
Bum La Pass & PTSO Lake
Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India
The 4,633-m India-China border pass on the old Dalai Lama escape route, and the emerald PTSO (Pankang Teng Tso) lake en route — high, stark and stirring.
Why visit: Stand at a Himalayan border pass and a jewel-lake on the way.
- ›Bum La border point
- ›PTSO lake
- ›Army post visit
- ›Snow country
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Best time
Apr–Oct (special permit)
Entry fee
Permits
Est. budget
₹1,500–4,000
Duration
Full day
Nearby attractions
Tawang–Bum La Snow & High-Pass Circuit
Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh
The great high-altitude loop above Tawang — Bum La, PTSO, Sangetsar and Y-Junction — a day of frozen lakes, army posts and border snowfields at 4,000 m+.
Y-Junction & Shonga-tser Meadows, Tawang
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The high road-junction beyond Tawang toward Bum La and Sangetsar — snow-fed meadows, yak pastures and the wild frontier scenery of the 4,000-m country.

Madhuri Lake (Sangetsar Tso)
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A high glacial lake of tree stumps rising from turquoise water, formed by a 1950 earthquake — near the China border, nicknamed for a Bollywood shoot.
Taktsang Gompa & Bap Teng Kang Falls
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A cliff-side 'tiger's nest' gompa where Guru Padmasambhava is said to have meditated, and a great waterfall on the Bum La road — Tawang's sacred wild edge.

Pankang Teng Tso (PTSO) Lake
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A serene alpine lake at 3,700 m on the Bum La road — mirror-still, ringed by rhododendron and snow, a favourite winter-freeze and camping spot near Tawang.
Ani Gompa (Brahma-dung-chung Nunnery)
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One of Arunachal's oldest nunneries on a hillside above Tawang — home to Buddhist nuns, with sweeping valley views and a peaceful prayer hall.

Tawang Monastery Museum & Library
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Inside India's largest monastery — the museum of thangkas, manuscripts and relics, and the great library of Buddhist scriptures in gold-lettered volumes.
Tawang Craft Centre & Monpa Handmade Paper
Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh
The revived Monpa handmade-paper craft and the Tawang handicraft centre — carpets, thangkas, wood-carving and the woollen weaves of the high Buddhist valleys.

Losar & Torgya Festivals, Tawang
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The Monpa Buddhist new year (Losar) and the great Torgya monastic festival — masked cham dances, butter sculptures and ritual at Tawang Monastery.
Tawang Town & War Memorial
Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh
The border town below the great monastery — the stupa-shaped War Memorial to the 1962 fallen, handicraft markets and a base for every high-mountain trip.

Tawang Monastery
Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh
India's largest monastery crowns a 3,000-m spur — a fortress of whitewashed walls sheltering 450 monks, an 8-m gilded Buddha and priceless thangkas, gazing across cloud-filled valleys to snow peaks on the old Tibet road.

Urgelling Monastery (6th Dalai Lama's Birthplace)
Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh
A small, sacred gompa where the Sixth Dalai Lama was born in 1683 — a serene pilgrimage a short drive below Tawang, prayer flags and old relics within.