Atlas of China
Listed sites in Tibet 西藏
83 scenic areas and heritage sites from the official lists, by city. 23 have a page of their own; the rest open as cards on the map.
The A-level rating is the national grading of scenic areas, 5A being the top tier; national heritage sites are the buildings, ruins, tombs and carvings protected by the State Council. Both lists are on the lists page.
5A scenic areas in Tibet
- Basum Tso 巴松措 5A scenic area
Basum Tso (Draksum Tso in Tibetan) is a long glacier-dammed lake in a deep valley of the upper Ba River in Gongbo'gyamda County, ringed by snow peaks and forest, and was Tibet's first natural-landscape 5A scenic area. - Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon 雅鲁藏布大峡谷 5A scenic area · on the map
The 5A scenic area at Pai, in Mainling, covers the upper entrance of the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, where the river turns into the deep gorge that wraps around the peak of Namcha Barwa.
By city
Chamdo (11) · Lhasa (18) · Nagqu (3) · Ngari (6) · Nyingchi (11) · Shannan (18) · Shigatse (16)
Chamdo 11 sites
- Gangtuo Village 岗托村 4A scenic area · on the map
Gangtuo, on the west bank of the Jinsha River where National Road 317 crosses from Sichuan into Tibet, is where units of the People's Liberation Army's 18th Army crossed the river in October 1950 and raised the first PRC national flag in Tibet, which gave the village the title 'First Village of Tibet's Liberation'. - Sanse Lakes (Three-Coloured Lakes) 三色湖 4A scenic area · on the map
Three small lakes lie close together in Puyu village, Banbar town, each a different colour, and are known as the black, white and yellow lakes. - Yanjing Ancient Salt Terraces 盐井古盐田 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
On the steep banks of the Lancang (Mekong) at Yanjing, families still make salt the traditional way: brine is carried up from wells by the river, poured onto flat terraces built on timber posts and left to dry in the sun and wind. - Zizhu Monastery 孜珠寺 4A scenic area · on the map
Zizhu Monastery, regarded as one of the oldest and most important monasteries of the Bön religion, is spread across the six limestone peaks of Zizhu mountain, one of Bön's four sacred mountains, at about 4,800 metres. - Dalü Palace, Gonjo 达律王府 National heritage site · on the map
The old residence of the Dalü family, once rulers of Gonjo, known locally as the Dalü Gyalpo Lhakhang ('palace of King Dalü'), stands in Zongka hamlet about 1 km from the centre of Gonjo county town, and the family's descendants still live there. - Former Office of the Chamdo People's Liberation Committee 昌都地区人民解放委员会办公旧址 National heritage site · on the map
The Chamdo People's Liberation Committee, a provisional local administration, was formed at a congress held in Chamdo from 27 December 1950 to 1 January 1951, after the Battle of Chamdo that October. - Galden Jampaling Monastery 强巴林寺 National heritage site
Galden Jampaling, regarded as Kham's largest Gelug monastery, stands on a terrace above the river confluence in the heart of Chamdo and was founded in the 1430s or 1440s by Jangsem Sherab Zangpo, a disciple of Tsongkhapa, as the first Gelug monastery in Kham. - Karuo Neolithic Site 卡若遗址 National heritage site · on the map
Karuo, on a ridge where the Karuo river meets the Lancang (Mekong), is the type site of the Karuo culture, a farming village of some 4,000–5,000 years ago first excavated in 1978–79. - Nangba Langze Stone Sculptures 囊巴朗则石雕 National heritage site · on the map
Inside a small temple hall at Randui village, Bangda township, sit nine stone figures carved in the late 8th or early 9th century: Vairocana in the centre with the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, four on each side. - Renda Cliff Carvings 仁达摩崖造像 National heritage site · on the map
A Buddhist relief cut into the cliff at Renda in 804 by monks of the Tibetan Empire to honour the king. - Riwoche Monastery 类乌齐寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Taklung Kagyu monastery founded in the 1270s by Sangye Ön, which became the seat of the school's 'lower' branch in Kham and one of the largest monasteries of eastern Tibet.
Lhasa 18 sites
- 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.
Nagqu 3 sites
- Sapu Glaciers (Sepu Kangri) 萨普 4A scenic area · on the map
Sapu lies below the peak of Sepu Kangri, on the boundary between Biru and Banbar counties, in an area of snow mountains, large maritime glaciers and glacial lakes; in Tibetan 'sa' means snow leopard and 'pu' the head of a valley. - Tangra Yumco 当惹雍错 4A scenic area · on the map
Tangra Yumco, a holy lake for followers of the Bön religion, is a large salt lake in a basin on the north side of the Gangdise (Transhimalaya) range in Nyima County. - Bangna Monastery 邦纳寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Ming-period monastery west of Baxiu village in Xichang township.
Ngari 6 sites
- Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar 冈仁波齐—玛旁雍错 4A scenic area
Mount Kailash (Kang Rinpoche, 6,638 m) and Lake Manasarovar (Mapham Yumtso in Tibetan) form a sacred landscape for Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and followers of Bön, and pilgrims come to walk around the mountain and bathe in the lake. - Pangong Lake Scenic Area (Rutog) 班公湖 4A scenic area · on the map
A lakeside scenic area on the Rutog shore of Pangong Lake (Bangong Co), a long, narrow lake at about 4,240 m on the plateau of far western Tibet. - Tsaparang (Guge Kingdom Ruins) 古格王国遗址 4A scenic area · National heritage site
The ruined capital of the Guge kingdom, which ruled this part of western Tibet from the 10th century until it fell in the 1630s, built up an earth hill above the Langqên Zangbo (Sutlej) valley. - Khorzhak Monastery 科迦寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Sakya monastery in Khorzhak village on the Karnali (Peacock) River south-east of Burang town, founded in 996 and traditionally linked with the translator Rinchen Zangpo. - Piyang and Dungkar Cave Temples 皮央·东嘎遗址 National heritage site · on the map
The largest Buddhist cave site found so far in Tibet, spread across the cliffs above the villages of Piyang and Dungkar north of Zanda, with nearly a thousand caves once used for worship, meditation, living and storage. - Tholing Monastery 托林寺 National heritage site
The oldest monastery in Ngari, founded at the end of the 10th century by the Guge king Yeshe-Ö in what is now Zanda town, and a starting point of the later spread of Buddhism in Tibet.
Nyingchi 11 sites
- Basum Tso 巴松措 5A scenic area
Basum Tso (Draksum Tso in Tibetan) is a long glacier-dammed lake in a deep valley of the upper Ba River in Gongbo'gyamda County, ringed by snow peaks and forest, and was Tibet's first natural-landscape 5A scenic area. - Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon 雅鲁藏布大峡谷 5A scenic area · on the map
The 5A scenic area at Pai, in Mainling, covers the upper entrance of the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, where the river turns into the deep gorge that wraps around the peak of Namcha Barwa. - Cuomujiri Lake 措木及日 4A scenic area · on the map
Cuomujiri, whose Tibetan name is usually translated as 'fairy's tears', is an old moraine-dammed lake in a forested valley just north of Bayi, with snow peaks behind it. - Cypress King Garden 世界柏树王园林 4A scenic area · on the map
This park protects a grove of giant Tibetan cypresses (Cupressus gigantea) at Baji village beside the G318, just south-east of Bayi. - Galang Lake 嘎朗湖 4A scenic area · on the map
Galang Lake, about 2 km² in area, lies in the Galang National Wetland Park beside Galang village, at the mouth of the Bodui peach-blossom valley in Bomê County. - Guoguotang Great Bend 果果塘 4A scenic area · on the map
At Guoguotang, about 12 km from Medog town, the Yarlung Tsangpo swings through a tight horseshoe bend around a forested spur, seen from viewing platforms above the river. - Kading Valley 卡定沟 4A scenic area · on the map
Kading Valley is a steep, forested side gorge off the Nyang River valley north-west of Bayi, known for the Tianfo ('Heavenly Buddha') waterfall that drops down its cliffs. - Linze Scenic Area 林则 4A scenic area · on the map
Linze village in Gongbo'gyamda County is home to several thousand wild Tibetan macaques that live in the surrounding forest and come down to meet visitors, who may feed them under staff guidance. - Lulang 鲁朗 4A scenic area · on the map
Lulang is a high valley of meadows, streams and spruce forest at about 3,300 m on the G318 east of the Sejila pass, often wrapped in cloud. - Midui Glacier 米堆冰川 4A scenic area · on the map
Midui Glacier flows down from the mountains above Midui village in Bomê County, where two great icefalls merge with a strip of forest between them, at the meeting of the Nyenchen Tanglha and Boshula ranges. - Red Building of the Zamu Central County Committee 波密红楼 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
Known locally as the Bomê Red Building, this two-storey Soviet-style building of stone and timber in the Bomê county government compound was built in 1953 as an office of the Kham–Tibet Highway administration and from 1955 housed the Zamu Central County Committee of the Communist Party.
Shannan 18 sites
- Samye Monastery 桑耶寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site
Tibet's first Buddhist monastery, built in the 8th century under King Trisong Detsen with the Indian masters Shantarakshita and Padmasambhava, and the place where the first Tibetan monks were ordained. - Tradruk Temple 昌珠寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site
One of the earliest Buddhist temples in Tibet, founded in the 7th century under King Songtsen Gampo in the Yarlung valley and enlarged in the 14th century; its main assembly hall is laid out like that of the Jokhang in Lhasa. - Yumai, Lhünzê 玉麦 4A scenic area · on the map
Yumai is a small township in a deep valley of Lhünzê County, among fir forest and snow peaks, where rain and snow fall for much of the year. - Yumbulagang 雍布拉康 4A scenic area
Yumbulagang, a tower-like palace on a ridge above the Yarlung valley, is held by tradition to be the first building in Tibet, the palace of the legendary first king Nyatri Tsenpo. - Dajielin Monastery (Chödegong) 达杰林寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Gelug monastery in Chödegong village in the Yartö valley, which began as the 11th-century residence of the translator Ra Lotsawa and reached its present size under the 13th Dalai Lama. - Dratang Monastery 扎塘寺 National heritage site
A monastery founded in 1081 by the scholar and physician Drapa Ngönshé and finished in 1093, built as a mandala with three rings of walls; it passed to the Sakya school in the 13th century. - Gongkar Chö Monastery 贡嘎曲德寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Sakya monastery founded in 1464 by Dorje Denpa Kunga Namgyal as the seat of the Dzongpa (Gongkar) branch of the Sakya school. - Jiedunzhu Dzong Ruins 杰顿珠宗遗址 National heritage site · on the map
The ruins of a Yuan–Ming period dzong, or fortress, stand on a cliff at about 3,300 metres south-west of Jiemai village in Painba township. - Keru Lhakhang 吉如拉康 National heritage site · on the map
A small temple in Keru village, Gyêrba township, founded under King Tride Tsugtsen; its main Shakyamuni chapel dates from the first half of the 8th century. - Lhagyari Palace Ruins 拉加里王宫遗址 National heritage site · on the map
The palace of the Lhagyari kings, a line descended from the Tibetan imperial family who kept their title through the Sakya and Phagmodrupa periods, stands on the south side of Qusum town. - Lhalung Monastery, Lhozhag 拉隆寺 National heritage site
A monastery on a terrace above the north bank of the Lhozhag Nub Chu, founded as a Karma Kagyu seat in 1155 by Düsum Khyenpa and laid out as a mandala in the 16th century by Pawo Tsuglag Trengwa; the 5th Dalai Lama later made it Gelug. - Mindrolling Monastery 敏珠林寺 National heritage site
One of the principal monasteries of the Nyingma school, founded in its present form in 1676 by Terdak Lingpa on the site of an earlier temple, and rebuilt after damage by Dzungar troops in 1718. - Namseling Manor 朗色林庄园 National heritage site · on the map
The seven-storey earth-and-stone tower house of the Namseling family, aristocrats who held land in Dranang, built in the Ming period on the south bank of the Yarlung Tsangpo opposite Samye. - Quxi Watchtowers, Lhozhag 曲西碉楼群 National heritage site · on the map
A group of stone watchtowers and walls on the hillside at Quxi village in Se township, built between the Northern Song and Ming periods. - Sekhar Guthok Monastery 色喀古托寺 National heritage site
Tradition says the nine-storey stone tower at the heart of this monastery was built in the 11th century by the yogi Milarepa as a trial set by his teacher Marpa; the top two floors were rebuilt in 1985. - Songkar Stone Stupas 松卡石塔 National heritage site · on the map
Five stone stupas of different sizes, each carved from a single block, stand at the foot of a rocky hill beside the Yarlung Tsangpo west of Samye. - Valley of the Kings, Chonggye 藏王墓 National heritage site · on the map
The burial ground of the kings of the Tibetan Empire from the 7th to 9th centuries, a group of large flat-topped mounds of rammed earth and stone on and below Mura Hill at Chonggye. - Zhongga Qude Monastery 仲嘎曲德寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Gelug monastery in Ritang town that began as a Bön temple in the imperial period, became a Kadam house in the 11th–13th centuries and turned Gelug after the 15th century.
Shigatse 16 sites
- Chongba Yumtso 崇巴雍错 4A scenic area · on the map
Chongba Yumtso is a glacial lake at about 4,570 m on the north side of the Himalaya in southern Kangmar County, and the source of the Nyang River that flows down past Gyantse to Shigatse. - Gyantse Dzong 江孜宗山 4A scenic area · National heritage site
Gyantse Dzong is a fortress on a steep rock above Gyantse that was the seat of one of Tibet's major districts; the castle dates mainly from the late 14th century. - Gyirong Valley 吉隆沟 4A scenic area · on the map
The Gyirong Valley cuts deep into the central Himalaya, falling to about 2,800 m around Gyirong town, where dense forest and farming villages lie beneath snow peaks. - Langdong Manor and Langba Village 朗东庄园 4A scenic area · on the map
Langba, a listed traditional village on the upper Nyang River in Kangmar County, was renovated and opened as a scenic area in 2023 around Langdong Manor, an aristocratic estate house more than 500 years old. - Qilin Gorge Earth Forest 奇林峡 4A scenic area · on the map
Qilin Gorge, also known as the Mu Village earth forest, is a valley in Qiongzi township on the north side of the Himalaya where meltwater has eroded the soft sediments into crowded ranks of earth pillars and fins. - Sakya Monastery 萨迦寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site
Sakya Monastery, founded in 1073 by Khön Könchok Gyalpo, is the seat of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, whose leaders governed Tibet under Yuan-dynasty overlordship in the 13th and 14th centuries. - Aiwang (Iwang) Temple 艾旺寺 National heritage site · on the map
Aiwang Temple, in Samada township south of Kangmar, was founded in the 11th century, early in the revival of Buddhism in Tibet, and later passed to the Gelug school. - Chöde Temple, Drolma Lhakhang and Tang Envoy Inscription 曲德寺、卓玛拉康、大唐天竺使出铭 National heritage site · on the map
Three listed relics stand in and near Zongga, the county town of Gyirong: Chöde Temple, a Gelug monastery destroyed in the 1960s with a small chapel rebuilt on its ruins, and next to it Drolma Lhakhang, a Nyingma hall with finely carved wooden pillars and lion brackets that probably belonged to the royal city of the Gungthang kings. - Lin'en Cliff Carvings 林恩摩崖石刻 National heritage site · on the map
On a cliff at Sangga village in Ngamring County, 15th-century carvers cut Buddhist images and Tibetan inscriptions into the rock, among them the six-syllable mantra and a eulogy of a Shakyamuni image. - Nenying Monastery 乃宁曲德寺 National heritage site · on the map
Nenying Monastery, in the upper Nyang valley south of Gyantse, traces its founding to the Tibetan Empire and became a Gelug monastery in the 15th century; it is traditionally regarded as the birthplace of the Tibetan opera Nangsa Öbum. - Pala Manor 帕拉庄园 National heritage site · on the map
Pala Manor, the seat of the Pala family, who held high office in the old Tibetan government, is regarded as the only Tibetan aristocratic manor to survive largely intact. - Palcho Monastery 白居寺 National heritage site
Palcho (Pelkor Chöde) Monastery, below the hills on the north-western edge of Gyantse, was built from 1418 by the local ruler Rabten Kunzang Phag with the scholar Khedrup Je, and is unusual in housing Gelug, Sakya and Shalu communities side by side. - Phagpa Temple, Gyirong 帕巴寺 National heritage site · on the map
Phagpa Temple in the centre of Gyirong town is a four-storey tower temple of stone and timber with tiered eaves, flame-shaped copper corner fittings and a copper roof, built in a style that shows strong Nepalese influence. - Phuntsokling Monastery 平措林寺 National heritage site · on the map
Phuntsokling Monastery, near the Yarlung Tsangpo in Lhatse County, was founded in 1614 by the scholar Tāranātha as a centre of the Jonang school, with the support of the Tsang rulers. - Shalu Monastery 夏鲁寺 National heritage site
Shalu Monastery, founded in the 11th century in a side valley south-east of Shigatse, is the mother monastery of the small Shalu (or Butön) school, founded by its 14th-century abbot Butön Rinchen Drub, the scholar who edited the Tibetan Buddhist canon. - Site of the Yadong Customs House 亚东海关遗址 National heritage site · on the map
The Qing government opened a customs house here in 1894, at the meeting of two mountain streams south of present-day Yadong, after treaties with Britain made Yadong a trade mart on the route between Tibet and British India.