Mongolia

Mongolia is the least densely populated country on earth: about three and a half million people in 1.56 million square kilometres, around half of them in the capital. Outside Ulaanbaatar, the landscape is unfenced in every direction: the Mongolian steppe continues to the horizon, often without a paved road, a building or a fence to interrupt it.

The nomadic herding culture (ger tents moved four to six times per year, livestock managed by families who have occupied the same seasonal pastures for generations, a social structure built around hospitality to strangers) is one of the oldest continuously practised ways of life in Central Asia. We design itineraries that stay with herding families in the Khentii region east of Ulaanbaatar (the birthplace of Genghis Khan), in the Gobi Desert in the south, and in the Khövsgöl lake region in the north, where Tsaatan reindeer herders keep a way of life that has survived for centuries.

The Naadam festival, held in Ulaanbaatar in July, is the national competition in the "three manly sports": wrestling, archery, and horse racing. The horse racing is conducted over 15 to 30 kilometres of open steppe by young child jockeys. It is among the most extraordinary sporting events in the world. The Gobi provides a different scale of experience: the Flaming Cliffs (Bayanzag), where Roy Chapman Andrews's expedition found the first recognised dinosaur eggs in 1923; and the Khongoryn Els, dunes up to around 300 metres high stretching for roughly a hundred kilometres.

Ulaanbaatar is the starting point for almost every journey. The Gandan Monastery, the country's most important Buddhist centre, survived the purges of the 1930s, when most monasteries were destroyed, and today houses hundreds of monks and a towering statue of the bodhisattva of compassion. The Chinggis Khaan National Museum and the National Museum of Mongolia tell the story of the Mongol Empire and the nomadic cultures of the steppe. The Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts holds exquisite Buddhist sculptures by Mongolia's greatest artist.

Distances outside the capital are vast, and roads are often unpaved tracks, so most journeys are made in sturdy four-wheel-drive vehicles with an experienced driver, often the Russian-built UAZ vans that cope with any terrain. Domestic flights save time for the Gobi and the far west. Travel is slow, and the journeys themselves, across open plains with herds of horses, camels and yaks, are part of the experience.

Staying with nomadic families is a highlight. Guests share the family's ger, a round felt tent heated by a central stove, and are offered milk tea, dried curds and airag, fermented mare's milk. Customs matter: enter a ger by stepping over, not on, the threshold, move clockwise inside, and accept offered food and drink with your right hand, even if you only take a small taste.

The central region around Kharkhorin, the site of the ancient Mongol capital of Karakorum, has the Erdene Zuu Monastery, built in the sixteenth century with stones from the ruined city. The Orkhon Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has waterfalls, ancient monuments and nomadic families. Hustai National Park, close to the capital, is home to takhi, the wild Przewalski's horses reintroduced after they became extinct in the wild. In the far west, Kazakh eagle hunters train golden eagles to hunt foxes, and the Golden Eagle Festival, held in October, showcases their skills.

The travel season is short. June to September brings the mildest weather, with green grasslands and wildflowers, and July is the busiest month because of Naadam. Winter is extremely cold, with temperatures in Ulaanbaatar among the lowest of any capital city, but visits for the Ice Festival on Lake Khövsgöl or to eagle hunters are possible for well-prepared travellers.

Chinggis Khaan International Airport has flights from Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, Istanbul and other hubs. The Trans-Mongolian railway links Ulaanbaatar with Beijing and Moscow. Ten days is the minimum for the Gobi and the central region, and two weeks or more brings Khövsgöl or the west into reach.