Beijing / Chengdu / Xi'an

Itinerary day by day

Day1 Lhasa (by air)
Arrive in Lhasa, meet and greet at the airport, transfer to the hotel, the afternoon is left open. You could have a good rest to get to use to the high altitute.

Day2 Lhasa
Full day tour in Lhasa: visit Potala Palace, Jokang Temple , Bakhor Bazaar

Day3 Lhasa
Visit Drepung Monastery, Sera Monastery, and Norbulingka

Day4 Lhasa/Gyantse/Shigatse(about 380km,altitude 3836m)
Pass Yamdrok Lake and Karola Glacier and visit Palchor Monastery at Gyantse and continue drive to Shigatse, prepare food and the other necessity for the following trip, visit Tashilunphu monastery.

Day5 Shigatse/Sakya/Lhatse(6-7 hrs, 200km, altitude about 4200m)
Visit Sakya Monastery on the way, overnight at Lhatse town.

Day6 Saga-Zhongba-Payang(4480 m, 255 kms)
From Saga it is 145 km to Zhongba. The road is good & the trip can be completed in 4-5 hrs. There is also a small monastery at the western end of town on a hill.From Zhongba onwards the southern road deteriorates. There is also danger of vehicles getting stuck. But this section of the road has panoramic views of mountains on either side of the road.

Day7 Paryang-Lake Manasoravar( 4560 m, 260kms)
Drepung monastery is the biggest monastery in Tibet and Norbulingka is the summer palace of Dalai Lama. Sera Monastery, there you can enjoy the exciting lection debating of Lama.

Day8 Lake Manasoravar/Darchen (60 km, 4560 m)
About 60 kms north of Lake Manasorovar is Darchen, the main gateway & the village. Here we organize yaks or ponies for the Kailash circuit trek, stay a overnight there.

Day9 Darchen-Kailash(Circuit Trek - DIRAPHUK, 6 hrs)
This Kailash circuit covers 53 kms & can be done in 3 days. We head west in clockwise direction & after a few kilometers the trail climbs up to a cairn at 4730 m from where the southern face of Mt. Kailash comes to view. En route visit Tarboche where annual flagpole raising ceremony takes place during Saga Dawa, stay in tent.

Day10 Diraphuk | Zutrulphuk(4790m, 6 hrs)
Toady we cross Drolma la pass (5630 M) & Gauri Kund Lake (5608 m) where Hindus worship & immerse themselves in the icy waters of the lake. Stay in the tent.

Day11 Zutrulphuk-Darchen(2-3 hrs)
The final end of the parikrama is an easy 2-3 hrs walk down to where the river emerges on to the Barga plain. We complete the 3 day circuit trek of Mt. Kailash.We will drive north further and camping.

Day12 Darchen-Barga-Tsada (about 310 km on the way)
It is a hard driving day on the road, with Gobi and broken road most of the time but in the evening of the day the Mud Forest in the sunset would pay back the hardship of the day. It is about 20km along the way; stay in guest house.

Day13 Tsada-Guge Kingdom Ruins-Tsada
The high light of today is the Toling Temple and Guge Kingdom Ruins; stay in the same guest house.

Day14 Tsada-Siquanhe Town(about 255km, altitude 4280m)
Siquan he was named Garer by Tibetan. It is the center of far west of Tibet. Here we will stay in good hotel and can take hot water shower. Good dinner as well.

Day15 Siquanhe-Bangong Lake-Siquanhe
You¡¯ll see the rock painting on the road and Bird Island in the Bangong Lake, one hr boating to the island and thounds of birds most of them are gulls and goose. Drive back to Shiquanhe after a lunch beside the lake. We may stay in Ritu county based on the road condition.

Day16 Siquanhe-Yanhu
Drive east to Yanhu, this is a small village but important. Long drive today. Grass land is the main scenery on the route. Camping.

Day17 Yanhu-Dongcuo
We have entry in the north grass land named Qiangtang of Tibet. We call no-man¡¯s-land as well. Camping.

Day18 Dongcuo-Nima
Enjoy the running with wild animals especially wild ass everywhere. Distance of today is far but the road is pretty good, flat and straight. Scenery along the road is excellent. We can camping anywhere but with water.

Day19-22 Area without Eesidents
We are driving along the area without residents. The road is not bad, with lakes and mountains named or not passing by. If we are lucky enough, we could meet the Tibetan nomadic family and take picture of Tibetan antelope,yellow sheep, wild donkey ect. From afar; Camping.

Day23 Bange-Namu Tse
Namu Tse is one of the most famous holy lakes in Tibet. The biggest lake of Tibet. Stay in Namtro Guesthouse and walk around and enjoy the sun rising.

Day24 Namu Tse-Dangxiong-Lhasa
Today we are quite close the modern civilization, but nomads on the way to Lhasa. Stay in Lhasa hotel.

Day24 Lhasa
Transfer to the airport for the flight back.The end of the tour.

Some tips for this trip:

1. Do not be afraid of the AMS. This route starts from Chengdu of Sichuan basin, then heading west to higher altitude. Although there are several passes beyond 4000m, there will be no problem due to the short passing time. (More about the Altitude Illness)
2. The restaurants along the way can provide simple Chinese and Tibetan food, but you’d better bring some solid food.
3. The best travel season for this route is May, June, September and October. Avoiding taking this route in July and August, landslide may occur during the rainy season.
4. The driving hour will be long for this tour, and most of visiting will be stay in the vehicle.
5. You'd better not go outside of the hotel in the night in the small towns or villages, for the sake of security.

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