Dhankar Lake
lake · 1.3 km away
town46 min from Kaza
Dhankar
Dhankar sits on a 300-metre spur above the Spiti and Pin rivers, a fort monastery built on the same pattern as Key Monastery and Ladakh's Thiksey.
What it is
A fort monastery on a 300-metre spur directly above the confluence of the Spiti and Pin rivers, between Kaza and Tabo. Built on the same central Tibetan pattern as Key Monastery and Ladakh's Thiksey and Likir monasteries, "Dhankar" itself means roughly "fort on a cliff" — dhang for cliff, khar for fort.
Photos: Gerd Eichmann (CC BY-SA 4.0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
Getting there
A drive of under an hour from Kaza, on the road towards Tabo.
The visit
The old gompa's terrace gives a direct view down onto the meeting point of two rivers — the reason this site was chosen centuries ago, and still the thing worth lingering over before anything else. Inside, a statue of Vairocana made of four figures seated back-to-back is the notable piece, alongside various aging thangkas. Below the old monastery, in Shichilling village, a newer Dhankar Monastery houses around 150 monks of the Gelug school and is the working heart of the community today. Dhankar Lake, above the old monastery, is reached by a trek from here.
> to rush past it on the way to the lake and miss the whole point of the site.
When to go
June to September, matching the rest of the Kaza-area circuit's open season.
Around it
Dhankar Lake sits above, reached on foot. Kaza is under an hour back the way you came, and Key Monastery, Kibber and Chicham Bridge fill day one of the same two-day plan this stop belongs to.
Plans that include this
All 2 plans that stop here →
1 night · 2 days · First visitClassic
Two days in Kaza — the monastery circuit and Dhankar
A two-day Kaza plan: Key Monastery, Kibber and Chicham Bridge on day one, Dhankar and its lake on day two. Free, copyable plan on HimLocal, with real distances.
Best Jun–Sep
See the plan →
2 nights · 3 days · First visitClassic
Three days in Spiti — Kaza's monasteries and the Pin valley
A three-day Kaza plan: the monastery circuit and Dhankar on days one and two, the Pin valley's Kungri and Lhalung on day three. Free on HimLocal.
Best Jun–Sep
See the plan →Nearby places
Questions people ask
Why is Dhankar's setting so well known?
The monastery sits on a 300-metre spur directly overlooking the confluence of the Spiti and Pin rivers, in what's often described as one of the most spectacular settings for a gompa anywhere — a genuinely dramatic cliff-edge position rather than an ordinary hillside.
Is there more than one monastery at Dhankar?
Yes — the old fort monastery on the spur, and a newer Dhankar Monastery below in Shichilling village, home to about 150 monks of the Gelug school. Most visitors see the old, dramatically sited one first, then decide whether to go further.
How far is Dhankar from Kaza?
About 46 minutes by road, roughly 27 km, on the way towards Tabo. Dhankar Lake sits a further climb above the monastery, reached on foot rather than by any road at all, whatever the season you happen to visit in that year.