Overland Tour from Lhasa to Kathmandu
This tour itinerary has been adopted by more and more tourists. It is fabulous. First we fly to Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, with sightseeing of Potala palace, Jokhang temple, Sera monastery’s debating and Drepung monastery. Drive over the Tibetan Himalayas by way of the incredible Highway between Lhasa and Kathmandu that connects Nepal with Tibet. Enjoy the Fabulous mountain scenery en route, visit mystical Buddhist monasteries of Tashilumpo at Shigatse, the Kumbum Stupa at Gyantse, and drive past the beautiful Turquoise lake.
Itinerary day by day:
Day1 Fly to Lhasa from Chengdu
Taking the flight into Tibet upon your arrival. Local guide will meet you and transfer you to Lhasa. 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 and more oxygen.
Day2 Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Barkhor street
The first day of sightseeing starts from Lhasa's cardinal landmark- PotalaPalace, 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 JokhangTemple, 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
Day3 Drepung Monastery, Sera Monastey
About 8km west of central Lhasa is the Drepung, 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, the other is Sera. Around 5km north of central Lhasa, Sera may not be as grandiose as Drepung, but is more serene surrounded by many small temples. The 'Buddhism Scriptures Debating' in Sera is very famous.
Day4 Lhasa-Gyantse
Today you will drive about 300KM to Gyangtse. Take a look at YamzhogYumco Lake on the way and overlook Kalais Kora Glacier. YamdrokLake is a coiling, many-armed body of water shaped like a scorpion. It doubles back on itself on the western side, effectively creating a large island within its reaches. For Tibetans, it is one of the four holy lakes of Tibet. And the home of wrathful deities. The lake lies several hundred metres below the road, and in clear weather is a fabulous shade of deep turquoise. Far in the distance is the huge massif of Mt. Nojin Kangtsang (7191m).
In the afternoon, you will arrive in Gyangtse and go for the tour of Palkhor Temple, built in the 15th century, is situated in the west of GyantseTown with mountains enclosing form three sides of the east, west and north. Its uniqueness is that its three sects of Buddism-Shaja, Ningma and Guolu stayed harmoniously under one roof.
Day5 Gyantse-Shigatse
Drive about 90KM to Shigatse which is the second largest city in Tibet. It’s also the home town of Banchen Lama. In the afternoon, you will drop a visit of Tashilumpo monastery. Tashilumpo, sprawls on the slops of Mt.Niser, southwest of Shigatse. It covers an area of about 300,000 square meters. There are many valuable and rare historical articles in the monastery
En route, visit Shalu monastery, which the construction was started in 1027. Its architecture is of typical combination of the Tibetan and Chinese styles with archways, carved pillars, tilled roofs and the Song and Yuan style murals.
Day 06 Shigatse-Shegar
Today we drive to Shegar and overnight here. En route visit Sakya monastery, which is divided into the south and north two parts. It is of typical Yuan Dynasty style of resembling castles. There are a lot of historical articles in the monastery, among them are found a lot of the imperial certificates, gold signets, crowns, costumes bestowed by the Yuan Dynasty emperors. It has over 10,000 volumes of Tibetan books on astronomy, medicine, calligraphy, and history. So the Sakya monastery enjoys the title ‘the second DunHuangCave.’
Day 07 Shegar-Rongbuk Monastery-Mt.Everest
Although it's just 100km from Shegar to Base Camp(5200m), it takes about 4 hours since the cracked winding roads demand much caution. But the views are stupendous on a clear day, and feature a huge sweep of the Himalaya range including peaks over 8000, Makalu, Lhotse, Everest, Gyachung and Cho Oyu. When you finally get to Base Camp, the first sight of the mighty Everestsimply leaves you speechless. All the hardship you bear along the way makes sense at this while.
The best moments to watchMt. Everest's are early morning and late evening when Everest is shining like a goddess in the sunglow.
Day 08 Mt. Everest-Tingri-Zhangmu
Take about 5 hours on bumpy road to Tingri, then may forward another 5 hours to Zhangmu. Zhangmu town is located in the border with Nepal is a very different place from the other ones you see on the way. All year round it is green with rains most of the time. You will think it is out of Tibet if not mentioning you but you’re behind China Customs, as there are Sherpa people and Nepalese speaking a different language here.
Day 09 Zhangmu-Kathmandu
Drive to FriendshipBridge at the border, our tour guide will see you off here, and you need cross the border by yourself. And you can take a minibus, taxi or ask us for arranging border transfer for you. Tour ends.
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