pack a warm layer whatever the month. Month-by-month temperatures are in our weather guide.

Layer for the range, not the forecast: two merino base layers, a fleece, a waterproof shell, quick-dry trousers, broken-in boots, camp shoes, a sun hat and a beanie, gloves both light and warm. It all fits in a soft 35 litre duffel with a 20 litre day pack. Add SPF 30 sunscreen, lip balm, insect repellent, a headlamp, a 10,000 mAh power bank and a universal adaptor. Heavy items can be rented at our Ulaanbaatar office on day one: a sleeping bag rated to minus 20 for USD 8 a day, a down jacket for USD 6, trekking poles for USD 4, a riding helmet for USD 3, and a satellite phone with credit for USD 12. The seasonal lists are at pack and prepare.

It depends on the level of the journey. On Level 1 you sleep in beds or a heated ger every night. On Level 2 you sleep in gers more often than hotels: private ger camps, a lodge on the shore of Khuvsgul taken for your party, a guest ger beside a herding family. Levels 3 and 4 bring camping and, on remote expeditions, nights in our tents beside the families we visit. We own our lodges, and routes are built with lodge nights for a proper shower or a bath where the country allows. On the road a hot shower is not every night. Your day-by-day proposal says where each night is spent, so there are no surprises.

All meals are included and cooked for you; the Discover Mongolia expedition travels with its own cook. When you are a guest in a ger you will be offered salted milk tea, khuushuur and airag from the family's own mares. Vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher and gluten-free diets are all supported, including in remote regions, if we know in advance. The guide team plans meals around your needs. A one litre reusable bottle is on the packing list, and bottled water is provided on Discover Mongolia.

In Ulaanbaatar and on the airport transfer, yes; the car has a Wi-Fi hotspot. In the countryside expect long gaps. Every expedition carries a satellite phone and satellite communications are standard on expedition vehicles, so our office can always reach your guide. If you need to stay reachable yourself, a satellite phone with credit can be rented from us for USD 12 a day. Our WhatsApp line is answered around the clock while you are on a journey.

Toyota Land Cruisers in the field, twelve of them now, with dual spare wheels, extended fuel range, desert recovery kit, sand ladders and towing gear, and satellite communications on every expedition. Toyota Alphard executive vans for airport transfers and city days, with hybrids as the default in Ulaanbaatar and electric vehicles joining the pool. Every vehicle is owned or long-term leased by Rara Avis, tracked by GPS telematics, carries a certified first aid kit, fire extinguisher and recovery equipment, and is comprehensively insured with passenger liability. Every driver is our employee. More on the fleet page.

Our own. Every guide is a Rara Avis employee, never a freelancer or subcontractor, and born in the region they lead: the Gobi, the Altai, the Khentii or the Taiga. They are licensed, wilderness first responder certified, and speak English, Russian or Japanese fluently. In the far west a Kazakh-speaking guide travels with you among the eagle hunters. Each has lived the route they lead. Discover Mongolia travels with two senior guides. Meet them on team and guides.

Every journey carries a level from 1 to 4. Level 1, Comfort: up to four hours of driving, no hike over four kilometres. Level 2, Active: up to six hours of driving, hikes of up to eight kilometres, optional riding, altitude up to 2,000 metres; this is the average Rara Avis journey and assumes good general fitness. Level 3, Demanding: long 4x4 days, multi-day riding of up to six hours in the saddle, camping, altitude up to 3,500 metres, and not for first-time riders. Level 4, Expedition: ten or more days off-grid, 4,000 metres, glacial crossings, application-only, with prior expedition experience and a doctor's sign-off. Not sure? Tell us about your group and we will suggest a level within 24 hours, with no pressure and no sale.

Mongolia treats the traveller as a zochin, a guest under the protection of the household, and our CEO calls the country kinder and stranger than anything she can put in a brochure. The risks that matter are the practical ones: distance, weather and roads. Those we manage as a system. Every movement outside Ulaanbaatar has a written journey plan with route, timings, communications schedule, fuel plan, weather assessment and contingency actions. Mandatory check-ins escalate within fifteen minutes if missed, with 24-hour journey monitoring. We never drive at night outside city limits, with no waiver. Vehicles are tracked by GPS and driver behaviour is monitored. A duty officer answers our line at any hour, all year.

For most journeys, no. Ulaanbaatar sits at 1,350 metres, the Gobi floor at 900 to 1,500, Kharkhorin and the Orkhon Valley at 1,200 to 1,500, and Khuvsgul Lake at 1,645; nobody notices. The Khangai reaches 2,800 metres, where mild sensitivity is possible. Real altitude begins in the Altai: Tavan Bogd base camp is at 2,800 metres and Khuiten Peak at 4,374. For any journey above 2,500 metres we send a medical questionnaire 60 days before departure, build the ascent gradually over several days, and carry altitude medication on every expedition. 99 percent of our guests have no altitude issues at all. Full detail in our altitude guide.

Yes, on every journey, with no exceptions. Your policy must carry at least USD 200,000 of medical cover, explicit helicopter evacuation from remote areas, trip cancellation, and an adventure activity rider if you will ride, climb or raft, since standard policies usually exclude these. The three providers we see honour claims without fuss are IMG Signature, our most recommended, World Nomads, and Global Rescue. Upload your policy when you book and we will read it and flag any gap before you land. See travel insurance.

We hold a medical evacuation retainer: activation within four hours from anywhere in Mongolia, casualty reception at Intermed Hospital in Ulaanbaatar, fixed wing and rotary evacuation, international repatriation, and a 24-hour medical advice line for every traveller. Our evacuation partner can reach any of our expedition zones within six hours. Every expedition carries a satellite phone, every guide is wilderness first responder certified, and every vehicle carries a certified first aid kit. In our years of guiding we have never had a severe altitude event that needed evacuation.

A Mongolian travel house founded in Ulaanbaatar in 2016 by three guides, founder Tuvshin Erdenebaatar among them, with one Land Cruiser. Ten years on the guides still run the company, the fleet is twelve Land Cruisers, and the CEO, Nomin Gereltbaatar, reads the first reply to every enquiry herself. We have hosted 421 guests from forty countries, hold 4.9 of 5 on Tripadvisor from 128 reviews, are members of the Association of Inbound Travel Agencies and the Mongolian Tourism Organization, and are backed by NEMU Partners. Read our story.

Four things. The Zochin Code: in the nomadic law of the steppe the guest is sacred, and we run the house by it. Owned operations: every guide is our employee, every vehicle is our fleet, every property is ours, so when something is wrong our name is on the invoice. Guides born in the region they lead. And an impact layer: every journey plants trees at Big Sky Lodge, which runs on solar, under Mongolia's Billion Trees pledge, 412 planted so far on the way to 2,000 by 2030. Salesforce published us worldwide as its example of how a service organisation should run. More at why travel with us.

Call or WhatsApp +976 8050-7231. The office in Ulaanbaatar is open 09:00 to 19:00 Mongolia time, GMT+8, and the duty line is answered at any hour for guests on a journey. Email [email protected]; it is read by the CEO and the guest experience team, with a four-hour reply window in office time and always within 24. Or book a twenty-minute video call on Google Meet in your own time zone. We are at Zaisan Street 68-1, V28 Building, Khan-Uul District, Ulaanbaatar 17030. Visits by appointment; we would rather come to you.