Take flight & train into Tibet. Upon your arrival, our local guide will meet you and transfer you to old town Lhasa city. From airport to Lhasa city is 68km, around one hour and half drive will take you to the holy city Lhasa; from the train station it is only 15km and takes 20 minutes by drive. On the way, you can enjoy the heart-beating highland view along the Yarlong Tsangpo River (the longest river in Tibet). The rest time is free for relax, drink more water for a better high plateau acclimatization.
The first day of sightseeing starts from Lhasa's cardinal landmark-Potala Palace, a structure of massive portions. Its towering image already appearing on various occasions, but your first sight of the Potala will still be an awe-inspiring moment. It takes at least a good 2-hour to visit those rooms, halls and chapels. In the afternoon, we will drop a visit of the Jokhang Temple, the spiritual center of Tibet. Everyday, pilgrims from every corner of Tibet trek a long distance to the temple. The temple is the product of Han, Tibetan and Nepalese architectural techniques. Then we will visit Barkhor, the oldest street in a very traditional city in Tibet.
Potala Palace
Jokhang Temple
About 8km west of central Lhasa is the Drepung Monastery, once world's largest monastery with about 10,000 monks. This day's sightseeing begins with these white monastic buildings piled up on the hillside. Walking up to the hill is a pleasant thing, an easy break from the solemn ambience inside the halls and chapels. At the plat roof of hillside, you can have very good views of the whole Lhasa city and the distant mountains. Drepung is one of Lhasa's two great Gelugpa monasteries, Later after lunch, witness the Buddhist doctrines debating session at Sera Monastery. With golden roofs and whitewashed walls, this fifteenth-century monastery is one of the six great Gelukpa sect academies in Tibet.
Drepung Monastery
Sera Monastery
In the morning drive to Gyantse along the Kyichu River. On the Kamba La (4796 m) have a fantastic view of the holy Lake Yamdrok (4441 m), one of the four holy lakes in Tibet and the largest habitat of waterfowls in south Tibet. Then continue to Gyantse, you can enjoy Ningjinkangsang Snow Mountain and Karola Glacier from a distance on the way as well. Upon arrival in Gyantse, pay a visit to Palkhor Monastery and Kumbum Stupa, which is famous for its very unique architecture, sculpture, and mural painting art.
Yamdrok Lake
Kumbum Stupa
Today, you’ll visit Tashilhunpo Monastery, the throne of Panchen Lama. Afternoon, drive back to Lhasa along Yarlong Tsangpo River via south path with a slightly different route. So, sit back and enjoy another full day of breathless mountains under an endless Himalayan sky. After you arrive at Lhasa, you would have plenty of time on your own to explore what you have missed last time, free walk on the old town street, try unique Tibetan food & tea, etc. Overnight in Lhasa.
Tashilhunpo Monastery
Tashilhunpo Monastery
Meet your guide in the hotel lobby and take a last memorable look at the holy city before being transported to the airport/train station.
Potala Palace
Mt. Everest
Yamdrok Lake
Sera Monastery
Namtso Lake
Mt. Kailash
From Jan, CzechThe trip went exactly as planned and we saw exactly everything that was promised in the program. I chose this travel agency by chance, but it turned out that I could not have chosen a better one for seeing Mount Everest, so I highly recommend it to everyone.
From Vicki, United KingdomOur guide in Lhasa called Phurbur was excellent and answered all our questions on Tibet as well as giving us loads of information and taking us to some cheap local eating places (as we requested) where he ate with us.
