The Best Souvenirs to Buy in Mongolia: Sustainable, Authentic Gifts to Take Home
The best souvenirs to buy in Mongolia from cashmere to locally-sourced beauty products, horse milk vodka, and more. Including where to buy each when you’re visiting Ulaanbaatar.
Not only is Mongolia a great place to travel, it’s also a great place to buy gifts! Especially when it comes to buying sustainable, eco-friendly, and authentic souvenirs to take home to friends and family.
From cashmere to locally-sourced beauty products, horse milk vodka, and more, this guide covers it all. Discover the most authentic, high quality, and sustainable products to get for yourself, family members and friends when you visit.
Each of the items below has their own unique quality that perfectly encompasses Mongolian handicrafts, tailoring, and artistry. From using steppe to studio practices to highlighting Mongolia’s unique ingredients and materials, these are the things you’ll want to buy here. Not only will they help you remember your trip forever, they’re also world-class products.
For example, as someone who’s tried countless skincare and bodycare products, Lhamour makes some of the most unique and effective beauty products not only in Mongolia, but in the world. Their products are made with 100% natural ingredients that are locally-sourced, and easy on your skin. Personally, their Pine Nut Facial Oil and Dry Powder Cleanser Oil has really helped my skin while traveling. With bottles that are easy to travel with, giving the gift of Sea Buckthorn Body Butter is always a hit when I gift it.
Additionally, the stores on this list are my favorite places to go since each showcase different qualities of Mongolian tradition. Just stepping foot inside is a cultural experience!
Table of Contents
Best Things to Buy in Mongolia: Authentic Mongolian Souvenirs
- Cashmere
- Felt Products
- Sustainable Beauty Products
- Embroidery and Quilts
- Mongolian Horse Milk Vodka
- Snuff Bottle
Mongolian Cashmere
Mongolian cashmere is the best in the world. Major brands from Hermes to Louis Vuitton source their cashmere from Mongolia for its quality.
If you didn’t know, cashmere is the result of brushing free-roaming goats, typically in May. Families begin this long, tedious process in May because that’s when the goat’s coat is at its fullest after the long winter and before they start to shed their hair for the warm summer months.
Once brushing is complete (we don’t use shears and no goats are harmed or killed in this process), local herders sell bags of raw cashmere to factories who will then wash, clean, and spin the hair into yarn. Yarns that remain their natural color are the softest, as they aren’t treated with harsh dye. Buying Mongolian cashmere when you visit not only supports the local economy, it helps support nomadic herding families across the country.
When looking for cashmere to buy, the first thing to look for is the quality of the garment and threads. You’ll find everything from cashmere jackets to sweaters, socks, gloves, scarfs, shoes, and more. There are many clothing items with different designs to choose from. Wearing cashmere isn’t just for the luxurious look, it also provides amazing skin benefits too. As someone who has sensitive skin, wearing cashmere helped me with my skin irritation and overall, it’s a timeless classic.
Felt Products
For generations the Mongolian nomads have been making wool felt products such as rugs, shoes, hats, bags, and toys. These products are made by the fur and wool of the 5 different livestock which are sheep, goat, cow, horse, and camels. The animals are not hurt in any way because the fur is gathered by combing the animal.
Each item is delicately made by hand and has distinct patterns that make them stand out from other country’s products. When you travel to the countryside and visit the nomadic families you can see them using these felt products.
Sustainable Beauty Products
You may know Mongolia for its beautiful landscape and nature, however the weather is a different story. During each season the locals face different harsh climates. In the winter the temperature would drop to -40°C. So in order to keep their skin nice and youthful they started to make their own beauty products using high quality local ingredients that help the skin from the harsh weather.
For example, Seabuckthorn is widely used amongst mongolian skincare shops and beauty brands. Due to it being high in antioxidants and nutrients, it’s believed that it gives the skin a plump look. A beauty hack amongst the elders is using mare’s milk or traditional yogurt as a face mask. My grandma uses it ritually during summer to keep her skin lighter in color and tighter. I can say it definitely works.
Embroidery and Quilts
If you love textiles, Mongolia’s embroidery and quilts will surprise you. Take part in a class and learn how to embroider or quilt your own gift while you’re here, or look for these pieces when you’re shopping around town.
Mongolians use an embroidery technique called thousand-stitch embroidery. It’s unique to Mongolian culture as they mainly use it to hand-sew snuff-bottle bags. It’s easy to see the quality of these pieces when compared with factory-sewn bags. That’s why they can sometimes be so expensive, women invest a lot of time in perfecting this ancient skill!
While quilting is a newer concept to Mongolians, that doesn’t mean they don’t do it well. Using scraps of fabric left over from the deel-making process, Mongolian quilts are often vibrant in color and texture, and make for a great gift or personal souvenir to remember your time in this colorful country.
Mongolian Horse Milk Vodka
Mongolia has its own vodka distilled from dairy products, a natural resource that’s plentiful here.
“Shimiin Arkhi,” also known as Mongolian milk vodka, and it’s typically made from horse, goat, or cow’s milk.
A local homeopathic remedy is to mix the milk vodka with melted butter or cane sugar to help boost digestion and improve poor sleep. A reminder even though the vodka has a smooth lighter taste, drink wisely as it is much stronger than you realize.
Snuff Bottle
A snuff bottle is a big part of the Mongolian tradition. Snuff bottles were first produced in the early 1700’s. It is a bottle made with different materials such as glass and quartz and it’s filled with tobacco powder. Depending on the size and type of material it was made with, the prices can range from 100 to 3,000 USD. Even to this day it’s used as a symbol of status.
In Mongolia, the host of the family offers the bottle with their right hand while holding their elbow with their left hand showing respect. When you are offered the snuff bottle you also do the same gesture and take a sniff of the powder.
Where to Shop in Ulaanbaatar for Souvenirs and Gifts
There are many places to choose from when getting the products mentioned above. Here are the best souvenir shops in Ulaanbaatar I recommend to get each item from.
- Gobi Cashmere
- Mary & Martha’s
- Tsagaan Alt Wool Shop
- Lhamour
- Narantuul Black Market
- Mongolian Quilting Center
- Donnie’s T-Shirt shop
Gobi Cashmere
Gobi Cashmere is the leading cashmere brand in Mongolia and has been loved by both locals and foreigners for years. The brand works with Mongolian herders to produce high quality products without depleting the lands or harming their animals. The Gobi Cashmere store located in Sukhbaatar square is famous for being the largest cashmere store in the world.
Location: Google Maps
Mary & Martha’s
This place is truly the jackpot for felt products. Mary and Martha is the first shop to buy their own products from artisans and sell them. They offer over 400 different products, from footwear and bags to handmade soaps and many more. What makes these products special is how each item is handmade. You can find organic soaps, felt cushions, and embroidered bags. Their scarves are very pretty making them excellent gifts for your mother, aunt, and girlfriend.
Location: Google Maps
Tsagaan Alt Wool Shop
I like shopping from this wool shop because they have products that you can not get or see from any other place in Ulaanbaatar. Tsagaan Alt Wool Shop gained popularity for their wool slippers and footwear. Wool footwear does wonders for your feet because they are very comfortable to wear. Secondly, wool products retain, absorb, and release moisture making it breathable for your feet and resistant to odors.
Location: Google Maps
Lhamour
Lhamour is the biggest beauty brand in Mongolia. Personally, I love the brand because all their products are eco-friendly and they stay true to their authenticity. The body care products get the most love due to the ingredients they use. Seabuckthorn, pine nut, and rosehip oil are famous ingredients found here in Mongolia.
Location: Shangri-La Mall, 2nd Floor (Google Maps)
Narantuul Black Market
To get the full experience of shopping in Ulaanbaatar, visiting Narantuul Black Market should be on your bucket list. It has everything you need, want, and even things you have never heard of. You can find a variety of affordable Mongolian traditional souvenirs and clothing. This market is where most natives get their everyday products, so heads up, it’s always packed. Some goods are cheap but not the best quality, so look out for that too.
Location: Google Maps
Mongolian Quilting Center
The Mongolian Quilting Center is a special space that supports women with disabilities and lower income. They have aided thousands of Mongolian women who were physically and mentally in a bad state by teaching them quilting and patchwork. By shopping here and buying from the store you are directly supporting the women in the community.
Location: Google Maps
Donnie’s T-Shirt Shop
A graphic T-Shirt is a staple to have in your wardrobe. Donnie’s shirts are unique because they design and print the pictures themselves. The illustrations are a fun play of traditional mongolian characteristics like mongolian wrestling and horse riding with a modern funk to it. The illustrations are one of a kind so I can guarantee it will look very stylish.
Location: Google Maps
Mungun Zawya
Mungun Zawya is a popular place that sells a range of snuff bottles, hand-embroidered snuff bottle bags, silver, gold, and copper cups. Each of the small, local-owned stands sells quality items at fair prices, which is why locals also love shopping here. The store is located on Peace Avenue near the State Department Store, making it convenient to visit.
Location: Google Maps
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