Naadam Festival
Naadam Festival takes place Jul 11 - 13, 2027 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The dress code is Casual and weather-ready for sun, wind and rain in the same afternoon; locals often wear traditional deel robes. Modest, comfortable clothing and closed shoes for long days on open ground. Typical cost ranges from 300 to 1500 EUR per person.
Mongolia's national festival of the three manly games, held on fixed public holiday dates every July. The equestrian element is unlike anything in European racing: cross-country races of 15 to 30 kilometres across open steppe, ridden bareback by children, with hundreds of horses in a single field. Wrestling in the national stadium and archery run alongside, and the whole country effectively stops for it.
- When
- Jul 11 - 13, 2027
- Where
- Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
- Dress code
- Casual and weather-ready for sun, wind and rain in the same afternoon; locals often wear traditional deel robes. Modest, comfortable clothing and closed shoes for long days on open ground.
- Cost
- Typical cost ranges from 300 to 1500 EUR per person.
- Weather
- 15 - 25C, warm but changeable with sunny spells and sudden showers; colder and fully exposed out on the racing plains
- When to book
- Naadam falls on fixed national holiday dates, so book flights and Ulaanbaatar hotels 6+ months out; stadium tickets go through operators well in advance.
- Getting there
- UBN (Ulaanbaatar Chinggis Khaan), 1 hr to city; racing ground 28 km west
- Where to stay
- Shangri-La Ulaanbaatar, Blue Sky Hotel & Tower, Ramada Ulaanbaatar Citycenter
- Official site
- https://mongolia.travel/
How to attend
The horse racing at Khui Doloon Khudag, about 28 km west of Ulaanbaatar, is free to attend, as is the archery field - the finish line is the spot worth aiming for. Tickets are required for the stadium opening ceremony and wrestling and are limited, so arrange them through a Mongolian tour operator or your accommodation months ahead. Transport out to the racing plains needs to be arranged privately. Many visitors combine Naadam with a ger camp trip, which also solves the transport problem.
The horse racing out on the plains at Khui Doloon Khudag is free and needs no ticket; the separate stadium opening ceremony does need one, but those are limited and are only released through Mongolian tour operators rather than sold to the public online.
Insider tip
Skip the scrum for the stadium opening ceremony and drive out to Khui Doloon Khudag instead - the child jockeys appear over the horizon in a wall of dust and you can stand right at the finish rope, for nothing.
Get inside Naadam Festival
Booking matters here: naadam falls on fixed national holiday dates, so book flights and Ulaanbaatar hotels 6+ months out; stadium tickets go through operators well in advance. Members track that window, what it really costs, and 573 more events across the season.
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