After your visit to the historical Amarbayasgalant Monastery make sure to visit the two additional attractions up the hill behind the monastery. Not only will you find the three Golden Buddha statues and the white Buddha stupa of great interest, but you will have super views over the surrounding countryside and be able to take some vibrant photos, especially if you are lucky with the weather like I was on the day that we visited.
I first visited the statues of the three Golden Buddhas, followed by the white Buddha stupa. Since you will likely be exploring the country with a Mongolian tour guide, like I did, ask that he drops you at the parking area below the three Golden Buddha statues and walk the short way to the top. Stopping along the way to take photos at the large prayer wheel or overlooking the monastery from a higher angle, you will slowly walk your way to the Golden Buddha statues at the top of the steps.
The Golden Buddha statues glistened in the sun when I was there, allowing for some super photos and a great contrast between the blue sky and the gold of the statues. You are likely to spend 15 minutes or so at the statues, taking photos from various angles and admiring their golden beauty, before heading back down to the car. You could either drive to the white stupa or just take a gentle stroll across the mountainside to the base of the stairs, from where you can head up to the stupa.
Arriving to the stupa, and perhaps feeling a little out of breath from the large number of stairs, take the chance to admire the views over the valley before heading, in a clockwise direction, around the stupa. Walking around the stupa, you will find smaller Buddha statues made of marble, each one with a different pose. On the day that I visited, a monk was at the stupa performing prayers rituals. Since I was busy taking photos he passed me a few times as he also wandered around before finishing his rituals and then heading back down the valley on his motorbike.
You are likely to spend around 20 minutes at the stupa before heading back down to the car. After a day spent driving across bumpy desert scenery, exploring Amarbayasgalant Monastery, visiting the Golden Buddha statues and the white stupa, and hiding a time capsule on our way back to the main road, we finally headed towards Darkhan.
Before we arrived in Darkhan, we stopped for a quick photo break at the Darkhan Iron Man Statue before heading to the hotel. For the one night that I was in Darkhan, my tour guide and I stayed at The Link Hotel, a perfectly suitable hotel close to the Orgil Shopping Center and large Buddha Statue within walking distance of the hotel.
After a short break, we went for dinner at the restaurant called Modern Nomads. If you are looking for some really good Mongolian and western dishes, give them a try. Find Modern Nomads, Darkhan on Google Maps.
After dinner, with the sun still reasonably high in the sky, I walked from the hotel, across the roundabout and over the metal bridge, to the large Buddha statue that is visible from the hotel. I spent around 20 minutes there before wandering to the Orgil Shopping Center but that was not worth the effort so I returned to the hotel.
For your visit to Mongolia, specifically Darkhan, consider one of the accommodation options shown in the box below.
My visit to Mongolia, outside of the capital, was coordinated by Molomjamts Naranzul, someone who I now consider a good friend. Find Molomjamts Naranzul on Instagram, from where contact may be started by direct message.
Consider reading the other posts on Mongolia by Two Passports Packed.
(Visited in June 2025)