Mongolia: Getting there & around

Most people fly into Ulaanbaatar from Beijing, Berlin or Moscow. Organised tours also operate flights from Osaka and Seoul. The international Mongolian carrier is MIAT. Delayed and cancelled flights are common partly due to frequent poor weather conditions. The airport departure tax is built into your ticket.

Foreigners can enter and leave Mongolia on the Trans-Mongolian Railway, which links Beijing and Moscow. Border crossings are at Ereen-Zamyn-Üüd on the Chinese-Mongolian border, and Naushki-Sükhbaatar on the Russian-Mongolian border. From China you can cross by road at Ereen-Zamyn-Üüd. You can enter Mongolia from Russia at three border points: Altanbulag-Kyakhta (northern Mongolia), Borzya-Erdeentsav (eastern Mongolia) and Tashanta-Tsagaanuur (western Mongolia). You can take vehicles across these borderposts, but have all your papers in order and expect delays.

A vast, sparsely populated country with little infrastructure, Mongolia relies heavily on air transport. The major internal airlines are MIAT and AeroMongolia, which together offer flights to most of the provincial capitals, major cities and tourist destinations - but not all of them. Schedules change regularly and foreigners pay several times more than Mongolians for tickets. Tickets can be very hard to come by in the height of summer, especially for flights to the western provinces.

Overland transport mainly involves shared vans and jeeps as public buses are almost non-existent. A journey anywhere is guaranteed to be long and slow. Vehicles do not adhere to a set schedule and only depart when full, and it usually takes several hours to find enough passengers for a trip. Drunk driving is not uncommon and breakdowns seem to be a pre-requisite for any road journey.

Mongolia's 1750km (1090mi) railway is made up of a north-south line, which is part of the Trans-Mongolian Railway, connecting China with Russia. Taxis are only useful in Ulaanbaatar or for short trips out of town (ie Terelj or Zuunmod). Beyond the capital, roads are unpaved and in poor condition. In August, rains turn roads to mush, especially in northern areas. A national project to build a 2500km cross country road will improve things, but progress is slow and after six years only one third is complete.

While there are no professional car rental agencies in the country, it's possible to privately hire out a jeep and a driver in most cities, expect to pay around US$0.25 per kilometre.

Travelling around in your own jeep is not a good idea, though you can drive with an international driving license. Be aware that petrol can be hard to find; accidents, unfortunately, are not.