The remains of Mrauk-U lie scattered across a few square kilometres of green hill country at the edge of the present-day town. The temples are mostly Buddhist, built between the 15th and 17th centuries when Mrauk-U was capital of the Rakhine kingdom. They differ sharply from the slimmer-spired temples of Bagan: Mrauk-U's are dark, massive, and fortress-like, often half-submerged in vegetation.
The essential cluster around the central hill includes the Shite-thaung ("Temple of 80,000 Buddhas"), the Htukkanthein with its labyrinthine corridor, the elegant five-spired Andaw-thein, and the Ratanabon Pagoda. To the east, the Koe-thaung Temple is the largest of all. Most temples are reached on foot or by motorbike taxi from the central market.
The town also has a small Mrauk-U Archaeological Museum with stelae, coins, ceramics and Rakhine bronzes; the surrounding Chin villages (with the now-elderly Chin tattooed-face women) are a controversial half-day boat trip from Mrauk-U.