Kharkhorin & Erdene Zuu

Kharkhorin is a small town in the upper Orkhon valley, built beside the site of Karakorum, the 13th-century capital of the Mongol Empire. Its main sight is Erdene Zuu, founded in 1585 by Abtai Sain Khan partly with stones from the ruined city and famous for its wall lined with white stupas. The Kharakhorum Museum displays finds from the imperial capital, and the whole area belongs to the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering almost 122,000 hectares.

What you see at Erdene Zuu

The monastery sits inside a square enclosure roughly 400 m on each side. The wall was planned to carry 108 stupas, a sacred Buddhist number. Inside, most of the ground is open grass where temples once stood. The surviving buildings include three temples known as the Zuu, which have Chinese-style green-tiled roofs and painted interiors with statues of the Buddha, and the Tibetan-style Lavrin temple, where monks hold prayers in the morning.

The town and the valley

Around town, the two granite stone turtles that once marked the edges of Karakorum still sit in the fields, and on a hill outside the monastery stands a stone phallus, said to keep the monks' thoughts in order. The Orkhon river flows by on its way north, through pastures dotted with herders' gers.

How long and when

Half a day covers the monastery and museum; a full day lets you add the turtles and the hilltop monument. Kharkhorin can be visited all year, but June to September is warmest, with most rain falling in July. Dress modestly in the temples, walk clockwise around stupas and prayer wheels, keep your voice low during prayers, and ask before taking photographs inside, as photography is restricted in some temples.