The town of Somnath is entered from Veraval by the Junagadh Gate. This very ancient triple gate was the one which Mahmud finally broke through to take the town.

Close to the second gate is an old mosque dating from Mahmud's time. The Jama Masjid, reached through the town's busy bazaar, was constructed using parts of a Hindu temple and has interesting bodhi tree carvings at all four corners. It is now a museum with a collection from many of these temples.

About a km before the Junagadh Gate, coming from Veraval, the finely carved Mai Puri was once a Temple of the Sun. This Hindu temple was converted into a mosque during Mahmud's time and is surrounded by thousands of tombs and palias (memorial stones). 

To the east of the town is the Bhalka Tirth where Lord Krishna was mistaken for a deer and was wounded by an arrow while sleeping in a deer skin. North of this sacred spot is the Suraj Mandir, or Temple of the Sun, which Mahmud also had a go at knocking down. This very old temple, with a frieze of lions with elephant trunks around it's walls, probably dates back the same time as the original Somnath Temple. Back inside the small gate; is a temple which Ahalya Bai of Indore built as a replacement for the Somnath Temple.