Ladakh Buddhist Heritage & Monastery Study Tour

Route: Leh airport to hotel

Your guide and driver meet you at Leh airport and take you to the hotel. Every flight to Leh lands in the morning, because winds pick up later in the day at an airport about 3,250 m high.

Leh is at 3,500 m. The Ladakh tourism advisory asks new arrivals to rest on the first day and add no more than about 500 m of sleeping height a day after that. Today is for rest. Drink plenty of fluids and skip alcohol tonight.

Experience of the Day

–  Met at Leh airport by your guide and driver.

–  A full rest day at 3,500 m, as the Ladakh tourism advisory asks of new arrivals.

Food

Lunch and dinner at the Leh hotel.

Activities to Do

Light rest only today. No sightseeing is planned on arrival day.

Route: Leh hotel – Old Town – Namgyal Tsemo – Leh Palace – Leh hotel

The morning is free for rest. In the afternoon your guide holds a briefing at the hotel and hands over the study pack, with a short account of how Buddhism reached Ladakh. The first wave came in the 7th century from Tibet and faded. The second, from the 10th century, came largely through Kashmir and left the early temple art you will see in the west. Later, from the 15th century onward, Central Tibetan schools took over as the main source of style.

The primer then sets out the schools you will meet. The Kagyu lineage, which in Ladakh includes the Drikung and Drukpa branches, traces itself to Marpa and Milarepa. The Gelug, founded by Tsongkhapa in the 14th and 15th centuries, is known for its monastic scholarship. The Sakya hold the lineage of the Khon family, and the Nyingma, the oldest school, look back to Padmasambhava in the 8th century. In the late afternoon, walk the Old Town to Namgyal Tsemo, the hilltop Gelug gompa of the 16th century with a three-storey Maitreya, and to the nine-storey Leh Palace, built in the 17th century under King Sengge Namgyal.

Experience of the Day

–  A briefing on the schools and a study pack.

–  The hilltop gompa at Namgyal Tsemo and the nine-storey Leh Palace.

–  A first pulse-oximeter reading for each guest.

Food

Breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Leh hotel.

Activities to Do

A slow Old Town walk and the briefing in the afternoon.

Shopping

The main bazaar sells prayer flags, singing bowls and printed thangkas, which are different from the hand-painted ones you see on Day 3.

Route: Leh – Spituk – Phyang – Choglamsar – Leh

Spituk, about 8 km from Leh, is a Gelug monastery said to have been founded in the 11th century. A shrine to Palden Lhamo, the protective goddess, holds a statue shown to the public only at the winter Gustor festival. Phyang, about 15 km west of Leh, belongs to the Drikung Kagyu school and was founded in the 16th century. Its museum holds Kashmiri bronzes dated to about the 14th century, thangkas and old weapons. Seeing a Gelug and a Drikung Kagyu house on the same morning is the first comparison of the tour.

In the afternoon you spend three hours in the studio of a thangka painter near Choglamsar. Thangkas are painted on cotton or silk stretched over a frame and coated with chalk and glue, using colours ground from minerals and plants, and gold for the sacred details. The painter shows the grid of proportions that every figure follows, and you try a first outline and a first wash of colour. It is a taste of the craft, and it makes the walls at Alchi easier to read.

Experience of the Day

–  Spituk's Palden Lhamo shrine and Phyang's museum of bronzes.

–  A three-hour thangka session with a painter.

–  A first comparison of a Gelug and a Drikung Kagyu monastery.

Food

Breakfast and dinner at the Leh hotel; lunch near Phyang.

Activities to Do

A morning of monastery visits; an afternoon session with a thangka painter.

The Human Story: The Painter's Studio

Thangka painting is taught in Ladakh within monasteries and by private masters, and a full training takes years. A thangka may take weeks or months, depending on the size and the detail. The painter's fee for the session goes directly to the studio, which is part of the reason the visit is arranged here and not in a shop.

Route: Leh – Phyang road – Basgo – Likir – Alchi area – Nurla (about 3,100 m)

The road follows the Indus west. At Basgo, about 40 km from Leh, a hilltop of ruined royal buildings holds several temples dedicated to Maitreya. In the Chamba Lhakhang, commissioned under King Tashi Namgyal in the mid-16th century, the murals were painted under his nephew Tsewang Namgyal by an artist from Spituk, in a fully developed Central Tibetan style. It shows the shift from Kashmiri forms to the Central Tibetan style that would dominate Ladakh from then on. Nearby, the Serzang temple holds a gilded-copper Maitreya of about 6 m, with Drukpa Kagyu lineage paintings and the Eight Medicine Buddhas on its walls.

Likir, further along, was founded in 1065 and now follows the Gelug school. Its 23 m Maitreya, completed in 1999, is visible from far down the valley, and the monastery looks after Alchi's temples. Lunch is at Likir, and you reach Nurla in the afternoon. The altitude drops to about 3,100 m, a good change for sleep.

Experience of the Day

–  The Chamba Lhakhang murals at Basgo, in Central Tibetan style.

–  Likir's 23 m Maitreya.

–  A first evening in the quieter Alchi valley.

Food

Breakfast at the Leh hotel; lunch at Likir; dinner at the Nurla hotel.

Activities to Do

Monastery visits with short walks between temples.

Route: Nurla – Alchi Choskhor – Mangyu – Sumda Chun – Nurla

Alchi is the centre of the plan, and the whole morning is given to it. The Choskhor stands on the south bank of the Indus at about 3,100 m, and tradition credits Rinchen Zangpo, the great translator, with founding it. Scholars now place the main temples between the 11th and early 13th centuries, and a recent reading of the inscriptions gives a patron of the 12th century. Your guide sets out the debate and lets you judge from the walls.

The Dukhang, the assembly hall, holds mandalas of the Vairochana cycle and a royal drinking scene, with figures in Central Asian dress. The Sumtsek, the three-storey temple, holds three colossal clay figures of Avalokiteshvara, Maitreya and Manjushri, each about 4 to 5 m tall, with murals and carved wood in styles that came from Kashmir. In the afternoon, a drive takes you to Mangyu, about 15 km away, where Buddhist temples of the late 12th or early 13th century were conserved over five seasons, and to Sumda Chun, a village linked to the family that founded Alchi, whose temple holds clay figures of Maitreya and Avalokiteshvara.

Experience of the Day

–  The Dukhang mandalas and the royal drinking scene.

–  The Sumtsek's three colossal clay figures.

–  Mangyu and Sumda Chun, opened by a caretaker.

Food

Breakfast and dinner at the Nurla hotel; lunch at a village home near Alchi.

Activities to Do

Long, slow hours inside the temples, with sketching and note-taking.

The Human Story: Keepers of the Walls

The Alchi temples are cared for by a small community, and the monks of Likir look after them. Photography is not allowed inside the halls, because flash and handling harm the ancient paint. Your guide asks you to take notes and make sketches instead, and the evening at Nurla is the time to compare them.

Route: Nurla – Rizong – Khaltse – Wanla – Lamayuru (3,510 m)

Rizong, a Gelug monastery founded in 1831, lies in a quiet valley near the highway and keeps strict monastic discipline. Your guide arranges the visit in advance and asks about the hours. At Khaltse the road turns up the Yapola valley to Wanla, where the temple stands on a rock above the village, within the ruins of an old fort.

The Wanla temple, called Chuchikzhal after its main figure, dates from the late 13th or early 14th century, when it was built by a local patron. It is a three-storey building with a clay Avalokiteshvara of eleven heads, about 5 m tall, flanked by Maitreya and Shakyamuni, and murals of tantric assemblies and mandalas. A scholar has called it one of the earliest encyclopedic temples in Tibetan art. It belongs to the Drikung Kagyu school, and Lamayuru is its parent house.

From Wanla the road continues to Lamayuru, which is about 13 km away in a straight line. If the track is closed, your driver returns by Khaltse and the highway, which adds about an hour. Lamayuru is at 3,510 m, about the height of Leh.

Experience of the Day

–  Rizong, a monastery of strict discipline.

–  The three-storey Wanla temple and its eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara.

–  Arrival at Lamayuru in the evening light.

Food

Breakfast at the Nurla hotel; lunch on the road or at Wanla; dinner at the Lamayuru hotel.

Activities to Do

A rock-top climb to the Wanla temple and fort; the walk to Lamayuru's lower terraces.

Route: Lamayuru – Fotu La – Namika La – Mulbekh – Lamayuru

Lamayuru Monastery stands above the Moonland, a landscape of eroded lake sediments. It follows the Drikung Kagyu school and, by tradition, began as a Bon site. The visitor can reach it from about 6 am, and the dawn prayer is worth the early start, with the monastic community gathered in the hall. The oldest temple, Seng-ge-sgang, is credited to Rinchen Zangpo, and a cave in the main hall is said to be where the Indian scholar Naropa meditated.

After the prayer, the road climbs over Fotu La and down past Namika La to Mulbekh, about an hour and a half away. The Chamba, a 9 m Maitreya carved into a rock face, is dated by scholars between the 1st and 8th centuries, and it is among the early Buddhist monuments of Ladakh. Above the road stand two old monasteries, Serdung of the Drukpa Kagyu and Gandentse of the Gelug. You return to Lamayuru by the afternoon, with time for the Moonland walk and the evening light.

Experience of the Day

–  Dawn prayer at Lamayuru with the monastic community.

–  The 9 m Maitreya carved into the rock at Mulbekh.

–  Naropa's cave and the Moonland at sunset.

Food

Breakfast at the Lamayuru hotel; lunch at Mulbekh; dinner at the Lamayuru hotel.

Activities to Do

A prayer at dawn, a short climb at Mulbekh and a late-afternoon walk above Lamayuru.

Route: Lamayuru – Khaltse – Nimmu – Leh

Start with another look at the monastery in the early light, then drive down the Indus. The road passes Khaltse, then Nimmu, where the Zanskar river joins the Indus, and reaches Leh by early afternoon.

The afternoon is free. Rest, sort your notes, and look through the study pack with the west fresh in mind. The east, to be seen over the next two days, is a different chapter: the monasteries of the Drukpa and Sakya schools, built mostly after the 15th century under the Namgyal kings.

Experience of the Day

–  A second dawn at Lamayuru.

–  The Zanskar and Indus rivers meeting at Nimmu.

–  An afternoon of review in Leh.

Food

Breakfast at the Lamayuru hotel; lunch on the road; dinner at the Leh hotel.

Activities to Do

A morning visit and a driving day; the afternoon is free.

Route: Leh – Thiksey – Shey – Stakna – Matho – Leh

Thiksey, 19 km from Leh, is a Gelug monastery of the mid-15th century, with twelve storeys rising up a hill. The dawn prayer begins at about 6:30 am, and the monks' horns, drums and chanting in the hall are the reason for the early start. The Maitreya temple holds a 15 m statue from 1970. At Shey, 15 km from Leh, a palace and gompa were built in 1655 by King Deldan Namgyal in memory of his father. A copper-gilt Shakyamuni about 12 m high rises through three floors, and the ruined palace above was the summer capital of Ladakh.

Stakna, on the Indus, follows the Drukpa Kagyu school, and its late-16th-century founding by a Bhutanese teacher gives it a link with Bhutan unusual in Ladakh. Matho, the only Sakya monastery in Ladakh, was founded in 1410 and holds a museum with thangkas dated to the 14th century. Its oracle festival, the Nagrang, takes place in March, and your guide explains how two monks are chosen and trained for it.

Experience of the Day

–  Dawn prayer at Thiksey, with horns, drums and chanting.

–  The 12 m Shakyamuni at Shey.

–  Stakna and Matho, two schools in one afternoon.

Food

Breakfast before the dawn prayer; lunch near Stakna; dinner at the Leh hotel.

Activities to Do

Monastery visits with short walks; a rooftop view at Thiksey.

Route: Leh – Takthok – Chemrey – Hemis – Leh

Takthok, about 46 km east of Leh, is the only Nyingma monastery in Ladakh. It was built in the 16th century around the cave where Padmasambhava is said to have meditated, and its name means rock roof. The main temple has a low rock ceiling blackened by centuries of butter lamps. Chemrey, a few kilometres on, belongs to the Drukpa Kagyu school and was founded in 1664 in memory of King Sengge Namgyal. A statue of Padmasambhava one storey high is its centrepiece.

Hemis, the Drukpa Kagyu monastery about 45 km from Leh, was established in the 1630s under the same king. Its museum holds old thangkas, statues and ceremonial objects, and photography is not allowed inside. In June or July the Hemis festival brings masked dances. A great embroidered thangka is shown only once every twelve years, in the Monkey year. It was last shown in 2016 and is next expected in 2028.

You return to Leh by late afternoon, with the five schools now behind you.

Experience of the Day

–  The rock-roofed cave temple of Takthok.

–  Chemrey's Padmasambhava and silver-ink scripture.

–  Hemis and its museum of old thangkas.

Food

Breakfast at the Leh hotel; lunch near Hemis; dinner at the Leh hotel.

Activities to Do

Monastery visits with short walks; the Hemis museum.

The Human Story: Monks Who Keep the Calendar

Monastic festivals follow the Tibetan lunar calendar, so their dates move by two or three weeks each year. Monks rehearse the masked dances for weeks, and the dances themselves are teachings in movement, made for the community first. If your dates fall on a festival, your guide arranges a place to sit and explains the sequence of dances.

Route: Leh hotel – a monastic teacher – Sankar – Leh hotel

Today is the review. In the morning your guide arranges an hour with a senior monk or a teacher at a monastery school near Leh, with the guide translating. It is a chance to ask what the walls and masks of the past ten days mean to the people who use them. Please bring questions, and come dressed for a temple.

In the afternoon, visit Sankar, a Gelug monastery within the town, and walk through your notes with your guide, laying the monasteries out on a timeline from the Mulbekh Maitreya to Hemis. In the evening, a farewell dinner.

Experience of the Day

–  An hour with a monastic teacher.

–  Sankar monastery in the town.

–  A timeline of the circuit and a farewell dinner.

Food

Breakfast, lunch and a farewell dinner in Leh.

Activities to Do

A morning conversation, an afternoon visit, and a review session.

Shopping

A bookshop in Leh sells scholarly books on Ladakhi art, and the main bazaar sells pashmina and prayer flags.

Route: Leh hotel – Leh airport

Your driver takes you to the airport. Every flight out of Leh leaves in the morning. If you are staying on in Ladakh, today is the day to move on to your next stop.

Guests with an evening international flight from Delhi can connect the same day. The Leh–Delhi flight takes about 1 hour 20 minutes.

Experience of the Day

–  Transfer to Leh airport for a morning flight.

–  Time for last purchases before the airport, if your flight is later.

Food

Breakfast at the hotel; other meals as you choose.

Activities to Do

None scheduled. The day is kept free to flex around your flight time.