The national airline is Mongolian International Air Transport (MIAT) (OM) (website: www.miat.com).

US$12.

Ulaanbaatar (ULN) (Chinggis Khaan) is 15km (9 miles) from the city. To/from the airport: Buses run to the city centre (journey time – 30 minutes). Taxis are also available (journey time – 15 minutes). Facilities: Bank, duty-free shops, car hire, post office and a restaurant.

Ulaanbaatar is linked to the Russian Federation and China by the Trans-Mongolian Railway. An express train runs once a week between Moscow, Ulaanbaatar and Beijing. Trains on international routes have sleeping and restaurant cars. There are also other weekly trains from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing and Ulaanbaatar to Moscow.

Note: At present, there are problems reported on buying train tickets to Ulaanbaatar for the Trans-Mongolia train. Although the trains certainly stop in Ulaanbaatar, tickets are only being sold to Chinese or Russian destinations. Therefore, a passenger wishing to travel from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar will have to pay for a ticket to Ulaan Ude, just over the Russian border. The other trains between Moscow and Ulaanbaatar, and Beijing and Ulaanbaatar are unaffected.

There are several international road links; the principal route is via Irkutsk (East Siberia) to Ulaanbaatar. Travellers are not normally allowed to enter Mongolia by road unless they obtain prior permission from the Mongolian authorities.

Internal flights are operated by MIAT – Mongolian International Air Transport (OM). This is the recommended means of travelling to remote areas.

The main line runs from north to south: Sukhbaatar–Darkhan–Ulaanbaatar–Sainshand. Branch lines serve the principal industrial regions.

Paved roads are to be found only in or near major cities.

Bus: There are frequent bus services between major towns, but the roads are mostly unpaved.

Car hire: Available through tourism companies (although self drive is not available since most roads are unpaved, maps are poor and there are no road signs).

Alternative transport: Jeeps, camels or horses are available for hunters, trekkers and special-interest travellers.

There are frequent bus and trolleybus services in Ulaanbaatar.

The following chart gives approximate journey times (in hours and minutes) from Ulaanbaatar to other major cities/towns in Mongolia.

	Air	Road
Erdenet	0.45	9.00
Dalanzadgad	1.20	14.00
Darkhan	-	5.00
Khovd	4.00	4/5 days