Tibet · A Government Building That Is Also a Reliquary
Potala Palace (布达拉宫)
Two buildings in one: a white palace that housed an administration, and a red one that holds the tombs of the Dalai Lamas. It stands at 3,700 metres and the climb inside is the part visitors underestimate.
Quick Facts
The Short Version
| What it is | The former seat of the Tibetan government and winter residence of the Dalai Lamas, now a museum and a working site of pilgrimage |
|---|---|
| Where | On Marpo Ri, the Red Hill, in the middle of Lhasa |
| Altitude | About 3,700 m at the base. Lhasa sits at roughly 3,650 m |
| When | Begun in 1645 under the Fifth Dalai Lama, on the site of a seventh-century structure. White Palace completed 1648, Red Palace 1694 |
| Listed | UNESCO inscribed it in 1994, with the Jokhang and Norbulingka added later |
| Permits | Foreign nationals need a Tibet Travel Permit and must travel with a licensed guide. Arrange through an agency well before booking flights |
| Booking | Daily visitor numbers are capped and tickets are timed and booked in advance. There is a time limit inside and photography in the chapels is not allowed |
| Time needed | Two hours including the climb and the queue. Longer if you walk the kora |
Why Go
Two Palaces, Two Functions
1. The White Palace was an office
The lower, white part of the building was the working half: government offices, assembly rooms, storerooms, a printing house, the living quarters of the Dalai Lama and the apparatus of an administration that governed from here. Until 1959 this was where Tibet was run from in winter, and the plan reflects that rather than any devotional scheme.
It is worth holding on to while walking through. The building is usually presented as a religious monument and it is one, but half of it is a seat of government of the kind any state would recognise, built on a hill for the same reasons governments always build on hills.
2. The Red Palace holds the dead
The upper, red section is religious, and its core is a series of funerary stupas containing the remains of Dalai Lamas, among them that of the Fifth. They are built up in gold over timber armatures and set with turquoise, coral and amber, and the chambers that hold them are small, dark and stacked on several levels.
There are also assembly halls, chapels and libraries, and the wall paintings in some of the older rooms are the best surviving work of their period. None of it can be photographed, which in practice means visitors look properly instead, and the internal route moves at the pace set by the guides and the time limit.
The catch. The climb is the thing nobody warns you about properly. The approach ramps and then the internal stairs add up to a substantial ascent at 3,700 metres, in a building where you cannot sit down wherever you like and where the visit is timed. Anyone who arrived in Lhasa the previous day will find it hard, and some find it impossible.
Orientation
Booked, Timed, and One Way Through
Entry is at a fixed time on a ticket booked in advance, and the route through the building is one way, from the approach ramps up through the White Palace into the Red Palace and out at the back. There is a limit on how long the internal section may take, and guides keep to it.
The kora, the circuit around the base of the hill, is separate, free, open all day and used continuously by people making the circumambulation. Walking it is the part of a visit here that is not on a schedule.
Practical
Things Worth Knowing
Sort the permit before anything else
Foreign nationals cannot travel to Tibet independently. The permit is arranged by a licensed agency and takes time, and flights booked before it is in hand are a gamble.
Give yourself two days in Lhasa first
Arriving by air at 3,650 m and climbing this building the next morning is the commonest way to have a bad time here. The train from the east acclimatises you gradually; flying does not.
No photography inside
Enforced. Cameras and phones stay away in the chapels, and bags are checked.
Walk the kora even if the ticket sells out
The circuit around the hill is free and open, and for many visitors it is the more memorable half.
Timing
When to Go
| Season | The case for | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| April to June | Clear, dry, and before the summer rain. Comfortable for the climb | Nights are cold at this altitude in any season |
| September to October | The clearest air of the year and the most stable weather | The first week of October is the national holiday and permits and rooms tighten |
| July to August | Warmest, greenest, and the pilgrimage season is at its busiest | The rainy months, and the peak of domestic visitor numbers |
| November to March | Very few visitors, lower prices, and the light on the building is at its best | Cold, and some access arrangements change over the winter |
Context
What the Building Was For
A structure on this hill is attributed to the seventh century and the reign of Songtsen Gampo. What stands now is later: the Fifth Dalai Lama began the present building in 1645, the White Palace was finished in 1648, and the Red Palace was completed in 1694, after his death.
From then until 1959 it functioned as the winter seat of the Tibetan government and the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas, who moved to the Norbulingka park on the edge of the city for the summer. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama left Tibet in 1959 and the building has not been a residence since.
It is now administered as a museum and receives a capped number of visitors a day, while the circuit around its base continues to be walked by pilgrims. Both of those are true at the same time, and a visit here is a visit to a monument and to a place still in devotional use.
Nearby
Other Stops on the Same Trip
Spot · 1 km
Jokhang Temple (大昭寺)
The temple at the centre of the old city, and the destination of the pilgrimage circuits that run through Lhasa.
Spot · 280 km west
Tashi Lhunpo Monastery (扎什伦布寺)
The seat of the Panchen Lamas at Shigatse, founded in 1447 and the main working monastic complex on the usual route west.
Park · 3 km west
Norbulingka (罗布林卡)
The summer palace and its gardens, used from the eighteenth century until 1959.
Where to Base
Lhasa (拉萨)
Lhasa sits at about 3,650 m in a valley on the Kyi river. Almost everything a visitor sees is within the old city or on its edge, and the sensible shape for a trip is two quiet days acclimatising before attempting anything with stairs in it.
The railway from Xining climbs gradually over more than twenty hours and is much kinder to the body than flying in. If the schedule allows it, it is worth the time on medical grounds alone.
Experiences
What You Can Actually Do Here
On site · 2 hr
The timed route through the palace
Approach ramps, White Palace, Red Palace and the funerary stupas, on a fixed schedule with a guide.
Free · 1 hr
The kora around the hill
The circuit at the base, walked clockwise, with prayer wheels along it and people making the circumambulation all day.
Guided · 4 days
Lhasa and Shigatse
The palace, the Jokhang, Norbulingka and the road west to Tashi Lhunpo, paced so the altitude does not spoil it.
Worth the journey, with two conditions: get the permit sorted first, and give yourself two days at altitude before you climb it. Book the timed ticket early, expect the stairs to be harder than they look, and walk the kora as well as the interior. The circuit is free and half the visitors never do it.
Plan a Tibet Route With the Permits Handled
Tell us your dates and what you are after, and our local team will build the route: permits and a licensed guide arranged, Lhasa paced for acclimatisation, timed entry to the palace, and the road west to Shigatse if you want it.