The Norbulingka Institute is a wonderful place which was established in 1988 in order to teach and preserve traditional Tibetan art forms, including woodcarving, statue-making, thangka painting and embroidery.
There is a brilliant shop where you can buy expensive but exquisite souvenirs, and all sales benefit refugee artists. This is truly the best place to spend your money, and you won't find such good quality souvenirs elsewhere.
There is also a Buddhist temple, Japanese Garden, delightful Doll Museum and a comfy Guest House.
It is really worth making the 6km journey to get here from Dharamsala.
You can watch people painting thangkas and making appliques, the workmanship is simply astonishing.

I absolutely loved visiting the Norbulingka Institute.  It was really neat to see some of the traditional Tibetan arts being preserved.  I had never seen anyone paint a thangka before, nor did I realize how long it takes to learn the skills required to do it.  The cafe is lovely and the grounds are so calm.  Also, you can purchase the crafts/art work created on-site at the gift shop.  Higher prices than in town for sure, but well worth it when you know where the money is headed.

waking up with the sound of monks singing and tibetan instruments is there a better way of waking up.