1 independent reviews for Naadam Festival holiday in Mongolia
Reviews for Naadam Festival holiday in Mongolia
Alison McCloskey review 29 Jul 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The festival. A real spectacle!2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Be prepared for some long road trips. There were plenty of interesting stops though. An eSim or Sim card is useful. Mobicom had fairly good coverage, but be prepared to be off grid too. Food was good and lots of opportunities to buy snacks etc. Electricity supply was mostly fine, even in the Ger camp, though a backup power pack is worthwhile for when one is on the road. Endless photo opps can drain your phone.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Somewhat. Just staying in some gers can offer employment and income. Water was provided via large water bottles rather than using lots of small ones and waste was sorted and hopefully recycled. I suspect the five 4x4's racing over the steppe and desert areas had an impact on the wildlife as they didn't always stick to the existing tracks.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Very good. Group holidays can tricky but we had a good guide and, in any case, this trip isn't really suited to private tours. However there was flexibility too, like a lot of group tours. For example, our guide spotted a local village having an early Nadaam festival and stopped for us to see. We also came upon a local camel herder one day and she asked him if we could 'pop in' for a visit. Unforgettable! The festival was our main reason for going and didn't disappoint of course. The Bayangol hotel is very poorly run and shabby. Breakfast was a zoo with usually nothing much laid out and some items like muffins very stale. The staff were disorganised and we suspect poorly managed. There were others nearby that would offer just as good location and were not so run down.Holiday Reviews
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