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
[edit]
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 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
[edit]By plane
[edit]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
[edit]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.
Get around
[edit]See
[edit]- 1 Ngari Museum (阿里博物馆), Wenhua Road (文化路) (take bus no. 1). 11:00-18:00, closed on Mondays. Museum with exhibitions on the history and culture of Ngari Prefecture. Free.
Do
[edit]- 1 Ngari Dark Sky Park (阿里暗夜公园) (about half way between the town and the airport,). Open 24 hours. Said to be one of the best places in the northern hemisphere for taking photos of the night sky due to perennially clear weather and the absence of light pollution. The park has several telescopes that visitors may access. Free.
Buy
[edit]Eat
[edit]Drink
[edit]Sleep
[edit]- 1 Vienna International Hotel Ali Shenshan (维也纳国际酒店 阿里神山店), 9 Wenhua Road East (文化东路9号) (next door to the Ngari Museum; take bus no. 1), ☏ +86 897 2999999-0. Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 14:00. 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.