Naddam

What: Local­ly known as “eri­in gur­van naadam” or the “the three games of men,” Nad­dam cel­e­brates the nomadic cul­ture and Mon­go­lian inde­pen­dence with the three  ‘man­ly’ sports of wrestling, horserac­ing and archery, along­side tra­di­tion­al dances, tricks, singing and per­for­mances.

Nad­dam begins with an Olympic style open­ing cer­e­mo­ny, with a nation­al flag rais­ing cer­e­mo­ny, and nine white ban­ners being car­ried into the cen­tral sta­di­um in Ulaan­baatar before a speech from the Mon­go­lian pres­i­dent and a cos­tume, mil­i­tary and dance parade begins the games. From here you have the chance to not only wit­ness the crown­ing of the win­ner of the games, but also enjoy fine Mon­go­lian food and drink, wit­ness a tra­di­tion­al Mon­go­lian opera and jazz show, see a horse head­ed fes­ti­val and enjoy a series of open air shows, all of which take place dur­ing Nad­dam.

When: Nad­dam takes place in mid­sum­mer, nor­mal­ly between 10–12th July with a series of open air shows run­ning in Ulaan­baatar from 10–15^th July to coin­cide with the fes­ti­val.

Where:  Ver­sions of Nad­dam take place all over Mon­go­lia, both in local vil­lages and in the cap­i­tal Ulaan­baatar. For the best and safest expe­ri­ence Ulaan­baatar is rec­om­mend­ed with the three man­ly sports tak­ing place in the cen­tral sta­di­um and the open shows and fur­ther Nad­dam events tak­ing place in Sukhbaatar square.

Dura­tion: The fes­ti­val offi­cial­ly lasts for three days with the open­ing cer­e­mo­ny begin­ning on the 10^th July at 11am.

Tick­ets:  Tick­ets are required for the Ulaan­baatar fes­ti­val and atten­dance at cen­tral sta­di­um, unfor­tu­nate­ly there’s no option to pur­chase online and the exact time they go on sale can vary – as such it’s best to book with a trav­el agency in Mon­go­lia to guar­an­tee tick­ets.

Need to Know: It’s best to get your Mon­go­lian visa well in advance (dou­bly so if com­bin­ing Nad­dam with a trip on the trans Siber­ian express) and book hotels and tours well in advance to guar­an­tee a tick­ets. On top of this if attend­ing cen­tral sta­di­um a pre-pur­chased pho­to pass is required from the fes­ti­val organ­is­er – and giv­en the dis­tance it’s rec­om­mend­ed to bring some hea­cy duty pho­to equip­ment includ­ing a zoom lens to guar­an­tee the best shots.

More infor­ma­tion: The offi­cial Nad­dam fes­ti­val site con­tain­ing an time­line of Nad­dam cel­e­bra­tion is at (http://naadamfestival.com/).