Leh
The early 15th-century Chamba Lhakhang was one of a trio of Maitreya ('future Buddha') temples built in Leh by King Draspa Bum-lde. The obvious centrepiece is a colourful, oft-repainted three-storey Buddha. However, the more unique features are original medieval mural fragments between the inner and outer walls (look left as you enter).
Getting in is a hit-and-miss affair. This is often one of the sights covered on an Old City Heritage Walk.
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Bearing a passing similarity to the Potala Palace in Lhasa (Tibet), this nine-storey dun-coloured edifice is Leh's dominant structure and architectural…
8.81 MILES
Glorious Thiksey Gompa is one of Ladakh’s biggest and most recognisable monasteries, photogenically cascading down a raised rocky promontory. At its heart…
23.94 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…
25.93 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…
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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…
18.36 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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Till the 1950s, this temple was Leh's main Buddhist place of public worship. It features internal murals celebrating the pantheon of 1000 Buddhas, of…
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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…
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Bearing a passing similarity to the Potala Palace in Lhasa (Tibet), this nine-storey dun-coloured edifice is Leh's dominant structure and architectural…
0.06 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…
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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…
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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…
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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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With its coppiced willows, the large courtyard of this 20th-century temple offers an oasis of relatively meditative calm just steps from the bustle of…