For expertise and experience, we recommend Ciretta Green at Montana Travel Ciretta's extensive experience writing our staff and clients' tickets for the last 10 years gives her insight into the details of travel to Asia and South America that only a few good agents have. The best way to get started is to email Ciretta with your prospective dates, then follow up with a call once she's sent you some itineraries and prices. Call her at 800-247-3538 or click ciretta@mttravel.com to email her. She'll provide you with good advice on routings and very competitive prices.

For Mongolia travel ONLY we also recommend Baigal at AirBridge. Her number is 303-875-6887, email is baigala@airbridgeusa.com Tell her Boojum sent you.

Flying to Mongolia (Gateway City, Ulaan Baatar, airport code ULN)
The simplest, most convenient and most direct way to get to Mongolia is to transit through Seoul, Korea. There are numerous flights from the US to Inchon Airport (ICN), a very modern and comfortable airport and from there you catch a direct flight to Genghis Khan Airport (ULN) on either Korean Airlines of MIAT airlines. Inchon airport is complete with the excellent Air Garden Hotel in the transit area which makes even a multi-hour layover very tolerable with a comfortable bed, shower and of course, wake up call.

Via Korea
On several airlines you can depart VERY early in the morning from the US west coast and arrive Seoul in the early morning a day later. You can then connect directly to Ulaan Baatar the same day. This is the SIMPLEST way to reach Mongolia from the US. You are allowed two checked bags which can be checked all the way through to Ulaan Baatar. On United, Delta and American you arrive late in the evening in Seoul and connect through to Ulaan Baatar the next day. Check with the particular airline on baggage weight allowances. As of March, 2006 United only allows 50lbs per bag and other airlines allow 70lbs. per bag.

Via China
Unless you have other reasons to visit Beijing, we suggest you first consider flying through Seoul, Korea. When you fly to Mongolia via Beijing, you generally will need to overnight both directions, incurring hotel and transit expenses. You may also need a Chinese DOUBLE ENTRY Visa ($100USD) and when you return to the airport to check in for your Mongolia flight, you may only be allowed 20 kilos of baggage. In order to be sure you are not hit with excess baggage charges out of Beijing, be SURE that your ticket says 2PCS for baggage allowance.

Train from China

Several days of the week there is a train from Beijing to Ulaan Baatar that has "soft sleeper" compartments for around $150 USD per person, one way. The trip takes about 30 hours and spends 3-4 hours in the middle of the night lifting up the train cars and placing them on different gauge wheels. Riding this train is an adventure, but not a particularly soothing one. Tickets can be hard to reserve very far in advance. Please consult with our office about train travel to Mongolia.

Via Europe

MIAT, the Mongolian airlines has several flights a week from Berlin to Ulaan Baatar, transiting through Moscow. Your only other choice is a European airline to Moscow and then connecting with an Aeroflot flight to Ulaan Baatar. Generally speaking those on the US East Coast are better off trying to fly via Seoul in terms of both cost, convenience and reliability.

Internal Flights in Mongolia

We are able to purchase air tickets for flights within Mongolia, something that is still very unreliable to do unless you are actually in Ulaan Bataar. Our staff have to go to the ticketing office in person and often use long standing relationships with the airline employees to get tickets. Around the Naadam period ticket prices are inflated and much more difficult to obtain. Because a significant deposit must be paid at the time of RESERVATION, we require the full amount of the airticket plus a $25 booking charge per ticket before we can make a reservation. Once you are ticketed, there is an additional $30 fee for any changes. If you cancel your flights after ticketing, the penalties below apply:

22-15 days prior to departure 20% penalty plus booking fee

14-7 days prior to departure 50% penalty plus booking fee

6-1 day prior to departure 100% penalty plus booking fee

Flying to China and Tibet, Argentina and Uruguay

Contact Ciretta at Montana Travel 800-247-3538.

We specialize in Mongolia travel but we also offer adventure travel to Patagonia, Uruguay, Tibet. Horseback riding was our original interest when we pioneered travel adventures to China and Inner Mongolia and Tibet. We now offer tours and travel packages of all kinds in Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) including camel riding, trekking, photography, fishing, horseback riding, culture, visiting Naadam, the Gobi, Lake Hovsgol (Lake Khovsgol) and the nomadic herders of Mongolia. In Ulan Bator we have our own offices though we are not really a travel agent, but an outfitter of travel and adventure in Mongolia. If want a riding vacation; whether a horseback riding vacation, a camel riding vacation or a jeep riding vacation, we'll be glad to create a travel adventure across Mongolia for you.

In Patagonia and Uruguay remember you can combine two adventures and do both horseback riding trips in just two weeks of travel. A Patagonia horseback riding vacation or a Uruguay horseback riding vacation is just the thing for beginners or experienced equestrian travelers. An equestrain vacation, horseback riding in Patagonia, Agentina or Uruguay or Mongolia or Tibet is a great way to have a guided adventure.
Mongolia travel can also include rafting, trekking or a combination of rafting, trekking, horseback riding and culture. Mongolia travel means visiting the Gobi, Lake Khovsgol, Buddhist monasteries, or even fishing. The fishing in Mongolia and Patagonia is very good. In Mongolia the fishing is for taimen. In Patagonia, the fishing is for trout. Being an outfitter, we don't call our adventure horseback riding or other mongolia tours "tours" per se. We think that Monglia tour sounds like it lacks adventure. A Mongolia tour can include paleontology, horseback riding, a river trip or rafting, trekking or culture. Whatever you call it, a Mongolia tour or Mongolia travel, we will be sure to make your Mongolia tour feel like a private tour.

Those of you who have endured reading the awful prose just preceding are probably wondering what kind of idiot wrote it. We must confess to both a capacity for better prose and an ulterior motive in writing so badly. Search engines look for correlations between your keywords like Mongolia travel, horseback riding, mongolia tour, Patagonia, Uruguay, Tibet, Gobi.. (see there I go again) and the frequency with which they appear on your page. In this everchanging cyber world, we need to keep up, I guess. Have a good riding vacation or adventure and come for Mongolia travel.