Monastery Trails

The western districts are Monpa country, and the Buddhism here is Gelugpa, tied closely to Tibet. Tawang Monastery, founded in the 1680s, is the largest in India and still home to several hundred monks; below it, the tiny gompa at Urgelling marks the birthplace of the 6th Dalai Lama. Bomdila and Dirang have their own working monasteries, less visited and easier to sit quietly in, and the whole route is dotted with painted chortens, prayer-wheel walls and hillside hermitages.

The trail works as a slow drive over three or four days, timed if you can to the Torgya festival at Tawang in January, when masked cham dances fill the courtyard. Monasteries are active places of worship — walk clockwise, ask before photographing monks or the inner shrines, and dress so your shoulders and knees are covered.