Leh
Apart from the parasol tables out the front, you might think you'd arrived at a colourful Tibetan monastery as you enter this photogenic two-storey feast of Ladakhi detail.
The 19 rooms continue the theme, with ornately carved bedheads and chokse (low, colourfully painted tables). Mattresses are comfy, but some bathrooms are cramped. A great delight is sipping tea amid the rose bushes and apple trees in the paved garden that has fine views of Tsemo Fort.
0.28 MILES
Bearing a passing similarity to the Potala Palace in Lhasa (Tibet), this nine-storey dun-coloured edifice is Leh's dominant structure and architectural…
9.14 MILES
Glorious Thiksey Gompa is one of Ladakh’s biggest and most recognisable monasteries, photogenically cascading down a raised rocky promontory. At its heart…
23.69 MILES
The original murals and statues within these four outwardly modest 11th-century temples are considered the crowning glory of Ladakh’s Indo-Tibetan art…
0.32 MILES
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…
25.67 MILES
Directly above Old Diskit, a 2km spaghetti of hairpins winds up to this photogenic monastery complex, much of which dates to between the 14th and 17th…
4.45 MILES
Founded in the late 14th century as See-Thub (Exemplary) Monastery, impressive Spituk Gompa surveys the Sengye Tsangpo (Indus) Valley, with surreal views…
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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…
18.69 MILES
Spectacularly viewed across barley fields and buckthorn bushes, Chemrey village is dominated by the beautifully proportioned Thekchhok Gompa covering a…
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This large 9th-century whitewashed stupa rises in concentric serrated layers flanked by numerous chortens. The charming, shady setting retains a…
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Restored in 2004 but often locked, this 17th-century shrine to Padmasambhava sits on the edge of the Old Town palace ridge, directly below the palace and…
0.28 MILES
Bearing a passing similarity to the Potala Palace in Lhasa (Tibet), this nine-storey dun-coloured edifice is Leh's dominant structure and architectural…
0.29 MILES
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…
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For a charming wander, follow canal streams in the captivating yet relatively accessible area around little Sankar Gompa and the one-room geological…
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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…
0.32 MILES
The timeless two-storey Sankar Gompa is Upper Leh's modest main monastery. It's a calming, meditative place, and the walk to reach it from Sankar Lane…
0.32 MILES
In the heart of Leh's market area, the first mosque on this site was built in 1666–67, sealing a political agreement between Ladakh's then ruler Deldan…