Name: Golden Gobi
Address: 1st subdistrict 1st Khoroo Building 13,1st Khoroo, Ulaanbaatar, Ulaanbaatar, Ulaanbaatar, 210151, Mongolia
Rating: 8

Shopping on site

24-hour reception

Currency exchange

Smoke-free property

Heating

Newspapers

Ticket assistance

Terrace

General

Non-smoking rooms

Fridge

Locker

Linens

Rooms

Laundry

Safe-deposit box

Concierge services

Dry-cleaning

Iron

Services and amenities

Common kitchen

Microwave oven

Kettle

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Airport transportation

Car rental

Transfer services

Transfer

Russian

English

Japanese

Languages Spoken

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Library

Recreation

Parking

Free Parking on Premises

Beach/pool towels

Pool and beach

Fax and copy machine

Business

Playroom

Kids

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Chinggis Khaan International Airport

Golden Gobi

Ulaanbaatar

Do you want to Experience Mongolia Do it thru Golden Gobi hostel!
With over 50 hostel experiences Golden Gobi is chalked up as one of our top Favorites, super Clean newly renovated showers, cozy common room friendly clean kitchen atmosphere and comfortable beds is what you seek ?? Golden Gobi delivers !! But it doesnt stop there. Ogie ( lovely Lady ) is the person responsible for staffing the hostel with sweet kind and attentive staff ( feels more like family ) is the reason our stay will be so memorable. Take advantage of the tours Golden Gobi offers ( you might have to ask not alot of  posting around the hostel) we were blown away how very affordable the the tours are. Ogie personally mapped out our tour she also hand picked our tour guide and personal  driver  to match up with our personalities( first class service) who were totally Awesome. Okra-  young fun and professional The Driver Batah- Alert easy going & professional At golden Gobi we left feeling the love and made true  friendship that will last a life time. happy Travels. 

Adventure and memories to last a life time

Great hostel, staff is extremely friendly. Very good location in the city center, just 2min walk from the main department store, lots of buses and everything you need. Clean. Quite large. They've got women only dorms. 

Great trips organized, at very decent prices. They help you organize/ choose the right tour depending on your needs. English speaking guides. Great food

Highly recommended

Great hostel and great tours!

Stayed there on and off during a few weeks in August. Great hostel, very centrally located. The staff is extremely nice and helpful.
They have women only dorms or mixed ones. It's clean. There are two kitchens and many bathrooms. They have lockers if you need to store some things. 
Good prices.
24/7 reception.

Their tours are good, great tour guides. 
You should use them if you plan on travelling around the country

Best hostel in town

My friend and I booked a private room, it was clean, comfortable, nicely heated and most importantly mama took great care of us. We booked a tour and spent 9 days (gobi, orkhon, terelj), price was quite expensive and some places did not have proper toilets and electricity, so be prepared for this and perhaps next time we should request for a tourist camp with proper amenities. But if you are prepared to experience the nomadic life, then thats okay. All in all michelle and I had a great time, our tour guide adiya and driver sanja , we all had so much fun. I highly recommend this hotel and their tours.

Comfortable and homey place

I ve been to Mongolia in 2019, if you have the opportunity to stay in  Ulanbaataar for a while I can reccommend the Golden Goby Hostel from my heart! Very nice chilled people nice atmosphere and its also very central. Enjoy :) <3<3 Caroline

<3 nice and cosy, awesome people

My husband and I stayed here and went on a 12 day trip to the gobi desert and a 10 day trip to the tsaatan reindeer herders and khovsgol lake. 

Our stay at the guesthouse was comfortable and we considered it to be good value for money. A good breakfast was included and we appreciated the luggage storage when we went on the tours. Some of the rooms are located near the common area, and noise and light came through if people were there.  Having a 'quiet time' after 10 pm should be considered for the comfort of other guests wanting to sleep. 

We absolutely had a great time on both our tours. And recommend considering doing two separate tours with a day or two in between back in Ulaanbaatar rather than one big 20+day trip if that is what you are looking for. As it was nice to come back to the hostel, sleep in a bed, freshen up, take a hot shower before going on another adventure. Also, you'd hate to be in a group for 20+days with people you don't enjoy. This way there is some more variety.

On our first trip to the gobi desert we had an excellent guide (Zuula) who spoke English well and cooked good variety of food, and driver (Oogi) who knew where he was going even when there were no roads. While not everything went to plan due to unforeseen circumstances like a snow blizzard and sand storm we felt safe at all times and the changes that needed to be made were well communicated to us. We ended up going to watch a local wrestling all day which wasn’t part of the itinerary but was a highlight. We stayed in a mixture of accommodation including pre-arranged gers, tourist gers, and with local family gers. Our guide was very accomodating (e.g. we requested to start the day a little later and have breakfast at 9am) and took the time to share stories and explain to us local customs and traditions. 

On our second trip to the tsaatan reindeer herders and khovsgol lake we only had a driver who also acted as our guide. His English was limited, which made it a little tricky but we didn’t mind and he was a happy, hardworking man. We managed to communicate via body language and key words/phrases. His cooking, while fine was also limited. However, if this is important to you be sure to check who will be your guide/drive and their level of experience when booking. Horse riding to the reindeer people and spending time there where big highlights, and very fun. We stayed 2 nights with the reindeer herders and 3 nights at the lake. In hindsight, we would have preferred to stay with the reindeer people an extra night and one less night at the lake because in the end a lake is a lake, and it’s not every day you see reindeer so this was special. Be sure to discuss these options when making a tour as I’m sure they would be happy to arrange this. Also, you need to catch a 12 hour bus to get to the north where you will be picked up from. So be prepared for a long bus trip, but it is well worth it. There could have been some miscommunication because the cost of the bus was not included in the fee we payed for the tour so we had to buy these seperately. While not to expensive just another thing to clarify. 

The tour does say that 1.5L of water will be provided for each person each day. While not a big issue we did have to ask a few times. To save on having to buy more bottles than needed it is suggested that each guest get a 1.5 L bottle to start with, where they can write their name and then sufficient big 4-5L bottles are bought regularly for filling up as required. 

We highly recommend using golden gobi as your tour operator. We met a couple who went also on a tour with another guesthouse that was just starting and they lacked the level of organisation and experience that golden gobi have. We found that most tour operators charged a similar fee of about ($50US/day), this also depended on the number of people. A reasonable price for what's included and good service from Golden Gobi. While not specified we assumed that the local families we stayed with also received a fee for accomodating us to support the local people. 

Bring with you a sense of adventure, adaptability and curiosity, and you will not be disappointed. At the end of the day, Mongolia is still much undeveloped and not overbearing from tourism, and that is part of the beauty of it. Be prepared for long bumpy drives in a Russian van, washing with wet wipes, and possible having to sleep on the floor in a ger - also all part of the beauty of it, and wonderful landscapes. People still live a very nomadic life. These aren't luxury tours, and this was made clear to us when booking, but they are 'real' tours. So if you want to see the real Mongolia, you definitely will with Golden Gobi.

We take away only wonderful memories.


Boogii is a friendly and warm person and always willing to help you to make the most of your trip to Ulan Bator. Everything worked pefectly and trip activities were just amazing. Also the location of the hostel is a top one! 

Friendly top hostel with great variety of different activities

I stayed at their hostel for one night in the middle of winter. My plane arrived in the middle of the night and they arranged a driver for me. It only cost 30,000 MNT. The same as a taxi. The room was basic but well heated. No privacy curtains or lockers though. Staff were helpful when I interacted with them as well. Overall a comfortable stay and exactly what I was looking for.

Decent Hostel

I did not stay at the hostel so this review refers entirely and solely to a 8-days tour in the Gobi desert I took with Golden Gobi in early November 2019. I waited some time before posting this to make sure my review is unbiased, i formative and helpful for prospective customers and for the company alike (as there is AMPLE margin for improvement).

A few general observations worth making:

• In consideration of the cost of living in Mongolia, these tours are extortionately overpriced (whichever tour operator you choose: this one applies to all). For no justified reason, prices are set in dollars rather than local currency and it takes a good dose of stubborness and insistence to get some sort of understanding of the exchange rate that is being applied at the time of payment. As no breakdown of the rates charged is made available, it is difficult to get a precise idea of the actual costs involved, but I was left with the neat impression that goods and services included are procured very cheaply, that hosting families reap a very modest share of the overall benefits and that the profit margins of the tour operator are disproportionately high (with no way for responsible travellers to know whether and to what extent these will be reinvested to support local comunities).

• If you like the idea of spending most of your day packed inside a vehicle looking out at vast but barely changing landscapes through the window, and then getting, if at all, only one hour or so of daylight towards the end of the day to actually enjoy the outdoors you came here to experience, then this tour is right for you.

• Even if this is the case, you may want to discuss the possibility of arranging a shorter tour, as 8 days is quite long (let alone expensive) and the days get quite repetitive as there is not much variety in the local landscape; some days in our tour didn't actually foresee any outdoor activity, just more driving around in unchanging environment. My impression was that the standard tour programme proposed is made way longer than would be needed to explore the area, to maximise tourist money inflow.

THE GOOD - THINGS THAT WORKED:

• The vehicle (a van) was a reliable one in good working conditions, and although a couple of mechanical issue did come up through the trip they were readily fixed with and caused no significant inconvenience,

• The driver proved to be a competent one, always smiling, friendly and ready to help regardless of the language barrier which was easily overcome.

• The food provided, while unsurprisingly on the cheap side of procurement (diet was heavily based on rice and pasta, often served twice a day), was adequate in terms of quantity and quality most of the time. Most meals were tasty and filling, and actually more balanced than one might expect in such circumstances (e.g. the amounts of vegetables involved was a pleasant surprise).

THE BAD - THINGS THAT DID NOT WORK:

• Communication with the only team member with some english skills (the guide) was often cloudy. this was due sometimes due to actual difficulties and limits connected to the language barrier, and sometimes (it was the impression of the whole group) intentionally. in several occasions, the group felt that incomplete and/or inaccurate information was being provided - when not downright lies.

• The actual outings (very short walks sold as "trekkings" in the programme) were few and brief, the information and explanations provided were scarce, extremely brief and shallow, and answers to specific questions (e.g. on local flora and fauna) mostly evasive.

• The "camel trek" included, as it stands, is a joke (or a tourist trap, if you prefer). It serves no purpose and doesn't take you to otherwise inaccessible areas (e.g. sand dunes). The vehicle simply stops next to a village and some money is handed to a camel owner to take you from point A to point B nearby (both in the middle of nowhere and covering a distance that could be covered with the vehicle itself) just for the sake of it, or at most for taking a picture of you riding a camel. In retrospect, I would have happily given this a miss.

• While a fairly nice and friendly person overall, the guide unfortunately failed to convey a sense of professionalism, especially as she did not pay sufficient attention to the unity, safety and well-being of the group while trekking through challenging and potentially dangerous terrain (paths crossing thin layers of ice or bordering high and strongly windswept cliffs): usually she would just rush forward disregarding altogether the group members lagging behind (despite some of them being obviously inadequately equipped and inexperienced). This shocked me as unprofessional and irresponsible behavior, particularly in the middle of a desert. Sorry to say this, but safety first: and it was not.

• In spite of the very high prices charged for an "all inclusive" package, in several occasions goods and services that were supposedly included failed to be provided in adequate quantity and quality. A telling example was drinking water: the tour promises a (modest) allowance of 1.5 liters per person per day, which in several occasions failed to be provided despite the low price and wide availability of mineral water in local shops. In a rather shocking cost-saving effort, the guide would sometime buy safe, bottled water for herself only, entirely disregarding the group's needs, and insist instead that the group should refill their bottles from a tank of dubious water taken out of a local well and "treated" with an even more dubious filter.

• In some occasions, the lack of organization and planning became shockingly evident. An entire afternoon was spent in the middle of the desert aimlessly wandering around and asking hospitality to random families, unannounced and uninvited, while the group grew increasingly nervous as it became evident that not only we didn't have a place for that night and had no precise idea of where we were going, but there was no plan B or C in place. Pure improvisation, right in the middle of a desert and with daylight starting to fade. Eventually a family available to host us for the night (sleeping on the floor of their own small ger) was found, and the problem solved somehow. But the group found such a lack of planning and such degree of uncertainty and improvisation in such challenging circumstances unacceptable for a tour operator which sells expensive all-inclusive tours where the planning is supposed to be carefully taken care of into detail well before departure.

BOTTOM LINE

I would like to conclude this review on a positive note. Despite the many criticisms which I think it is crucial to raise, the trip ended up being a pleasant experience overall. The Gobi desert is a place worth knowing and so is the culture of local nomadic people. Just make sure you get the quality you deserve for a price that is reasonable and in accordance to local standards, before committing to any such tour with this or other companies. Ask plenty of questions beforehand and don't hesitate to propose amendments to the standard package proposed.

I hope this helps - best of luck to Golden Gobi and for all world travellers out there!

Think twice and ask plenty of questions before booking

We stayed st the golden gobi for a night and went on an amazing 5 day tour of Mongolia, our guide Torgo and driver Uzie were amazing and so much fun. They took such good care of us and took us to many amazing places off the beaten track and prepared lovely food for us. I loved travelling around off road in the old soviet van, such a dream come true. We got to go on many beautiful hikes and see so much amazing nature. We were in a small group, 2 of us and 4 lovely guys from France. We got to camp and stay in traditional gers, such an amazing and unforgettable experience thank you so much guys. 

Golden Gobi

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