Best time to go: in Summer

The Yumbulhakang palaces said to have been built specially for the first Tibetan king, Nyetri Tsanpo who was believed descending from the heaven in the 2nd B.C. The legend says that the first Tibetan scripture and some other religious objects landed here from the heaven during the reign of the 28th king Lhatotorinyetsan. These legends really fascinate a lot of people from home and abroad.

Yumbu Lakang, reputed as the first palace in Tibet history, is also one of the earliest building in Tibet. Lying 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) southwest of Tsedang, it perches on a small hill top east of Yarlong River. The soaring building is a legendary palace built in the 2nd century by Bon followers, for the first Tibetan king - Nyatri Tsenpo, who was said to have descended from the Heaven. Later it became the summer palace of Songtsen Gampo and Princess Wencheng. Legend says that in the fifth century, a Buddhist sutra fall from the sky onto the roof of Yambu Lakang. Nobody could read the book. However a sage predicted it would be interpreted between 7th century to 8th, the sutra was well kept in the palace. After Songtsen Gampo transferred his capital to Lhasa, Yumbu Lakang became a chapel and converted to a Gulugpa monastery during the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama.

Tibet kings and their ministers are enshrined in a small chapel. Upstairs is a small chanting hall, which houses Sakyamuni and Chenrezi. A mural gallery above tells Nyatri Tsenpo's arrival from the sky and stories about him as well as Tibetan history.