Set deep between the undulating green hills and stony ridges of the Orkhon Valley, the fabled ancient city of Karakorum is now the stuff of myth and legend. But follow the sporadic cobbled lanes that weave around the mountains in the very heart of Mongolia, and you’ll discover that it did certainly exist.
Ruined grain silos and stone turtles, kiln smelting houses and crumbling ancient stupas still spot the ground; an aging testimony to the former might of this Mongol capital on the steppe.
Today, it’s the place to come to walk in the footsteps of totemic figures like Genghis Khan, and to see interesting Buddhist monasteries next to gorgeous Yuan Dynasty temple shrines.
