Mcleod Ganj

Shop

Get even more with a Lonely Planet guide.

India

$28.99

Shop Book

Getty Images/Moment Open

LONELY PLANET’S RECOMMENDED eSIM

Stay connected in Mcleod Ganj

with

Saily is an affordable eSIM service that helps you stay connected and secure, anywhere in the world.

Get your eSIM

Overview

When travelers talk of staying in Dharamsala, McLeod Ganj is usually where they actually mean. A couple of miles north of Dharamsala proper (or six miles via the looping bus route), McLeod Ganj is the residence of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and home to a large Tibetan population, including many maroon-robed monks and nuns. The Tibetan government-in-exile is based in between at Gangchen Kyishong. McLeod attracts thousands of international visitors, many of them volunteering with the Tibetan community, taking courses in Buddhism, meditation or yoga, trekking in the Dhauladhar mountains, shopping for Tibetan crafts, or just hanging out enjoying the spiritual vibe and the plethora of good cafes where you're never far from an interesting conversation.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Tsuglagkhang Complex

Mcleod Ganj

McLeod's main focus for visiting pilgrims, monks and most tourists is the Tsuglagkhang complex, a custard-coloured concrete monastic village that's home…

Tibet Museum

Mcleod Ganj

This must-see, two-storey museum sets out to remind visitors of Tibet's history as an independent nation, mourning the Chinese occupation (since 1949) and…

Tsuglagkhang Main Temple Room

Mcleod Ganj

Spiritually (if certainly not architecturally) the Tsuglagkhang's 1969 central temple room is the exiles’ concrete equivalent of the Jokhang temple in…

Men-Tsee-Khang

Mcleod Ganj

Men-Tsee-Khang is an organisation established to preserve the traditional arts of Tibetan medicine and astrology. The Gangchen Kyishong branch includes a…

Library of Tibetan Works & Archives

Mcleod Ganj

Inside the government-in-exile compound, nearly 2km downhill from the Tsuglagkhang complex, the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives began life as a…

Tibetan Children’s Village

Mcleod Ganj

Just a short hop from the underwhelming Dal Lake, 3km northwest of McLeod, the Tibetan Children’s Village provides free education for nearly 2000 refugee…

Men-Tsee-Khang Museum

Mcleod Ganj

Three floors of displays explain the sophisticated sciences of Tibetan astrology and medicine.

St John in the Wilderness

Mcleod Ganj

Amid tall cedars 1.5km west of McLeod, this brooding Gothic church dates from 1852, and though rebuilt after the 1905 earthquake which destroyed its tower…

View more attractions

Plan with a local