Sera, four kilometres north of central Lhasa, is the most accessible of the great Gelugpa monasteries and the easiest day visit. The complex spreads up the south slope of a rocky hill, a network of whitewashed colleges and chapels organised around three principal halls. Of the three great Lhasa monasteries — Sera, Drepung and Ganden — Sera was the most influential in monastic education, particularly in dialectics.
The reason most visitors come is the afternoon debating session in the Debating Courtyard, held weekday afternoons from around 3 pm to 5 pm. Pairs of monks argue across an open courtyard of trees and gravel, the standing partner clapping each rebuttal home with a theatrical slap. It is intense, performative, and entirely real — these are actual monastic exams.
Beyond the spectacle, climb up to Sera Utse, the small retreat above the monastery — about an hour up — for a long view down the Lhasa valley. Sky burials traditionally took place on the ridge behind Sera, but those are no longer open to outsiders.