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I will be booking a trip to Mongolia for next summer. It's sort of a guided tour taking in the country as much as can be done in 2 weeks. I travel alone. Male. 70. Healthy.
The now ex-husband of a friend went a few years ago on a fishing trip. Came back to the US with the guide, divorced his wife and married the guide.
Are you going fishing?
No, I'm not a fisherman. I'm going to tour the country, partly on horseback, partly by vehicle. I understand they don't really have roads as we know them, outside of Ulaanbaatar.
Some sources - the ones promoting tourism - say the country is safe and friendly. I think I'll go and find out.
I met a guy last month who had just come from there, who had to leave early. You get a 30-day entry permit, and have to register with the police within 7-days. You can only extend to 90-days if you register, and he forgot, so had to leave after 30 days, and go and get a new visa.
If Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are anything to go by, I wouldn't expect Mongolia to be much different from any other country, in terms of traveling about on the ground. There are people there, they live in cities and towns, and they have hotels and restaurants and transport, as well as local outfitters who will take you anywhere you want to go. As soon as you think you are off the beaten track, the first person you meet will be a German backpacker.
By all means, OP, "go and find out". That's how I found out about Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Now is the time to do it, air fares are so cheap, you can fly to Mongolia from some US gateways for around a thousand dollars RT.
I've been twice, once arriving by plane and once on a trans-Siberian railroad trek. Unfortunately, both trips were so long ago and Mongolia has changed so much that my counsel would be of little value.
My trips were before there was a well-developed tourist infrastructure. Before guided tours and Western hotels/restaurants (Ramada, Best Western. Kempinski, Loving Hut, KFC, Bojangles).
I know that the Ulaanbaatar Hotel is still in business, once a hangout during the Soviet days. But, unless that's your "thing", you'd probably be better off in one of the proliferating guest houses.
Even way back when fishing was a popular guided option; I didn't see any visitors doing it self-guided, other than backpackers. Accommodations in the field are usually yurts/ger, surprisingly comfortable, even in the high plains' extreme weather.
Most of my post-visit information on Mongolia came from newsletters/site updates from what I believe was the Official Tourism site for the country. I haven't gotten anything recently. And the site seems to be non-functional at least at this moment: http://www.mongoliatourism.gov.mn/
Mongolia is under consideration when I get my passport.
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No, I'm not a fisherman. I'm going to tour the country, partly on horseback, partly by vehicle. I understand they don't really have roads as we know them, outside of Ulaanbaatar.
