Golden Gobi

We have stayed at Golden Gobi guesthouse in June 2024. We rented a private room and travelled with Golden Gobi tours.|The guesthouse:|Our room was cosy, clean and provided all the facilities we were looking for. We were very comfortable there, had stable internet access. It was a great place to meet new people as the guesthouse offers multiple common areas. The staff were friendly and helpful. We received a lot of help with our custom travel requests, the owner and guesthouse manager were very flexible about that. We could also ask for additional room security and lock, which was great as we travelled with items of high value. We were also able to safe-keep a large part of our luggage during one of our travels, even though this is not one of the services offered by the guesthouse.|The travel with Golden Gobi:|We had arranged three different trips with Golden Gobi and each time, travelled with a knowledgeable, fun and friendly guide and driver. We were provided very decent food and a lot of interesting advice and information about the country and places we've gone to. For us, it was important to get to know the culture and spend as much time as possible close to the locals and away from the tourist crowds - Golden Gobi found a way to provide us with that experience, for which we are very thankful. ||Highly recommend this guesthouse as it provides flexibility and a great experience for every type of traveller.

I have been to this hostel multiple times, and it never disappoints, it is a great place to stay and to arrange tours. Everyone is friendly and helpfull, the tours are professional and the guides are great. My experience in Mongolia is unforgettable, thanks the staff of Golden Gobi!

This is the inn mentioned for Japanese travelers. I had planned to stay for several nights, but after one night, I immediately changed to another accommodation.||I was glad that the manager was kind and cheerful.|It nearby the main street where the M1 bus runs, making it a perfect location for sightseeing in the city. Security is sufficient as the door can be opened using a touch key.||But Staying in a dormitory can be quite difficult unless you are used to traveling. The level of civility of the residents was not very high. There were people smoking on the balcony with the door open and people calling on the phone in their rooms before 8am.|Above all, there is no partition between the beds, but the beds are close together, so your opponent's head or feet are close together.|Also, the dormitory room is on the 3rd floor and the living room is on the 1st floor. The wi-fi on the 3rd floor cannot be connected on the 1st floor.||Fee is 12USD/night, is higher than other dormitory-type accommodations around this area.

It's always been my dream to travel Mongolia. The taxi driver Benjun collected me at the airport and played a Westlife song about living your dreams. It was very sweet.| Quite quickly after assessing what my aims were the tour manager set me up with Gana as a tour guide. She led me north to visit a shaman and go on a 4 day horse trek. Unbeknownst to me she manged to arrange for us to spend two nights with the reindeer people. This was wonderful because we slept in a teepee which was kept warm with firewood in a stove. The reindeer were very friendly and playful. The reindeer people themselves absorbed you in the experience of their unique lives.| I learned more about horses in those 4 days then I have in my whole life doing the odd horse riding lesson throughout the years. This was all led by the steady hand of the horse guide. Gana also advised on how to build a relationship with your horse. This was very helpful because as in most things in life most of what is communicated is through silence. | I was on my own and nobody spoke English except my tour guide. Never once did I feel alone as she ensured I was included in everything and always felt comfortable. Gana was very attentive to my experience, always ensured we got enough food and was someone I always felt comfortable talking to whether it be of general concerns, telling a few jokes or even singing a song. She has a very good sense of humor and coming from a nomadic background has a first rate knowledge of nomadic life. | I would recommend Gana as a tour guide to anyone, she was instrumental in allowing me to live my dreams and is a very special woman I'm honored to have travelled with 🙏

Stayed here for a few nights and booked an 18 day tour with them. Strongly recommend you don’t book with them. Uugi is very fake and only nice before you pay. After that, treats you badly. She even changed my tours plan without permission and completely skipped the Orkhon Valley which is what I was most looking forward to. Very bad food was provided on the tour. One dinner was only rice with cold tomato sauce. No helmets were given for the horse riding, 1 member of the group fell off horse and hit her head and had to get helicoptered to Ulaanbaatar at a cost of $24,000 USD. They gave us a driver that was very dangerous and nearly crashed many times and would play on his phone frequently. Their tour prices are higher than other places too.

Stayed in a room with double bed and private bathroom. Room was basic but fine in comparison to price. We could hear quite some noise from the kitchen and hallway. Bathroom is outdated. Recommend to replace shower curtain. Simple breakfast included. Location is excellent, nearby state department store. Staff helps with arranging tours or transport.

I have done a 17 days tour including Gobi area, 3 days trek in the eight lakes area, Orkhon area, Karkhorin. We had UAZ car with driver and English speaking guide/ cook. Positive points: Golden Gobi work with 40 drivers and 30 guides coming from all over Mongolia. They have a certain expertise where to go, what to see, where to eat and sleep. I did not have to worry about the minimum amount of people the hostel found me partners for the tour. We all paid 90$ p/p per day. Some of my travel mates had different schedules arranged and would jump from one tour to another one. It looks like the hostel makes all effort possible to arrange everyone. As vegetarian we were assured vegetarian meals all way long and I got immediate refund for activities involving animals I did not participate in (1h camel ride 35,000T and 2h horse ride 50,000T). Our guide was very flexible with food options as long as we would be in the budget dedicated. We were provided camping equipment and could camp in amazing locations. We were also hosted by nomad families and it was an amazing experience. We had a very experienced driver and a great English speaking guide who also happened to be a great cook. We would pass a town almost everyday to resupply. Negative points The schedule was communicate to me only orally in 3 min before payment by the hostel manager. It was very difficult to remember everything. I kept asked my guide what was the program of the day and next days. Maybe having it written somewhere, where do we go, what do we see, where do we eat and sleep would be a good improvement. The fact that we were 6 for the first 11 days did not change the price and it was quite uncomfortable (even if quite fun) in the UAZ with so many people. UB guesthouse for example quotes different price according to the amount of people in the car. From 100$ p/p if you are 2 to 60$ p/p if you are 5. 90$ p/p is for 3 people and for this price we were 6 with Golden Gobi. Felt like I am overpaying in this trip. We would spend a lot of time waiting because of poor logistics. Ex: we would arrive in a place for lunch and we wait 1:30 for food. Some other day the food was ordered in advance and it was much better organisation. For the first 15 days we received only 2 fruits (one banana on the first day and an orange on the 7th day) which looks ridiculous even if fruits are not cheap in this country. Some of my friends on other tours would do in one day what we would do in two days. We were starting almost everyday around 10:00/11:00. Although this was an all included tour we had to pay on top for - toilet paper (+/- 1300T per roll) - showers (5,000-8,000T) every other day. Only one shower was included in the price during our visit to the hot springs. - Sleeping arrangement: one evening, it was heavy raining and we slept in tents as by program or asked to pay 35,000T to sleep in ger. Our guides slept in ger and us in tent, this was a very awkward situation. We did a three days “trek” which had nothing to do with a trek. We were promised 6hours of hike everyday. 1st day we hiked “only” 15km , 2nd day 9km and 3rd day 7km. We were helped by horses carrying our belongings which made me very uncomfortable for ethical reasons. Paying 270$ for this looked like a waste of money but can suit people with beginner level in hiking. We could have done the all way in two or even one long day and save some time and money. In general, it is hard to understand where goes all the money we pay for and I hope it goes to our amazing driver and guide because they made this trip unforgettable. Our guide was up from 6AM everyday to late at night, she translated, cooked, spent time with us, taught us a lot about her culture and herself. Our driver would take great care of the car all time and we never had any issue with it.

I went on a Gobi Tour with the hostel company for 6 days and stayed 3 nights at the hostel afterwards. The tour itself was good, our guide and driver were very nice (big thanks to Tuvshin) and spoke very good English. I didn’t expect spending so much time driving but it’s part of the deal if you want to go to Gobi! The negative point, is that the manager of the hostel let us wait almost 5h in the middle of nowhere on the first day of the trip because some travellers joined the tour on last minute so we had to wait for them. I understand it’s more convenient for them if we are a big group, but regarding the high price of the tour it is unfair for the people who already left. Regarding the hostel I was very disappointed. The rooms are OK, breakfast good and showers clean but it is very noisy. The reason for the one star, is because on my last night, a staff member entered my dorm around midnight and woke me up WHILE I WAS SLEEPING to tell me I should pay for the room on the next day. I don’t know if they expected me to run away but this kind of behaviour is a no go for me. Plus, they didn’t give me the caution back for the keys, they “forgot”, so did I. So please, go somewhere else.