Before the rail line connecting Qinghai province in the northwest of China to Lhasa — a 29 hour train journey — it was not an easy tourist destination. Indeed, it is still not. The train runs at the highest altitudes in the world and the thin air makes it a trip to be avoided by anyone with breathing problems. The building of the 1,142-kilometer stretch from Golmud in Qinghai Province to Lhasa took just five years.

Surrounded by the world’s highest ranges the Himalayas, the Karakoram range, the Kunlun Mountains and the Hengduan range, the Tibetan plateau is, apart from the rail line, isolated from the world. The isolation made it mysterious and the development of a singular and religion-based culture made it exotic.

Can Lhasa cope with the new tourism? As capital city of Tibet Autonomous Region, it has long been the center of politics, economy, culture and religion in Tibet. And the hotels reflect that.

Probably the most luxurious hotel in Lhasa is the appropriately named Lhasa hotel. This was a Holiday Inn and was renovated in 1999. Ther hotel has three five and six storey buildings with 450 rooms and suites. Some of the rooms have piped oxygen.

Most of the other hotels are three or four star. Interesting is the Tibet Hotel built in traditional Tibetan style, under the administration of Tibet Tourism Bureau. The hotel is constructed in granite and echoes the shape of the Potala Palace, one of the main tourist attractions of Lhasa.
Source:China Daily and research

The House of Shambhala is a ten-room boutique cultural heritage site located in the heart of the Barkhor section of Lhasa. Shambhala Foundation and over 40 Tibetan craftsmen and women carried out the restoration project. A portion of the proceeds from the House of Shambhala hotel and restaurant goes directly into supporting the Shambhala Foundation which operates world-wide.

The woodcarving masters chosen for this project had previously undertaken restoration of the Norbulingka Summer Palace in Lhasa. The stone carving master at the Nechung Oracle was invited to carve sutras and sets of deities. A senior Buddhist image clay master in Lhasa was invited to make a White Tara for the central courtyard garden of House of Shambhala.

Many of the slate workers were employed from the Nyechung Monastery and a stone sutra carving master has been engaged by the hotel to do stone carving on mani-stones, creatively incorporating Tibetan designs into his work. All the materials used in the building are local, apart from wires.

A second building, next door, includes a Tibetan Spa using all organic and locally produced products and oils and two retail shops space dedicated to local crafts, jewelery and fashion.
Source: China Hospitality News