Religious site · TIBET AUTONOMOUS REGION · UNESCO
Drepung Monastery
哲蚌寺 · Zhébàng Sì
About
Once the largest monastery in the world (10,000+ monks). 8 km west of Lhasa. Active Gelugpa monastery; debating courtyard sessions in the afternoon.
Drepung Monastery, founded in 1416, was once home to as many as 10,000 monks, making it the largest Buddhist monastery in the world. Located at the foot of Mt Gambo Utse 8 km west of central Lhasa. The complex contains four monastic colleges; the Ganden Phodrang was the residence of the Dalai Lamas before the Fifth moved to the Potala. Active Gelugpa institution today, with a much-reduced but still substantial monastic population.
How to get there
Bus 24 from Lhasa or hire car (15 km from centre).
When to visit
Morning. The Shoton Festival in August has the giant thangka unveiling.
Other attractions in Lhasa
Itineraries featuring this site
- Tibet — 8 days with permit guidance
8d · Lhasa, Yamdrok, Shigatse and Gyantse — the standard agency-tour Tibet circuit.
- Tibetan Plateau — Lhasa, Shigatse and Everest Base Camp, 10 days
10d · Ten days on the Tibetan Plateau visiting Lhasa's monasteries and palaces, the Tashilhunpo at Shigatse, and the Rongbuk Monastery approach to Everest Base Camp — with practical permit guidance.
- Overnight train romance — soft-sleeper journeys across China, 10 days
10d · Ten days structured around China's overnight soft-sleeper trains — Beijing to Xi'an, Xi'an to Chengdu, Chengdu to Lhasa — experiencing the transition from one landscape to the next at a human pace, through the night.
- Three weeks deep — adds Yunnan and Tibet
21d · Two weeks comprehensive plus Yunnan loop (Kunming, Dali, Lijiang) and a Tibet permit-tour to Lhasa.
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