All events & mapCulture & faithNaadam
Holidays & festivals · Event guide
Mongolia's national Naadam is fixed at 11–13 July by the law on the national festival, built around wrestling, horse racing and archery. The date is statutory rather than announced: the law allows the State Naadam to be held in the capital or another designated place, and no 2027 designation, programme or ticket information was published.
01 · Event details
Timing: 11–13 July (statutory) · 2027 host designation not published
Venue or host area: Ulaanbaatar is the legal default — the National Sports Stadium for wrestling and archery, with horse racing on the open steppe at Khui Doloon Khudag outside the city. Both were listed for 2026; the 2027 designation, ceremony line-up and venue arrangements are not published.
Access: Stadium sessions are ticketed, typically with separate prices for the opening ceremony, wrestling and archery, while horse racing is watched from open steppe. No 2027 ticket portal, price or inventory was verified, and no single festival-wide pass was confirmed.
02 · Plan the visit
Plan for Ulaanbaatar but keep the itinerary flexible enough to absorb a change of designated host. Confirm the opening ceremony, wrestling session times and the horse-racing location with the Mongolian National Tourism Organization or the city before booking, because the racing is held well outside the city and is not practical without arranged transport. Provincial naadams run on their own dates through the summer and are usually far easier to attend.
03 · Location
Mongolia's capital fills a valley on the Tuul river, with the stadium and the square at its centre and open steppe starting at the city edge.
The airports serving Ulaanbaatar and its region:
Connections, terminals and transfer arrangements change — confirm them with the airline and the organiser rather than planning around a fixed transfer time.
Ulaanbaatar is the legal default — the National Sports Stadium for wrestling and archery, with horse racing on the open steppe at Khui Doloon Khudag outside the city. Both were listed for 2026; the 2027 designation, ceremony line-up and venue arrangements are not published.
The catalogue marker shows Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia at city or region level only — it is not an entrance, a gate, a course or a transfer route. For the event’s position among its category peers, open the Culture & faith overview and map.
04 · Overview
Mongolia's national festival, held 11–13 July, built around three competitions: Mongolian wrestling, horse racing across the steppe, and archery. The opening ceremony fills the National Sports Stadium in Ulaanbaatar, but the horse races run at Khui Doloon Khudag, an open grassland outside the city, over distances of 15 to 30 km ridden by child jockeys.
Naadam is where Mongolian identity is performed: the wrestling tournament is a knockout of hundreds of wrestlers in traditional boots and jackets, the horse races are long-distance events judged on the horses rather than the riders, and the archery competition is open to both men and women. It is also the model for smaller naadam held in every province, which gives the festival a national rather than a single-city character.
The three games go back to Mongol military and religious festivals, with wrestling and archery recorded in the imperial period and horse racing added as the third discipline. The modern national holiday dates from the 1920s, the statute fixing 11–13 July is recent, and the festival has been inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list as part of Mongolia's traditional practices.
| Dates | 11–13 July, fixed by statute |
|---|---|
| Three games | Wrestling, horse racing, archery |
| Main venue | National Sports Stadium, Ulaanbaatar |
| Horse racing | Khui Doloon Khudag, 15–30 km |
| Access | Public holiday; free to watch |
05 · Research & credits
Evidence and event information reviewed 2026-10-31. Published edition facts are separated from typical timing and historical context.
No affiliate links. This guide is for travel planning, not a guarantee of entry or event conditions.
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