Switzerland to mongolia 2011 trip planning help needed
 

Hello everyone. I'm planning a 6 month trip alone in 2011 with my 91 BMW R80GS Paris Dakar. I will leave Switzerland in march-april and come back in september-october.

My Idea is to go from Switzerland to Mongolia (yes I watched long way round and loved it) and if I have enough time, come back with another route or juste go on as far as I can and then come back by flight (maybe sell my bike or let it ship back).

I would love to have some suggestions from people that did similar travels. I don't know this part of the world. I traveled a lot in southeast asia and south america but I have no experience of eastern europe.

I have found those alternatives, don't know what is the best. I must say I would love to ride as less as possible on tarmac! ;-) and I hate highway.

here are my alternatives:
1)Leaving Switzerland crossing Austria, slovenia, croatia, romania, ukraine, russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
2) instead of going through Romania and Ukraine, going through bulgaria and Turkey ad then Russia.
3) Instead of crossing Kasakhstan, going through russia up to mongolia.

Some more questions:
-How is Kazakhstan?
-can I get a multiple entry visa for Russia at the border or do I have to apply before?
- How long do you think I would need to arrive in Mongolia? I'm not really aware of how far can i go in 6 month. I plan a 200-300km a day maximum.
-if I have enough time, I could send my bike to finland from Russia or Mongolia, and then drive down until I got back to switzerland....

Anyway, you see it's not clear not, I'm quite interested in your opinion and experiences. Like what are the country that I shoulnd't miss on the road or the country to avoid. My goal is not to trough the most possible countries, but to have fun, meet nice people and see beautiful landscapes.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Another point about the "Carnet de Passage". According to what I read on the HU webpage, I won't need one. According to the swiss automobile club, a carnet is recommended but not mandatory for Kazakhstan.

What is the benefite of having a carnet de passage? I was surprised that I don't need one for Russia.

http://www.tcs.ch/etc/medialib/trave..._carte_new.pdf

Hi Zimi; lots of questions!

Let me say first that there's at least two of us heading out from the UK in early June so we'll be following in your tyre-tracks! Our plans here.

Let's see if I can answer a few things for you. Some thoughts:

- You can't go directly from Kazakhstan to Mongolia, you have to go via Russia
- The Turkey route will involve the Trabazon-Sochi ferry unless you want to go via the 'Stans which you'll need to factor in
- There's several good threads on the situation in Kazakhstan in the North Asia forum
- If you want to do both Kazakhstan and Mongolia and not go or return via the 'Stans then you'll need to enter Russia three times requiring a multiple entry "business" visa which means, if Swiss is the same as UK nationality, that you'll need to apply in advance of your trip. Again, there's some good information on the site if you want to search it out
- Time depends on where you want to enter Mongolia; from Barnaul towards Tsaannaaguur or from Ulan Ude towards Ulaanbaatar and of course, on your route to get there. We're heading out through Russia and baring accident or breakdown, reckoning on it taking five weeks of leisurely progress to get from Neidersolbach in Germany to Western Mongolia. We're then coming back via Kazakhstan.

Anyone who's already been, please correct me if anything above is inaccurate.

Good luck with you preparations and keep in touch so we can help each other out.

Russian Visas must be obtained in advance - preferably in your 'home' country or elsewhere if you have some residence qualification. ie. more than just passing through.

If time is your enemy, it is possible to ride to the Mongolia border in a MINIMUM of about 8-9 days from CH. I regularly ride from GB / Moscow in 2-3 days - via D, PL, LT & LV avoiding BY to save obtaining a visa and providing a more scenic ride, although slightly longer.
From Moscow it took me another 5 long days riding last year to reach the Altai mountain region, south of Barnaul, just north of Mongolia's north west corner (Altai was remarkably like the Alps of CH but without the numbers of people and the infrastructure and effects of people living in a modern state).

Hi Paul, thanks for your reply, I'll have a look at your itinery. Maybe we will see us on the road? Who Knows?

Cheers

That would be cool.

Hi Tony, thanks for the information, I'm not in a rush. By the way, I had a loook at your webpage, I think I will have to spend a couple of hours on it, you have plenty on information for me there, cool!

...GPS points
 

hi Zimi
just a short note...the russian business visa is no longer a complicated process..all nice and easy these days.
Kazahstan was great to ride through - even though we only did a small portion of it.
Mongolia however has been one of the highlights of our trip so far...and this is after 7 years on the road! so you can see how spectacular it was for us.
if you want to read a little more visit our website -diary section - and then select the country you wish to read about. the mongolian diary starts here:
2ridetheworld.com : diary

you can also download from the front page of our website (right at the bottom) our entire GPS track log which includes all of our refs for Mongolia. dont go to Mongolia without a GPS unit AND a good map - one that also shows the place names in Mongolian is very helpful when pointing to things on the map for help from the locals!

if you want to you can always send me an email...lisathomas@2ridetheworld.com

Hi Lisa,

thank you for you post. It's good to know that the russia business visa is not so complicated to obtain! But you can't do it at the border do you? You still need to buy some kind of invitation paper that allows you to apply for the visa. I heard from somebody that the might change something about the visa for european country next years, to facilitate the process, but I don't have more info.

Thanks for you link, I surely will spend a lot of time on your webpage, and the thing with the gps points ist really helpfull. I haven't bought my GPS yet, I thinking about a Garmin Oregon or Dakota because they are waterproof and use standards AA batteries, but I'm not familiar to thoses devices. I use a standart car GPS now (Tom Tom go 720).

thanks for your email, I might ask you some infos

Cheers

Mongolia
 

Hi Zimi. My name is Michael. I am from Russia.I apologize for my English writing with Google translator.

I'll go to the wells on the route:

-Russia (St. Petersburg) (3-5 days)
-Kazakhstan (3-5 days)
-Uzbekistan (7-14 days)
-Kazakhstan (1 day)
-Kyrgyzstan (Issyk-Kul lake) (7-14 days)
-Kazakhstan (Balkhash lake) (2-3 days)
-Russia (Gorny Altai) (20 days) Rafting+trekking
-Mongolia (Tsagaan Nuur, Ulan Bator) (20-30 days)
-Russia (Lake Baikal) (3-5 days).
-Russia (Vladivostok) - (3-5 days)

In Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, I have relatives. three of my uncle. my mother's brothers in different cities
I lived there as a child.

I'm looking for travel companions for at least part of the route. I will be glad to help you than I can. I would be glad to meet you somewhere on the route.

Hi Mihai, I would be glad to meet you, but when do you plan to do your trip?

..russian visa
 

Zimi..glad to be of help.
re the russian visa and invitation etc....go and have a look at stantours.com
David from stantours 'sorted' our russian visa for us with a small fee - which was well worth it. he is a good guy and fast.
cheers

Hi Zimi,

We are going the exact same route at exactly the same time (London to Hong Kong leaving mid-May from London) so we could potentially meet up and travel together.

Do you have any definitive route or dates to be anywhere?

Cheers,
Tricky

Hi Zimi, here my travel information.
I haev been in Mongolia last June from Italy

[url=http://www.advrider.it/archives/2302]

Hi Archengel007,

no I still need to work on my itinerary, it will take me at least one month more, I don't have much time now. I will leave in april and come back home in september. Then, my plans are quite flexible, but I have to be at the best period in Mongolia, so this will dictate when do I need to arrive and leave mongolia.

We keep in touch, it would be nice to meed you, and maybe do a portion of the route together.

Dou you already have an itinerary?

Thanks Smontic, your wepage is great, I will have a look at it!