Zangskar

Padum Village

Padum is the main center of the Zanskar. It is 240 kilometers away from Kargil and approximately 450 kilometers from Leh. Nearest Airport is the Leh It has an average altitude of 3,657 metres (11,998 feet) The population of Padum is around 13,500 people. Padum has a few hotels, homestays and restaurants meant for tourists. Padum has a post office, telephone booths and internet cafes.The Zanskar River flows through the valley from its main source at the Drang Drung glacier of the Pensi La.

Karsha Monastery

Karsha Monastery (Karsha Gompa) is a monastery in the Padum Valley of the Zanskar region Ladakh in northern India. The Zanskar River flows past the monastery from its source at the Drang Drung glacier of the Pensi La (14,500 feet (4,400 m)). It was founded by the translator, Phagspa Shesrab. The Karsha monastery, also known by the name "Karsha Chamspaling’, was founded by Phagspa Shesrab, under the Gelugpa Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

Bardan Monastery

Bardan Monastery (gompa) is a beautiful buddhist monastery, approximately 12 kms south of Padum town.it is a 17th-century Buddhist monastery in Zanskar, Ladakh, northern India at the side of the Lung Nak river.It belongs to the Dugpa-Kargyud Sect of Tibetan Buddhism monastic order and was one of the first monasteries of this sect to be established in Zanskar. The Bardan monastery also ran several smaller hermitages in the area. The Bardan monastery consists of a enormous Dukhang or assembly hall which has some grand statues of Buddhist figures and several small stupas in clay, bronze, wood and copper.

Stongdey Monastery

Stongdey Monastery, is the second largest monastic institution in Zanskar, Ladakh northern India, with a community of about 60 Gelugpa monks. approximately 18 km north of Padum, on the road to Zangla, India The gompa was founded in 1052 by Naropa's disciple, the famous translator Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo (1012-1097). It was taken over by the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism about four centuries later and became dedicated to Je Tsongkhapa. Every year the Gustor Festival is held on the 28th and 29th day in the eleventh month of the Tibetan calendar.There are seven temples in all.

Zangla Palace

Zangla is located around 35 km from Padum. The three storey ruin of a 17th-century royal Zangla palace is situated on the hilltop of Zangla village and the valley looking north towards Hanamur. From 1823, Hungarian scholar Alexander (Sándor) Csoma de Korös took a room here while compiling the first Western dictionary of Tibetan. For well over a century after that, the place was effectively forgotten, until 2008 when the structure, on the verge of collapse, was rescued by a Hungarian organisation inspired by the connection to the scholar. A series of stone wall fragments are dotted around the summit site, which is now conveniently reached by a stone-flagged stairway from an asphalted access road / car park.