Labrang Monastery

Labrang was founded in 1709 and became one of the six great Gelug monasteries, with colleges teaching philosophy, medicine, astrology and tantra, and a monk population that ran into the thousands. It sits at about 2,900 metres in a valley in southern Gansu, in a Tibetan cultural region well outside the Tibet Autonomous Region and therefore reachable without special permits. Around the complex runs a kora lined with prayer wheels, more than a thousand of them in covered corridors, described locally as the longest such circuit in the world, turned continuously by pilgrims. Monk-guided tours enter the assembly halls and colleges.

What you actually see

• The prayer wheel corridor - over a thousand wheels around the complex.
• The colleges - the teaching institutes for philosophy, medicine and astrology.
• The assembly halls - great temples entered on guided tours.
• The pilgrim kora - the constant clockwise circuit around the monastery.

When to go

April to October for mild weather; Monlam in late winter is the great festival, with a giant thangka unrolled on the hillside, and draws large crowds in bitter cold. Nights are cold year-round at altitude.

Honest expectations

No Tibet permit is needed here, unlike in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Interior tours run on a fixed schedule and photography inside is restricted. Xiahe is small with basic accommodation.

Nearby

Langmusi lies south; Lanzhou is northeast.