Historic sites

Erdene Zuu Monastery, Kharkhorin

Mongolia Övörkhangai Kharkhorin

Erdene Zuu Monastery, Kharkhorin
Photo: Marcin Konsek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mongolia's oldest surviving Buddhist monastery, founded in 1585 near the ruins of Karakorum, Genghis Khan's capital, surrounded by a wall topped with 108 white stupas. Inside are temples with Buddhist art.


It's part of the Orkhon Valley UNESCO site. The Kharkhorin Museum explains the old capital. Combine it with the Orkhon waterfall and the Tövkhön monastery.

Comments

No comments yet.

More tips nearby

All tips for Mongolia
Historic sites

Gandan Monastery, Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar

Mongolia's most important Buddhist monastery, one of the few that survived communist purges in the 1930s, with hundreds of monks.

Tours and activities

Naadam Festival, Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar

Mongolia's great national festival, held on 11 to 13 July, with the 'three manly games': wrestling, horse racing, with child jockeys riding across th…

Natural features

Gorkhi-Terelj National Park

Ulaanbaatar

A national park of granite rocks, forests and grassy valleys about 70 km from Ulaanbaatar, the easiest place to taste the Mongolian countryside.

Natural features

Gobi Desert and Khongoryn Els

Ömnögovi

The Gobi isn't all sand, but Khongoryn Els are huge 'singing dunes', up to 300 m high and 100 km long, which hum when the sand slides.

Natural features

Khövsgöl Lake

Khövsgöl

A vast, clear freshwater lake in the far north of Mongolia, near the Russian border, surrounded by mountains and larch forest, called the 'Blue Pearl'.