8 Days Lhasa to Everest Base Tour

Day-by-day Itinerary

1. Day 1: Arrival Lhasa
   Welcome to Lhasa. Upon arrival, your guide and driver will welcome you at the airport and escort you to your hotel and help you check in. The rest of the day is free for you to take a rest and acclimate to the high altitude in Lhasa.Accommodation: overnight in Lhasa

   Travel Tips:1. To reduce or avoid altitude sickness symptoms, on your first day in Lhasa, you are recommended to avoid strenuous exercises, not to take a bath to avoid catching cold, avoid alcohol, drink plenty of water and eat enough fruits, not to eat too much, and get enough rest.2. Prepare some American ginseng or rhodiola, and conduct your doctor to see if you are a good candidate for a prescription of Diamox altitude sickness medication.3. To take it easy and rest well is the key method to avoid altitude sickness.4. If you do experience severe or worsening symptoms, please feel free to contact your guide or travel consultant, and go to the hospital for treatment in time.

   

2. Day 2: Lhasa City Tour
   Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Barkhor Street

   Start your Tibet trip with a visit to Potala Palace. At an altitude of over 3700 meters (12139 feet), Potala Palace is the highlight of every Tibet trip. You will walk into the White Palace and Red Palace to explore the resplendent chambers with exquisite Thangkas, wall paintings, Buddha statues, and more Buddhist artworks. Your professional guide will introduce you into the history of the palace, Tibet Buddhism and stories of Dalai Lamas.

   Continue your exploration to the holy Jokhang Temple where a life-sized 12-year-old-like Shakyamuni statue is collected. It has stood as the spiritual heart of Tibetan Buddhism for over 1300 years and attracts hundreds of pilgrims from different places who come to worship Buddha everyday.

   

   Come out of Jokhang Temple, follow your guide through crowds of pilgrims and visitors on Barkhor Street. You can buy exquisite souvenirs on the street, such as handicrafts, costumes, tea, prayer wheels and Tibetan incense.

   

   Accommodation: overnight in Lhasa

   Travel Tips:

   1. Visitors should respect the rules while visiting. Do not wear hats, sunglasses, revealing clothes, shorts, tank tops, and slippers.

   2. Photography and taking videos are forbidden inside the Potala Palace.

   3. Please be sure to carry your ID card, health code, and mask.

   4. You’ll need to walk up many steps to reach the palace, please take it slowly.

   5. Please take a coat due to the low temperature inside the palace (even in summer).

   6. Guide’s explanation are not allowed inside the palace, so your guide will finish explaining its information before entering.

   7. It’s difficult to find a lavatory inside the palace, please go to the lavatory before entering.

   8. Please leave the palace ASAP after the visit, since visitors need to share a narrow wooden staircases to go up and down the palace, too many visitors are likely to cause safety hazards. Walk in order, and avoid to crowd.

3. Day 3: Lhasa - Yamdrok Lake – Karola Glacier – Shigatse
   Yamdrok Lake, Karola Glacier, Manla Reservoir

   The first site today is Yamdrok Lake (altitude of 4,441 meters), one of the three holiest lakes in Tibet. The turquoise water on sunny days, surrounding snowy mountains, fertile pastures dotted with Tibetan villages, herds of yaks and sheep combined to make it one of the most breathtaking lake in the world.

   

   Continue driving to the imposing Karola Glacier (altitude of 5400 meters) where you will be greeted by a spectacular white glacier stretching from the top of icy and perennially frozen peaks.

   

   Then take a little stop at the Manla Reservoir (altitude of over 4330 meters), an artificial lake embedded between the awe-inspiring mountains.

   Accommodation: Overnight in Shigatse

4. Day 4: Shigatse→GauraPass→Rongbuk Monastery→Everest Base Camp
   Rongbuk Monastery, EBC tent camp

   After breakfast, embark on your trip towards Mount Everest. En route, reach the Gaura Pass which is a must-pass to the Everest Base Camp. Sitting over 5200m above sea level, Gaura Pass is the best viewing platform for Mt. Everest and other Himalayan peaks at more than 8,000 meters above sea level.

   Then, after a visit to Rongbuk Monastery - the highest monastery in the world, you will walk several minutes to the Everest Base Camp to see Mt. Everest right in front of you and take some amazing pictures (if the weather is good).

   

   Afterwards, move to the EBC tent camp to stay overnight. This should be the most memorable part of this Tibet tour.

   Accommodation: Overnight in EBC tent camp near Rongbuk Monastery

   

   Travel Tips:

   1. Tent camp: normally 8-12 people would share a tent together but it’s clean. Please note that the tent camp has very limited facilities and food options, don’t expect room facilities and services like in urban hotels.

   2. If the tent camp is removed during October to April due to the cold weather, you will stay overnight in the monastery guesthouse.

   3. Due to the high altitude and cold weather, you are recommended to keep warm and drink a lot of water to reduce the altitude sickness symptoms. The average temperature is around 0-8 ℃ in summer night, ) you can rent a down jacket at around RMB 100 per day (price just for reference).

5. Day 5: Everest Base Camp - Gyatso-la Pass - Shigatse
   Everest Base Camp, Tashilhunpo Monastery

   If weather is good, you can get up early to enjoy the gorgeous sunrise view of Mount Everest. Then head to Gyatso-la Pass (5248 meters above sea level) to see the picturesque view of Mount Everest from afar. The views of nearby Cho Oyu Mountain, Lhotse Mountain and Makalu Mountain are also stunning.

   

   After that, you will be accompanied to the Tashilhunpo Monastery (altitude: 3,800m/12,467 feet), the largest Gelug Monastery in Shigatse prefecture, and the traditional residence of Panchen Lamas.

   Accommodation: overnight in Shigatse

   

6. Day 6: Shigatse - Nimu - Yampachen Grassland in northern Tibet – Damxung County

   Drive through Nimu Grassland to Damxung this morning. En route, enjoy a far view of Yampachen. a thermoelectric power plant is built here which is not only the first project of geothermal power in China but also the highest geothermal power station in the world. Then move to the open grassland in northern Tibet. Located among the Kunlun Mountains, Tanggula Mountains and Gangdise Mountains, it is a paradise for wildlife and boasts a cultural place with rich sedimentary layers.

   Accommodation: overnight in Damxung

7. Day 7: Damxung– Namtso Lake – Tsurphu Monastery– Lhasa
   Namtso Lake, Tsurphu Monastery

   After breakfast, drive to Namtso Lake, one of Tibet's most sacred lakes. Sitting about 4,718 meters above the sea level, Namtso Lake is the highest lake in the world. It is the place where many visitors find themselves re-energized by the breathtaking heavenly views and tranquil peace.

   

   Then, head back to Lhasa. On the way, pass by the Tsurphu Monastery which serves as the seat of Karmapa, the leader of Karma Kagyu, the black hat school of Tibetan Buddhism.

   Accommodation: overnight in Lhasa

   

8. Day 8: Lhasa Departure

   Today you will have free time until your tour guide escorts you to the Lhasa train station or airport for departure. This is the end of your 8-day Tibet trip.