International Intellectual Museum, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

5Andrew M 5:00 PM Sep 10, 2016

excellent family musem
My son and were staying ten minutes walk from this museum, and thought that it would be interesting to visit. We were not disappointed, as after an hour visit we both thought that it was an excellent museum. It is quite a far walk from the center of town (30 minutes), and it may be easier to take a taxi or bus. The nearest bus stop is the 13th bus stop, and nearest major landmark, the Kempinski Hotel. If walking or taking the bus, turn right off Peace Avenue onto Nam Yan Ju Street. Take the first right, and walk for a few minutes. The museum is a four story peach and brown building on your right. The museum is open Monday to Saturday 10am - 6pm. Admission is T6,0000 and an additional T5,000 to take photos. It should be noted that photos may only be taken on the top floor, so you may end up with less than ten photos. The tour is an hour in length with an English speaking guide included, so is well worth the admission fee. There are free lockers to your right on entry to store bags and other personal items which will not be allowed in the museum. Cloth covers will be provided as covers for your footwear. A small gift shop is on the left near to the entrance. The first floor includes magic tricks and puzzles. All exhibits are interactive, and the guide will test your IQ by asking you to solve puzzles. The 2nd floor contains mostly puzzle exhibits.The 3rd floor contains chess displays. The 4th floor was our favourite, and included chess displays, gers, dolls and a huge wooden throne on which you can take a photo. There are dolls from over a hundred countries on display here. It was fun looking for the doll from our country, and luckily we travel with small souvenirs from our home country on our travels, and were able to donate a pencil doll to the museum's collection. We hope to check to see if it is on display, on our next visit. I would advise that you bring a doll or wooden puzzle from your country, and see if it will become a permanent exhibit in the museum. There is no elevator, and the walk up the stairs to the fourth floor can be a little tiring as the tour is only one hour, but the displays are worth the effort. At the end of the tour, we were able to purchase some of the magic tricks and other souvenirs in the gift shop. Note that the staff will only show the magic tricks after payment has been received for the souvenir.I would recommend this museum for families with children between six - sixteen, but persons of all ages will enjoy the exhibits.

5CatM211 5:00 PM Jul 30, 2015

A suprisingly interesting and fun museum
The museum is a little pricey and outside the city center. I never would have gone if not for a LP review calling it a top pick. It was completely worth it! You get a very thorough and detailed guided tour through this eccentric and ingenious Mongolian economist's puzzle collection. The items are from all over the world ranging from cheap magic tricks to American games to traditional and intricate puzzles and toys. The most impressive pieces are upstairs where the puzzle maker has put together some beautiful and impressive Mongolian'inspired puzzles - including some large gers made out of interconnecting puzzle pieces. My friend and I thought this was fascinating and a lot of fun. Many of the puzzles are out for display and our kind tour guide encouraged us to try them out and woudn't give us the answers without letting us make an attempt first.