Potala Palace

Rising in tiered white and red masonry from Marpo Ri hill, the Potala Palace was the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 until 1959, and remains Tibet's defining landmark. The current structure dates mainly from the 17th century under the 5th Dalai Lama, built over the ruins of an earlier 7th-century fortress on the same site.

Inside, the palace splits into the White Palace (the Dalai Lamas' former living quarters and administrative offices) and the Red Palace (the religious heart of the complex, holding chapels, assembly halls and the gilded burial stupas of past Dalai Lamas). Over a thousand rooms, tens of thousands of statues, and centuries of Tibetan political and spiritual history are packed into a single hillside.

Visits follow a fixed one-way route and are capped at roughly an hour once inside the main building, with daily visitor numbers strictly limited, book well ahead, ideally with your tour operator, since walk-up tickets are not available.