Key Monastery, Spiti Valley

Key Monastery, also spelled Kye or Ki, is the largest Buddhist monastery in Spiti and the one almost every traveller ends up stopping at on the Kaza to Kibber stretch. It sits at roughly 4,166 metres on a conical hill above the Spiti River, with white washed buildings stacked on top of each other in a way that looks more like a small hill fort than a monastery. It belongs to the Gelug order, the same school as the Dalai Lama. Traditional accounts place its founding somewhere around the 11th century, though the exact date, the age, and even the identity of the founder are debated across sources. What matters more on the ground is that it is a working monastery with a community of monks, a school for young lamas, and a daily rhythm of prayers that visitors can sometimes sit in on if the timing works out. Honestly, the outside is the famous part. The photograph most people have seen is taken from the road just below, with Key stacked against bare brown mountains. But if you only look at it from the road and drive off, you are missing the quieter half of the place, which is inside.