Mongolia 2014 

Route

• Days: 38 days
• Period: from 18th of August untill the 24th of September
• Weather:  Weather was good. We hardly had any rain and a lot of sunny days. The temperature was comfortable during the day (15 - 25 degrees). At the end of our stay it was slowly getting colder and we even had some nights with frost in Ulaan Baatar. Because of the dry weather we had no muddy tracks. 

General information:

• Currency: Tugrik

• Internet: Easy to find in the more larger cities and villages but even in the smaller ones you will be able to find it.
  

• ATM's: ATM's for visa are everywhere

• Creditcards: Accepted in quite some restaurants, shops and hotels in Ulaan Baatar and a few other cities. In the rest of the country it is mainly cash.

• Safety: Mongolia is pretty safe and the emptyness of the land makes that you will be able to find private spots for wild camping everywhere.

Prices (August 2014)

• Value Money: €1 = 2450 Tugrik / 1$ = 1853 Tugrik 

• Fuel: diesel is approx. 2000 Tugrik per liter (about € 0,80 per liter) 

• Camping: As we wild camped most of the time camping was mainly for free. in Olgii we paid 10.000 Tugrik per night for 2 persons and a car including hot shower and Wi-Fi. 

• Prices: Mongolia is quite cheap. Also with groceries and you will be able to find a lot of products here so no need to stock up in Russia or Kazakhstan which are much more expensive. 

Visa & Registration

• Some nationalities could already enter the country visa free and since July 2014 more countries have been added to the list. One of them is the Netherlands. You can now go to the border and get your entry stemp for free which will allow you to stay 30 days maximum. In combination with a double entry for Russia you can enter the country twice and have a 60 days stay in total. We got our visa just before the new visa rules. We obtained our visa in Almaty which was quick and easy. Here we were able to get a 40-days visa valid for 3 months. 

• Visa obtained at the Mongolian embassy in Almaty (Kazakhstan). Normally the procedure takes 3 days (apply on day 1 and pick up on day 3). We got our visa on the same day. (We camped in front of the embassy and when they saw us they brought it to our car in the evening - because it was ready they said which was a very good service)

• Visa is valid for 40 days from date of entry (you have to ask for it as normally you only get 30 days). From date of issuance you have 3 months to enter the country.

• In Almaty the price for the visa was $ 60 per person. 

• Registration = Officially you have to register your visa when staying longer than 30 days. We have therefore tried to register in Olgii, but officials told us that even for 40 days it was not neccesary. (they called someone and checked it before they send us away). When leaving the country however this information turned out to be wrong. When staying in Mongolia for more than 30 days you always have to register. Let no one send you away and insist on your registration. They do check on exit and when you do not have it the fee is the equivalent of 1 or 2 months salary. As we did not had it we were held up for 3 hours on the Mongolian/Chinese border. In the end the officer in Olgii (they called him) confirmed our story so we did not had to pay and still got stamped out. NOTE: Registration is only needed when you have a visa. So when you enter Mongolia without a visa you do not have to register. When you however extend your stay you might need to register again (we do not know). If you just leave the country and re-enter for again a max of 30 days you can avoid the registration process.
  

• Insurance= We were able to get a Mongolian insurance at the border. Just after you have entered the country there is a stop sign. Here is a small office. Most likely there will be a man stopping you. Price was 69.300 Tugrik. According to the police you are not obliged to have an insurance and also most locals do not have one. We had one small incident and having the insurance protected us againt paying (the other car was wrong but still wanted money. When we showed them our insurance he knew there would be no money from us and not from the insurance as well because it was his fault and that settled the case).
  

Border crossing

• Entry: At Tashanta (coming from Russia). Entry was easy and without any costs. You will receive many small papers on several points and you will have to fill in a few forms here and there. It may be confusing at first, but the people on the border will send you from one counter to another. You do not need any special paper to get your car into the country. 

• Exit: At Erenhot (going to China). Make sure you do not overstay and if needed (see visa information) have your registration organised. They do check here. For the rest procedure is quick and easy and free of charge.   

Roads

• From Tashanta border- to Tsgaannuur : 10 km off road 

• From Tsgaannuur to Olgii: new tarmac
• From Olgii to Khovd : first 60 km is new tarmac the rest is offroad. On this stretch there are 3 river crossings and the last one was the most challenging (deep and strong current). Once there was a bridge at this last crossing, but when we were there the bridge was ruined. In some parts this track would be very muddy when wet. Trip is doable in one day
• From Khovd to Altay : The first 160 km is new tarmac. The rest is off road and for the largest part with heavy corrugation (our avarage speed was max 20 km per hour). The last 40 km goes over a pass and this stretch is very bad and would be extremely slippery and muddy when wet. We did this stretch in two days.
• From Altay to Bayanhongor: The first 140 km is new tarmac. After that it is offroad. On this part there was one river crossing. Some offroads parts were bumpy and would be muddy when wet. This stretch took us 2 days.
• From Bayanhongor to Arvayheer: Tarmac and most of it is pretty new. Only the last 70 kilometers the tarmac is damaged with a lot op potholes. 
• From Arvayheer to Bayangol: Good jeep tracks. Piste a bit bumpy the dried up parts that, when wet, will be very muddy. Driving about half a day.
• From Bayangol to Sayhan Ovoo: Good tracks over a flat plain. There is a river crossing Sayhan Ovoo. Driving time about half a day.
• From Sayhan Ovoo to Mandal Ovoo: The first 40 kilometers is hilly and rocky. In the small gorge is a nice tourist camp. After the hills the tracks turns into a good piste over a vast empty and flat plane. 
• From Mandal Ovoo to Bayandzag: Piste with lots of heavy corrugation. Piste had several sports that will be very muddy when wet. When dry they are very bumpy.
• From Bulgan to Kongorin Els (dunes): Piste with lots of corrugation. There is one part where the piste runs through the mountains. The road here is a dry river bed which your driving upstream with quite big stones at the bottom and sand higher up. 
• From Kongorin Els to Bayandalay: Piste with a lot of stones at the beginning, lots of heavy corrugation in some parts and places that will be muddy when wet or bumpy when dry. 
• From Bayandalay to Dalandzadgad (via Yolyn Am): Despite some corrugation in a few places the piste is quite good. Just before Yolyn am the piste follows a dry river bed that can be sandy in some places. The last kilometers before Dalandzadgad you are back on the tarmac. There is also an alternative route through the Dunegee Gorge to Yolym Am. This should be an amazing drive and although most tourist guides told us we could easily drive it we returned. There is one spot where the gorge is really narrow and we did not dare to drive our car through. We did not exactly measure but it would have been a matter of centimeters. On the eye it looked like we the car would be too wide.
• From Dalanzadgad to Ulaanbaatar: Road is mostly tarmac. New in some places, bumpy with holes in others and under construction here and there. 
• From Ulaanbaatar to Kharkhorin (south): Tarmac all the way. Both good parts and bad parts with many potholes and many roadworks.
• From Kharkhorin to Dashinchilen: Took the offroad track. A bit rough in some places but very nice. 
• From Dashinchilen to Ulaanbaatar: Good tarmac
• From Ulaanbaatar to Great Chinggis Khaan Statue: Perfect tarmac
• From Ulaanbaatar to Terelj NP (turtle rock): Good tarmac
• From Ulaanbaatar to Erenhot (border Mongolia): Good tarmac

Fees for Toll roads, briges, tunnels and ferries

• Where there are new road sealed roads there are also toll gates. We were always glad to see them as it meant we would have some comfortable kilometers ahead. In total we paid 5300 Turgrik for 5 toll roads (less then 3 Euro).

• Careful - They will try to charge you for entering into Ulaanbaatar but this has changed and is free now. Just refuse end drive on.
  

Highlights or not

• The adventure of driving through the land: This is the main attraction and free of charge. Driving through the vast and empty landscapes is amazing.

• Camel ride to the Dunes: Near the high dunes several places offer camel rides. We did a sunset ride and it was great fun. Ride is about one hour. We joined a group and were with 5 people in total. The price then is 10.000 Tugrik per person.
• Yolyn Am NP: Very nice park. In the gorge you can make a nice walk. Although officially forbidden we were allowed to camp on the parking near the gorge. Nice sport as at the end of the day everybody goes home and you have the place all to yourself. Entry fee = 3000 Tugrik per person.
• Kharkhorin monastry: Old walled monastry with a lot of history. Definitely worth a visit. Entry fee is 3000 Tugrik per person.
• Giant Chinggis Khaan Statue: Impressive because of its size. Nice to climb to the top. Entry fee = 7000 Tugrik per person. Note: the place is closed during lunch time. 
• Terelj NP - Turtle rock: We only saw a very small part of the NP as we only drove to the turtle rock which was a nice spot. The parts we visited were nice and the roads were good. Entry fee = 3000 Tugrik per person. Note: be careful when bush camping here as one couple with a big truck were robbed here shortly before we were there.

Tips

• For lovers of Indian food - Try Restaurant Namaste in UB. Best one of the whole trip. 

• For vegetarians and vegans. There are a few good places where you can eat good vegan food even coffee shops with vegan pies. For us, our favourite was Loving Hut. Very cheap but very good food and all vegetarian and vegan. They have several restaurants in town. You can find them on the internet.

• Next door to Oasis is a good garage run by a Japanese guy. He works very accurate.
  

GPS-waypoints

Grid: Lat/Lon hddd°mm.mmm"