Tourist Attractions

When you travel to Leh, you travel to the land of wilderness. There are a number of tourist attractions in Leh. A miniature version of the Potala in Lhasa, the Leh Palace is one of the major tourist attractions here. The palace was built in the 17th century and is now dilapidated and deserted. It was the home of the royal family until they were exiled to Stok in the 1830s. Above the palace, at the top of the Namgyal hill, is the Victory Tower, another tourist attraction of Leh that was built to commemorate Ladakh's victory over the Balti Kashmir armies in the early 16th century.

Namgyal Tsemo Gompa, built in 1430 AD, contains a three-story high Buddha image and ancient manuscripts and frescoes is another tourist attraction in Leh . The fort above this gompa is ruined, but the views of Leh from here are breathtakingly beautiful.

The Sankar gompa is located a couple of kilometers north of the town center. The gompa belongs to the Gelukpa order and has an impressive impression of the Buddhist deity Avalokiteshwara Padmahari or Chenresig, with 1,000 arms and an equal number of heads. This tourist attraction of Leh is a permanent feature of the tourists' itinerary traveling to Leh.

The Shanti Stupa of Leh was built by a Japanese order and was opened by the Dalai Lama in 1985. From the top, one can view the exotic locales nearby. The stupa is located at a distance of 3 km from the Fort Road and attracts various tourists.