Nagartse སྣ་དཀར་རྩེ་ is a county in Lhoka Prefecture ལྷོ་ཁ་ས་ཁུལ་ in south central Tibet. It is located along the Friendship Highway which links Lhasa with Nepal. The county town of Nagartse is quite small and not that interesting, but has several beautiful places nearby. Yamdrok Lake is one of the most beautiful lakes in all of Tibet and lies entirely within the county. The snow-capped mountain of Nojin Kangtsang can be seen across the lake and rises to 7191m / 23,593 feet.
Another interesting site in the county is Samding Monastery བསམ་ལྡིང་དགོན་པ་ Samding Monastery is located 10kms from Nagartse town, just off the shores of Yamdrok Lake and Dumo Lake. The monastery rises several hundred meters above the Dumo Plains and offers a great sweeping view of the lakes as well as the mountains to the south. Samding is unusual in Tibet due to it having a female incarnate lama named Dorje Phagmo. The monastery has around 40 monks. There are also a couple of blue sheep running around the monastery grounds!
Few people stay the night in Nagartse as Gyantse is less than 100kms away and is bigger with better hotel options. However, there are several decent guesthouses in Nagartse if you did want to spend the night. Yamdrok Lake and Samding Monastery, both highly recommended places to check out, can easily be visited in a few hours.
For more information about Nagartse, other regions of Tibet or information about which travel agency to use while in Tibet, please send an email to [email protected]
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