Must-see attractions in Kashmir & Ladakh

  • Leh palace with nice mountain range

    Leh Palace

    Leh

    Bearing a passing similarity to the Potala Palace in Lhasa (Tibet), this nine-storey dun-coloured edifice is Leh's dominant structure and architectural…

  • Morning view of Dal Lake

    Dal Lake

    Srinagar

    Over 15km around, Dal Lake is Srinagar's jewel, a vast sheet of water reflecting the carved wooden balconies of the houseboats and the misty peaks of the…

  • Thiksey Gompa

    Ladakh

    Glorious Thiksey Gompa is one of Ladakh’s biggest and most recognisable monasteries, photogenically cascading down a raised rocky promontory. At its heart…

  • Choskhor Temple Complex

    Ladakh

    The original murals and statues within these four outwardly modest 11th-century temples are considered the crowning glory of Ladakh’s Indo-Tibetan art…

  • SRINAGAR, KASHMIR, JAMMU & KASHMIR, INDIA - 2013/06/01: The Shah Hamdan Mosque, or Shrine, is situated on the right bank of the Jhelum River, is dedicated to the memory of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani, a Muslim saint from Hamadan, Persia. It is an excellent example of indigenous wooden architecture that draws influence from Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic architecture. Constructed by San Sikandar and dedicated to the memory of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani, a Muslim saint from Hamadan, Persia, this mosque also serves as a khanqah.  (Photo by Jeremy Horner/LightRocket via Getty Images)

    Khanqah Shah-i-Hamadan

    Srinagar

    This distinctively spired 1730s Muslim pilgrim hall is Srinagar’s most beautiful mosque. It was constructed without any nails, and both frontage and…

  • Hundarman Broq

    Kashmir & Ladakh

    Set in a sharp mountain gully 11km northeast of Kargil, the tumbledown ghost village of Hundarman is a remarkable sight. Rocky crags tower above, a…

  • Wanla Gompa

    Ladakh

    Above Wanla village, tiny medieval Wanla Gompa is dramatically perched on a towering knife-edge ridge flanked by two shattered tower remnants of a now…

  • Nishat Bagh

    Srinagar

    Of all Srinagar's Mughal gardens, Nishat Bagh is arguably the most appealing, with beautiful water features that frame a lovely lake panorama. It's on…

  • Leh Old Town

    Leh

    Behind Leh’s central Jamia Masjid, winding alleys and stairways burrow between and beneath a series of old mud-brick Ladakhi houses and eroded chortens…

  • Yungdrung Gompa

    Ladakh

    Lamayuru's gompa is one of the most photogenic Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh. Behind glass within the gompa’s main prayer hall is a tiny cave-niche in…

  • Thajiwas Valley

    Srinagar & the Kashmir Valley

    Five fingers of glacier descend from a fine array of Alpine peaks in the parallel valley behind Sonamarg. The scene is best appreciated from a small…

  • Spituk Gompa

    Leh

    Founded in the late 14th century as See-Thub (Exemplary) Monastery, impressive Spituk Gompa surveys the Sengye Tsangpo (Indus) Valley, with surreal views…

  • Shanti Stupa

    Shanti Stupa

    Leh

    Dominating Leh from a high, rocky ridge, this gigantic white spired pudding of a stupa was built between 1983 and 1991 by Japanese monks to promote world…

  • Stongdey Gompa

    Kashmir & Ladakh

    One of Zanskar's most important monasteries, Stongdey Gompa doesn't look like much when viewed from below, but it crowns a bird’s-eye perch with…

  • Hari Parbat Fort

    Srinagar

    On the strategically and spiritually significant Koh-e-Maran hill, north of the city centre, is this powerful qila (fort), which dates to the 6th century…

  • Chemrey Monastery

    Ladakh

    Spectacularly viewed across barley fields and buckthorn bushes, Chemrey village is dominated by the beautifully proportioned Thekchhok Gompa covering a…

  • Guru Lhakhang

    Ladakh

    Restored by the army in the late 1990s, this tiny white cube of a temple is said to date back to the time of the 'Great Translator' Ringchen Zangpo (10th…

  • Gotsang Hermitage

    Ladakh

    Predating Hemis Monastery by several centuries, Gotsang is a hillside hermitage with two attractive main temple buildings. The main shrine is the mountain…

  • LAMO

    Leh

    This arts-media trust occupies an adjoining pair of 17th-century Ladakhi mansions, one of which was the home of the munshi (king's secretary) and thus one…

  • Vaishno Devi Shrine

    Kashmir & Ladakh

    In a cave within a forested mountain rising steeply above Katra, the Vaishno Devi Shrine was popularised in the 1990s songs of Gulshan Kumar, and has…

  • Shankaracharya Mandir

    Srinagar

    On top of thickly forested Shankaracharya Hill, this small Shiva temple is built from hefty blocks of ancient grey stone. Previously known as Takht-i…

  • Amar Mahal

    Kashmir & Ladakh

    In the 1890s the Dogra maharajas moved from the Mubarak Mandi to this European-style brick mansion in the north of town, with castle-style miniturrets and…

  • Tsemo Fort

    Leh

    Visible from virtually everywhere in Leh, 16th-century Tsemo (Victory) Fort is a defining landmark that crowns the top of Palace Ridge, though there's…

  • Manggyu Temple Complex

    Ladakh

    The trio of millennium-old temple chambers at Manggyu share many of the features that you'll see at the world-famous Choskhor temple complex at Alchi but…

  • Stok Palace

    Ladakh

    This stately three-storey edifice was built in 1820 by King Tsepal Namgyal – a good investment, it turned out, since 14 years later his larger main palace…

  • Basgo Palace

    Ladakh

    Rising above Basgo village on a surreal collection of eroded earthen pinnacles are the photogenic stubs of a once-great palace dating from when Basgo was…

  • Bardan Gompa

    Kashmir & Ladakh

    Bardan Gompa is a fortress-like monastery with a spectacular setting atop a rocky outcrop commanding an S-bend in the Lugnak Valley. The main prayer hall…

  • Zangla Palace

    Kashmir & Ladakh

    The three-storey ruin of a 17th-century royal palace sits on a crag surveying Zangla village and the valley looking north towards Hanamur. From 1823,…

  • Hemis Gompa

    Ladakh

    This expansive, 17th-century monastery is the spiritual centre of Ladakh’s Drukpa Buddhists; it was the fifth Gyaling Drukpa who founded Hemis after…

  • Naranag Shiva temple ruins

    Srinagar & the Kashmir Valley

    Naranag has two enigmatic 8th-century Shiva temple ruins in a beautiful valley setting that gives one the impression of having stumbled across a great…

  • Matho Gompa

    Ladakh

    Perched on a impressive ridge above the village, this little-visited gompa commands stupendous valley views. Ladakh's only major Sakya Buddhist monastery,…

  • Central Asian Museum

    Leh

    One of Leh's most remarkable buildings, this tapered four-storey stone tower is a modern construction based on a historic Lhasa mansion and built on the…

  • Phyang Gompa

    Ladakh

    Sitting on a knoll in the heart of Phyang, this large Drigung Kagyud school monastery complex has been heavily rebuilt in the last decade but its core…

  • Karsha Gompa

    Kashmir & Ladakh

    At the far side of a wide plain around 2½ hours’ walk from Padum, Karsha Gompa is Zanskar’s largest Buddhist monastery. Dating to at least the 10th…

  • Razi Khor

    Ladakh

    Little visited, Chiktan's shattered palace ruins are a startlingly dramatic sight. Originally the 16th-century palace of the Chiktan royals, the structure…

  • Ney Buddha

    Ladakh

    The golden form of Ney's 21st-century Buddha statue is claimed to be 26m tall. In reality it looks about half that high but is still an impressive sight…

  • Mattan Sun Temple

    Srinagar & the Kashmir Valley

    The impressive ruins of this 8th-century Sun Temple built by King Lalitaditya sit in peaceful, well-tended gardens on a hill above Mattan. The site feels…

  • Jama Masjid

    Srinagar

    Looking like the movie set for an imagined Central Asian castle, this mighty 1672 mosque (built on an earlier 1394 construction) forms a quadrangle around…

  • Royal Palace Temple

    Ladakh

    The greatest attraction in Shey's palace complex is the royal temple, with its splendid 17th-century Buddha statue. The highly revered 7.5m-tall gilded…

  • Hazratbal Mosque

    Srinagar

    Backing onto Dal Lake north of the Old City, this large, white-domed 20th-century mosque enshrines Kashmir’s holiest Islamic relic, the Moi-e-Muqqadas,…

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