Culture & Etiquette in Mongolia

Govi

Mongolia is a country where ancient traditions, deep hospitality, and nomadic values are still alive. Understanding local etiquette will enrich your travel experience and help you build meaningful connections with families and communities you meet along the way.


๐Ÿ›– 1. Visiting a Nomadic Ger (Home Etiquette)

Hospitality is sacred in Mongolia

When visiting a nomadic family's ger, follow these important customs:

โœ” Do NOT step on the threshold

The wooden doorstep is sacred.

โœ” Enter with your right foot first

A sign of respect and good intentions.

โœ” Move clockwise inside

Follow the natural flow used by the family.

โœ” Sit where you are invited

The ger has symbolic seating order:

  • North side → honored place
  • West side → men’s side
  • East side → women’s side

โœ” Don’t lean on the center pillars

These posts represent the family's strength.


๐Ÿฝ 2. Eating & Drinking Etiquette

Mongolian hospitality always includes offering food and drink.

โœ” Accept offerings with your right hand or both hands

Even tasting a small amount is respectful.

โœ” Do not refuse food bluntly

It may be seen as disrespectful.

โœ” Suutei tsai (milk tea) is often served first

Sip it politely.

โœ” Alcohol (usually vodka)

If offered, you can:

  • Accept
  • Touch it to your lips and pass it back
  • Decline politely with your right hand over your heart

โœ” Aaruul (dried curd) and dairy snacks

Common gifts for guests.


๐ŸŽ 3. Gift-Giving & Respect

  • Small gifts (tea, fruits, sweets) are appreciated when visiting families.
  • Giving with both hands is respectful.
  • Compliment the family’s animals, children, or hospitality.
  • Never throw or toss objects to someone—always hand them directly.

๐Ÿ‘ช 4. Respect for Family & Community

โœ” Don’t touch someone’s head

In Mongolian culture, the head is sacred.

โœ” Avoid loud or aggressive behavior

Nomadic culture values calmness and respect.

โœ” Ask permission before taking photos

Especially of people, homes, and religious items.


๐ŸŽ 5. Animals & Nature Etiquette

โœ” Animals are deeply valued

  • Do not chase or frighten livestock
  • Do not walk directly behind horses (they may kick)

โœ” Nature is sacred

  • Leave no trash
  • Do not disturb water sources
  • Respect ovoo (sacred stone cairn) sites

โœ” At ovoo sites

Walk around clockwise 3 times and place a stone or offering if you wish.


๐Ÿ›• 6. Religion & Sacred Sites

Most Mongolians follow Buddhism mixed with ancient shamanic traditions.

When visiting monasteries:

  • Dress modestly
  • Remove hats inside temples
  • Do not touch sacred statues
  • Do not step in front of praying monks
  • Photography may be restricted

At shamanic sites:

  • Follow your guide’s instructions
  • Do not disturb ritual items

๐Ÿš™ 7. Road & Travel Etiquette

โœ” Greet nomads when stopping near their land

A simple hello (“Sain baina uu?”) is appreciated.

โœ” Ask before entering fenced areas or yurts

Respect their privacy.

โœ” Don’t rush during tea or meal invitations

Hospitality is a slow, meaningful process.


๐Ÿ“Œ 8. Communication & Common Phrases

Learning a few Mongolian words is greatly appreciated:

Mongolian

Meaning

ะกะฐะนะฝ ะฑะฐะนะฝะฐ ัƒัƒ?

Hello

ะ‘ะฐัั€ะปะฐะปะฐะฐ

Thank you

ะขัะณัŒะต / ะ—ะฐ

Okay

ะขะฐะฐั‚ะฐะน ะฑะฐะนะฝะฐ

Nice to meet you

ะกะฐะนั…ะฐะฝ ะฐัะปะปะฐะฐั€ะฐะน

Have a good trip!

Most nomads do not speak English, so your guide will help translate.


๐Ÿ’ก 9. Dress & Behavior Tips

  • Wear modest clothing when visiting families
  • Avoid overly revealing outfits
  • Be patient—nomadic time is slower
  • Show genuine interest in their culture
  • Smile often—it’s universal

๐ŸŒŸ Why Etiquette Matters in Mongolia

โœ” Shows respect for thousands of years of nomadic tradition
โœ” Builds trust with local families
โœ” Helps you form deeper, more meaningful experiences
โœ” Keeps you safe and welcome in remote communities

Mongolian hospitality is warm and generous—returning that respect makes your entire journey unforgettable.

Testimonial

What Client Say About us

Maria Doe

Traveller

Exceptional Northern Mongolia Experience with Lunas Tours Our journey through Northern Mongolia was truly unforgettable thanks to 'Lunas Tours'. Traveling through the Khuvsgul region, Darkhad Valley, and remote northern landscapes, we experienced pristine nature, rich nomadic culture, and deep local traditions that few tours can offer. The tour was extremely well-organized, with careful planning for long distances, changing weather, and remote conditions. We especially appreciated the authentic experiencesโ€”staying with local families, learning about reindeer herdersโ€™ lifestyles, and enjoying the peaceful beauty of Mongoliaโ€™s northern taiga. The teamโ€™s strong local knowledge, cultural sensitivity, and respect for nature made the journey both safe and meaningful. This was not just sightseeing, but a true cultural and natural immersion. We highly recommend 'Lunas Tours' to travelers who want to explore Northern Mongolia in a responsible, authentic, and well-guided way.

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Micheal and Debby from Nederland

Traveller

Outstanding service by Guide Luna & Driver Eba โ€“ Lunas Tours Our trip in Mongolia was exceptional thanks to our guide Luna and driver Eba. Luna was incredibly knowledgeable, professional, and caring. She explained Mongoliaโ€™s history, culture, and traditions with passion and clarity, and always made sure everyone felt comfortable and well-informed throughout the journey. Driver Eba was equally impressive. His driving was safe, smooth, and reliable even on challenging roads and long distances. He handled every situation calmly and professionally, making us feel secure at all times. Together, Luna and Eba worked as a perfect team. Their coordination, friendliness, and attention to detail turned our trip into a truly memorable experience. We highly recommend them to anyone traveling in Mongolia with Lunas Tours.

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Sarah

Australian traveler

Amazing experience with Lunas Tours โ€“ Mongolia Our journey with Lunas Tours was truly unforgettable. From the very beginning, everything was well-organized, flexible, and thoughtfully planned. The team showed deep knowledge of Mongoliaโ€™s culture, history, and nature, and they always made sure we felt safe and comfortable. What we appreciated most was Lunas Toursโ€™ personalized approach and support for local communities. Staying with local families, experiencing authentic food, and exploring Mongoliaโ€™s breathtaking landscapes made this trip very special. We highly recommend Lunas Tours to anyone who wants a genuine, meaningful, and well-guided travel experience in Mongolia. ๐ŸŽ

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John

American traveller

โญโญโญโญโญ Lunas Tours gave us an authentic and unforgettable Mongolian experience! Professional guides, great organization, and strong support for local communities. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Mongolia.

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Vaiopoulos Nikos

Greece Traveller

Luna Khaliunaa Mongolian Guide provide for me and my company one of the best travel experience we ever had. Mongolia was awesome thanks to her! Ever consider visit Mongolia Lunas' Tours should be your only choice.

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Garry's family

Canadian family

Perfect family tour with Guide Luna & Driver Eba Our family had a wonderful experience traveling in Mongolia with Lunas Tours in winter - 2025, especially thanks to our guide Luna and driver Eba. Luna was incredibly kind, patient, and attentive to our children. She explained Mongolian culture and history in a way that was easy and interesting for both adults and kids, making the journey educational and fun. Driver Eba made us feel completely safe throughout the trip. His careful driving, calm attitude, and readiness to help at any moment gave us great peace of mind, especially while traveling with children and luggage. Thanks to Luna and Eba, our family felt comfortable, well-cared-for, and truly welcomed. This was not just a tour, but a meaningful family memory. We highly recommend Lunas Tours for families visiting Mongolia.

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Minje & Dunhe

Korean family

ํ•จ๊ป˜ํ•œ ์™„๋ฒฝํ•œ ๊ฐ€์กฑ ์—ฌํ–‰ ์ €ํฌ ๊ฐ€์กฑ์€ ๋ฃจ๋‚˜์Šค ํˆฌ์–ด(Lunas Tours)์™€ ํ•จ๊ป˜ํ•œ ๋ชฝ๊ณจ ์—ฌํ–‰์—์„œ ์ •๋ง ์žŠ์ง€ ๋ชปํ•  ์‹œ๊ฐ„์„ ๋ณด๋ƒˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ํŠนํžˆ ๊ฐ€์ด๋“œ ๋ฃจ๋‚˜ ์™€ ๋“œ๋ผ์ด๋ฒ„ ์—๋ฐ” ๋•๋ถ„์— ์•„์ด๋“ค๊ณผ ํ•จ๊ป˜ํ•˜๋Š” ์—ฌํ–‰์ด ๋”์šฑ ํŽธ์•ˆํ•˜๊ณ  ์•ˆ์ „ํ–ˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ๊ฐ€์ด๋“œ ๋ฃจ๋‚˜๋Š” ์•„์ด๋“ค์—๊ฒŒ๋„ ์ดํ•ดํ•˜๊ธฐ ์‰ฌ์šด ๋ฐฉ์‹์œผ๋กœ ๋ชฝ๊ณจ์˜ ์—ญ์‚ฌ์™€ ๋ฌธํ™”๋ฅผ ์„ค๋ช…ํ•ด ์ฃผ์—ˆ๊ณ , ํ•ญ์ƒ ์นœ์ ˆํ•˜๊ณ  ์„ธ์‹ฌํ•˜๊ฒŒ ๊ฐ€์กฑ์„ ๋ฐฐ๋ คํ•ด ์ฃผ์—ˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ์—ฌํ–‰ ๋‚ด๋‚ด ์•„์ด๋“ค์˜ ์ƒํƒœ๋ฅผ ์‚ดํŽด์ฃผ๋ฉฐ ๋ถ€๋ชจ ์ž…์žฅ์—์„œ ํฐ ์•ˆ์‹ฌ์ด ๋˜์—ˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ๋“œ๋ผ์ด๋ฒ„ ์—๋ฐ”๋Š” ์žฅ๊ฑฐ๋ฆฌ ์ด๋™๊ณผ ํ—˜ํ•œ ๋„๋กœ์—์„œ๋„ ํ•ญ์ƒ ์•ˆ์ „ํ•˜๊ณ  ์ฐจ๋ถ„ํ•˜๊ฒŒ ์šด์ „ํ•ด ์ฃผ์—ˆ์œผ๋ฉฐ, ๊ฐ€์กฑ ์—ฌํ–‰๊ฐ์—๊ฒŒ ๊ผญ ํ•„์š”ํ•œ ์•ˆ์ •๊ฐ์„ ์ฃผ์—ˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ๋ฃจ๋‚˜์™€ ์—๋ฐ”์˜ ์™„๋ฒฝํ•œ ํŒ€์›Œํฌ ๋•๋ถ„์— ์ด๋ฒˆ ์—ฌํ–‰์€ ๋‹จ์ˆœํ•œ ๊ด€๊ด‘์ด ์•„๋‹ˆ๋ผ ๊ฐ€์กฑ ๋ชจ๋‘์—๊ฒŒ ์†Œ์ค‘ํ•œ ์ถ”์–ต์ด ๋˜์—ˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ๋ชฝ๊ณจ๋กœ ๊ฐ€์กฑ ์—ฌํ–‰์„ ๊ณ„ํšํ•˜์‹ ๋‹ค๋ฉด ๋ฃจ๋‚˜์Šค ํˆฌ์–ด๋ฅผ ์ง„์‹ฌ์œผ๋กœ ์ถ”์ฒœํ•ฉ๋‹ˆ๋‹ค.

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Adrian Lee

Singaporeans

Our trip to Mongolia with Lunas Tours was an absolutely unforgettable experience. Traveling through the heart of Central Mongolia โ€” from the breathtaking Orkhon Valley to the remote beauty of the Eight Lakes (Naiman Nuur) โ€” gave us a true glimpse into the soul of this vast and peaceful land. Special thanks to our amazing guide Luna, whose deep knowledge, kindness, and professionalism made the journey smooth and meaningful, and to our skilled driver Eba, who safely navigated the mountain passes and rugged trails with calm confidence. The Orkhon Valley, with its wide open grasslands, wild horses, and traditional herder families, was a highlight โ€” we felt connected to Mongolian history and nomadic culture. The horseback trip to the Eight Lakes was truly magical, surrounded by pine forests, sparkling lakes, and the peaceful sound of nature. Visiting Erdene Zuu Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, was another memorable experience. The blend of ancient architecture and the serene spiritual atmosphere made it a powerful reminder of Mongoliaโ€™s rich history and culture. Finally, the hike up to Tuvkhun Monastery, perched high in the Khangai mountains, was both peaceful and inspiring. The view from the top was breathtaking, and it gave us a sense of tranquility that words cannot describe. We are deeply grateful to Luna and Eba for taking such good care of us throughout the journey โ€” from comfortable accommodations to delicious meals and flexible travel arrangements. Their warm hospitality made us feel like family. Thank you, Lunas Tours, for organizing such a perfect balance of adventure, culture, and nature. We will definitely recommend your company to friends and family in Singapore who are seeking an authentic Mongolian experience. โ€“ On behalf of travelers from Singapore

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