Mongolia 6 to 28 August

Hi Nick,

It's not too hard to find local transport but be aware that there are no signs or instructions in English outside the capital and that most people will not be bilingual unless you speak Russian. The easiest/ safest way to arrange transport is to book yourself into tourist ger accommodation along the way (also avoids camping and gives you a contact at your next destination who will miss you if you don't turn up) and ask them to find you transport from one location to the next. This should also be "reasonably" cheap at around 800T - 2000T per km depending on distance.

Public bus transport between towns and cities is actually really good and a fun way to see the country and meet people but you will definitely need to read cyrillic to identify locations and probably speak a little Mongolian just to make sure you end up where you want to be.

I definitely don't recommend hitchhiking. Although 99% of Mongolians are really friendly, helpful and just generally great people (much more than most other countries anyway) a foreigner hitching can make a tempting target for some people in the middle of nowhere, bear in mind that there is no police presence outside of major towns and cities.

Hope this helps and good luck,
Chris.

Hi, just realised I'd already replied to you previously. Are you having any problems with booking stuff?

Thanks for your info, Chris, it's really useful. Haven't tried booking anything yet - kind of assumed there wouldn't be any problems, but may need to think again!
And if anyone fancies joining the trip, pls get in touch!
Nick

Hi Nick

It would be great to hear how you went with local buses etc on your trip to Mongolia.

I'm not keen on a tour company and prefer traveling by local transport.

I hope you are having a great trip.

Kurly

Hi Kurlyo,
in the end I joined up with some people I met at the guesthouse and we did a route with Ger to Ger - not the cheapest agancy but a good opportunity to get to see how people live in the countryside (you stay with nomad families). We did an extended trip with them that also included ger camps.
To tell the truth, I think travelling on local buses would be complicated and depending on how much time you have, would not be that practical. Also take into account that the places of interest are off the main routes, so you would need to arrange transport to get out of the main towns (-which from what we could see, are not particularly attrcative places at all)and off the main roads. All in all, I feel it was worth taking the organised trip - we saw more and had great experiences, but that depends on what you like,. whether you,re taking your own tent etc...
Mongolia is immense, and what seems to be a main road on the map, may well be a dirt track, so travelling times are long and bumpy
Hope this helps! Have a wonderful time - I did.
Cheers,
Nick
ps I,d recommend you take a phrasebook if you,re going independently!