11 Days Kailash Kora Pilgrimage Small Group Tour

Day 1Arrive in Lhasa (3,650 m) — a quiet first day

Your guide meets you at Lhasa Gonggar Airport or the railway station and drives you to the hotel. The rest of the day is free: drink water, walk slowly, and let your body get used to 3,650 m. Lhasa hotel.

Meals: none

Day 2Lhasa — Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Barkhor Street

The Potala Palace on a timed ticket in the morning, then the Jokhang Temple and a clockwise walk around the Barkhor with the pilgrims. Lhasa hotel.

Meals: breakfast

Day 3Lhasa — Tibet Museum and the Sera Monastery monk debate

The Tibet Museum in the morning and the monks' debate at Sera Monastery after lunch. A third easy day in Lhasa is your preparation for the far west. Lhasa hotel.

Meals: breakfast

Day 4Lhasa → Shigatse (3,840 m) — a gentle step higher

West to Shigatse on the highway, a much shorter drive than the old road by Yamdrok and Gyantse, which this tour leaves out on purpose. Shigatse is a little higher than Lhasa, a gentle step up before the high plateau, and the short drive leaves the afternoon free to rest. Early night: tomorrow is long. Shigatse hotel.

Meals: breakfast

Day 5Shigatse → Lhatse → Saga — into the remote west

One of the long driving days that make western Tibet what it is. Through Lhatse, the last properly supplied town, and then north-west into emptier and emptier plateau: the Himalayan peaks to the south grow higher and more continuous, villages thin out, the road empties to the odd truck or a pilgrim walking west, yaks graze beside braided rivers and the sky gets wider by the hour.

Saga (4,640 m) is reached in the late afternoon, a plain administrative town on the upper Brahmaputra with basic but adequate rooms. This evening is practical: check your kit for the kora — poles, layers, medicines — and sleep early. Saga guesthouse.

Meals: breakfast

Day 6Saga → Lake Manasarovar (4,588 m) → Darchen

West again across the plateau until, without ceremony, Lake Manasarovar appears: 4,588 m, over 400 square kilometres, one of the highest freshwater lakes in the world and one of the three holy lakes of Tibet, formed, in Hindu belief, in the mind of Brahma. Even the least religious traveller goes quiet here. Time at the shore, for prayer, photographs or simply sitting.

A short drive north to Darchen (4,560 m), the small town where the kora begins. Permits are checked; yaks and porters can be arranged for the days ahead. A good dinner and the earliest night you can manage. Darchen guesthouse.

Meals: none

Day 7Kora day 1 — Darchen → Dirapuk Monastery (4,920 m), about 20 km, 6–7 hours

Your first long look at Kailash from Darchen: a symmetrical black pyramid dusted with snow, floating above the ridges in the morning air. The trail leads north into the wide Sarshung valley with the river alongside and the mountain growing with every kilometre. This is the kindest day of the three: a clear path, a gentle gradient and a manageable gain in height.

What stays with you is the company: prayer flags on every ridge and river crossing, mani walls carved with Om Mani Padme Hum, pilgrims walking in both directions, some fast, some in deep concentration, some prostrating full length the whole 52 km. Past the small Choku Monastery on the cliffs the trail rises to the Dirapuk guesthouse, and from here the north face of Kailash fills the window, a few kilometres away, huge and silent. Dinner is simple; the view is not.

Meals: none

Day 8Kora day 2 — Dirapuk → Dolma La Pass (5,630 m) → Zutulpuk, about 22 km, 8–10 hours

The hardest and holiest day. The route climbs steeply from Dirapuk through a valley thick with prayer flags to a great cairn piled with yak skulls, scarves and the belongings pilgrims leave behind as a way of letting go; most people pause here. Then the final climb to the Dolma La, 5,630 m, the top of the kora: nearly 800 m of height over rough, rocky ground with half the oxygen of sea level. Slow, steady, one step at a time; poles help, and your guide walks with you.

At the top the plateau spreads out in every direction, Kailash rises behind you and the holy lake of Gauri Kund lies in a hollow below. Flags cover everything; pilgrims pray, weep and laugh. Take the time you need. The descent on the far side is steep on loose stone, then the valley eases and the walk south-east to Zutulpuk, past the cave where Milarepa meditated, is calm and quietly satisfying. Zutulpuk guesthouse.

Meals: none

Day 9Kora day 3 — Zutulpuk → Darchen, about 10 km, then drive east to Saga

The gentlest section: an easy 10 km walk south along the broad outer valley back to Darchen, with prayer flags, mani walls and small shrines beside the path and other pilgrims coming down from the hills with the same quiet look. Arriving in Darchen closes the circle; the 52 km kora is done. For pilgrims of four religions this is a moment of great meaning; for everyone it brings a deep, quiet sense of having finished something that mattered.

After a short rest the vehicle is waiting. East past Lake Manasarovar on the road you came by, about five hours, to Saga for a hot meal and a long sleep. Saga guesthouse.

Meals: none

Day 10Saga → Shigatse → train to Lhasa

The longest day, but an easy one: you sit back and watch the plateau go by. About seven hours from Saga to Shigatse with stops, on the road you came out on, which looks different with the kora behind you. In Shigatse you board the train to Lhasa, about three hours; the ticket is included. You are met at Lhasa station and taken to the hotel, to more oxygen, a proper shower and a dinner with choices. Lhasa hotel.

Meals: breakfast

Day 11Lhasa departure

After breakfast your guide takes you to Lhasa Gonggar Airport or the railway station. Most travellers spend the morning replaying the journey: the north face at dawn from Dirapuk, the flags at the Dolma La, the stillness of Manasarovar at first light.

Meals: breakfast