Trans Mongolian Train

Trans Siberian Railway - Routes to Mongolia



Featured international timetable - trains going through Mongolia  (updated winter 2014)
Beijing to Moscow Chinese train #3 leaves every Thursday at 07:45
Moscow to Beijing Chinese/Mongolian train #4 leaves every Monday at 21:35

Cost $200-$300 depending on type of sleeper
Tickets are sold only a few days before departure
You can make an advanced full pay reservation through a travel agent,
In Mongolia Happy Camel Jurney (Train and bus tickets from China to Mongolia)
In China - Ocean Travel or BestourChina or ChinaTripAdvisor, CITS, and several other agents.
Your tickets will be delivered in Beijing a few days before departure.


Budget option - Beijing to Ulaanbaatar
Budget option, costs about $60-$80 instead of $200-$300.
Take the overnight bus from Beijing LuiliQiao bus station, or the local train
to Erlian, a border city on the China/Mongolia border.
The ride takes about 12 hours.
From Erlian cross by van, or take the noon bus to Zamyn-Uud on the Mongolian side,
and take the daily local train to Ulaanbaatar.
This option might involved an extra day at Erlian.
The train leaves Zamyn Uud at 5:50PM every day
and arrives the next morning at 8:00AM in Ulaanbaatar.
The train cost is about $18


Domestic Mongolian Railway Map
Showing all train stations in Mongolia



Featured domestic Timetables -  trains in Mongolia  (updated winter 2014)
Ulaanbaatar to Zamiin-Uud (on the Chinese border) train MT3-276 leaves every day at 16:30
Zamiin-Uud to Ulaanbaatar train MT3-275  leaves every day 17:35
Ulaanbaatar to Sukhbaatar (on the Russian border) train MT3-263 leaves every day at 21:10
Sukhbaatar to Ulaanbaatar train MT3-264 leaves every day at 21:05



Train information sources

Discussion forums - a place to post a question or read other's.

Trans Siberian - by Waytorussia
Thorn Tree Mongolia - by Lonely Planet (excellent replies by Ruth)

Search trains and time tables - including trains to Mongolia
These sites are not easy to navigate, but have uptodate information.
BAHN - the English page of a German site.
POEZDA - the English page of a Russian site, use the Russian transliteration of place names.
RZD - Russian railways site in Russian, search box on bottom left side.
China - trains from Beijing

Web sources on trains to Mongolia
Trans Siberian - by Seat61 - lots of information
Trans Mongolian - by Happy camel
Travel agents specializing in Trans Siberian

4 comments:

yuri said...

Great info! I am still struggling to find the timetable for the local Beijing - Erlian train. How often does it run? Thanks!

To Mongolia said...

For China train timetables search
http://www.chinatrainguide.com/
from: Beijing
To: Erenhot (the Chinese spelling for Erlian)
Train K23 every Monday and Tuesday
Train K3 every Wednesday
Departs Beijing at 8:05
Arrives Erenhot at 20:37
Cost 120-130RMB

look also at
http://www.chinatrainguide.com/beijing-railway-station/

Enjoy the ride
Dan

Shlomo said...

How long would the budget way take on total? The trans Mongolian takes about 30 hours.

Competing the costs , I saw some post that one way on the train from beijing to UB.cost around 600rmb which is around $100 ( and not $200-300) . Do you have different info then ?

Anonymous said...

Hi Shlomo
Direct train cost Beijing to Ulaanbaatar in 2014
3rd class hard sleeper USD250
2nd class soft sleeper USD330
1st class delux sleeper USD360
How long?, direct compared to budget.
Could be about the same time if planned carefully, or add an extra day at Erlian or Zamyn-Uud.
The total cost of the budget option these days is about USD70