The temples
On the rock face.
Bernard Gagnon — CC0 · Torbenbrinker — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC0 · Jonashtand — CC BY-SA 4.0
Tövkhön Monastery is one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries in Mongolia, on Shireet Ulaan mountain in Övörkhangai Province, about 47 km south-west of Kharkhorin. It stands about 2,600 metres up among tall rocks and pine forest, above the Orkhon Valley World Heritage landscape. It was founded in 1648 by Zanabazar, the first spiritual head of Mongolia's Buddhists, when he was 14, choosing the spot as auspicious. He used it as his personal retreat for some thirty years, made many of his best-known sculptures here and created the Soyombo script here. The Oirats destroyed it in 1688; it was rebuilt in 1773, badly damaged in the purges of the late 1930s, and religious life returned in 1992. You climb on foot or horseback through pine forest, then see small wooden temples with red walls and green roofs clinging to a huge rock face. Small caves and spots that visitors seek out lie around it. From the top, forests and green valleys stretch to the horizon, with horses grazing in the meadows below. Kharkhorin is about 48 km away in a straight line, and the Orkhon Waterfall about 34 km. The last stretch of road is dirt and steep. The UK Foreign Office reports fuel shortages that may disrupt travel to remote areas, so check before you set off.
On the rock face.
Pine on the way up.
Green valleys.
Shireet Ulaan Mountain, Övörkhangai Province, Mongolia
On foot or horseback from the parking area, in about an hour.
June to September, when the road is passable.