Introducing Lhasa
Lhasa, the remote abode of the Dalai Lamas, object of devout pilgrimage and heart and soul of Tibet, is still a city of wonders, despite the large-scale encroachments of modern Chinese influence. Your first hint that Lhasa is close is the Potala, a vast white-and-ochre fortress soaring over one of the world’s highest cities. It’s a sight that has heralded the marvels of the Holy City to travellers for close to four centuries and it still raises goose bumps.
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While the Potala dominates the skyline, the Jokhang, some 2km to the east, is the real spiritual heart of the city. An otherworldly mix of flickering butter lamps, wafting incense and prostrating pilgrims, the Jokhang is the most sacred and alive of Tibet’s temples. It is here and the encircling Barkhor pilgrim circuit that most visitors first fall in love with Tibet.
The old Tibetan quarter makes up a small area of Lhasa these days. The modern city is a Chinese boom town, where a new train line has fuelled massive growth in tourism, alongside new hotels, shops and supermarkets. The face of Lhasa is changing daily, with buildings rising and falling like the Shanghai stock market.
For all its modernisation Lhasa remains a fantastic cultural hybrid, its streets bustling with a diverse mix of people. As the gateway to the ‘real’ Tibet, out in the countryside, Lhasa deserves at least a week to see all the sights, soak up the backstreets and organise the adventures that beckon at the city limits.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
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Thorn Tree forum discussion
Recent posts
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RE: Tips From Our Recent Travels from Lhasa to Kathmandu
by westwood 14 September 2011
#1,With that itinerary, I'd expect to get altitude sickness!! Can you not factor in another night between Shigatse and EBC?? Somewhere…
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Re: Tips From Our Recent Travels from Lhasa to Kathmandu
by magnetgal 14 September 2011
And is your macbook not the solid state disk? I am still planning to bring my macbook air 2011 there, just cannot decide!
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Re: Tips From Our Recent Travels from Lhasa to Kathmandu
by magnetgal 14 September 2011
Thanks for such wonderful review. I'm heading off next Sunday and very excited indeed! My greatest fear is altitude sickness which can…
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Lhasa
Things to do
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Our Top Picks For Lhasa
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1 Barkhor
Follow monks, mendicants and fellow pilgrims around the Barkhor, Lhasa’s fascinating medieval pilgrim circuit
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2 Jokhang
Join the shuffling lines of awed pilgrims around the glowing shrines of the Jokhang, Tibet’s holiest temple
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3 Potala
Go down into the bowels of the Potala, the impressive but spiritless citadel of the Dalai Lamas, from the fifth to the 14th
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4 Sera and Drepung
Take in a prayer meeting or some monk-debating at Sera and Drepung, two of the largest and most intact of Tibet’s great monasteries
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5 Ganden Monastery
Catch the pilgrim bus for a day out to Ganden Monastery and test your sin on its fascinating kora (pilgrim path)
Our favourite Lhasa Blogs (beta)
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Where to find Shangri La? – Comparing 3 Himalayan Kingdoms
Blog: Around The World On The Toilet - 4 September 2010
It might be one of the most overused cliches in the travel universe but the idea of a kingdom deep in the Himalaya’s inspired by James Hilton’s classic Lost Horizon has thousands of backpackers and jet setters alike grabbing their warm coats and hiking boots in search of this mystical kingdom. The sheer remoteness of [...]
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Monastic Militarization
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 3 July 2010
I thought that I had a moderately respectable knowledge of Buddhism for a nonbeliever. Turns out I was wrong. Tibet taught me that I have woefully little understanding of Tibetan Buddhism. Apparently almost all of my prior knowledge to Zen and Theravada Buddhism and the Tibetan variety is markedly different. We spent a lot of [...]
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World Cup Chronicles: Tibet to Xi’an
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 25 June 2010
My favorite thing about South Africa 2010: Paraguay’s uniform looks remarkably like a Where’s Waldo costume. I had forgotten that Where’s Waldo ever existed, but upon seeing Paraguay’s uniform, I remembered that Waldo’s escapades were one of the earliest influences of my travel obsession. (My second favorite thing is that allegedly, North Korea will not [...]
