Lake Khövsgöl is one of Asia's great lakes — a vast, startlingly clear body of water stretching 136 kilometres from north to south, hemmed in by forest-covered mountains on all sides. At 1,645 metres above sea level it is the highest large lake in Mongolia, and its waters are cold enough to support freshwater shrimp and Arctic-origin fish species found nowhere else in the country.
From Khatgal at the southern tip you can take a boat out onto the lake or simply walk the shoreline path north through the larch forest, where the trail opens onto beaches of pale pebbles backed by mountains. Sunrise on the water, when mist clings to the surface and the mountains turn pink, is reason enough to make the journey from Ulaanbaatar.