Ali

Ali (阿里) is the capital of Ngari prefecture in far western Tibet. Confusingly, the town is also known by its Tibetan name Ngari, its county name Gar (噶尔 Ga'er), or after the neighboring river, which is Shiquanhe (狮泉河) in Chinese and Sênggêzangbo in Tibetan.

Understand

Ali is a Chinese-built town of around 25,000 people on the banks of the Sengge Zangbo River. As it was created only in 1965 to serve as the prefectural capital, there are few if any sights of interest in town, which serves mostly as a staging post for visitors to Mount Kailash, "only" about 330 km away by road.

The city lies at an altitude of 4,255 meters, 600 meters higher up than Lhasa. It has a cold desert climate with minimal rainfall, and sub-zero temperatures are possible throughout the year.

Get in

By plane

1 Ngari Gunsa Airport (阿里昆莎机场, NGQ  ^IATA), 70 km south of Ali, has regular flights to Lhasa and Kashgar.

By car

National Highway G219 runs from Kashgar in Xinjiang (1300 km) through Ali to Shigatse and Lhasa (1460 km). The Xinjiang to Tibet portion of the route is extremely remote, notoriously rough and requires a slew of additional permits.

Provincial route S301 also connects Ali to Nagqu, but this route is rarely if ever taken by travellers.

Sleep

• 1 Vienna International Hotel Ali Shenshan (维也纳国际酒店 阿里神山店), 文化东路9号. Part of Jinjiang Inn's upmarket Vienna brand, this pseudo-European palace with all the mod cons is doubtless Ali's swankiest hotel. From ¥400. (updated Dec 2024)