The world of the Mongols may have shrunk a bit since Genghis Khan and his hordes overran most of Asia, but when you're in Mongolia nowadays, you may think its vistas are boundless. From steppe to desert, the empty landscape seems to stretch into infinity. It's the most sparsely populated country in the world.
Far from being bleak and grim, however, Mongolia's scenic emptiness can be quite a tonic for those looking to get away from it all. It has pristine lakes, rugged mountains, hospitable people—and lots of wide-open spaces for trekking.
All but the most resourceful travelers will want to take a tour. Mongolia's rudimentary transport system is designed to move locals between their workplaces and the capital, and getting anywhere worthwhile can be a real effort. Shortages of fuel are common—one of the hard bumps Mongolia has experienced since the collapse of communism in the early 1990s. It makes travel particularly arduous in the winter.
The government is trying to open up the country to tourism, mainly by cutting a lot of red tape. And fortunately, a number of independent tour companies have been springing up in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, so that you no longer have to deal exclusively with the cumbersome bureaucracy of Juulchin, the national travel agency. There are some excellent tour companies based in the U.S. and elsewhere that work with those local companies to design itineraries to give you the real flavor of the country. (Because Mongolia is still a country of nomads, visitors should be wary of trying to design itineraries based around cities, as Mongolian "cities" have usually sprung up around a 20th-century mine or factory, with no attractions for the visitor at all.)
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