Chim-puk Hermitage is a collection of cave shrines northeast of Samye that grew up over the centuries around the meditation retreat of Guru Rinpoche. Chim-puk's Tantric practitioners were once famed for their ability to protect fields from hailstorms. It is a popular hiking excursion for travellers spending two days at Samye. Make sure your agency knows in advance that you want to visit or you'll have to haggle over the return 20km trip.
From the impressive new nunnery at the base of the hill, trails lead up for about an hour past dozens of cave shrines to the lhakhang built around Guru Rinpoche’s original meditation cave halfway up the hill. Painted numbers mark the most important hillside shrines, most of which are still inhabited by practitioners.
If you are feeling fit and acclimatised, it is possible to climb to the top of the peak above Chim-puk. To make this climb from the Guru Rinpoche cave follow the left-hand valley behind the caves and slog it uphill for 1½ hours to prayer flags on the top of the ridge, from where a path leads for another 1½ hours to the top of the conical peak, where there are a couple of meditation retreats and fine views of the Yarlung Tsangpo Valley.
