Lhatse, Lhatse County

Lhatse County is under the administration of Shigatse Prefecture. Lhatse County is located 150km southwest of Shigatse City and 90km northeast of Tingri County. Both the national highways 318 and 219 pass through Lhatse County with 318 down to Tingri and Zhangmu, 219 to West Tibet and Yecheng in Xinjiang Province. The Yarlung Zangbo River also winds its way through Lhatse County. Lhatse County is of geographic and strategic importance.

Administratively Lhatse has two towns (Lhatse Town and Quxia Town), 9 Townships with 482 natural villages. Lhatse County was established in December 1959 with its seat at Lhatse Town. In July, 1968, the Quxia Town became the seat of Lhatse county. Lhatse County has now a population of over 50,000.

At 11:00am, August 24, 2011, we started from Shen Kang Hotel in Shigatse on a 240km long bus trip to Tingri via Lhatse ( Check Shigatse Lhatse Tingri Road Trip for more information).

We were on the way to Lhatse from Shigatse

Before we got to Lhatse, we drove by a fork road branching off to Sakya Monastery. So if you are interested in visiting Sakya Monastery, you can make a side trip to Sakya Monastery here, a round trip with 60km. We didn't stop and entered Lhatse County.

In Lhatse County, two important roads are met with one road going to Zhangmu (317KM) and another to Shiquanhe County in Ali Region (1072km) in West Tibet. People are supposed to have their Aliens’ Travel Permit checked at the checkpoint of Lhatse. If you visit EBC or go to Zhangmu, you must apply for Aliens’s Travel Permit at the police office in Shigatse.

The fork roads to Zhangmu (south) and to Ali Region (West ) are met in Lhatse