Mongolia Naadam: The Festival of Ten Thousand Horses

Meet at Suvarnabhumi Airport and fly with MIAT Mongolian Airlines, changing planes at Hong Kong International Airport, to Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar. Arrival is at about 23:10; local time is one hour ahead of Thailand. Transfer to the hotel to rest.

Explore Ulaanbaatar, a capital that blends ancient heritage with modern life, with Soviet-era architecture and Vajrayana Buddhist temples.

• Gandantegchinlen Monastery, the largest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, with its gilded bronze Avalokiteshvara statue and a monastic university
• Museum of Mongolian National History
• Sükhbaatar Square, the political and cultural centre, with the monument to the leader of the 1921 revolution
• Zanabazar Fine Art Museum, showing works by the 17th-century artist and religious leader Zanabazar
• Zaisan Memorial, honouring Mongolian and Soviet allied soldiers of World War II, with views over the city from its Soviet-style staircase

Dinner is free.

Attend the opening of the Naadam Festival at the Ulaanbaatar national stadium. It is Mongolia's biggest annual cultural event, centred on three sports: horse racing, wrestling and archery.

• Naadam archery, with archers in colourful national dress
• Mongolian national wrestling, with 512 wrestlers in 9 knockout rounds and no weight classes
• Ankle-bone shooting, a sport on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list

Finish by strolling outside the stadium to see national costumes and shop for souvenirs. Dinner is free.

In the morning drive to the Naadam horse-racing grounds at Hui Doloon Khudag. The races have no track: riders and spectators gather together on the grassland, which gives rise to the name 'festival of ten thousand horses'.

Then head to Hustai National Park, home to more than 800 Przewalski's horses (takhi). Relax at a Mongolian ger camp, visit the park museum, and watch the wild horses 2-3 hours before sunset, when they come down from the hills to drink.

Travel to Terelj National Park, with its granite mountains, forests, grassland, wildflowers and oddly shaped rock formations. There is free time to walk around the camp, take photos or try horse riding.

Then visit a local nomadic family that still keeps traditional ways, especially herding animals in the old style.

Explore Terelj again and see Turtle Rock, a boulder shaped like a giant tortoise. Then visit Ariyabal Meditation Temple, a Vajrayana practice site in the valley, reached by 108 steps matching the number of prayer beads.

Next is the Genghis Khan Statue Complex, built in 2008 for the 800th anniversary of the Mongol state; the stainless-steel equestrian statue is the largest in the world. Back in Ulaanbaatar, watch a traditional performance of singing, dancing and Tuvan throat singing.

Visit the Genghis Khan Museum, opened in late 2022: a nine-storey building with more than 10,000 artefacts covering Mongolian history from the Bronze Age to the early 20th century.

• Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan, built 1893-1903 as the residence of the 8th Bogd Khan, both a lama and a king, with Russian and European influences
• Choijin Lama Temple Museum, built 1904-1908, which survived the destruction of more than 1,000 monasteries under the communists and became a museum of religious history in 1942

Transfer to Chinggis Khaan International Airport for the return flight, departing at 06:20, changing planes in Hong Kong and arriving at Suvarnabhumi at about 16:30.