Guides
Safety: city crime, roads, animals and weather
Information as of 2026-09-21
Foreigners have been assaulted and robbed in Ulaanbaatar and the official advice is to avoid being out alone at night. Pickpockets work the markets, and the risk rises during the two big festival periods.
Heightened risk during Tsagaan Sar (celebrated December to February) and Naadam (July)
Groups of people, including children and teenagers, sometimes crowd and harass pedestrians for money as they get into vehicles or enter bars and restaurants. Keep phone, passport and money in a secured bag on your body and leave valuables in a hotel safe.
The recognised theft hotspots are the Narantuul open-air market known as the Black Market, the railway station, and crowded bus stops and buses. Bag slashing as well as pickpocketing occurs.
Official advice is not to hail a ride at night but to have a hotel, restaurant or club order a car, and to use only licensed taxis or a trackable ride-hailing app.
Named examples: VIP Taxis; the UBCab app, which is trackable
Road accidents are frequent, attributed to low driving standards, speeding and poorly maintained vehicles. Drunk driving is common in the capital, and drivers can be aggressive, so care is needed crossing roads.
Outside the capital the road network barely exists in the sense a Korean or Japanese driver would recognise, and help is very limited if something goes wrong. Self-driving outside Ulaanbaatar is strongly discouraged for anyone without local experience.
Only about 10% of roads are tarmacked; signposting is minimal
Anyone intending to drive needs the newer international driving permit; the older convention's permit is no longer accepted, and permits cannot be bought after arrival.
1968 international driving permit required; the 1949 permit is not accepted
Dogs guarding gers and yards are working animals, not pets, and may run in packs. The convention is to make a dog aware of you rather than surprise it, and travellers are advised to pick up a stone as a deterrent.
Missing or badly seated manhole covers are a surprisingly common cause of injury to foreigners in Ulaanbaatar's outer districts and smaller towns.
Alcohol drives a large share of the aggression travellers encounter. The standing advice is not to acknowledge or approach a man who is visibly drunk, and to avoid walking about after 22:00.
Minor physical contact that would pass without comment elsewhere, such as brushing someone's shoe or touching their hat, can be read as a challenge. The accepted way to defuse it is to face the person and shake their hand at once.
Weather is arguably the largest single hazard. The national range runs from high summer heat to deep winter cold, conditions change without warning, and weather warnings are issued year-round.
+35 C in summer to -40 C in winter; warnings for flooding, dust storms, heavy snow and blizzards, strong winds and heatwaves
The most extreme conditions occur in and around the Gobi Desert and the steppes, precisely where tourist itineraries go.
As of the August 2026 update to UK travel advice, fuel shortages were reported in Mongolia including aviation fuel, with possible disruption to domestic and international flights, road travel and access to remote areas. This is a current, dated condition that should be rechecked before booking.
Advice updated 7 August 2026
Corruption is a significant problem and locals commonly distrust the police, which affects what recourse a victim of crime realistically has.
Read more
- Treat Ulaanbaatar as a city with a real night-time risk and a very low daytime one; the rest of the country reverses the ratio, where the danger is weather and distance rather than people.
- Never get into an unmarked car hailed on the street after dark; have the venue call one.
- Carry a photocopy or phone photo of your passport and residence registration, and leave the original in a safe where possible.
- Give every ger a wide berth on foot and call out before approaching, so the guard dog hears a voice before it sees a stranger.
- Build one spare day into any countryside itinerary; a washed-out track or a sandstorm can cost a day and there is no way to hurry.
- Check the UK and your own foreign ministry's travel advice again in the week before departure, specifically for the fuel-supply situation.