7 Days Shigatse Linka Week Tour Small Group Tour
Fixed dates, guaranteed to run
The group meets in Lhasa on the date you choose below and travels with one Tibetan guide and one vehicle, never more than 8 people. Holding a seat is free; you pay the US$100 permit fee only when you confirm, 30 days before departure. The same tour also runs as a private trip on your own dates.
Hold a seat — no deposit →2027 departure dates
Each date is Day 1, the day the group meets. Fly in from Chengdu that day, or board the train in Xining the day before. Click a date to hold a seat on it.
Overview
From 1 June every year Shigatse takes about a week off, and families move into the parks with tents, picnics, butter tea and chang, songs and circle dances. It happens nowhere else in Tibet, and almost no foreign visitors know about it. This tour is built around two days of it, sitting with a local family as their guests.
Around the Linka days: a full day in Lhasa, the train out to Shigatse, Tashilhunpo Monastery, and the way home by road past Gyantse, the Karola Glacier and Yamdrok Lake, so you never travel the same road twice.
Tour highlights
- ✓Two Linka days in the parks of Shigatse as guests of a local family
- ✓Tashilhunpo Monastery, seat of the Panchen Lamas
- ✓Out by train, back by Gyantse, the Karola Glacier and Yamdrok Lake
- ✓Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, the Sera debate and the Barkhor in one full Lhasa day
- ✓A festival of ordinary life: picnics, songs, dances and long conversations
- ✓Easy pace, low altitude for Tibet
Day-by-day itinerary
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 2Potala Palace · Jokhang Temple · Sera debate · Barkhor Street
The Potala Palace in the morning on a timed ticket, the Jokhang Temple, the monks' debate at Sera Monastery in the afternoon and Barkhor Street in the evening. Lhasa hotel.
Meals: breakfast
Day 3Train to Shigatse — the Linka week begins
A short train ride west along the Yarlung Tsangpo valley to Shigatse, Tibet's second city. Today the holiday begins: families are moving into the parks. An easy stroll through the city in the afternoon to catch the mood. Shigatse hotel.
Meals: breakfast
Day 4Linka day one — the parks and Tashilhunpo Monastery
The morning in the parks among the tents. Walk through, say tashi delek, and you will very likely be offered butter tea or sweet tea; with your guide you sit down with one family in their tent and spend time as their guests.
In the afternoon, Tashilhunpo Monastery, founded in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama and the seat of the Panchen Lamas since, with the 26-metre gilded statue of the future Buddha, the tombs of past Panchen Lamas and the courtyards where the monks live and study. Shigatse hotel.
Meals: breakfast
Day 5Linka day two — a whole day in the parks
A full day of the Linka: picnics, songs and circle dances, games and long conversations over chang and butter tea. You sit with the family again and share the day — the best way there is to see how Shigatse lives. Shigatse hotel.
Meals: breakfast
Day 6Shigatse → Gyantse → Karola Glacier → Yamdrok Lake → Lhasa
Back to Lhasa by road, a different way from the train ride out: east to Gyantse and its Kumbum stupa, past the Karola Glacier, along Yamdrok Lake, one of the three holy lakes of Tibet, and over the Gampala Pass to Lhasa. Lhasa hotel.
Meals: breakfast
Day 7Departure from Lhasa
Breakfast, then your guide takes you to the airport or railway station in time for your flight or train. If you leave in the afternoon there is time for one last hour on Barkhor Street.
Meals: breakfast
What's included
✓ Tibet Travel Permit and all other permits for the route
✓ English-speaking Tibetan guide
✓ Tourist vehicle with driver for the whole tour
✓ 6 nights: Lhasa 3, Shigatse 3, twin share, with breakfast
✓ Entrance fees for every sight in the itinerary
✓ Lhasa airport or railway station pick-up and see-off
✓ Oxygen in the vehicle and an oxygen canister per person; travel accident insurance
✓ Train ticket Lhasa → Shigatse
✗ Flights or trains to and from Lhasa
✗ Lunches and dinners
✗ Single room supplement (free for 5 rooms or 10+ travellers)
✗ Tips for the guide and driver
✗ Personal expenses and anything not listed
Questions travellers ask
What is the Linka week in Shigatse?
A holiday of about a week from 1 June, only in the Shigatse area, when families camp and picnic in the city's parks with food, butter tea, singing and dancing. It is not a New Year and not a religious festival; it is a city taking a week off, and visitors are welcome in it.
Can we really join a family?
Yes. Walking among the tents and saying tashi delek usually brings an invitation to tea, and your guide arranges for you to sit with a family on both Linka days.
Is one day in Lhasa enough?
It is a full day: the Potala, the Jokhang, the Sera debate and the Barkhor. Shigatse is only a little higher than Lhasa and the train makes the move easy.
Why is there only one date?
Because the Linka week has fixed dates, from 1 June. The group meets in Lhasa on 30 May and is in Shigatse from 1 June. The same itinerary can run privately on any dates in the Linka week.
How many people are in the group, and who are they?
Between 3 and 8 travellers, usually from several countries, with one Tibetan guide and driver for the whole tour. The same dates and prices are offered on our sister site tibettravel.com, run by the same office in Lhasa, so guests from both sites travel together in one group.
Do I pay a deposit to hold a seat?
No. Holding a seat is free. To confirm it, you pay the US$100 permit fee at least 30 days before departure, which starts your Tibet Travel Permit; the permit is included in the price. The rest is paid later, as explained on our how-to-book page.