Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

The glass Blue Sky Tower reflecting a golden sunset over Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar.

Mongolia's capital sits in a river valley at high altitude, where Buddhist monasteries, Soviet-era blocks and ger districts share the same skyline.

The place

Ulaanbaatar is the capital of Mongolia and, by some distance, its largest city, home to about 1.5 million people. It sits at roughly 1,350 metres in a broad valley beside the Tuul River, ringed by wooded hills and bare mountain ridges. Ulaanbaatar is the world's coldest capital when measured by average yearly temperature, so the first lesson most visitors learn is to pack for winter, even when they arrive in summer.

Walking around the centre, the mix is immediate. Glass office towers and wide avenues sit alongside Soviet-era apartment blocks, and beyond the ring roads the traditional ger districts climb the hillsides, with their felt tents, wooden fences and coal smoke. Monasteries with painted roofs are tucked between shopping malls. For many travellers the city is less a destination in its own right than the gateway to the steppe, where tours, train tickets and supplies are arranged before heading into the countryside.

Two or three days covers the monasteries, a museum or two and a stroll along the river, with a spare afternoon for a day trip out of town. Traffic can be heavy at rush hour, and winter air is often smoky from coal heating, so indoor sights suit the coldest days and outdoor walks suit the clearer ones.

Its story

Ulaanbaatar's history reaches back far beyond its founding date. Stone tools found on the mountains around the valley show people hunting here in the Lower Paleolithic, and the bones of mammoth and woolly rhinoceros still turn up in the hills. Royal tombs from the Xiongnu period lie nearby, a sign that the valley sat within the reach of the nomadic empires that moved across the steppe. A twelfth-century ruler, Wang Khan of the Keraites, is said to have had a palace on the Tuul River and to have banned hunting on the holy mountain Bogd Uul.

The modern city began with religion. In 1639 a Buddhist monastic community was founded as a mobile settlement, and it moved around the steppe many times before settling at its present site in 1778. The camp, known as Örgöö and in older Western writing as Urga, became the main religious centre in Mongolia and the seat of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, the spiritual head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism in the country. Caravans on the trade route between Beijing and the Russian border brought wealth and new influence.

The collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911 made the city a focus of independence efforts, and the Bogd Khanate was proclaimed under the eighth Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, known as Bogd Khan. Control of the city passed back and forth over the following years. In 1924, with the proclamation of the Mongolian People's Republic, the city was renamed Ulaanbaatar and declared the capital. Planning from the 1950s replaced many of the old ger districts with Soviet-style flats, though the gers have never fully disappeared from the edges of the city.

What to see

Culture

Ulaanbaatar is a city where Buddhist practice, nomadic custom and Soviet-era habits sit side by side, and the mix feels relaxed rather than formal. Religious life is visible in the monasteries, where monks go about their duties and lay visitors light butter lamps and turn prayer wheels. The performing arts are lively too. The Ulaanbaatar Opera House in the centre stages opera, ballet and concerts, and traditional folk ensembles, some well known on overseas tours, play for audiences at home and abroad. The Mongolian State Grand National Orchestra, founded in 1945, is known for its large ensemble of traditional instruments.

Hospitality matters in the city as much as on the steppe. Guests are often offered airag, fermented mare's milk, or salty milk tea, and accepting at least a small cup is a polite gesture. Handshakes are common, and a small gift of sweets or fruit goes down well when you are invited to a home. When you enter a temple, walk clockwise around the stupas and prayer wheels, and ask before photographing monks or anyone at prayer.

What to wear

In Ulaanbaatar the traditional dress is the deel, a long, wide-sleeved robe with a wrap collar, usually belted at the waist with a sash. Deels are cut from wool, cotton or silk, and richer versions use brocade and embroidered borders, with men's and women's cuts often differing in colour and trim. Traditional clothing comes out for Naadam, weddings and national holidays, and at the Naadam festival you will see many people in their best deels. Everyday dress in the city is Western, with jeans, down jackets and trainers, and fur-trimmed hats and fur-lined boots are common in the cold months.

For a visitor, layers matter more than style. Pack a warm down coat and thermal base layers for winter, and a windproof jacket for the exposed hills, which are windy in every season. Choose covered shoulders and knees for the monasteries, and sturdy shoes with good grip, as pavements can be icy in winter and uneven all year.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. July and August are the hottest months, with June close behind, and most of the rain falls from May to September. The rest of the year is far colder, winter brings deep frost and heavy coal smoke, so plan indoor visits then.

How long. 2–3

Getting there. The airport is a fair drive from the centre, roughly an hour and sometimes more in traffic. Taxis are the most reliable option, so agree the fare in advance. Airport shuttle buses leave from central stops such as Sukhbaatar Square, but timetables change, so check before you travel. For a longer journey, the Trans-Mongolian railway links Ulaanbaatar with Moscow and Beijing.

Budget. low

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources