Horse Riding with Mongolian Nomads — Self-Launched

Arrive at Chinggis Khaan International Airport and take the cheap public bus or a shared taxi into the city (about £2–4). Check into a hostel in the city centre, then walk to Gandantegchinlen Monastery to catch the monks' morning or late-afternoon chanting (free entry, small donation for photos). Use the afternoon for the Chinggis Khaan National Museum to get a grounding in Mongol history, then eat a first buuz-and-khuushuur dinner at a local guanz. Sort out a local SIM (Unitel/Mobicom data package ~£5) and confirm your driver-guide for tomorrow.

🚌Public bus / shared taxi from airport (~£3); walking and city buses in town

🛏Central Ulaanbaatar hostel dorm or budget guesthouse (£10–15)

• →Gandantegchinlen Monastery
• →Chinggis Khaan National Museum
• →Local food market wander

Road trip day: hire a driver-guide with a Russian van or Land Cruiser for the next six days (shared local 4WD hire runs roughly £70–90/day including fuel, split between travellers — dramatically cheaper than a private tour). Drive ~365km west along the paved road to Kharkhorin with a lunch stop at a roadside guanz. Visit the Kharkhorin museum, then spend the golden hour at Erdene Zuu, Mongolia's oldest surviving Buddhist monastery, walking the wall of 108 stupas. Overnight in a family guesthouse in town and eat with your host family.

🚌Shared 4WD van hire with driver (~£25–35 per person); paved road, ~6–7 hours with stops

🛏Kharkhorin family guesthouse (£12–18)

• →Erdene Zuu Monastery
• →Kharkhorin museum
• →Evening with local family

Continue off-road into the Orkhon Valley (UNESCO World Heritage landscape) to a herder camp near Tovkhon. Horses and a local herder guide can be arranged directly at the camps — expect roughly £15–20 per day per horse including guide. Ride up the forested ridge to Tovkhon Monastery, the mountain retreat linked to sculptor-monk Zanabazar, and see his artworks. Descend in the late afternoon and settle into a ger camp or herder family stay with a hot meal.

🚌Off-road 4WD transfer (included in vehicle hire); horseback with local herder guide

🛏Ger camp or nomad family ger in Orkhon Valley (£12–20)

• →Ride to Tovkhon Monastery
• →Zanabazar monastery artworks
• →Optional ridge summit walk

Morning walk to Ulaan Tsutgalan, the dramatic 20m waterfall carved by an old lava flow on the Orkhon River — free to visit, just an hour or so on foot from the camps. After lunch, mount up for a roughly 4.5-hour ride up toward the Naiman Nuur mountains, with your luggage carried separately by pack horse or yak. Spend the afternoon with the herding family learning how yaks and goats are moved in and out of camp.

🚌Walking plus ~4.5 hours horseback; gear carried by pack animal

🛏Nomad family ger camp, Naiman Nuur foothills (£12–18)

• →Ulaan Tsutgalan waterfall
• →Half-day horse ride
• →Yak and goat herding with nomads

The heart of the trip: a full riding day through the Khuisiin Naiman Nuur area, a protected cluster of alpine lakes in an old volcanic crater. Ride up over open passes with views across the lakes, then move camp — your gear is transported by yak — and stay overnight with a nomadic family who summer-pasture here. Keep an eye out for raptors, marmots and grazing herds; the riding is medium intensity so bring a helmet and expect long hours in the saddle.

🚌~5 hours horseback; luggage by yak

🛏Nomad family ger, Naiman Nuur (£12–18)

• →Naiman Nuur lakes ride
• →Overnight with nomadic family

Another generous riding day (about 6 hours) looping past Shirt Nuur and the lake viewpoints, with an optional faster gallop from the col above the lake back to camp if you're feeling confident in the saddle. In the evening share a celebratory nomad meal — airag (fermented mare's milk) or milk vodka if offered, plus boiled mutton and dairy. Bring a small gift (fruit, sweets, a good knife) for your hosts, and remember: saddle soreness is normal, pack padded shorts.

🚌~6 hours horseback; walking to viewpoints

🛏Nomad family ger, Naiman Nuur (£12–18)

• →Lakes circuit ride
• →Milk vodka / airag tasting
• →Sunset over the lakes

Long off-road transfer east to the Elsen Tasarkhai dunes, the 'little Gobi' strip of sand and rock that sits between Kharkhorin and Ulaanbaatar. Check into a local ger camp, then take a short Bactrian camel ride across the dunes — arrangeable on arrival for around £8–12. Alternatively walk the desert edge and scramble up Khugnu Khan mountain for sunset views. Dinner and overnight in a ger under enormous stars.

🚌Off-road 4WD transfer (~7–8 hours with stops)

🛏Elsen Tasarkhai ger camp (£15–22)

• →Bactrian camel ride
• →Dune walk
• →Khugnu Khan hill viewpoint

Drive back toward the capital with stops at roadside sacred cairns (ovoo) and yak statues, arriving early afternoon. Book same-day tickets for a traditional dance and khoomi (throat singing) performance at the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet or the Tumen Ekh Ensemble (~£10–15). Browse the cashmere shops around the State Department Store, then have a farewell dinner — try a proper khorkhog or a Korean-Mongolian BBQ — and sample Ulaanbaatar's small but lively bar scene.

🚌4WD return to Ulaanbaatar (last day of vehicle hire); walking and taxis in the city

🛏Central Ulaanbaatar hostel dorm or budget guesthouse (£10–15)

• →Traditional music and dance performance
• →Cashmere shopping
• →Farewell dinner and nightlife

Breakfast at the hostel or a nearby bakery, then take the public bus or a shared taxi out to Chinggis Khaan International Airport. If you have a late flight, use the morning for the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts or a final wander around Sukhbaatar Square.

🚌Public bus / shared taxi to airport (~£3)

🛏None (departure day)

• →Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts (if time allows)
• →Sukhbaatar Square