A Retired Couple’s Winter Lhasa Trilogy – Part One: Impressions of Food, Lodging and Transport

Red Chair (June 21, 2022)

From February 19 to 27, 2022, my spouse and I (one about to retire, the other already retired) flew to Lhasa and spent nine utterly delightful days. Without further ado, here’s our actual itinerary (we adjusted roughly 30% from our original plan).

D1: Midday flight from Kunming to Lhasa. Took the airport bus into town and checked into Pingcuo Lakang View Hotel at 7pm. Bundled up in as many layers as possible, we strolled over to Barkhor Street and found Xun Shi restaurant. After dinner at 8pm, we wandered back to the hotel and turned in.

D2: After breakfast we roamed Barkhor Street, then at 10am headed to Potala Square to get a feel for how the two sites sit in relation to each other. At 2pm we visited Jokhang Temple; winter entry is free.

D3: It snowed overnight in Lhasa. From our hotel window we could see the majestic Potala Palace cloaked in shimmering white. We bundled out, crunched through the snow to Potala Square for photos, and even held up a 50-yuan note to frame against the view from the observation deck. At 10am we visited Potala Palace and Lukhang Park; no entrance fees in winter. Midday we relocated to Bangdacang Heritage Hotel.

D4: Another cloudless, brilliant morning. We explored Lhasa’s old quarter, starting from Canggu Temple. In total we visited 13 temples and monasteries, and popped inside many beautiful residential courtyards.

D5: We’d planned to go to Namtso Lake, but heavy snow closed the mountain road. Instead we made a day trip to Yamdrok Lake and Karola Glacier.

D6: Our most relaxed day. The Tibet Museum was closed, but we toured the Serf Liberation Memorial Hall in its side wing and took a slow stroll through Norbulingka. In the evening we went to Potala Square to see the night illuminations. At midday we moved to Chunqiu Oxygen-Enriched Hotel.

D7: Visited two of the three great monasteries that lie in the city – Drepung and Sera. Ran out of time for Zaki Temple, unfortunately.

D8: Morning on Sun Island and Xianzu Island, soaking up the sun and gazing at the Lhasa River. With Tibetan New Year just around the corner, we headed to Tromsikhang Market in the afternoon to soak up the lively atmosphere – we squeezed through the crowds sideways, shoulder to shoulder.

D9: Early morning airport bus, and 10am flight back to Kunming.

As the saying goes, when you’re out and about, talk starts with food, digs and getting around. But truth be told, when planning a trip you have to sort transport, then accommodation, then food. With seven full days all to play in Lhasa, what platform to use? After comparing, we mostly used Ctrip.

Transport: How smoothly it all went was a pleasant surprise. Platforms like Ctrip and Amap offer really good information services, and Lhasa’s public transport services are also excellent.

① Through Ctrip we booked direct return flights with Tibet Airlines on D1 and D9 for two people, totaling 4000 yuan. Ctrip also gave us a 60-yuan transfer voucher for use on our way home in Kunming.

② Lhasa’s airport bus is cheap and convenient. Its city stop is right beside the Potala Palace, a short walk to the hotels we stayed at first and last – a taxi would be just the 10-yuan flagfall.

③ Taxis and city buses in Lhasa are super handy. In total we took more than ten trips combining taxi, bus, tourist coach and airport shuttle – service was good, prices fair, everything smooth and orderly.

Accommodation: We booked eight nights’ lodging on Ctrip. We chose three hotels (Pingcuo Lakang View Hotel, Bangdacang Heritage Hotel, Chunqiu Oxygen-Enriched Hotel) mainly for location, all positioned between the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple. Here’s a rundown:

① Pingcuo Lakang View Hotel sits midway between the Potala and the Jokhang. We’d booked it from Kunming. Our original plan was to stay two nights then move closer to the Jokhang. On arrival we got upgraded to a third-floor room with a window looking straight at the eastern flank of the Potala. Between us and the palace lay low-rise gardens, and the Potala’s night illuminations go on until very late – sitting at the tea table or lying in bed, you have a front-row view. The night after it snowed, the courtyard below lay blanketed in white, and the silver-clad Potala drew us out into the snow all the way to Potala Square. The hotel’s fifth-floor restaurant supposedly has great views too, though we didn’t get to try it.

② Two days later we grabbed a taxi to Bangdacang Hotel, not far away, now right inside Barkhor Street. From a few second- and third-floor rooms, you can see the kora pilgrimage stream just outside your window. On Ctrip the photos look richly red and golden – Bangdacang was once the private residence of an aristocratic family. Staying on the second floor gave us a striking contrast. On one hand, the location is unbeatable; you can step out and wander around the Jokhang and Barkhor, then retreat into the old mansion courtyard, where a room could easily host an elephant pacing back and forth. The old murals and bay windows, bathed in daylight, are easy on the eyes. On the other hand, every entrance from Barkhor to the outside world has a checkpoint, and we queued repeatedly to pass through (the crowds were huge so close to Tibetan New Year). Hotel management was rough and ready; whether it’s in-room facilities or daily service, there’s a gap compared with the other two places we stayed. In short: location is outstanding and irreplaceable; both hard and soft services could be improved – plenty of potential here.

③ Picking Chunqiu Oxygen-Enriched Hotel for our final three nights was unexpected. We’d originally planned to stay in a Xianzu Island homestay and the Gorkha Hotel. But we’d been sleeping badly every night, waking with headaches that only abated after taking paracetamol powder; in desperation we thought we’d try an oxygen-enriched hotel. Once we checked into Chunqiu, we didn’t want to move again. The moment we entered the room and turned on the wall-mounted oxygen device, the whole room was infused; three nights there and no headaches at all. We come from the plateau ourselves (Kunming is at 1,900m elevation), so we assumed we’d be fine. I hesitate writing this, fearing I might mislead older friends – perhaps many people don’t get headaches even without an oxygen-enriched room; I’d suggest everyone try and see for themselves. At Pingcuo Lakang and Bangdacang there were also oxygen machines in the room, and we’d inhale now and then, but the headaches still kept us awake. Another surprise: Chunqiu’s service-oriented facilities are the most thoughtfully laid out (I travel a fair bit for work, so I’ve seen a few). In all fairness, the smiling faces at all three hotels deserve full marks.

Food: Coming from the same southwestern region, we had to give Lhasa’s dining a relatively poor review (though we’d done plenty of pre-trip food research). Of course, that may also be because we mostly stuck to the old town area.

① Breakfast. Back home in Yunnan’s Tibetan areas we adore butter tea in the morning, but in eight Lhasa mornings we only managed to get butter tea once. Near our hotels, breakfast stalls mostly sold sweet tea, rice porridge and Sichuan-style steamed buns. Canggu Temple’s breakfast is famous; we ordered sweet tea, Tibetan noodles and a deep-fried beef patty, but finishing it all felt tough – maybe the altitude, the unfamiliar environment, or just winter sluggishness and poor digestion.

② Lunch and Dinner. We sampled the gamut: Tibetan, Nepali, hotpot, big bones, fried potatoes, buns, you name it. Here’s our log:

Best meal: Tiancun fermented cabbage yak hotpot.

Longest wait: Namaste Nepalese restaurant, while waiting for our reserved Jokhang Temple entry.

Most meatless: During our day trip via Langkazi County, the lunchtime set meal included a plate of layered pork belly that nobody touched – as the only man at the table I made the first move and strongly encouraged others, but still half remained.

Most meaty: The Magic Bone Sacred Broth restaurant on Sun Island (formerly Yi Ba Gu) – the big bones were laden with so much meat, oh my god, we demolished them all.

Most zesty: The yoghurt shop on the outer circuit near Potala Palace.

Warmest feeling: Xun Shi Tibetan seasonal fixed meal on Barkhor Street, generous with mountain fungi and Yunnan-style cooking (forgive us – we assumed it was Yunnan style).

Most "earthy": A’keding’s cow-dung bread and dirty red tea.

Least impressive: The main branch of Sister Potato Fries – perhaps it was too cold, or perhaps Kunming’s are just better; either way, we didn’t get the buzz.

Biggest regrets: Missing Lhamo Liangfen and Qunpei Teahouse.

③ We’ve heard Lhasa’s barbecue late-night snacks are famous, but alas, we’ve long been in the habit of turning in early.