What is a major highway in one part of the world maybe classified as a track in another part of the world. Depends on the local conditions, local infrastructure.

How do you judge what a major highway is, if not by the quality of the road? By its usefulness to the local community. And that is how OSM in part classifies roads, not just by the quality of the road. There is also a 'social pressure' to fill in blank parts of the map with something .. so some tend to increase the road classification upwards.

OSM data forms the basis of maps.me ... and is used by many other apps. I would not change the road classifications without local knowledge. OSM data can include things like the surface and smoothness of the roads, some apps do show this.

Well, I´ve been riding from Olgii to UB, and we decided in Olgii which way to go, as it was unpredictable weeks in advance. It depends on how much it rained.
There was not much rain but we decided to keep on deciding a day or two in advance. We took a mix of middle and northern route. a motorcycle journalist from Germany took the northern route and drowned his bike...he believed a local saying its just knee deep :thumbdown:
And it wasn´t even raining before and he hab a light Suzuki.
I would never ride such a bike on such a trip...
But anyway, on a 1200 GS I would play it safe and stay on Tarmac if possible.

Afternoon all

Been skunking around on the net and found this, supposed paved roads!!

Anyone confirm or deny the real oil?

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/em...6&output=embed

It shows a god way where it might be asphalt or prepared to get asphalt on.

But some parts of it which do have aspahlt are not shown and some parts where there is definitely no asphalt (but construction ) are marked as ready.

Center route is much more asphalt, and southern rout ( specially east part ) much more construction

Yes. So at least from Telmen area (don't remember exactly) via Khorgo (vulcano) and to Kharkhorin (monastary) is tarmac. And of course from Kharkhorin to Ulaanbataar.

Are you going into southern Gobi?
The road on the map shown from Ulaanbataar to Bayandalai is correct and pretty good tarmac. The rest of Gobi has no tarmac, so also not to the most important tourist sites in Gobi.

Shortly after Telmen ( maybe 30km ) to Uliastay it is gravel.

And some shorter stretches with construction.

Around Tosontsengel there was also some parts with no asphalt

Thanks for the replies guys.

My intended route (which is not set in concrete) is to enter via Altanbulag, go to Ulaanbaatar, head up and along to Khuvsgul Lake and Hatgal, down and over to Olgiy then across to Tsagaannuur and exit via Alaanbaishint check point to Russia.

This is a loose plan, I am more than happy doing gravel and offroad but admit to not being a fan of huge soft sandpits, I am solo so would prefer to stay away from deep river crossings for obvious reasons and at the opposite end I don't want to be a tarseal cowboy.

My scoot is a WR250R.

I am all ears and listening to anyone that suggests nice/scenic/good routes to go as I am there to see the place not just race through.

And on a further note I will be there in August if any other riders are sifting around and would like to hook up.

Cheers Andi

See this? Accuracy is unconfirmed;

https://tomongolia.blogspot.com/2008...twork.html?m=1

Thanks monnomania

Did some street view stuff and yeap there appears to be a lot of new pavement.

Guess I will find out the real oil when I get there and report back here.

I'm in Almaty heading to Mongolia but I'm still clueless about my route.

I know that I'm entering from Russia into Ulgii and exiting about 12 days later on Altanbulag.

I was talking to a Korean rider two days ago that just crossed Mongolia in the opposite direction and he said that the north road was mostly paved and to enjoy a bit of dirt he had to take detours and come back to it.

He told me also that he rode to Dalanzadgad to see the Gobi desert and it was all paved to there but after it the sand was so deep that he had to trackback to Ulanbataar.

I guess I'm in the same boat that everybody else, I don't want to be all the time in the pavement but also don't want to drown my bike or get stuck on a sand pit. I'm riding alone on a 790 Adventure. I'd say my skill level is intermediate the Pamir highway (as an example) for me was exhausting some times but not particularly difficult except for two river crossing.

I know it would be a big ask to get my route planned but I'd love to get some advise an orientation about roads to explore. I've been reading many threads about but it seems that roads are being constructed all the time and is hard to get a full picture of the situation.

Many thanks in advance.

Martin

From Ulaanbataar there is pretty good tarmac up to Bayandali (in Gobi). You can probably drive that stretch in one day, although I'm not a biker.
However, there are a few sites. Mainly the flaming cliffs (and near to it, the petroglyphs), the ice gorge, and the high (singing?) sand dunes. To get there, you will have many corrugated roads which will take more effort. And lots of tracks to choose from, so have some maps ready. Or follow a tourist van, as it is a circle where guided tours go. There speed is pretty high, could be nice speed for a biker.
It is only very near the high sand dunes where it obviously gets sandy, but only when you are driving between them :P
If you take these highlights into account, you will not see much sandy roads.
Obviously, the Gobi has more to offer with lots and lots of sand tracks, but since you have only 12 days for the entire country, and don't like the sandy bits, it is not relevant.

It becomes a bit hard for me to tell which roads are now tarmac, because there was a lot of construction work. I do believe differences are getting smaller.
What we did was the Southern route and then from the city Altai (not the region), go up (off the tarmac again) and rejoin the tarmac again around Telmen area, to continue on the middle route.
We also visited Zavkhan area, which is all offroad. Very recommendable, but involves sandy bits and I'm not sure if you have time for it.

It depends what he means with "northern route"

I think he means the route from UB - Kharkhorin - Tosontsengel - Telmen - Songino - Ulangom

There is a lot paved, but it is not northern route.

Northern route is:
UB - Darkhan . Moron ( all paved ) later i dont know how much is paved but for sure not a lot .
2 years ago there was just a bit of construction and I can not imagine they finished all.
so then to Tes and Ulangom I am pretty sure this is not paved ( because it is paved from the middle route ) and from Ulangom to Tashanta you can get lot of fun drowning the bike.

It is possible to do this route in the far west, but you need to have a local guide with you ho knows the situation, this can change in 1 hour depending on melting water from snowy mountains and rain which fills the rivers ( and you dont need to see the rain )

And depending on the route you take you can do it the easy way or get stuck.

And I personally met and know people who got stuck there or drowned theyr bike.

Thank you guys for the answers, they are very helpful.

Besides the roads conditions which one is the most scenic route from a touristic point of view the north or the south?

Thanks again!

In my opinion the mix from Southern and middle route

Olgii - Khovd - Altai - Uliastay - Tosontsengel - Kharkhorin - UB

Between Khovd and Altai the stone Gobi starts, that is impressing for a while but if you want that all the way to UB?

And I did the northern rout after the middle route and was a bit embaraced that it was not as nice as the middle part.
More flat, less mountains

Today I rode from Khovd to Altai. One straight line of emptiness. Now I'm debating about keeping somehow south to Dalanzadgad or follow your route.
I want to see the desert and the dunes but today was quite boring honestly.