Mongolia is an amazing country to travel around in, due to its fantastic landscapes and total otherworldliness.
Chances are, you’re going to arrive in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city, whether you’re flying or coming via the Trans-Mongolian train from Moscow to Beijing. And Ulaanbaatar is a great place to start! Not only will you find a plethora of museums, monasteries, and other interesting places to visit, but it can also make a great base for planning the next stage of your Mongolian adventure.
Even in booming Ulaanbaatar, you’ll find that the city stands poised on the edge between East and West: Western-style restaurants next to traditional restaurants selling dumplings and soups; people wearing jeans and teeshirts walking beside people wearing the classic deel; taxi drivers listening music made on the morin khuur discussing American soap operas that they watch on TV…
Tourism is still in the growth stages in Mongolia, so you may have a difficult time contacting guides and arranging train tickets or other transportation until you arrive on the ground—and companies that will help you arrange these things ahead of time will generally charge you a hefty fee for the service. But never fear: your accommodation in Ulaanbaatar should be able to help you contact English-speaking guides and arrange further details of your trip.
In fact, Mongolians are famous for their horses, and riding horses across the expansive, unoccupied Mongolian countryside is a real treat. In fact, if you wanted to, you could spend days out there on your own seeing no one except the other people you’re traveling with.
Also Mongolian gers, or yurts, are the traditional nomadic style of housing in the country—but plenty of people still live in them today! Even on the edges of Ulaanbaatar, you’ll find sprawling ger districts full of families who want to live in the classic style while still enjoying all the conveniences of life in the capital city. Staying in a ger during your stay is definitely an experience that you won’t want to miss out on.
