11 to 13 Jul 2027
Two sights are worth the trip: the banner procession from Sukhbaatar Square to the stadium on the eleventh, and a morning at the horse races out west, where there are no stands and nothing to pay at the finish line.
11 to 13 Jul 2027. Times are approximate and can change from year to year.
The banner procession leaves Sukhbaatar Square for the stadium. Follow it on foot.
Music, dance and riders in the stadium, then the first rounds of wrestling. Seated, ticketed.
In the fields beside the stadium, free to watch.
The last wrestling and the closing events. The order is fixed only when the programme is published.
Wrestling is the heart of it. On the first day the grass is crowded with pairs grappling at once, and the field thins round by round until one bout is left.
The races are the part to leave the city for. There is no track and no grandstand, only grassland, a finish line and a temporary town of gers, horse trainers and frying pans around it. Get there early and you see the dust of the field before you see the horses.
The opening ceremony brings singers, dancers, horse acrobatics and mounted archers into the stadium, and the wrestling starts after it. Hundreds of wrestlers enter one knockout draw with no clock, and a bout is lost the moment anything but a foot or a hand touches the ground. Archery and ankle-bone shooting run in the fields beside the stadium. At the race ground a camp of gers and food tents grows around the finish, and the jockeys are children, some as young as five. Eat khuushuur, the fried meat pastry, and try airag, fermented mare's milk, if it is offered. Bring a hat, sunscreen and water to both sites, and allow several hours for the drive back from the races.
The first day falls on National Day, which marks the 1921 revolution, and UNESCO added the festival to its intangible heritage list in 2010.
Stay central, within walking distance of Sukhbaatar Square and the stadium, and book months ahead: the city fills for Naadam week and the good rooms go first. There is no need to sleep at the race ground; a driver takes you out and back in a day.
Where to base yourself, and what else is on
The Ulaanbaatar guide has the rest of the city.
Sixteen days of beer tents and brass bands on a Munich meadow. Get there on a weekday morning and a bench is yours without a booking.
Lima's purple month: a float carried through the old centre from dawn into the night on five days in October.