It is situated on the Srinagar-Leh highway 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of the Fotu La at a height of 3,510 metres (11,520 ft) and 19 km southwest of Khalsi.

The Drikung history states that the Indian scholar Naropa (956-1041 CE) allegedly caused a lake which filled the valley to dry up and founded Lamayuru Monastery.

[3] The oldest gompas, those dating from Rinchen-zang-po's time — Alchi and Lamayuru, and the less accessible Wanla, Mang-gyu and Sumda — belonged at the time of their foundation to none of these Tibetan schools, whose establishment they antedate.

[5] Lamayuru is one of the largest and oldest gompas in Ladakh, with a population of around 150 permanent monks resident.

Lamayuru hosts two annual masked dance festivals in the second and fifth months of the Tibetan lunar calendar, when all the monks from the surrounding gompas gather together to pray.