Few places in the world hold a fascination like Lhasa's. At 3.650 metres, in a valley on the Tibetan plateau surrounded by bare mountains and skies of the most intense blue, the capital of Tibet is the spiritual heart of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the most revered holy cities in Asia. Here stands the majestic Potala Palace, former residence of the Dalai Lamas, and here beats the Jokhang Temple, the holiest in Tibetan Buddhism, surrounded day and night by pilgrims spinning prayer wheels and prostrating themselves on the ground, sometimes after travelling hundreds of kilometres.
Travelling to Lhasa means stepping into a profoundly different culture, with its own language, script, religion, architecture of sloping walls and centuries-old history on the 'roof of the world'. It is also a demanding trip because of the altitude, which forces you to go slowly and acclimatise, and a trip with its own rules: because of its political and administrative situation, foreign travellers cannot explore Tibet independently, but must have a special permit and an organised tour with a guide. It's best to be clear about this from the start so you can plan properly.
This guide covers Lhasa with a practical, warm and respectful eye: what to see in the city and its monasteries, how to prepare for the altitude, how the Tibet permit works and what to keep in mind to enjoy such a special and sensitive destination. Lhasa is not a destination to tick off a list, but one to experience calmly, attentively and with respect for one of the most unique living cultures on the planet.
Lhasa has been tied to the history of Tibet since the 7th century, when King Songtsen Gampo unified the plateau, founded the Tibetan Empire and established his capital here, building the first temples —among them the Jokhang— to house Buddhist images brought by his Nepalese and Chinese wives. Buddhism, blended with local beliefs, became over the centuries the backbone of Tibetan culture, and from the 15th century onwards the Gelug school and the institution of the Dalai Lamas gained primacy. In the 17th century, the Fifth Dalai Lama unified Tibet under his religious and political authority and ordered the construction of the great Potala Palace on a hill in Lhasa, consolidating the city as both spiritual and temporal capital. Throughout its history, Tibet maintained complex relations with the Mongol and Chinese Qing empires. In 1950-1951 the region was incorporated into the newly founded People's Republic of China; in 1959, after an uprising in Lhasa, the current (14th) Dalai Lama went into exile in India, where he remains. Today Lhasa is the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, a centre of Buddhist pilgrimage and a city undergoing profound transformation. The full history, told soberly and with sources, is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓From the heart of the Silk Road in Xi'an to the fertile Sichuan basin and the Tibetan plateau: inland China of ancient capitals, pandas and the roof of the world.
Read the history of The interior and the west (Tibet) →If you book from here we earn a commission and you pay no more. Prices and availability come from Civitatis.
No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The history of Lhasa as a city begins in the 7th century with one of the most important figures in Tibetan history: King Songtsen Gampo. At a time when the tribes and principalities of the Tibetan Plateau were scattered, Songtsen Gampo united them and founded the Tibetan Empire. This power would go on to rival Tang dynasty China and control large parts of Central Asia. He moved his capital to Lhasa, in the fertile valley of the Kyichu River, and ordered the city's first temples to be built.
Songtsen Gampo is also credited with a key role in bringing Buddhism to Tibet. According to tradition, his two most famous wives were Buddhists and brought sacred images of the Buddha with them: Princess Bhrikuti from Nepal, and Princess Wencheng from the Tang court of China. The Jokhang and Ramoche temples were built to house these images. The Jokhang holds the Jowo Shakyamuni image linked to Princess Wencheng. Over time it became the holiest temple in all of Tibetan Buddhism and the spiritual heart of Lhasa, a name that came to mean 'place of the gods'.
In those early centuries, the Buddhism that arrived from India and China gradually blended with Tibet's native beliefs, including the ancient Bön tradition. From that fusion, and from centuries of later development, came Tibetan Buddhism. Its schools, lineages and rich iconography still fill every corner of Lhasa today.
After the Tibetan Empire collapsed in the 9th century, Tibet went through centuries of political fragmentation, but also of intense religious life. Buddhism took firm root and split into several major schools: Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and, later, Gelug. Each had its own monasteries, lineages of teachers and practices. The monasteries became centres of power, culture and economic life as well as spiritual centres, and much of Tibet's social organisation revolved around them.
A turning point came in the early 15th century with Je Tsongkhapa, a great reformer who founded the Gelug school (the 'Yellow Hats'), with a strong focus on monastic discipline and study. This school gave rise to the three great monasteries around Lhasa: Ganden, Drepung and Sera. In time it also produced the institution that would shape Tibet's history, the Dalai Lamas. The title 'Dalai Lama' ('ocean of wisdom') became established in the 16th century. It rests on the belief that each Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of the one before, and an emanation of Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig), the bodhisattva of compassion and patron of Tibet.
This system of reincarnations, along with that of other great lamas such as the Panchen Lama, gave Tibetan Buddhism a distinctive structure. Religious leadership, and sometimes political leadership, passes on through the search in each generation for the child in whom the late teacher has been reborn. Lhasa, with its great Gelug monasteries and sacred temples, became the centre of this whole spiritual world.
Lhasa became the religious and political capital of Tibet in the 17th century, under the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, known as 'the Great Fifth'. With military support from Mongol allies, he unified Tibet under the authority of the Gelug school. He set up a government, the Ganden Phodrang, in which the Dalai Lama held both spiritual and worldly leadership. He was a political figure of the first rank, as well as a scholar and a patron.
His most visible and lasting decision was to order the construction of the Potala Palace, starting in 1645, on Marpo Ri hill. Tradition placed fortifications from the time of Songtsen Gampo on that same site. The Potala, with its white and red walls rising in terraces above Lhasa, became the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas, the seat of the Tibetan government and a great monastery. To this day it remains the ultimate symbol of Tibet. Its Red Palace houses the magnificent funerary stupas of several Dalai Lamas.
Over the following centuries, Tibet had complex and shifting relations with neighbouring powers, especially the Mongols and China's Qing dynasty. At different times these powers exercised varying degrees of influence and protection over Lhasa, and imperial high commissioners (ambans) were stationed there. The exact nature of these relations is open to differing historical interpretations: guardianship, spiritual alliance or sovereignty. That question lies behind later debates on the status of Tibet.
The 20th century deeply changed the history of Tibet. This chapter is best told soberly, sticking to the facts and acknowledging that there are conflicting interpretations. After the Qing dynasty fell in 1911, the 13th Dalai Lama declared Tibet's independence and exercised it in practice. For decades Tibet functioned as an autonomous territory with its own government in Lhasa, although its international status was never widely recognised.
In 1950, shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the People's Liberation Army entered eastern Tibet. The following year, in 1951, the so-called 'Seventeen Point Agreement' was signed, incorporating Tibet into the People's Republic of China. The Tibetan government in exile maintains that the agreement was signed under duress. In 1959, after rising tensions, an uprising broke out in Lhasa and was put down. In the middle of that crisis, the current 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, fled to India. He set up a Tibetan government in exile there and has lived there ever since. Tens of thousands of Tibetans followed him into exile.
The following decades were especially hard for Tibet's religious and cultural heritage, above all during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Many monasteries across Tibet were damaged or destroyed, and religious practice was severely repressed throughout China. The Tibet Autonomous Region was officially created in 1965. Since then there has been a long and delicate political conflict over the status of Tibet, the rights and culture of the Tibetan people, and relations between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama. The Chinese authorities, the Tibetan government in exile and various international observers hold very different positions.
Today's Lhasa is a city of strong contrasts. On one hand, it is still the spiritual heart of the Tibetan people and a major Buddhist pilgrimage destination. Every day, thousands of pilgrims walk the Barkhor circuit around the Jokhang, turn prayer wheels, light yak-butter lamps and prostrate themselves before the temples. These scenes of deep, living faith leave a strong impression on any visitor. The Potala Palace, the Jokhang Temple and the Norbulingka palace together form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognised for their exceptional historical, artistic and spiritual value.
On the other hand, Lhasa has changed enormously in recent decades. The Qinghai–Tibet railway, the highest in the world, arrived in 2006. It linked the city by train to the rest of China and sped up its modernisation and growth, along with the arrival of tourism and investment. The city has spread out with avenues, modern buildings and new neighbourhoods around the traditional old town. This change has brought development and infrastructure. It has also raised debates over the preservation of Tibetan culture, the city's demographic make-up and the balance between modernisation and tradition. Views on these questions vary.
For travellers, Lhasa today is a destination as fascinating as it is unique. A visit means adjusting to the altitude of the 'roof of the world', getting the special Tibet permit and touring with a guide. It also calls for respect towards a living culture and for the sensitivity of the issues that run through it. In return, it offers one of the most intense and memorable experiences of any journey: a humble glimpse into one of the most extraordinary spiritual and cultural traditions on the planet.
