What is Mongolian currency?
The local currency is called the Tugrug (₮). As of July 2025, the exchange rate is about 3596 Tugrugs to the USD. The preferred foreign currency for exchange purposes is USD or Euro, but Pounds Sterling, Russian Rubles, and Chinese RMB can also be exchanged in many places in Ulaanbaatar. If you bring US dollars, make sure the notes were printed after 1996 (the large heads rather than the small ones). 50 dollar and 100 dollar notes will get a better exchange rate than smaller notes. Some exchange facilities are open 24/7. We recommend changing money only in banks, hotels, and exchange facilities. Credit cards are widely accepted in Ulaanbaatar but the countryside is cash-based society.
Items prohibited from import into or export from Mongolia
- Any drugs
- Animal trophies and products, if listed in national and international RED DATA BOOK as endangered species
- Livestock, animal, birds, their raw materials, embryos and microorganisms without veterinary certification or permission from appropriate organization.
- Pedicree animals
- Historical and cultural items, paleontological, archeological findings sample test of soil, animals and plants
- Radioactive elements, chemical and other radioactive source
- Blood and blood products, donor transplants
- Ores of rare earth elements
- Alcoholic drinks apart from spirit
