The best time to visit Mongolia

best time to visit Mongolia

The best time to visit Mongolia is between May and September. Despite the country’s vast size, the temperatures do not vary hugely depending on where you are, but in the major cities, you can expect mostly warm weather and long days in the summer except mountains where you can expect 4 seasons in one day. But, in southern Mongolia where the Gobi desert is located, you will expect hot and windy weather during the summertime.

Top tourist activities in Mongolia

There is not much to do in Mongolian cities. In the capital of Mongolia despite a population of 1.5 million and because of wrong management and corruption city has terrible traffic jams and air pollution is at its highest level now in 2023. Sol all the tourist attractions of Mongolia located out of the cities in the countryside. Mongolia is a country of nomads, livestock, horses, mountains, lakes, rivers, and wild natures with unique customs of the nomads that live outdoors in the Gers (Yurts).

Top tourist activities in Mongolia are trekking in Altai Tavan Bogd national park, Discovery tours in the Gobi desert and visiting archeological sites, Riding horses and camels with local nomads, nomadic homestay and meeting local nomadic culture, and fishing. One of the most unique activities that becoming more and more worldwide popular is the Hunting with eagle tour with western Mongolian Kazakh nomads.

Most of those tourist activities are available only during the summer times as most of the destinations are closed in the winter because of snow blocking the road and trails. Many unique destinations have a problem with lodging. If you think that you can stay with nomadic families and share the room with the rest of the nomadic families then this nomadic homestay tour you can do at any time of the year. Eagle hunting activity in western Mongolia is available only in the winter time starting from the Middle of September whole winter until the middle of March. You can do also Gobi desert tours in the winter as well but it is too risky as roads can be blocked by snow storms, and the landscape is also not as dramatic as in summer (That is my personal opinion).

When is the best time to visit Mongolia for trekking tours?

The trekking path in western Mongolia starts available from the snow starting from the beginning of July and stays available until September. During this trekking tour, all camping stuff will be loaded on camels and you will follow the caravan to the next destination through beautiful nature of Altai Tavan Bogd national park.

Average weather conditions and temperature in Mongolia

Mongolia features with its four seasons in a year. The average summer temperature in Mongolia is between +17C to +30C depending on mountains, steppes, and city areas. But the rainy season may change it by dropping it below down until +13. The average temperature in winter may stay between -15C to -30C. During the middle of Autumn and spring, it stays around -5C to -10C. It may get colder when it is closer to the winter season and warmer when it is closer to the summer season. The coldest winter starts from the 1st of November until the 25th of February. Warmer days of the spring start from the 1st of March until the 15th of May to complete warm days. Summer months are starting from the 1st of June to the 1st of September. Autumn starts from the 1st of September to the end of October. We can expect in Mongolia about two weeks of nice and warm days of Autumn between the 1st of October and to 20th of October and it rapidly starts getting cold outside. Despite this brutal change in weather conditions in Mongolia, there are almost 300 sunny days in a year. Most rainy season in Mongolia starts from the middle of July to the middle of August.

Weather in Altai Tavan Bogd national park

Altai Tavan bogd national park is located in the western corner of Mongolia. Altai Tavan Bogd national park is one of the main touristic destinations in Mongolia. Activities in Altai Tavan Bogd national park starts becoming available from the middle of May, but still some parts will be closed until the beginning of June because of snow and weather conditions. Weather in Altai Tavan Bogd national park changes rapidly and you may expect to see four seasons in one day starting from snow storms, and rain to sunshine. Despite these weather conditions people don’t stop enjoying the scenery of this national park.

Weather in the Gobi desert

During the summertime, the Gobi desert stays extremely hot just like any desert in the world. Normally it is dry and windy. It may get +30C to +40C during the summer days. But in the winter it is just the opposite to summer -30C to -40C.