Things to do
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Gandantegchinlen Monastery
From 1944 to 1989 this was the only active monastery in Mongolia. Come to walk the courtyard among the stupas and prayer wheels, and to stand before the gilded Avalokiteshvara in the main temple.
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Genghis Khan Statue Complex
Stand on the platform on the horse's head, at the top of a steel statue of Genghis Khan, and the Mongolian steppe lies below you in a panoramic view.
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Gorkhi-Terelj National Park
Riding out behind a local herder, climbing a path of Buddhist teaching boards to a mountain temple and sleeping in a ger camp give you the Mongolian countryside on one night away from the capital.
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Naadam
Plan around two things: the banner procession from Sukhbaatar Square to the stadium on the eleventh, and a morning at the horse races out west, where there are no stands and no tickets.
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Sükhbaatar Square
The civic centre of the capital is a wide paved rectangle with parliament along the north side, where a seated Genghis Khan presides from a colonnade. Ceremonies, concerts and occasional protests happen here. It anchors the city grid and sits a short walk from the national museum, the opera and the main department store.
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Zaisan Memorial
A Soviet-era mosaic ring on a hill south of the centre commemorates wartime alliance, and the climb up the steps delivers a panorama over the city, the river and the power station chimneys. Around three hundred steps lead to the top. Wind funnels hard across the platform in winter, and sunset draws a crowd.
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Bogd Khan Palace Museum
Six temples and a two-storey Russian-built winter house survive from the residence of Mongolia's eighth Jebtsundamba, head of state until 1924. Inside are his ceremonial robes, a ger lined in snow leopard skins and diplomatic gifts from a brief spell of independence. The complex is unheated and lightly visited. Ninety minutes covers it, and it pairs with Zaisan up the road.
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Choijin Lama Temple Museum
Five temple buildings stand behind a wall among downtown towers, preserved as a museum while monasteries were being destroyed elsewhere in the 1930s. Inside are tsam dance masks, thangka and figures from the school of the sculptor Zanabazar. The interiors are dim and unheated, so winter visits tend to be brief. An hour is enough.
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Naran Tuul Market
Known locally as the black market, this fenced ground on the eastern edge of town sells saddles, deels, boots, felt and ger poles to Mongolians equipping themselves for the countryside. It is the practical place to buy a winter coat or a horse bridle. Pickpocketing is common in the crowds, bags are best worn in front, and the gates close mid-afternoon.
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National Museum of Mongolia
Three floors trace the country from bronze age burials through the Mongol empire to the democratic protests of 1990, with a hall of traditional dress from each ethnic group that justifies the visit on its own. Labelling in English is good. Two hours suits a general visit, and it is the sensible first stop before heading to the countryside.