Mongolian caves

I visited Mongolia in February 2025, and of course wanted to visit some caves. It turned out to be a bit challenging, it is a large country with some of the potential caves too far away from Ulaanbaatar where I stayed, some caves would not be possible to visit in the winter, couldn't connect to the local caving association, etc. But I managed to visit one good cave and some tiny holes maybe not classified as caves, and one mine. But in this article I wanted to outline all the Mongolian caves I found out about, for others to explore if you happen to be traveling to Mongolia.

I have used four main sources for this article.

First, just a regular Internet search for caves (or agui/агуй) in Mongolia.

Second, Google Maps search was equally useful.

Third, the Mongolian Cave Research Association's page has a description of some of the caves they believe should be highlighted. Their page is here.

Fourth, a very nice article by Nils Vanwezer and others in Quaternary International that has among other things a detailed map of all caves in Mongolia:

(Picture from the article)

You can access the article from this link, and the full reference is:

Vanwezer, Nils & Breitenbach, Seb & Gázquez, Fernando & Louys, Julien & Kononov, A. & Sokol'nikov, Dmitry & Erdenedalai, Avirmed & Burguet-Coca, Aitor & Picin, Andrea & Cueva Temprana, Arturo & Sánchez Martínez, Javier & Taylor, William & Boivin, Nicole & Jamsranjav, Bayarsaikhan & Petraglia, Michael. (2021). Archaeological and environmental cave records in the Gobi-Altai Mountains, Mongolia. Quaternary International. 586. 66-89.10.1016/j.quaint.2021.03.010. 

The article doesn't have detailed information of all the caves shown in the map above, but does have information about 25 of them, so I have taken them into account as well.

Here's the list of caves and mines I found out about. First, there's my Google Maps sharable link with all the locations and cave names. 

What follows are descriptions of the caves:

1. 100 Monk Cave or the 100 ламын агуй, in Terelj National Park near Ulaanbaatar. The coordinates are N 47.8395200 E 107.3990359. This is the cave I visited, see the separate article. The length of the cave is 28.26 m.

2. There's a smaller 100 Monk Side Cave, again in Terelj National Park, just a roof/shelter cave on the southern side of the same rock the 100 Monk Cave is in. The coordinates are N 47.839820 E 107.398632. Also described in the same separate article. The length of the cave is approximately 6 m.

2. Some cave-like spaces on the Turtle Rock, also in Terelj National Park. The coordinates are N 47.9077036 E 107.4228194. Also described in the same separate article. The sheltered area is less than 5 m.

3. West Crystal Cave, again in Terelj National Park. This is an old mine, so man-made underground tunnel. I have not been here, but pictures show nice icicles etc. It seems possible to enter this place. The coordinates are N 47.876958 E 107.372582. The location is west of the main road going through Terelj. You will have to hike kilometers from the road to the top of the ridge. See these links for more information: Google Maps, Lonely Planet, Monrevetours, Monrevetours photos on Flickr, Facebook tour advertisement.

(Photo by Monrevetours in Flickr)

4. East Crystal Cave, also in Terelj National Park. East of the main road this time. This is also a mine, and one that I visited. Or at least stood on entrance to it. You can't enter without ropes, the mine is a tunnel straight down until it branches off horizontally. I hiked 5 kilometers (one-way) from nearest road to get here. The coordinates are N 47.912347 E 107.48860. See a separate article for this one.

5. A tiny roof cave in boulders (or cavelet), again in Terelj National Park. The coordinates are N 47.910005 E 107.48736. The sheltered area is approximately 2.5 m.

FWIW, I also looked at a crack in one of the cliffs (coordinates N 47.903264 E 107.47713) but in the end determined that this was too small to be listed even as a cavelet.

See the same separate article for both of these.

6. A roof cave in a cliff face, used as a cow shed of a farm. Again in Terelj National Park. This seems more like a real cave, though as it was on someone's farm, I did not enter it. The coordinates are N 47.889781 E 107.46194. See the same separate article again. The sheltered area is longer than 5 m, but since I was not next to the cave, I was unable to measure this exactly.

7. North Tsenkheri Cave, Khoit Tsenkheri Agui, or Хойд Цэнхэрийн агуй. This cave is 30 kilometers from Mankhan soum in the Khovd aimag (province), the coordinates are N 47.34736572 E 91.95670460. See these links for more information: Google Maps, Wikipedia, Mongolianature in Weebly, Mongolian Cave Research Association. There are cave paintings in this cave from 40 000 years ago.

(Photo by BatboldDorjgurkhem from Wikipedia, CC BY SA4.0)

8. Gurbanzeerdiin Cave or Гурван зээрдийн агуй. This cave is in Khanbogd soum, Umnogovi aimag. The coordinates are N 42.537500 E 107.357333. See there links for more information: Mongolia Touristinfocenter and the Mongolian Cave Research Association.

(Photo from Mongolian Cave Research Association)

9. Dayandeerkhiin Cave or Даяндээрхийн Агуй in the Dayanderekh National Park, in Derhiin Hüryee, Khovsgol aimag. The Google Maps links says this place is permanently closed, there's some confusion in that there's two maps entries, one for the park with cave pictures, and another one for the cave with park pictures. The more likely place out of the two has coordinates N 50.574684 E 102.058229. The length of the cave is 224 m, one of the longest in Mongolia.

For more information see these links: Google Maps link 1, Google Maps link 2, Mongolian Cave Research Association.

(Photo from Mongolian Cave Research Association)

10. Tsakhiryn Agui caves in Khaliun at the Govi-Altai aimag. There's six caves (1, 1b, 2, 3, 4, and 5). Their coordinates are N 45.845921 E 96.28559, N 45.845921 E 96.28559, N 45.849919 E 96.27474, N  45.849911 E 96.27557, N 45.854959 E 96.28183, N 45.853443 E 96.27914. More information from the Vanwezer article.

11. Irvesiin Agui, Khaliun at the Govi-Altai aimag. The coordinates are N 45.853218 E 96.27684. More information from the Vanwezer article.

12. Nuramt Tsakhir Agui, Khaliun at the Govi-Altai aimag. The coordinates are N 45.878726 E 95.79398. More information from the Vanwezer article and the Max Planck Institute page.

(Photo by Max Planck Institute)

13. Khongil Tsakhir Agui, Khaliun at the Govi-Altai aimag. The coordinates are N 45.878231 E 95.80328. More information from the Vanwezer article.

14. Gazar Agui caves in Taishir. There's 13 of these caves (1-13) and their coordinates are N 46.763898 E 96.2194, N 46.692067 E 96.23888,  N 46.6921 E 96.23852, N 46.76562 E 96.21839, N 46.76562 E 96.21839, N 46.76562 E 96.21839, N 46.762741 E 96.22803, N 46.764154 E 96.21956, N 46.765564 E 96.21236, N 46.765564 E 96.21236, N 46.764151 E 96.21946, N 46.764151 E 96.21946, N 46.763367 E 96.20794. More information from the Vanwezer article or read about the rock art in Gaza Aqui 1 and 13 in another Vanwezer article at the Archaeological Research in Asia.

15. Saalit Agui caves in Bayan-Ondor. There are three caves (1, 2, and 3). Their coordinates are N 44.784024 E 99.04367, N 44.782081 E 99.04735 and N 44.786055 E 99.04151. More information from the Vanwezer article or about the rock art in the other Vanwezer article.

16. White Cave or the Tsagaan Agui in Bayan Lig, at the Bayankhongor aimag. The coordinates are N 44.712028 E 101.170389. For more information, read Wikipedia, Mongolia Guide, academic article at Antiquity, another academic article at Archaeology Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, or the Mongolian Cave Research Association's page. There's also a 3D tour at the PaleoMongolia page.

Wow what an interesting looking cave!

(Photo from Mongolia Guide)

17. Taliin Cave, Dariganga, at the Sukhbaamar aimag. The coordinates are N 45.590278 E 114.500572. More information can be found from the Mongolian Cave Research page or Wolfgang Pfriemer's photos. At 240 m, this is the longest cave in Mongolia according to Wikipedia.

(Photo by Wolfgang Pfriemer at ipernity)

18. Lobonchombiin Cave in Aguy-sume, at the Omnogovi aimag. The coordinates are N 42.588394 E 107.825322. Read more about this from the Mongolian Cave Research Association.

(Photo by Mongolian Cave Research Association)

19. Tsagaandeliin Cave in Airag, at the Domogovi aimag. The coordinates are N 45.625528 E 109.107056. Read more about this cave from the Mongolian Cave Research Association.

(Photo by Mongolian Cave Research Association)

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. Some photos are from various sources, such as Wikipedia, Wikimedia, Flickr, or academic articles. All rights reserved per original source.