Tabo Monastery 🏛️

1000+ year old monastery, ancient murals

Tabo Monastery, founded in 996 AD, is often called the "Ajanta of the Himalayas" for the centuries-old murals covering its mud-brick walls — paintings that have survived over a thousand winters largely because the monastery sits in one of the driest inhabited places in India. The Dalai Lama has named it among the places he'd choose to spend his final years. Unlike Key Monastery's dramatic cliffside perch, Tabo's power is quieter: low, unassuming buildings that don't look remarkable from outside but hold some of the oldest surviving Buddhist art in the country inside. It sits on the Shimla–Kinnaur approach to Spiti rather than the Manali–Kunzum route, so it's a natural stop for travelers entering the valley from that side. Best visited June to September, in step with Spiti's short accessible season.