Khovd
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Khovd

Khovd

Western Mongolian city on the Buyant River, gateway to Altai mountains and eagle-hunter valleys.

Khovd (also Hovd) is the largest city in western Mongolia, a dusty administrative capital on the Buyant River with the snow-capped Altai Mountains rising to the south and west. It is the main gateway for travellers heading into the Mongolian Altai — one of the most remote and spectacular mountain ranges in Central Asia.

The city itself is functional rather than beautiful: a Soviet-era grid of apartment blocks and government buildings, a lively market, and the small Khovd Aimag Museum. The most distinctive sight in town is the ruined Qing-dynasty fortress of Sangiin Kherem, burned in the 1912 Mongolian uprising. The surroundings are extraordinary: Kazakh eagle hunters practise their ancient art in the valleys to the north, and the Altai Tavan Bogd National Park — with Mongolia's highest peak — is reachable on a multi-day expedition. Closer to hand, Khar Us Lake is a vast bird sanctuary on the Central Asian migratory flyway.

Getting to Khovd involves either a long flight from Ulaanbaatar or an even longer drive across the steppe. Once here, you are genuinely remote — and that is the point.

Guide

Eating Out

Khovd's restaurants are mostly Mongolian canteens serving buuz (steamed mutton dumplings), khuushuur (fried meat pastries), tsuivan (noodle stir-fry), and the inevitable mutton-and-rice stews. Two or three places near the central square stretch to Korean or Russian dishes for variety. There is a small night market on summer evenings, and a few cafes around the university campus that serve coffee and milk tea.

Guide

Getting There

Khovd has a small airport with three or four flights a week from Ulaanbaatar on Aero Mongolia and Hunnu Air — the flight takes about three hours and is the only practical way for short visits. By road the journey is around 1,400 km and takes two to three days of hard driving across the steppe, mostly on dirt tracks; long-distance shared jeeps run when there are enough passengers. Many travellers combine Khovd with a stop in Ölgii to the north for the Kazakh eagle hunters.

Guide

Things to Do

Khovd's sights are mostly outside town. The city itself can be walked in an hour — the Sangiin Kherem fortress walls, the central square, the museum, and the riverside park along the Buyant — and then the Altai opens up to the south and west: lakes, glaciers, eagle hunters, and some of the oldest rock art in Central Asia.