The Vaikunth

Mcleod Ganj


Especially if the multi-globe chandeliers are alight, The Vaikunth's expansive marble lobby offers an impressively stylish welcome, perused by a long-eared Buddha relief. A lift accesses 24 relatively luxurious, contemporary rooms, all with kettle, fridge and AC, but you'll need to pick the pricier 'Executive' versions for vast picture windows surveying the valley.

Number 307 is hard to beat. Some other rooms have limited or less interesting views and one or two have a slightly musty aroma.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Mcleod Ganj attractions

1. Hope Gallery

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Through a gallery-cafe and film screenings, this organisation tells the tales of individual Tibetan lives as a way to illustrate Tibet's plight.

2. Gu-Chu-Sum Movement Gallery

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A charity that assists current and former Tibetan political prisoners, Gu-Chu-Sum has a gallery displaying harrowing photos chronicling oppression in…

3. Tsuglagkhang Complex

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McLeod's main focus for visiting pilgrims, monks and most tourists is the Tsuglagkhang complex, a custard-coloured concrete monastic village that's home…

4. Tibet Museum

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This must-see, two-storey museum sets out to remind visitors of Tibet's history as an independent nation, mourning the Chinese occupation (since 1949) and…

5. Tsuglagkhang Main Temple Room

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Spiritually (if certainly not architecturally) the Tsuglagkhang's 1969 central temple room is the exiles’ concrete equivalent of the Jokhang temple in…

6. Kalachakra Temple

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Visiting the Tsuglagkhang clockwise, as is required by Buddhist convention, you pass a prostrating area then a door leads into the westernmost building,…

7. Chorten

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Ringed by colourful prayer wheels, this recently built temple between Temple and Jogiwara Rds is generally known as the Chorten (Tibetan for stupa), since…

8. TIPA

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This flourishing arts school keeps traditional Tibetan dance, music and colourful folk opera (lhamo) very much alive among the exile community. Irregular…