Tawang

Tawang, at about 3,048 metres in the far north-western corner of Arunachal Pradesh near the Tibetan and Bhutanese borders, is one of the most spectacular and spiritually significant places in the Indian Himalaya — a town of prayer flags, snow peaks, and Monpa Buddhist culture set in a high alpine landscape.

• Its crowning glory is the Tawang Monastery (Galden Namgyal Lhatse), founded in the 1680s and one of the largest Buddhist monasteries in India — a fortress-like complex of whitewashed walls perched above the Tawang Chu valley, home to hundreds of monks, a three-storey assembly hall, an 8-metre gilded Buddha, and a priceless library of Buddhist manuscripts.
• A short way from town, the small Urgelling Gompa marks the birthplace of the 6th Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, born here in 1683.
• The journey to Tawang is itself unforgettable, crossing the 4,170-metre Sela Pass — a snow-bound gateway beside the sacred Sela Lake that connects Tawang to the rest of India.
• Around the town lie some of the Himalaya's most surreal sights: the Madhuri Lake (Sangetsar Tso) at 3,700 metres, formed by an earthquake and dotted with the ghostly trunks of drowned trees; the thundering Nuranang (Jang) Falls; the Tawang War Memorial commemorating the 1962 conflict; and the high passes of Bumla on the Tibet frontier.
• Indian visitors need an Inner Line Permit to enter Arunachal.
• Tawang is also known for its handwoven Monpa carpets and for the colourful Torgya and Losar festivals at the monastery, when masked Cham dances fill the courtyard and the whole valley gathers in celebration.
• For vegetarian travellers, the Monpa highland kitchen is welcoming: steaming vegetable thukpa (noodle soup) and veg momos, zan (a buckwheat-and-millet porridge eaten with greens and fermented chilli), churpi (dried cheese), and salty butter tea to ward off the cold.
• The best season is March to October, when the passes are clear of heavy snow; winter brings deep snow and frequent road closures at Sela.