Dharamsala
Built in 1928, this former seasonal retreat of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir is given character by its distinctive octagonal corner-pieces. The lawn-fronted setting is quiet yet only 500m uphill from the bazaar area, but don't expect too much from the 11 rooms, which are rather bare, ageing affairs.
Take the narrow lane that branches east as you climb towards the more obvious Bliss Valley hotel.
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McLeod's main focus for visiting pilgrims, monks and most tourists is the Tsuglagkhang complex, a custard-coloured concrete monastic village that's home…
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Soothingly set amid bamboo, trees and flowing water, the delightful Norbulingka Institute, 6km southeast of Dharamsala, was established in 1988 to teach…
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Between Palampur and Bir, don't miss a stop in Baijnath, whose uninteresting main-street buildings hide one of Himachal's most exquisite ancient temples…
Lakshmi Narayan Temple Complex
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Far and away Chamba's top historical attraction, this temple compound crowning Dogra Bazaar contains a line of six beautifully sculpted stone sikharas …
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Meaning 'honoured flame', Jawal-Ji is Jawalmukhi's main temple and raison d'être, enshrining natural eternal flames that are said to mark the legendary…
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Rare for North India, Masrur's elaborate if severely eroded sandstone sikharas were hewn from living rock between the 8th and 10th centuries. With a…
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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…
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The upland area of Dhainkund (2745m) is the most uplifting of many beauty spots around Dalhousie, with a 360-degree panorama encompassing the Pir Pinjal…
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Three floors of displays explain the sophisticated sciences of Tibetan astrology and medicine.
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Men-Tsee-Khang is an organisation established to preserve the traditional arts of Tibetan medicine and astrology. The Gangchen Kyishong branch includes a…
3. Library of Tibetan Works & Archives
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Inside the government-in-exile compound, nearly 2km downhill from the Tsuglagkhang complex, the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives began life as a…
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Upstairs in the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives is a small but interesting cultural museum with statues, old Tibetan artefacts and books, and a couple…
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Downstairs behind the government-in-exile building, the colourful Nechung Gompa is seat of the Tibetan state oracle, a monk named Thupten Ngodup.
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The Museum of Kangra Art displays some fine miniature paintings from the Kangra school, along with traditional costumes and photos from the devastating…
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Visiting the Tsuglagkhang clockwise, as is required by Buddhist convention, you pass a prostrating area then a door leads into the westernmost building,…
8. Tsuglagkhang Main Temple Room
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Spiritually (if certainly not architecturally) the Tsuglagkhang's 1969 central temple room is the exiles’ concrete equivalent of the Jokhang temple in…