Travelling from Beijing to Erlian/Erenhot and crossing over the border to Zamyn Uud, Mongolia

Just had an "interesting" experience travelling over to Mongolia from Beijing to get a new China entry stamp on my passport (I was nearing the maximum duration of stay for my multiple entry China tourist visa)-

There are several daily sleeper buses from Beijing to Erlian (二连浩特), the schedule is posted on several Chinese websites which you can find with this google search (in Chinese). I took the 4:30pm bus from 北郊长途汽车站 which is a few hundred meters north of the Jian De Men station on Subway Line 10. Cost: 180rmb. Call before you go to confirm space and that the bus is indeed running that day - telephone numbers are listed in the above mentioned websites. You must be able to converse in Chinese (or get a Chinese speaking friend). The number I called was 139-1083-3483.

Most of the other passengers in my bus were Mongolians who had huge boxes and sacks of luggage (goods they are bringing back to sell in Mongolia?). The bus has beds (not seats) - this was new to me. Makes sense for the 10hrs+ long journey. I think taller/larger-built people will definitely find the asian-sized beds cramped though.

The bus arrived in Erlian at about 3am. Apparently the Mongolian border only opens at around 8:30am so you'll have a few hours to burn - you can sleep a few more hours in a hotel or tell the taxi to take you to a restaurant that opens late. No, I don't think there are any 24hrs MacDonald's in Erlian : )

Apparently the border crossing can only be made in a vehicle and not by foot. There are afternoon buses from the Erlian bus station (汽车站). If you want to cross in the morning, it seemed to me like the only option was to take one of the jeeps (cost: at most 50rmb one-way) that congregate at 9am in front of a random convenience store not far from the Mongolian Bar (Meng Gu Jiu Ba - 蒙古酒吧，诚信路肯特街9号). My jeep ride was quite an adventure - the jeep was absolutely stuffed with boxes and sacks.. somehow 3 more passengers including myself managed to squeeze in. The passenger door lock was broken so the door was flailing open as we drove. Some guts and a sense of humor definitely helps in this sort of situation.

The border crossing was quite uneventful - make sure you have a Mongolian visa if you need one though. I rode the same jeep back into China after it regurgitated all of its boxes and sacks in the Mongolian border town of Zamyn Uud. I then took a taxi to the Erlian bus station (汽车站) and paid 200rmb for a 3pm sleeper bus back to Beijing.

Hey, thanks for the informative post.  But do you know what time the border closes? I will be on a bus later today arriving at 6:30pm and wanted to know if I'm going to have to find a place to sleep and do the crossing the next morning.

thanks,

I think the border is open 8am-6pm, so yeah you will probably have to find a place to sleep overnight. Good luck, you're very brave to head up north now in this cold weather!

Hey, i am heading to beijing for the summer but only received a 60-day multiple entry visa. I was thinking about planning such an extravaganza. Where and when did you get your exit and re-entry stamps? 

You can get your exit/re-entry stamps by traveling out of Mainland China, then re-entering Mainland China, for example by traveling to Hong Kong, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, etc

Actually it might also be possible to extend your visa without leaving China (I've never done it before though and am not familiar with the procedure or requirements) - you can find plenty more information on this by Googling for "china visa extension"

Thanks for the informative post.

Can you tell us, please how did you proceed in Mongolia?

Was it a train, or a bus or a car?