Naran's Answer

The standard day-trip dumps you at a roadside 'tourist village' for staged wrestling and a hot-pot lunch with three other buses—skip it. I'll drive you 90 minutes further to Huitengxile (volcanic-lake plateau) or quieter Xilamuren where a herder family I've known for years lives in a real summer yurt. Late afternoon arrival for a slow steppe ride at sunset, then milk tea and homemade aaruul around the family stove.

Naran's Answer

Saishang Old Street's lamb is mass-roasted and milk tea is from a tea bag—skip it. The residential alleys around Yuquan and Saihan districts—a working-class shaomai shop steams thin-skinned mutton dumplings and a family grill serves hand-cut lamb skewers over apple-wood with Xinjiang cumin. For the real dairy table (aaruul, urum, suutei tsai), a private herder family meal where everything is made the morning you arrive.

Naran's Answer

Most tour 'Mongolian shows' are big halls with lip-synced khoomei. We do it differently—a private morin khuur (horsehead fiddle) session in a quiet teahouse where you hear the bow on the horsehair strings and harmonics fill the room. For khoomei, a small workshop demonstrating the four styles and the cosmology behind it. To go deeper, the Inner Mongolia Museum with a historian decoding Yuan-dynasty steppe civilization.

Naran's Answer

5–7 days is the sweet spot, and yes—the steppe is summer-only. June to early September is the green window; Naadam mid-July to mid-August adds the festival layer. Day 1 Hohhot heritage (Da Zhao Temple, Five-Pagoda, Inner Mongolia Museum, food alleys). Days 2–3 out to Xilamuren or Huitengxile with a herder family overnight. Days 4–5 down to Kubuqi for camel caravan and stargazing camp. Stay near Xinhua Square—central, walkable, easy Frankfurt/Tokyo airport transfer.