Songzanlin Monastery

Gelug Monastery Founded 1679; The Largest Tibetan Buddhist Monastery In Yunnan · Shangri-La, Yunnan

The largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan, often called the Little Potala Palace: a hillside of whitewashed monks' quarters rising to golden-roofed assembly halls above a small sacred lake on the edge of Shangri-La, at about 3,300 metres on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Known in Tibetan as Ganden Sumtseling, it was founded in 1679 with the approval of the Fifth Dalai Lama and the Kangxi Emperor, and belongs to the Gelug school. Hundreds of monks live and study here, and its halls glow with butter lamps, thangka paintings, murals and gilded statues, while pilgrims circle the complex spinning prayer wheels. The view of the monastery reflected in Lamuyangcuo Lake is one of the classic images of western China. In winter the monastery holds a Cham masked-dance festival. Below lies Shangri-La itself, formerly Zhongdian, with its rebuilt Dukezong old town and a giant prayer wheel, now linked to Lijiang by a railway opened in 2023.

Songzanlin Monastery, Jiantang Town, Shangri-La City, Diqing Prefecture, Shangri-La, Yunnan, China

Daily, roughly 8:00-18:00 (sources differ: 8:30-17:30 or 8:00-18:00). Winter hours may be shorter.

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