Adventure Rider Mongolia

Adventure Riders helped make our time in Mongolia memorable. Our group of 16 covered well over 2000km on a 13-days trip through parts of central and southern Mongolia, crossing desert and grassland. Soyolo and the team of experienced, resourceful drivers and guides worked well together and took good care of everyone throughout. ❤️

The hostel’s location is very good, and the staff are kind and speak English. But for the same price in Ulaanbaatar, I found much better places. I definitely wouldn’t recommend it. The basic maintenance was poor. The water dispenser was broken, and when I asked the owner about it, he said he didn’t know how to fix it and left it that way. One day neither the room nor the bathroom was cleaned. Even during the Naadam festival, when the hostel stayed open as usual, basic cleaning should have been done. The kitchen was another problem: guests are meant to wash their own dishes, but some dirty dishes sat in the sink for four days without anyone cleaning them. There was only one small bathroom for eight people, with the shower, sink, and toilet all together. It was clean early in the day, but got noticeably dirty after a few hours. It needed some cleaning in between, including emptying the trash and providing soap. With so many people sharing it, it was bound to get messy, especially when some guests weren’t careful. There was no bathmat, so water spread over the floor, and the shower drain was clogged, leaving you standing in dirty water from yourself and everyone else. The dorm was small and became very hot in summer. You had to leave the window open, which let in loads of mosquitoes. The screen was broken, covered only half the window, and had holes everywhere. The lockers were also unreliable: only one or two of the six worked, and some guests didn’t even have locker keys. That shouldn’t happen in a hostel with shared rooms. The main door lock was faulty and hard to open, and not every guest had a key. When my key broke inside the lock, they didn’t give me a replacement. I spent three days without one, having to ask staff or other guests to let me in. Once nobody was around, and I waited outside for half an hour. They didn’t want to make another key, which was unacceptable. Breakfast was okay, but basic items were missing on several mornings and I had to ask for them. That was inconvenient when I wanted to leave early. Sometimes there was no bread or jam at all, so there was nothing to eat before an early departure. The staff’s kindness doesn’t make up for the hygiene issues, broken locks, missing keys, inadequate breakfast, and poor upkeep.

Driving to Mongolia's Lake Khuvsgul with Soyolo and his driver Bagi this March was an adventure of a lifetime. I traveled 1,000km with them and felt I was in good hands. Soyolo and the team are caring, passionate, experienced tour operators, and they gave me a very generous welcome. Highly recommended for adventures in Mongolia.

We stayed for two weeks in December 2016, my wife and I, and we’ll never forget it. The family running the place was genuine and transparent, and Soyon and his family took such good care of us. We also booked a trip across the Mongolian steps in the freezing winter. We never felt worried about being stranded if the car broke down, even though we’d heard other travelers had that concern. Kamba's Russian Minivan/tank was unstoppable and always warm inside. We’ll be back one day!