Atlas of China
Lhasa 拉萨Lāsà
Barkhor pilgrims, the Potala above and great monasteries at the city's edge
About Lhasa
At about 3,650 metres, Lhasa has been Tibet's religious and administrative capital since the mid-17th century, and its old town turns around the Jokhang Temple and the Barkhor, the pilgrim circuit that rings it. Above it rises the Potala Palace, once the Dalai Lamas' winter palace, while the Norbulingka gardens were their summer residence. Drepung and Sera stand at the city's edge and Ganden on a mountain to the east; northwards the road passes the hot springs of Yangbajain on the way to Namtso.
What to eat in Lhasa
- Sweet tea (甜茶)
Featured places in Lhasa
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Potala Palace 布达拉宫
The red and white palace of the Dalai Lamas, rising in tiers above Lhasa
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Jokhang Temple & Barkhor 大昭寺与八廓街
Tibet's holiest temple, ringed by the pilgrim circuit of the Barkhor
Listed sites in Lhasa
18 sites in Lhasa are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.
- Drepung Monastery 哲蚌寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site
One of the three great Gelug monasteries of Lhasa, founded in 1416 by Jamyang Chöje Tashi Palden, a disciple of Tsongkhapa, on the slopes of Mount Gephel west of the city. - Lhasa Nanshan Park 南山公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A hillside park on the mountains south of the Lhasa River, directly across the river from the Potala Palace, created by planting trees on bare slopes since 2012. - Norbulingka 罗布林卡 4A scenic area · National heritage site
The summer palace and park of the Dalai Lamas, begun in 1755 by the 7th Dalai Lama on the western edge of Lhasa and used as their summer residence from the 1780s until 1959. - Princess Wencheng Tibetan Culture Park 文成公主藏文化风情园 4A scenic area · on the map
A culture park in the Cijueling cultural and creative zone on the south bank of the Lhasa River, built around the open-air theatre of 'Princess Wencheng', a large stage show about the 7th-century marriage of the Tang princess to the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo. - Tibet Museum 西藏博物馆 4A scenic area
The regional museum of Tibet beside the Norbulingka, first opened in 1999 and reopened in July 2022 after being rebuilt and enlarged on the same site; it holds some 520,000 objects, more than 40,000 of them graded as precious. - Tibet Museum of Natural Science 西藏自然科学博物馆 4A scenic area · on the map
A large science museum in eastern Lhasa, opened on a trial basis in 2015 and formally in 2016, that combines a natural-history museum, a science centre and an exhibition hall in one 33,000 m² building. - Tibet Planet Astronomy Experience Hall 藏域星球天文体验馆 4A scenic area · on the map
An indoor astronomy science centre in the Lhasa Economic and Technological Development Zone, opened in December 2019 as the first astronomy-themed science museum in Tibet. - Tibet Wildlife Protection Park (Qushui Zoo) 西藏野生动物保护园 4A scenic area · on the map
A zoo and wildlife rescue centre beside the G318 at Chabalang village in Qüxü town, south-west of Lhasa, laid out in the late 2010s on woodland planted by local villagers and known locally as Qushui Zoo. - Tibet Yak Museum 西藏牦牛博物馆 4A scenic area · on the map
A museum devoted to the yak and its place in Tibetan life, opened in May 2014 in Lhasa's Liuwu New District as a Beijing-funded aid project. - Xiangxiong Meiduo Cultural Tourism Town 象雄美朵 4A scenic area · on the map
A modern cultural tourism park in the Tolung (Duilong) river valley in Doilungdêqên District, west of Lhasa, named after Zhangzhung (Xiangxiong), the ancient culture of western Tibet, and open since 2020. - Xiuse Caina Flower Park 秀色才纳 4A scenic area · on the map
A flower and farm park beside the airport expressway at Caina in Qüxü County, part of the township's plateau agriculture projects. - Drak Lhalupuk Cave Temple 查拉鲁普石窟 National heritage site · on the map
Regarded as Lhasa's only cave temple, it is set into the eastern foot of Chakpori hill opposite the Potala Palace and is traditionally counted among the shrines founded by King Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century. - Ganden Monastery 甘丹寺 National heritage site
The first of the three great Gelug monasteries, founded in 1409 by Tsongkhapa himself on the top of Wangbur Mountain above the Lhasa River valley in Dagzê District. - Nyethang Drolma Temple 聂塘卓玛拉康 National heritage site · on the map
A small temple dedicated to Tara at Nyêtang, south-west of Lhasa, associated with the Indian teacher Atiśa, who taught in the area and died there in 1054; it is now a Gelug temple. - Qinghai-Tibet-Sichuan-Tibet Highway Monument 川藏、青藏公路纪念碑 National heritage site
A monument on the bank of the Lhasa River, unveiled on 25 December 1984 to mark 30 years since the Sichuan–Tibet and Qinghai–Tibet highways opened to traffic. - Ramoche Temple 小昭寺 National heritage site
A 7th-century temple in Lhasa's old town, traditionally said to have been founded by Princess Wencheng and regarded as the city's most important temple after the Jokhang. - Sera Monastery 色拉寺 National heritage site · on the map
One of the three great Gelug monasteries of Lhasa, founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chöje Shakya Yeshe, a disciple of Tsongkhapa, at the foot of the hills on the northern edge of the city. - Tromzikhang (Qing Ambans' Office Museum) 冲赛康 National heritage site
A Barkhor courtyard building just north of the Jokhang that from 1728 served as the first office and residence of the ambans, the Qing court's resident commissioners in Tibet.
Getting to Lhasa
Train, flight and driving times from the cities most visitors come from, with stations, fares and how many run a day; each opens the full comparison.
Trips with Lhasa
- Tibet: Lhasa, Namtso and Everest Base Camp 7 days · Lhasa and Shigatse
On the map
Open Lhasa on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
Open Lhasa on the map