AroundTrail

Monasteries · Temples · Palaces

Lime-washed walls, ochre trim, and thirteen places still in use.

Tibet on AroundTrail begins with the sacred architecture of Lhasa and Shigatse — the temple at the centre of the Barkhor, the three great Gelug seats, Gyantse’s tiered Kumbum, and both palaces the Dalai Lamas kept.

See all thirteen

13 sites · Lhasa & Shigatse & Ngari

Potala Palace
Potala Palace · Marpo Ri, central Lhasa

The collection, in full

Lhasa · Shigatse · Ngari

Before you go

Nothing on this list sits low. The Potala’s own entry puts its climb at around 3,650 metres, and Ganden’s amphitheatre and the Gyantse road are higher still. Give Lhasa two days before the first monastery, keep the long drives for later in the week, and treat a headache as information.

Every entry carries its founding, what it is dedicated to, the neighbourhood it stands in, and how to visit it without spending your first day at altitude on a staircase.

Thirteen sites is all of it. Not a sample — that is the whole of Tibet on AroundTrail today. The sacred lakes, the high passes and the Ganden–Samye trek follow as they are written and checked.

Browse all sacred sites