Looking for something a little different this summer? The most colorful festival of the season is the Nagchu Horse Racing Festival (Aug 10-16) in northern Tibet where thousands of nomads, monks, and pilgrims cross the high passes and ride into the town of Nagchu for a week of horse races, archery, horsemanship, and general revelry. The racecourse, at 14,850 feet, is the highest in the world, and Tibetans singing and dancing in colorful costumes, is a sight to behold.
With few hotels in town, the Tibetans bring their own tents and a colorful tent city is established surrounding the racecourse. Facilities for visitors is quite basic (read: guest houses in town are available through some tour operators like West China Adventure Company or you’ll have to pitch your own tent), but the festival is a golden opportunity to glimpse Tibet as it was before the Chinese occupation.
And Nagchu is a breathtaking place (literally- oxygen levels are only 60% of those at sea level). An important trading post surrounded by rugged mountains, it’s one of the highest and most windswept towns in Tibet. In August, temperatures are moderate, but we suggest bringing extra clothing, just in case.
