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Drak Yerpa

Drak Yerpa

  • Location: Zhayeba Valley, Dazi County, 32km east from Lhasa
  • Altitude: 4,885 meters
  • Opening Hours: 9:00-17:30
  • Admission Fee: CNY 40 (tips: Reference only; Please check the attraction’s actual price on the day of your visit.)
  • How to Get There: (1) The shuttle bus would depart from Lhasa City at 8:00, driving all the way to Drak Yerpa, and returns to Lhasa at 13:00. The round-trip ticket is about CNY 40. (2) You can hire a private car from Lhasa to Drak Yerpa. The one-way trip covers 32km and takes around 1 hour.
  • Best Time to Visit: You can go to Drak Yerpa all year round.

About Drak Yerpa

For those with an interest in Tibetan Buddhism, Dra Yerpa hermitage, about 16km northeast of Lhasa, is one of the holiest cave retreats. Among the many ascetics who have sojourned here are Guru Rinpoche and Atisha, the Bengali Buddhist who spent 12 years proselytizing in Tibet. King Songtsen Gampo also meditated in a cave, after his Tibetan wife established the first of Yerpa’s chapels. The peaceful site offers lovely views and is a great day trip from Lhasa.

   

At one time the hill at the base of the cave-dotted cliffs was home to Yerpa Drubde Monastery, the summer residence of Lhasa's Gyuto College at the Ramoche Monastery. The monastery was destroyed in 1959. Monks have begun to return to Yerpa but numbers are strictly controlled by the government, which carries out regular patriotic study sessions.

   

From the car park, take the left branch of the stairway to visit the caves in a clockwise fashion. The 1st caves are the Rigsum Gompo Cave and the Temjl Drubpuk, the cace where Stisha meditated. Look for the stone footprints of Yeshe Tsogyel in the former and the 5th Dalai Lama in the latter. At one nearby cave, pilgrims squeeze through a hole in the rock wall; at another, they take a sip of holy water.

   

The yellow Jamkhang has an impressive 2-story statue of Jampa flanked by Chana Dorje to the left and Namse and Tamdrin to the right. Other statues are of Atisha flanked by the 5th Dalai Lama and Tsongkhapa. The upper cave is the Drubthubpuk, recognizable by its black yak-hair curtain. Continuing east along the ridge a detour leads up to a chorten that offers fine views of the valley.


Climb to the Chogyal-puk, the Cave of Songtsen Gampo. The interior chapel has a central thousand-armed Chenresig statue known as Chaktong Chentong. Pilgrims circle the central rock pillar continually. A small cave and statue of Songtsen Gampo are in the righthand corner.

Recommended Tour Itineraries Including Drak Yerpa

As a hermitage of Tibetan Buddhism, Drak Yerpa boasts numerous sacred caves for retreat, attracting many tourists who are interested in Tibetan religion. Once you reach in Lhasa, you can spend some time visiting drak Yerpa. Check the top 4 highly recommended Tibet tours.

Tourist Attractions Nearby Drak Yerpa

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