Chinggis Khaan International Airport opened in 2021 in the Khushigt Valley, about 50 kilometres south of central Ulaanbaatar. Every international flight into Mongolia lands there. Here is how our guests reach it, what to know about visas, and what happens when the doors open.
The usual routes
Mongolia has no direct flights from the Americas or Australia and few from Western Europe, so nearly everyone connects once. The connections that work best, and that our guests use most:
- Seoul (Incheon). The most frequent link, around three and a half hours to Ulaanbaatar, with good onward connections from North America and Europe.
- Tokyo (Narita). A comfortable option from the US west coast and from Japan itself.
- Beijing. Short, around two hours, with several flights a day. Useful if you are already in China.
- Hong Kong. Direct in season, and a good option from Australia and South East Asia.
- Istanbul. The main link from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Long, but one stop.
- Frankfurt. Direct flights in summer. From much of Europe this is the simplest single connection.
We look at your home airport and your dates and tell you which routing we would take ourselves. In July and around the Eagle Festival in October the seats go early, and we advise booking flights before anything else once dates are agreed.
Overland
The Trans-Mongolian railway enters from Russia in the north and from China in the south. The train from Beijing or from Irkutsk takes the better part of two days, and the border halts at night are long. Land borders also exist for road travel, but they are slow and paperwork-heavy for foreign vehicles. Almost all of our guests fly. If you have your heart set on arriving by train, tell us and we will plan around it.
Visas
Visa rules depend entirely on your passport and they change. Many nationalities currently enter Mongolia without a visa for a set number of days, others need an e-visa applied for online before travel, and some still need a visa from an embassy. We do not publish a country-by-country table because it would be out of date within the year. What we do is check your specific passport against the current rules as soon as we start planning, tell you plainly what applies, and send you the link or the address you need. Your passport should be valid for at least six months beyond your arrival date, and you should carry a printed copy of your onward ticket. If you stay longer than 30 days, registration with immigration may apply, and we handle it.
Landing
Mongolia is on UTC+8, the same as Beijing and Hong Kong, so there is no time change from either. Immigration at Chinggis Khaan is orderly and usually quick. Baggage arrives in a single carousel hall. There is a currency exchange and there are ATMs in arrivals, but you do not need to stop. Local SIM cards are sold in arrivals and in the city, and we can have one ready for you. The one thing to remember is the domestic terminal: if you are connecting on to Dalanzadgad, Murun or Ölgii on the same day, you and your bags move to a different check-in, and we time this for you.
We meet you inside
This is the part we care about most. Our guide meets you inside the terminal, not at the kerb, holding a sign with your name. If your flight is late, the guide is still there. The Alphard is parked outside and the drive to the city takes about an hour on the expressway, longer at rush hour. You arrive at V28 or Otugi, our two hotels in Ulaanbaatar, with the room already checked and dinner arranged if you want it. The first hour in a new country sets the tone for the rest. We would rather it was calm.
Leaving
Departure is the reverse. We collect you from the hotel around three hours before an international flight, longer if it is a Friday evening. If you are leaving the countryside on a domestic flight and connecting straight out, we build a night in the city between the two, because domestic flights in Mongolia are honest about weather and sometimes late.
Talk to us
We design private journeys only, and getting here is the first thing we plan with you, not the last. Write to us and a person who lives here replies within four hours in office time. No price list until we have talked.
