Crossing the Gobi by rail: from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing

The Trans-Mongolian railway has long attracted travellers who want to see the world the slow way, and Australians are no exception. A two-stop flight from Sydney to Beijing can feel routine; a multi-day ride through Mongolia, with its endless steppe and sudden desert light, is anything but. For many passengers departing from Melbourne or Brisbane, the appeal lies in the border itself, that unusual stretch where two countries, two alphabets, and two railway gauges meet in a single afternoon.

The run from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing covers roughly 1,900 kilometres and crosses one of the world's most unusual frontier zones. Trains depart the Mongolian capital in the morning and arrive in the Chinese capital the following afternoon, with the entire border sequence unfolding in between. Knowing what happens at each stage turns a potentially stressful experience into a satisfying piece of travel theatre.

Getting ready in Ulaanbaatar

Most travellers spend at least a night in Ulaanbaatar before boarding, which is useful for sorting out last-minute items. The main station sits a short taxi ride from the centre, and drivers, like those in Sydney, generally appreciate a destination written in Cyrillic. Bring small denomination cash in Mongolian tögrög, because station kiosks rarely accept Australian cards and ATMs can be unreliable on weekends.

Pack a power adapter (Mongolia uses the same plug type as China) and a generous supply of snacks. Travellers often miss familiar flavours after a few days on the steppe, so tucking a few Tim Tams or a tube of Vegemite into your daypack is a reasonable indulgence. A reusable water bottle is helpful too, since the dining car stocks bottled water but the bathroom taps should be avoided.

Boarding the train and the first stretch

The train to Beijing usually leaves Ulaanbaatar in the early morning, with a departure that feels brisk compared to the long Australian distances most passengers have already crossed. Settle into your compartment quickly, as the best window spots fill up fast. Second-class four-berth compartments are comfortable enough, and many Australians find the social atmosphere friendlier than expected, with shared meals, tea, and conversation in three or four languages.

The first leg runs north through the Tuul River valley, then east across open steppe. Within an hour the outskirts of the city give way to rolling grasslands dotted with gers and grazing livestock. The dining car serves solid if repetitive meals, mostly mutton, rice, dumplings, and bread, and accepts Mongolian tögrög and US dollars, but rarely Australian dollars.

The Mongolian border at Sukhbaatar

Sukhbaatar is a small town on the Selenge River, and the border stop usually lasts between one and three hours. Mongolian border police and customs officers board the train to check passports and visas, with the procedure carried out carriage by carriage. Have your documents ready, and remember that Australian passports need at least six months' validity, a standard rule shared with most countries.

The officers are generally polite and efficient, and the process is more relaxed than passing through international arrivals at a major Australian airport during a holiday rush. Keep your luggage in the compartment rather than hauling it through the corridors, as the inspection is usually a visual one. Once everyone is cleared, the train crosses the river bridge and waits at the frontier for the Chinese side to take over.

The gauge change at Erlian

Erlian is the Chinese frontier town where the railway gauge shifts from the 1,520 mm used across the former Soviet Union to the 1,435 mm standard gauge used in China. The process takes several hours, and most passengers are asked to leave the train and wait in a large shed while the carriages are lifted and their wheel assemblies swapped. It sounds dramatic, and it is, a mechanical ballet of jacks and cranes performed on every wagon.

The waiting shed has basic seating, a small shop selling instant noodles, and very little else, so bring water, snacks, and something to read. Chinese immigration officers process passports in the same hall, with biometric checks and a brief interview for some travellers. The whole procedure can take three to six hours, and patience is the most useful thing an Australian can pack for this stretch of the trip.

Entering China and on to Beijing

Once the gauge change is complete, the train rolls south through Inner Mongolia. The landscape shifts from desert scrub to farmland and then to the outskirts of Datong, with the Great Wall occasionally visible on distant ridges. The dining car switches to Chinese cuisine, with rice, stir-fries, and a much lower price than the Mongolian section, and most passengers stay up late to watch the new country wake up.

Arrival at Beijing Railway Station is in the late morning or early afternoon of the following day, depending on the service. Stepping off the train, the air feels different, damper, more urban, and the platform crowd moves with a rhythm quite unlike anything seen since Ulaanbaatar. Many Australians choose to spend a few days in Beijing before flying home, which makes the long-haul journey from Perth or Adelaide feel a little less punishing.

Practical notes for Australian travellers

A Chinese visa is required in advance and must be obtained before leaving Australia, ideally through a visa service in your nearest capital city. Russian visas are also needed if your journey continues over the border from Beijing to Moscow, and the team at Russian Travel Centre can arrange both, along with the train tickets themselves. Currency exchange is best done in Ulaanbaatar for Mongolian tögrög and in Beijing for yuan, as the border town of Erlian offers poor rates.

Australian travellers sometimes assume that English will be widely spoken, and on this route it generally is not. A translation app on your phone, with Chinese and Mongolian language packs downloaded offline, is far more useful than any phrasebook. Solo travellers might read a Trans-Manchurian guide before deciding which variant of the journey suits their style, since the Manchurian route skips the Ulaanbaatar stop entirely. For those curious about the company's reputation, the Passport Travel page collects feedback from previous passengers, and a separate resource on homestay with meals offers a useful contrast in how different rail-adjacent regions handle food and lodging. Travellers with broader regional plans may want to compare visa notes with those heading to NOC Mauritius, a useful reference point for understanding how different countries handle entry requirements.

What stays with most people long after the journey ends is the quiet strangeness of the border itself. The change of language, the swap of wheels under the carriage, the slow shift from yurts to high-rises over a single afternoon, these are details that no airport transfer can offer. The Trans-Mongolian rewards patience, curiosity, and a willingness to sit still for a very long time, and for Australians used to the long empty distances of their own country, that rhythm feels strangely familiar.