Things to Do in State Department Store

Cashmere shopping on the third floor

The third floor is where the State Department Store earns its reputation. Cashmere territory. Gobi, Goyo, and Evseg counters line up under bright lights, with racks of sweaters in colors ranging from natural camel through deep burgundy. You'll feel the difference between two-ply and four-ply immediately. The heavier weights have a dense, almost buttery quality. Prices tend to run lower than the brand boutiques elsewhere in Ulaanbaatar, though not dramatically so.

Basement supermarket browsing

Take the escalator down at the back of the ground floor. You'll find what might be Ulaanbaatar's most interesting grocery store there. It's a strange and useful mix of Mongolian dairy products, Russian chocolates, Korean instant noodles, and surprisingly good European wines. The dried curd snacks called aaruul fill an entire aisle. Hard as ceramic. They're tangy enough to make your jaw ache pleasantly.

Sixth-floor food court lunch

The top-floor food court packs in office workers from the surrounding ministries between noon and one o'clock. The buuz (steamed mutton dumplings) here are reliably good. Fat-rendered. Served with a small bowl of broth, and cheap enough that you can order a second plate without thinking. The Korean counter does a solid bibimbap. There's a Mongolian milk tea station where the suutei tsai comes salty the way it should.

Traditional Mongolian souvenir hunt on the fourth floor

Take the elevator up. The fourth floor is the quiet corner most travelers miss. You'll find felt slippers stitched with looping patterns, horsehair fiddles in glass cases, leather belts with brass fittings that smell faintly of saddle soap, and small painted snuff bottles that locals still use today. Talk to one of the saleswomen. She might demonstrate how to hold a snuff bottle correctly, a small lesson in Mongolian etiquette.

Sukhbaatar Square stroll from the front entrance

Step out of the State Department Store's main doors and you're a five-minute walk from Sukhbaatar Square, the city's ceremonial heart, where the bronze Chinggis Khan statue presides over a vast paved expanse. The contrast is the point. The worn pragmatism of the department store gives way to the imperial scale of the square. The wind off the steppe cuts through both spaces in winter and softens to a warm dryness in summer.

Central Sukhbaatar District. A few minutes' walk from the State Department Store, where most of the international hotels and the embassy quarter sit.

Peace Avenue corridor. Convenient mid-range hotels strung along the main avenue with easy access to shopping, restaurants, and the train station.

Seoul Street area. South of the main square, a quieter pocket with good restaurants and smaller boutique hotels favored by business travelers.

Chinggis Square south side. Slightly more residential, with serviced apartments that work well for stays of three nights or more.

Bayangol District around the Bayangol Hotel. Older Soviet-era hotels that have been renovated to varying degrees, generally cheaper and within walking distance of Peace Avenue.

Zaisan Hill area. A longer ride out toward the south, leafier and quieter with newer apartment-style accommodations, better suited to travelers who don't mind a 15-minute taxi to get to the center.