Karakorum punches well above its weight for a small town on the Mongolian steppe. The main draw is Erdene Zuu Monastery, one of the oldest and most important Buddhist monasteries in the country, built directly atop the ruins of the Mongol Empire's ancient capital. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage component of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape, and even a brief visit carries a tangible sense of deep history.
Beyond the monastery, the Kharakhorum Museum brings the archaeology to life with artefacts excavated from the ruins. The Orkhon Valley spreading out in all directions offers horseback riding, ger camp stays, and wide-open grassland that has been home to nomadic peoples for tens of thousands of years. A handful of curiosities — a carved phallic rock, a modern monument to Mongol statehood — round out the sights without demanding much of your time.