Five days in
the Orkhon valley
A UNESCO valley made by a volcano and an earthquake, a twenty-two metre waterfall, and two days on a Mongolian horse to see the parts of it a vehicle cannot reach.
The valley the empire was run from
The Orkhon has been the centre of gravity in Mongolia for two thousand years — Turkic, Uighur and then Mongol power all sat in this one valley, which is why UNESCO listed the whole cultural landscape rather than a single site. You get the waterfall, the deer stones and the volcanic rock, and two days in the saddle to join them up.
Day by day
Founded by Chinggis Khaan in 1220 and built into the capital by his son Ogedei in the 1230s — one of the most important cities on the Silk Road for as long as it lasted. We walk the site and visit Erdene Zuu, the oldest surviving monastery in the country, inside its wall of stupas.
