Shey Monastery

Shey was the summer capital of Ladakh, and the site still reads that way: the 10th-century palace of Lhachen Palgyigon stands ruined on the hillock, with the later palace and monastery, raised in 1655 on Deldan Namgyal's instructions in memory of his father Sengge Namgyal, sitting below it. The reason to walk up is indoors — a seated Shakyamuni Buddha in copper, gilded with gold, the second largest statue of its kind in Ladakh. It stands on the Leh–Manali road 15 km south of Leh, so fold it into a day already going that way rather than driving out for it alone.