The problem with short trips
Mongolia is bigger than Alaska. The main roads were mostly gravel until 2020. The best experiences are 300 to 900 kilometres from Ulaanbaatar. Five days is tight. Ten is right. Fourteen is generous. Twenty-one is how your second trip looks.
Five days: Ulaanbaatar plus one region
Realistic. Land Day 1, settle in UB. Day 2-3: fly-in to Gobi, one night at a dune camp, fly back. Day 4: Terelj for Turtle Rock and a ger lunch. Day 5: back to UB and home. This is a taste, not immersion. Perfect for stopovers.
Seven days: UB plus Gobi plus Kharkhorin
The short classic. Day 1-2 UB. Day 3-5 Gobi by flight (three nights, two flights). Day 6 Kharkhorin via paved road. Day 7 back to UB. Covers the icons. Costs 2,800-5,500 USD per person.
Ten days: UB plus Gobi plus Orkhon plus a nomad week
Our favourite. Day 1-2 UB. Day 3-5 Gobi. Day 6-9 Orkhon Valley with three nights at a nomad family plus one at Otugi Camp. Day 10 fly back UB, depart. True immersion with the iconic landscapes. 4,200-7,500 USD.
Fourteen days: full circle
Mongolia in depth. UB, Gobi, Kharkhorin, Khangai horse trek, Khuvsgul, back to UB. Or: UB, Gobi, eastern steppe with Genghis Khan route, Khuvsgul. Fourteen days lets you see both the landscape and the culture without feeling rushed. 6,500-12,000 USD.
Twenty-one days
Unusual but magnificent. The only length that lets you add Altai (far west) and the Tsaatan reindeer herders (far north) to the core circuit. This becomes a real journey. 10,000-18,000 USD, private, by request.
Our most-booked lengths
Average trip length across all Rara Avis bookings: 11.4 days. Median: 10 days. Under 7 days is 9 percent of bookings. Over 14 days is 14 percent. The sweet spot is 9-13 days.
