Mongolia’s defining summer celebration combined with the Gobi, the central steppe and the historical landscape of Kharakhorum.
For a few summer days, Mongolia gathers around the skills that once decided survival: riding, wrestling and archery.
The itinerary that follows is the structure. The expedition itself will be shaped by weather, people, wildlife, road conditions and the opportunities that appear along the way.
Mongolia’s defining summer celebration combined with the Gobi, the central steppe and the historical landscape of Kharakhorum.
Naadam is most meaningful when understood as part of Mongolia’s wider horse culture, history and summer movement.
Hotels, lodges and ger camps
First-time visitors wanting Mongolia’s major summer experiences
Welcome and an introduction to Naadam.
Explore Gandan Monastery, the national museum and Sükhbaatar Square.
Attend the official opening and stadium events.
Travel to the racing grounds and observe family camps, trainers and young jockeys.
Fly south and explore a mountain canyon.
Meet camel herders and experience the dunes in late-afternoon light.
Explore the fossil landscape and the history of scientific expeditions.
Fly north and enjoy a relaxed afternoon.
Drive west and search for takhi.
Visit the former imperial capital and museum.
Explore the monastery and continue into the cultural landscape.
Ride, cook and spend time with a herding family.
Farewell dinner and private cultural performance.
Private airport transfer.
Where you sleep is chosen for the route. Some nights are the best room for hundreds of kilometres; some are a tent beneath a sky with nothing else under it, which is its own kind of luxury.
Where this journey stays somewhere we book by name, here it is. The nights not listed here are ger camps, herder households or our own tents, described below.
Ulaanbaatar
The city's largest hotel, a short walk from Sükhbaatar Square.
Ulaanbaatar
One hundred metres from Sükhbaatar Square — the closest good hotel to the centre.
Kharkhorin, Orkhon Valley
On the Orkhon river beside Erdene Zuu, inside the Orkhon Valley landscape.
South Gobi
Sixty-two kilometres out of Dalanzadgad, the Gurvansaikhan range on the skyline.
Permanent seasonal camps with beds, bedding and a wood or dung stove. Facilities vary by region: the better camps have private shower blocks and reliable hot water, remote ones have neither. We will tell you which is which before you book.
Staying in a working household, sharing the family ger or a guest ger beside it. Simple, warm, and the reason most travellers remember a journey. Washing is basic and the space is shared.
Our own mobile camp where no fixed accommodation exists. Proper sleeping mats, a mess tent, a cook and a toilet tent. Carried in and carried out, leaving nothing.
In Ulaanbaatar and provincial centres. City nights are booked at the standard you ask for, and we will tell you what to expect where a provincial hotel is a simpler place.
Every journey is priced for your dates, party size and choice of accommodation, and confirmed in writing in your proposal. This is a private journey, so the vehicle, driver, guide and camp staff are the same whether two of you travel or six, and the per-person price falls as your party grows.
The price also moves with season, domestic airfares and any specialist staff your route calls for. Single travellers and anyone wanting sole occupancy should ask about the supplement.
Confirmed in writing at proposal stage. Anything not listed here is not assumed to be included. Booking terms →
Warm days and cold nights, with the year’s heaviest rain falling as short afternoon storms in July. Pack for a wide daily range rather than for one temperature, and for sun on open steppe.
Hire the bulky, expensive items rather than buying them for one trip; bring your own base layers. Equipment hire → · What the month is like →
A private journey can usually be moved a grade in either direction by adjusting pace and distance. How we grade a journey → · Choosing your month →
Adjust the pace, accommodation, specialist access and regional extensions around your interests.
Plan a private itineraryThe experiences that give the route its character.
A defining moment of the expedition.
A defining moment of the expedition.
A defining moment of the expedition.