All activities / Witness / Attend / Ulaanbaatar
Witness / Attend in Ulaanbaatar
Naadam Festival
Mongolia's capital at 1,350m, a sprawling and fast-changing city on the Tuul River that fills each July for the National Naadam and serves as the staging point for nearly every journey into the steppe, Gobi and Altai.
Scheduled and sanctioned by Government of Mongolia.
Dates & details verified against: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage ↗
Why here
Naadam is Mongolia's national festival, and for three days each July the whole country turns to the three games its herders have always prized: wrestling, horse racing and archery. The main National Naadam fills Ulaanbaatar's National Sports Stadium with the opening ceremony and the wrestling tournament, while the horse races run cross-country outside the city, children riding half-wild horses over distances that would daunt an adult jockey. Archers in traditional dress shoot at woven-leather targets, and the streets fill with airag, khuushuur and crowds in the deel. UNESCO inscribed Naadam on its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010. The stadium spectacle is the headline, but the countryside naadams held in provincial centres the same week are smaller, closer and often more moving.
Best months
Naadam is a national holiday held every year on 11-13 July, opening in Ulaanbaatar on the 11th. The stadium events sell out, so seats and accommodation must be booked months ahead; July is warm and dry but afternoons can bring sudden steppe rain. Combine the capital's opening ceremony with a countryside naadam to see the horse racing in its natural setting.
Getting there & around
Ulaanbaatar has an international airport and is the hub for all domestic connections. Naadam falls on fixed dates, so flights and beds are scarce and expensive across 10-13 July; book months out. A guided trip handles stadium tickets, the drive to the horse-racing ground outside the city, and the pairing with a countryside naadam.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (2)
Eternal Landscapes Mongolia
GuideA small-group operator co-founded in 2010 by Jessica Brooks and her Mongolian partner Turuu, running immersive trips built around homestays and local guides. The company works with all-female trip assistants and was named Gender Equality Champion of the Year in the travel category at ITB Berlin. Its Naadam departures pair the Ulaanbaatar stadium opening with a countryside naadam in a herder community, away from the main crowds.
Sunpath Mongolia
GuideA Mongolian-owned family operator based on United Nations Street in Ulaanbaatar, running guided trips across the country for more than fifteen years and reporting over 80,000 clients from 150-plus countries. The team handles the Naadam logistics that trip up independent visitors, from stadium seats for the wrestling and opening ceremony to a countryside naadam where the horse racing runs across open steppe rather than a track.