Discover Lhasa
Yamdrok Lake
羊卓雍措
One of Tibet's three great sacred lakes, a long turquoise arm of water at 4,440 m seen from the Kamba La pass on the road south from Lhasa. The colour against the bare brown ranges is the image most people carry away from Tibet.
The story
What makes this place special
Yamdrok Tso lies about 100km southwest of Lhasa at 4,441m, covering around 638 square kilometres, up to 72km long, averaging 30m deep and reaching about 60m at its deepest. It is one of the four great sacred lakes of Tibet, a fan-shaped body of water with long arms between bare ridges. The Yamdrok hydropower station, at Baidi at the western end, was completed and dedicated in 1996 and is the largest power station in Tibet; the project was contentious. Samding monastery stands on a peninsula in the lake and is the only Tibetan monastery headed by a female reincarnation, the Samding Dorje Phagmo, with a community of around thirty monks and nuns.
What you’ll discover
The standard visit is the view from the Kamba La pass on the Lhasa-Gyantse road, where the road tops out on a ridge and the whole turquoise lake appears below you between brown mountains, with prayer flags, yaks saddled for photographs and vendors at the lay-by. Beyond the pass the road drops to the shore and runs along the water for many kilometres towards Nagartse, which is the better part and is where almost nobody stops.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Do not accept the pass viewpoint as the visit. The twenty minutes at Kamba La is a photo stop on a coach itinerary; driving down to the shore and walking at the water's edge is a different experience, and the lake arms past Nagartse are emptier and better.
- This is the day a Lhasa trip goes highest. The road crosses Kamba La well above the lake, and the lakeside itself is at about 4,440m, roughly 800m above Lhasa. Visitors who are fine in the city often get a headache here, and the common mistake is doing it on day two. Schedule it after three or four days at Lhasa altitude.
- Yaks at the pass are charged for. Agree the price before you sit on one or take the photograph, and expect to be asked again afterwards.
- The light is east-facing, so the lake reads bluest in the morning. Afternoon visits often get flat grey water and more cloud.
- The drive is 2.5 to 3 hours each way on mountain road and most trips combine it with Karola glacier and Gyantse. As a day return from Lhasa it is a long day in a vehicle at altitude; as the first leg of a trip to Shigatse it makes much more sense.
- There is nothing to eat at the pass worth eating and no reliable toilets between stops. Nagartse has basic restaurants.
When to come
Morning, for the blue water and clearest air, between April and October. The road over Kamba La can close for snow in winter and early spring, and the lake partially freezes, which is striking but adds risk to the drive.
Getting around
The Kamba La viewpoint is a roadside lay-by, so a wheelchair user can be driven to the view and see the lake from the vehicle or a short distance from it, which makes this one of the few high-altitude sights that is effectively accessible. The ground is loose gravel and uneven. The lakeshore stops are similar: vehicle access to within metres of the water, rough ground thereafter. Samding monastery involves a climb and is not accessible. The real issue is not steps but five to six hours in a vehicle above 4,000m.
Worth knowing before you go
The Kamba La viewpoint sits around 4,700 m — nearly 1,100 m above Lhasa — so do this after several days of acclimatising, not on arrival. Photographers at the pass charge for posing with decorated yaks and mastiffs; agree the price first.
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