The Naadam Festival is Mongolia's biggest national festival, held from 11 to 13 July every year. In 2027 the national Naadam opens in Ulaanbaatar on Sunday 11 July, with wrestling, horse racing and archery. Towns across the country also hold smaller Naadams through the summer.
What is the Naadam Festival?
Naadam is a traditional festival of three sports, known in Mongolian as eriin gurvan naadam, or "the three games of men". UNESCO added it to its list of the world's intangible cultural heritage in 2010 (UNESCO).
The games grew out of the military parades and contests of Mongolia's nomadic past. Wrestling, archery and horse riding all appear in The Secret History of the Mongols from the 13th century. Naadam has been held every year since 1639 (Naadam). Today the national festival is also tied to Mongolia's 1921 revolution.
It is a celebration of Mongolian culture as much as sport. UNESCO lists long song, khöömei throat singing, the bie biyelgee dance and the morin khuur horsehead fiddle among its features. Our guide to Mongolian culture explains where these traditions come from.
When is Naadam 2027?
The Naadam Festival 2027 runs from Sunday 11 July to Tuesday 13 July. The festival is celebrated on the same dates every year across Mongolia. Mongolia's public holiday around the festival lasts several days.
Outside the capital, regional Naadams take place through July and August. Naadam falls in Mongolia's short summer, and our guide to the best time to visit Mongolia covers what the weather is like then.
What are the three manly sports of Naadam?
Mongolian wrestling
Mongolian wrestling is a straight knockout. The national tournament has 512 or 1,024 wrestlers and runs for nine or ten rounds. Bouts have no time limit, and a wrestler loses if any part of the body other than the feet or hands touches the ground.
Only men wrestle. They wear a short open vest called a zodog and tight shorts called a shuudag. Winners earn titles that rise from nachin (kestrel) up to arslan (lion). Each wrestler also has a coach, called a zasuul, who sings his praises between rounds.
Archery
Archery is the one sport where men and women compete side by side. Teams of ten shoot four arrows each at small woven cylinders called surs, stacked into a low wall. Men shoot from 75 metres and women from 65 metres, and the judges call out "uuhai" every time an arrow hits.
Horse racing
The horse races are run across the open steppe, not on a track. Their length depends on the age of the horse, from 16km for two-year-olds up to 27km for seven-year-olds. Up to 1,000 horses can take part.
The jockeys are children aged 5 to 13, as the races test the horses more than the riders. Even the last horse in the two-year-old race has a title. It is called bayan khodood, or "full stomach", and gets a song wishing it better luck next year.
Where can you see Naadam in Mongolia?
The national Naadam in Ulaanbaatar
The biggest event is the national festival in Ulaanbaatar, held in the National Sports Stadium. Genghis Khan's nine horse tail banners are carried there from Sukhbaatar Square. The opening ceremony brings together dancers, athletes, horse riders and musicians, and the competitions follow. Our guide to things to do in Ulaanbaatar covers the rest of the city.
The capital gets very crowded during the festival. The FCDO warns that the risk of theft rises during Naadam and advises extra care in crowded public places (FCDO travel advice).
Local Naadams in the countryside
Provinces and towns hold their own Naadams, with the same three games on a smaller scale. We take our groups to the Naadam in Arvaikheer instead, as the capital can be crowded and touristy. Arvaikheer is a provincial centre on the northern edge of the Gobi Desert.
The day before the games, the group visits the horse trainers' camps where the young jockeys get ready for the races. On Naadam day you watch the opening ceremony. Then come the wrestling, the archery and the horse races for each age group.
Reaching a countryside Naadam takes planning, as only about 10% of roads outside the capital are tarmacked.
Fancy a trip? See where our small group tours go in Mongolia.
What should you expect at Naadam?
Everyone is welcome at Naadam, and UNESCO notes that people are encouraged to take part as well as watch. Many people wear traditional costume, and praise songs and poems are dedicated to the competitors.
Food is part of the festival too. Stalls around the stadium sell khuushuur, which are fried meat pastries, and airag, a fermented mare's milk. You will also see people playing shagai, a game played with sheep's knucklebones.
On our Naadam tour, most nights are spent in traditional gers with shared bathrooms, and four are in hotels. Our Mongolian ger guide explains what a night in one is like.
Which other Mongolian festivals are worth planning around?
The Golden Eagle Festival
The Golden Eagle Festival in Bayan-Ölgii Province, in Mongolia's far west, celebrates the Kazakh tradition of hunting with golden eagles. Prizes go to the best eagle at catching prey, the eagle that answers its handler best and the best traditional dress. There are also horse races, archery and a horseback tug of war played with a goatskin (Golden Eagle Festival).
Smaller eagle festivals run in the Altai Mountains in September, such as the one at Sagsai with around 40 hunters. Our Mongolia Eagle Festival tour goes to the Altai festival near Tolbo Lake, and includes an afternoon at the home of an eagle master.
Tsagaan Sar
Tsagaan Sar is the Mongolian Lunar New Year. It falls between the end of January and early March, depending on the lunar calendar. It is a very different trip, as the FCDO notes that winter nights in Mongolia can fall to minus 40°C.
Conclusion
The Naadam Festival 2027 runs from 11 to 13 July, with the national games in Ulaanbaatar and smaller Naadams in towns across the country. The capital has the biggest show, while a provincial Naadam lets you watch the wrestling, archery and horse racing among local people. Undiscovered Destinations runs its Mongolia Naadam tour as a guaranteed departure for up to 12 travellers, with the festival in Arvaikheer.
The 2027 departure leaves on 30 June and spends 14 days in Mongolia, including the Gobi Desert and the wild horses of Hustai National Park.
Fancy a trip? Send for the full dossier on our Mongolia Naadam Festival tour, or see the Eagle Festival departure if September suits you better.
