Leh
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 takes you past a curious stupa-monument.
The small main prayer room features a portrait of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche (died 2004), Ladakh’s former Gelukpa head lama. His reincarnation, still a child, will eventually move to the gilt-roofed residence opposite the monastery.
0.55 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…
9.38 MILES
Glorious Thiksey Gompa is one of Ladakh’s biggest and most recognisable monasteries, photogenically cascading down a raised rocky promontory. At its heart…
23.7 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…
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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…
25.36 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…
4.71 MILES
Founded in the late 14th century as See-Thub (Exemplary) Monastery, impressive Spituk Gompa surveys the Sengye Tsangpo (Indus) Valley, with surreal views…
0.57 MILES
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…
18.89 MILES
Spectacularly viewed across barley fields and buckthorn bushes, Chemrey village is dominated by the beautifully proportioned Thekchhok Gompa covering a…
1. Ladakh Rocks & Minerals Museum
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This sweet one-room museum outside Sankar Gompa presents labelled examples of Ladakh's geological curiosities, including a natural lingam (phallic image…
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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…
0.35 MILES
This large 9th-century whitewashed stupa rises in concentric serrated layers flanked by numerous chortens. The charming, shady setting retains a…
0.53 MILES
Namgyal Tsemo Gompa consists of two little 15th-century temple buildings directly beneath the Tsemo Fort ruins. One enshrines an 8m-tall gold-faced…
0.54 MILES
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…
0.54 MILES
Ladakh's largest stupa is unlike anything else in the region – a giant, bulky mud-brick structure that looks like a half-built ziggurat (stepped pyramid).
0.55 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…
0.56 MILES
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…