Yak Hotel-centrally located 2 1/2 star hotel that is within walking distance of Bar Khor (Bar=central, Khor=circle) St. and Jokhang Temple. Adjacent to the hotel, there is same day laundry service (in by 9am, pickup by 8pm for 15Y for 2 shirts and 1 pant), grocery store (4Y for 1.5L and 2Y for 550ml Nongfu bottled water) and Dunya bar and restaurant (western-pizza/burgers/pasta, Nepali/Indian, Tibetan). Internet service was down during our stay but we used the internet facility at Snowland Hotel on Bar Khor Street.

Precaution: hotel towels are worn and stay in rooms with windows facing the courtyard versus the street due to traffic noise. Rooftop breakfast room has a good view of Potala Palace in the morning (70-200mm VR lens is long enough). Unless you intend to wake up early for a hot breakfast, you are better off arranging for a breakfast voucher or paying on your won at Dunya restaurant next door.

FYI: Taxi fare is 10Y anywhere within Lhasa. At this time, there is a new Sheraton Hotel and about 4-5 four to five stars hotel (St. Regis Hotel) coming to Lhasa. Keep in mind that the star ratings might not be consistent with our rating in the states.

Restaurants in Lhasa:

Lhasa Snowland-a favorite along Bar Khor Street---we’re there at least for lunch and/or dinner. You have to try their Yak steak with mushroom sauce. Unless you have dentures, they are tender enough (at least for me) to finish.

Dunya Restaurant---2nd favorite restaurant adjacent to the Yak Hotel. Hit the spot for us on day 1 with their chicken noodle thukpa (chicken noodle soup) and yak biryani. We’re here for breakfast and/or dinner. Warning: ketchup, mayonnaise, etc. cost extra and you have to ask for it. They should just build it into the price.

Lhasa Kitchen---tried it only once. Was not too impressed with the food compared to Lhasa Snowland and Dunya. Service was also not as attentive (relatively speaking).

Alternative restaurants: Chinese restaurants on the western part of town that specializes in Sichuan cuisine aka Chengdu/Chongqing type of food. We did not try any in Lhasa.

**Overall and when traveling past Shigatse, stick to the basics (at least for us) of diced chicken (if you have to have meat), noodles (chicken or vegetable chow mein, dan dan noodles), chicken thukpa (soup), masala or curry with naan, vegetable or chicken biryani (Indian fried rice), and chicken fried rice.

For 300 yuan per night in low season, this place is way over priced. It got the Lonely Planet Curse, just like other hotels in the book, prices are almost double of what's listed in the book.

Stayed at the Yak Hotel in Lhasa for 5 days in May and June 2007. I stayed at the Yak Hotel because I had heard that it was clean, in the older part of Lhasa and because it would have a "hostel" type of atmosphere (e.g. staff and other visitors would be friendly and helpful).

The Yak Hotel is clean and in the older part of town, however, it lacks the friendly and helpful atmosphere that I was hoping for. Gone is the hostel type atmosphere that I had heard existed in the past. Instead the Yak is very much just a "for profit" hotel. Staff are not particularly warm and accomodating, there are occasional language barriers and there are some service issues. For example, we had booked for three days, paid for the first night and came back to the hotel on day two to find out that are key card did not work. It appears that they had wanted payment in advance and had locked us out of our room; unlike any hotels we had stayed at. Incidents like the one I described happened frequently at this hotel and lead to uneeded frustration.

The Yak has a great reputation, but the hotel is changing under new management. The staff at the front desk is about as rude and officious as I have ever encountered! The Yak has a wide range of accommodations, everything from 5 beds-to- a- room dorms with public showers to better rooms in the main building so you should ask to see several rooms before taking one. Our room overlooked the courtyard where cars and buses are parked, so it was noisy. We also had major construction going on everyday in the wing right next to us. The elevator is not working and the 4 story climb for breakfast in this altutude is worth noting. There are other hotels in Lhasa with equally good location in the old Tibet part of town.

I got lucky by ending up here ... I had originally booked myself into the Lhasa Hotel, simply because it was the easiest place to make an advance reservation via the Internet, but when I arrived at Lhasa Hotel, I was told that the Chinese government had decided to visit Lhasa, so they cleared out the entire hotel for them, and they canceled my reservation. Luckily a taxi driver overheard my dilemma and dropped me off at the Yak Hotel. The location was much better than the Lhasa Hotel, literally steps away from the enchanting Tibetan quarter, and it was about 1/3 the price. I don't really recommend the rooftop restaurant for anything other than breakfast (you have to twist their arms to cook you a meal for lunch or dinner, they make it clear they'd rather you leave them alone), but one of the best restaurants in town is right next door to the hotel. The decor in the rooms may be a little over-the-top Tibetan, but it's charming. Very friendly staff, and as previously mentioned, the famous Tibetan quarter is right across the street, and the Potala Palace about a 15-minute walk to the west. If your room is on the 2nd floor, take the time climbing the stairs to stop mid-way and catch your breath ... with the air very thin at such high altitudes, you could easily pass out if not careful. Try to stay here if you can.

We read here that the Yak Hotel was rated #1, so we thought we would stay there while in Lhasa. Well, we tried calling the hotel directly to reserve a room. We were told they don't take reservations. We could call back on the same day around noon and they would let us know what they had and hold it for us. We tried this as well, but they wouldn't hold the room. After getting into town around 9pm, we got a taxi to the hotel, but they were, of course, out of rooms at this point. We were forced to stay somewhere random the first night.

We got up the next morning and went back to the Yak Hotel, still trying to give it a chance, as it is in a very good location and we liked the restaurant next door. We were able to book a room for one night only, as a group was coming in the next night. That was fine, because we were leaving Lhasa for Everest Base Camp for three nights.

We had two nights to spend in Lhasa upon our return from Everest. We felt certain that we could reserve the room if we went ahead and paid for those two nights. No deal. Even though we offered to pay up front for the room later in the week, we were still denied a reservation because, "a group might show up."

I do agree with everyone's comments here about how nice it is, but I wouldn't stay here again after being treated like a second-class customer.

The Yak hotel is in a perfect location next to the Barkor / old Tibeten quater of Lhasa. The staff are really friendly and it is the best hotel in town to meet other travellers and arrange tours around Tibet. Spent several nights here on different occasions and was happy every time. The morning breakfast is ok but the Dunya bar and restaurant next door is better and run by a lovely dutch couple.

This is a lovely hotel. We stayed there in August 2004. It is located on the main street and is about 15 min walk to the magnificent Potala Palace. The ancient and holy Jokhang Monastry is 5 min walk away. The room we stayed in had very nice decor and everything was clean. It was reasonably priced (then again, most things here were reasonably priced!) We got most things we needed in the room including air-conditioning. Staff were mostly Tibetans who were very friendly and always eager to help. All could speak English and Mandarin. Breakfast was good with a decent variety - be sure to get a good feed before venturing out! Highly recommended!