Terelj
in a day
The closest the steppe gets to Ulaanbaatar. Turtle Rock, a walk up to the Ariyapala meditation centre, and the forty-metre Chinggis Khaan statue — out after breakfast, back before dinner.
One park, one day, no camping
Terelj sits in the Khentii range with Avkhaan mountain above it at 2,664 metres, and it has been protected since 1960 — around a hundred plant types, and a paved road the whole way in. It is the trip to take if you have a spare day in Ulaanbaatar and want to see what the rest of the country looks like before you commit to a week of it.
Day by day
Out of the city after breakfast to a park strictly protected since 1965 — brown bears, grey wolves, foxes and over two hundred bird species, with the Tuul river running through it. Turtle Rock first, twenty-four metres of wind-cut granite that the Mongols read as a sign of peace and long life, then the climb to the Ariyapala meditation centre built by Gandantegchilen monastery, with its hundred and eight prayer wheels and mantras cut into the hillside. We finish at Tsonjin Boldog, where the forty-metre Chinggis Khaan statue faces east towards his birthplace and a lift takes you out onto the horse's neck. Riding can be added to the day if you want it.
