Lhasa was and still is the religious, cultural & economic center of Tibet. Places of interest include the Potala, the 13 storey, 1,000 room palace of the Dalai Lama; the monasteries of Drepung & Sera, the summer palace of the Dalai Lama, Norbulinka; and the Jokhang, the holiest shrine in Tibet. The circular Barkhor Street with innumerable shops & wayside peddlers intermingle with the devotees walking clockwise around the Jokhang infusing the magic that is Tibet.

By the mid 7th century, Songtsän Gampo became the leader of the Tibetan Empire that had risen to power in the Brahmaputra River (locally known as the Yarlung River) Valley. After conquering the kingdom of Zhangzhung in the west, he moved the capital from the Chingwa Taktse castle in Chongye county (pinyin: Qonggai), southwest of Yarlung, to Rasa (modern Lhasa) where in 637 he founded the first buildings of the Potala Palace on Mount Marpori. In 641 he founded the Rasa Trulnang or Jokhang.[4] Lhasa soon became not only the religious, but the political centre.[5] Lhasa remained the capital throughout the development of the Tibetan Empire until the reign of Langdarma in the 9th century, when the sacred sites were destroyed and desecrated and the empire fragmented

* Potala Palace
* Barkhor
* Jokhang
* Norbulingka
* Chokpuri
* North Linkor Road
* Tibet University
* Lhasa Carpet Factory
* Lhasa Hotel
* Lhasa west railway station
* Central Beijing Road