Lhasa (ལྷ་ས — 'Place of the Gods') is the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, at 3,656m altitude on the Lhasa River valley in the Himalayan Plateau — the highest-altitude regional capital in China and one of the highest cities in the world. Lhasa was the seat of the Dalai Lamas and the theocratic government of Tibet from the 5th Dalai Lama (1642) until the 1959 Tibetan uprising and subsequent Chinese military administration. The Potala Palace (the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas — UNESCO World Heritage Site; a 13-storey white-and-red fortress-palace rising 117m above the Lhasa valley on Marpori Hill; begun by the 5th Dalai Lama in 1645; completed 1694; contains 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines, and the tombs of 8 Dalai Lamas in solid gold chortens) is the defining image of Tibet and one of the most recognisable buildings in Asia. The Jokhang Temple (UNESCO; founded 641 CE by King Songtsen Gampo; the holiest temple in Tibetan Buddhism; the circumambulation route (Barkhor — the square surrounding the Jokhang) is the living heart of Lhasa where pilgrims prostrate themselves on the stone circuit around the temple). Visitors require a Tibet Travel Permit in addition to a Chinese visa. Best months: May–October.
Altitude acclimatisation (Lhasa at 3,656m requires 1–2 days of rest on arrival before strenuous activity; acute mountain sickness (AMS) affects approximately 50% of visitors arriving from sea level; symptoms: headache, fatigue, nausea; coca tea is not available (Tibet is China) — the local remedy is a slow arrival and rest; Chinese hospitals in Lhasa have hyperbaric oxygen chambers available for serious cases). Potala Palace exterior (Red Hill/Marpori; the best exterior views are from the Potala Palace Square (the large public square south of the palace, rebuilt in the Chinese national style in 2002; the square is the main gathering place of modern Lhasa)). Entry to the palace interior requires advance booking (tickets: CNY 200; daily visitor quota: 2,300 per day; book 2–3 days in advance through the official Tibet Tourism Bureau system or a licensed tour agency).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePotala Palace interior (the 13-storey structure (the White Palace: the eastern section, the administrative and residential area; the Red Palace: the central section, the religious heart): the White Palace (the residence of the Dalai Lama — the East Main Hall (the largest hall in the palace, used for major religious ceremonies); the Dalai Lama's private living quarters (the 13th Dalai Lama's living quarters are preserved as they were when he fled to India in 1910 — the 14th Dalai Lama used the same rooms until his flight to India in 1959)); the Red Palace (the religious core of the palace): the most important element: the golden chortens (the jewelled stupas containing the physical remains of the Dalai Lamas; the most elaborate is the tomb of the 5th Dalai Lama (1617–1682) — a solid gold chorten 14.85m tall, inlaid with 18,680 precious stones (diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and pearls), coated with 3,721 kg of gold sheet); the Dharma King Chapel (the oldest surviving room in the Potala, dating to the original 7th-century palace of King Songtsen Gampo — the founder of Tibet who sent scholars to India to create the Tibetan script)). CNY 200.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideJokhang Temple (དཇོ་ཁང — 'House of the Lord'; UNESCO World Heritage Site 2000; Barkhor Square, central Lhasa; founded 641 CE by King Songtsen Gampo; the most sacred temple in Tibetan Buddhism): the primary object of veneration: the Jowo Rinpoche (the golden statue of the Buddha Shakyamuni at age 12 — the most sacred statue in Tibet (the statue was brought to Lhasa as part of the dowry of Princess Wencheng, the Chinese Tang Dynasty princess who married King Songtsen Gampo in 641 CE; the statue is believed to have been consecrated by the historical Buddha himself; it is draped in silk brocades and jewelled crowns and attended by monks 24 hours a day)). The Barkhor (the circumambulation circuit around the Jokhang Temple — a 700m circular path; Tibetan pilgrims walk the circuit clockwise (the Tibetan Buddhist circumambulation direction), some prostrating the full length of the circuit; the Barkhor market (the market stalls on the circuit sell: khatas (white silk ceremonial scarves), prayer beads, yak butter (for the butter lamps inside the temple), incense, and traditional Tibetan silver jewellery)). CNY 85.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBarkhor Square at dusk (the most atmospheric time to witness Tibetan religious life in Lhasa: from approximately 17:30–19:30, the Barkhor circuit fills with Tibetan pilgrims completing their evening circumambulation; the pilgrims include: farmers from the countryside who have walked for days to reach Lhasa; nomads from the Chang Tang (the northern Tibetan plateau) in their distinctive sheepskin coats; and elderly Tibetans completing a lifetime aspiration of visiting the Jokhang; the butter lamps inside the Jokhang glow through the doorway; the smell of juniper incense from the large censers outside the temple entrance fills the square)). Free.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTibetan cuisine (the food of the Himalayan Plateau — a high-calorie, high-fat diet adapted to altitude and cold): Tsampa (རྩམ་པ — roasted barley flour; the staple food of Tibet (barley (Hordeum vulgare) is the only cereal crop that grows reliably at Tibetan altitudes (3,500–4,500m); the flour is roasted before grinding, which gives it a nutty flavour and extends its shelf life; tsampa is eaten by mixing it with butter tea or yak butter in a bowl and kneading into a stiff dough ball with the fingers — the fastest, most calorie-dense food possible at altitude)); Thukpa (Tibetan noodle soup — thick wheat noodles in a meat broth (yak or mutton) with vegetables (dried vegetables from the summer harvest; the most common: dried radish, potato)); Butter tea (Po cha — churned tea made from brick tea (compressed black tea from Yunnan), yak butter, and salt; the taste is savoury, fatty, and warming — the complete opposite of the sweet milky tea familiar to Western visitors; butter tea is the primary warm beverage and calorie source for Tibetans living at altitude). Restaurant: Snowland Restaurant (Mentsikhang Road — the most famous traditional Tibetan restaurant in Lhasa). CNY 60–100.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideSera Monastery (སེ་ར་དགོན་པ — 3km north of central Lhasa; one of the three great Gelug monasteries of the Lhasa area (Ganden, Drepung, and Sera); founded 1419 by Jamchen Chojey (a disciple of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug (Yellow Hat) school of Tibetan Buddhism — the school of the Dalai Lamas)); the monk debate (the defining activity at Sera: every afternoon from approximately 15:00–17:00 (except Sunday), the monks of Sera's Sera Jey college gather in the debate courtyard and perform the traditional Tibetan Buddhist scholastic debate: two monks debate a point of Buddhist philosophy, with one monk standing and dramatically emphasizing each point with a hand-clap (the clap is both emphatic punctuation and a physical distraction intended to break the seated monk's concentration); the standing monk uses theatrical gestures, voice modulation, and logical syllogisms drawn from the Gelug philosophical curriculum (the five major treatises of Tibetan Buddhist education: Pramana (logic/epistemology), Prajnaparamita (wisdom sutras), Madhyamaka (middle-way philosophy), Abhidharma (phenomenology), and Vinaya (monastic discipline)) to challenge the seated monk's position). CNY 50.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNorbulingka Palace (གནོར་བུ་གླིང་ཀ — 'Jewel Park'; 3km west of central Lhasa; the summer palace of the Dalai Lamas; UNESCO World Heritage Site 2001; founded by the 7th Dalai Lama in 1755 as a summer retreat from the Potala): the palace complex (a Tibetan-style garden palace: the 4 palace buildings (the most important: the New Summer Palace (Takten Migyur Potrang) built 1954–1956 by the 14th Dalai Lama — the last building constructed before the 1959 uprising; the Dalai Lama's private library, bedroom, and meditation room are preserved as they were on March 17, 1959, when he fled to India)); the gardens (the largest park in Lhasa: 360,000m² of garden in the Tibetan style (willow trees (Salix babylonica — the weeping willow, one of the few trees that thrives at Lhasa altitude), medicinal herbs, and vegetable plots)). Norbulingka is also the site of the annual Shoton Festival (the Yogurt Festival — the most important traditional Tibetan festival: the festival (the 6th Tibetan lunar month) involves a day-long thangka (Buddhist scroll painting) unrolling ceremony at Drepung Monastery followed by Tibetan opera performances in the Norbulingka gardens). CNY 60.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideDrepung Monastery (འབྲས་སྤུངས་དགོན་པ — 8km west of Lhasa; the largest monastery in Tibet (at its peak in the 17th century: approximately 10,000 monks; the current resident population: approximately 700 monks)); founded 1416 by Jamyang Choje (another disciple of Tsongkhapa); the monastery buildings climb the south slope of Gephel Utse mountain (the massive whitewashed assembly halls (tshomchen) and the residential college buildings (dratsang) form a white city on the mountainside visible from Lhasa); the most important hall: the Coqen Hall (the main assembly hall — capacity 7,700 monks simultaneously; the hall contains the 5 statues of the Maitreya Buddha (the future Buddha — the next Buddha after Shakyamuni; in Tibetan Buddhism the Maitreya is believed to be currently awaiting the right conditions to appear on earth and teach; the Drepung Maitreya statues are 2-storeys tall in gilded bronze). CNY 55.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLhasa at night (the contrast between the two faces of modern Lhasa: the traditional Tibetan quarter (the Barkhor area — narrow streets, mud-brick houses, butter lamp smoke, the sound of prayer wheels (mani wheels — the cylindrical prayer wheels inscribed with the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra that are rotated clockwise by passing pilgrims; the rotation is believed to send the mantra into the universe with each spin)); and the new Chinese city (the grid streets west of the Potala, with Han Chinese restaurants, karaoke bars, and the heavy security presence of Lhasa's 24-hour police checkpoints)). The evening tea house scene (the traditional Tibetan tea house (cha khang) — where locals sit for hours drinking butter tea or the sweet milk tea that Tibetans adopted from Nepal and India, playing dice games, and listening to Tibetan pop music (a modern genre that blends traditional Tibetan melodies with pop production)). CNY 5–15 for tea.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNamtso Lake (གནམ་མཚོ — 'Heavenly Lake'; 112km north of Lhasa; 4,718m altitude (one of the highest lakes in the world); a day trip (organized through a licensed Lhasa tour agency — independent travel to Namtso requires a separate Namtso Scenic Area permit in addition to the Tibet Travel Permit; the tour: depart Lhasa 07:00 by jeep (4–5 hrs each way); the route crosses the Nyenchen Tanglha Pass (5,190m — the highest road pass on the standard Lhasa day trip routes)); the lake: 70km long, 30km wide (the largest lake in Tibet and one of the largest saltwater lakes in China (Namtso is a saline lake: the salinity is approximately 1.7g/L, much lower than ocean water but enough to preclude most freshwater fish species)); the colour (the Namtso water is an extraordinary turquoise-blue: the colour comes from the exceptional clarity of the water (zero industrial pollution; the lake catchment is entirely wilderness) and the mineral content (the slight alkalinity and the glacial meltwater input from the Nyenchen Tanglha range (7,162m) creates the distinctive blue-green)); the sacred significance (Namtso is one of the Three Holy Lakes of Tibet; Tibetan pilgrims walk the 73km circumambulation of the lake (the full Namtso circuit takes 3–5 days)). CNY 120 entrance + approximately CNY 400–600 for the organized tour.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideReturn to Lhasa (approximately 19:00–20:00 depending on road conditions). Yak hotpot dinner (the most warming meal after a long cold day at 4,718m): the Tibetan hotpot (a Chinese-influenced hotpot adapted with Tibetan ingredients: the broth (yak bone broth — simmered for 6+ hours with dried yak bones, ginger, and Tibetan spices: the broth is deeply savoury and yellow-tinged from the yak bone marrow); the dipping ingredients: thinly sliced yak beef (leaner and more flavourful than domestic cattle beef; the yaks (Bos grunniens — the long-haired domestic bovine of Tibet; the yak is the most economically important animal in Tibetan culture — providing meat, butter, milk, hair for weaving, and dung for fuel at altitudes where no other domestic bovine survives), dried yak tongue (a delicacy), wild mushrooms from the Tibetan forests (Boletus edulis and various Tibetan wild Cantharellus species), and tofu)). Lhasa Beer (ལྷ་ས་བར — the local Lhasa Brewery lager, brewed at 3,656m altitude (one of the highest breweries in the world); a mild 3.1% ABV lager (the lower alcohol content is a deliberate choice for the altitude market — the physiological effect of alcohol is amplified at altitude)). CNY 80–150 hotpot dinner.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLhasa departure logistics (the two options for leaving Lhasa): (1) the Qinghai-Tibet Railway (青藏铁路 — the world's highest railway, opened 2006; the Lhasa to Xining (Qinghai) journey: 1,956km, 21 hours; the train crosses the Tanggula Pass (5,072m — the highest point on any railway in the world); the train has oxygen supplementation in all carriages (the oxygen content at the Tanggula Pass is 60% of sea level — the train maintains approximately 75% of sea level oxygen in the passenger carriages through a pressurized oxygen supply system); the journey is one of the most extraordinary rail experiences in the world — the train crosses the Tibetan Plateau grassland (the Chang Tang) where wild yaks, kiangs (Tibetan wild asses (Equus kiang)), and Tibetan antelopes (chiru — Pantholops hodgsonii; an endangered Tibetan Plateau antelope that was nearly hunted to extinction for its fine underwool (shahtoosh))); (2) Lhasa Gonggar Airport (LXA — 65km south of Lhasa (1.5 hrs by bus or 1 hr by car); direct flights to Chengdu, Xian, Beijing, Kathmandu (the only international flight from Lhasa; Air China/China Southern seasonal)). Plan departure carefully around Tibet permit requirements.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideGanden Monastery (དགའ་ལྡན་དགོན་པ — 47km east of Lhasa on the Kyichu River; 3,800m altitude; the original monastery of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, founded directly by Tsongkhapa (1357–1419 — the reformer who founded the Gelug (Yellow Hat) tradition and who is considered the second Buddha by Gelug practitioners)); the monastery history: Ganden was almost entirely destroyed by the People's Liberation Army during the Cultural Revolution (1969 — the Red Guard destroyed 2,000+ Tibetan monasteries during 1966–1976; Ganden was one of the most completely destroyed (97% of the structures were demolished by artillery and dynamite); the current monastery is a partial reconstruction of the original begun in 1985)); the Ganden Kora (the circumambulation trail around Ganden hill — 2 hrs; the finest kora in the Lhasa area: the trail gives complete views of the Kyichu River valley, the south Tibetan plateau, and (on clear days) the Himalayan peaks to the south). CNY 45.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuide