Experience the best of Lhasa

Lhasa lies at about 3,650 metres in a broad valley by the Kyichu River, ringed by bare mountains, and is the cultural heart of Tibet. The Potala Palace, the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas from the 17th century, rises in white and red tiers above the city. Its rooms hold chapels, tombs and murals, and the Norbulingka, the summer palace, sits in leafy gardens to the west.

In the heart of the old town, the Jokhang Temple, founded in the seventh century, draws pilgrims who prostrate before its doors, and the Barkhor, a circuit of lanes around it, is crowded with people turning prayer wheels. The great monasteries of Drepung and Sera lie on the outskirts, with debating monks in the courtyard at Sera, and Ganden stands on a mountain ridge east of the city.

Tibetan food is hearty: tsampa, roasted barley flour, momo dumplings, thukpa noodle soup and salty butter tea made with yak butter. The air is thin and the sunlight strong, with dry, cold winters under clear blue skies and mild summers. Each summer the Shoton festival brings Tibetan opera to the Norbulingka gardens.