Senior's Everest Base Camp Tour

Tashi Delek! Welcome to Tibet! This is the first day that you enter Tibet. Your guide will greet you at the airport or railway station and transfer you to the lovely hotel. It usually takes around 1 hour to drive from Lhasa Airport to downtown Lhasa and takes about 20 minutes from Lhasa Railway Station. Tourists could have a look at the Yarlung Tsangpo River, the largest and longest river in Tibet on their way to the hotel. After check-in, we strongly suggest you rest in the hotel. But if really you could not help going out, please do remember that try to go with a light pack and not go alone. Meanwhile, drink some more water. It’s really useful to get acclimatized to the high altitude.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

Rest is still the mission of today, you really need to get used to the high altitude. So, we only arrange one spot to see --- Norbulingka. It is located in the western suburb of Lhasa city. Built by the 7th Dalai Lama in the 1840s, Norbulingka is a typical Tibetan-style garden, which used to be the summer palace of former Dalai Lamas. But now, it has become a natural garden for the public. In Tibetan, Norbulingka means treasure garden. It's the largest garden with the best scenery and the most exquisite architecture among the artificial gardens in Tibet. After that, you may wander the city or rest to keep your body in a good condition.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

After resting one night, today you will recover sufficiently to launch your Lhasa city tour, with close contact with Lhasa, which is the political, economic, cultural, communication and tourism center of Tibet with a history of over 1300 years.

At first, you will go to the Potala Palace, which is the symbolic place of Lhasa and also the winter palace of the Dalai Lama. It was built by the 33rd great king of Tibet - Songtsen Gangpo in the 7th century. The gilded burial stupas of former Dalai Lamas and the meditation Cave of the 33rd great king are the most worth seeing in Potala Palace.

After lunch, you are going to Jokhang Temple, which was founded at the same time and by the same king as Potala Palace. From the outside, you can see many pilgrims prostrating in front of the temple. The most precious treasure of this temple is the statue of Buddha Sakyamuni at the age of 12.

Barkhor Street is the next destination that women love a lot. Because it’s a famous busy walking street where they can go shopping. There are many distinctive shops and stalls that sell different Tibetan stuff, like handicrafts, Thangka, and so on. Except for shopping, tourists can also join the Kora with pilgrims and locals, to explore Tibetan religious culture more deeply.

Optional:

You can go to visit the Tibetan handicraft art or Tibetan Traditional Medicine center if time is enough. You can also watch the Tibetan Culture Show in the evening for USD60 per person at your own expense.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

In the morning, you are heading to Drepung Monastery, which means Monastery of Rice Heaps in the Tibetan language. It’s a white magnificent building complex that looks also like rice heaps in the distance. Drepung monastery is the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery, where lived more than 10 thousand monks in the past.

In the afternoon, you will pay a visit to Sera Monastery, which is one of the “great three” Gelug monasteries of Tibet. Monks debate from around 3 pm to 5 pm. If the debate is not your type, you can also see the three sand Mandalas and colorful Rock Paintings of Buddha. Besides, the sight here is quite good because you can see wild roses around. That’s why people also call it “the Court of Wild Roses”.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

You will go to Gyantse from Lhasa today.

Firstly, you can have a glimpse of Yamdroktso Lake during the way to Gampala pass (4790m). This is the holy lake surrounded by plenty of snow-capped mountains. And special views of Holy Mount Nyenchen Khangsar (7191m) ---the highest mountain near Lhasa, comes out later soon.

You will see the Karola Glacier when we pass it on the roadside. After hanging pray flag at Simila Mountain pass, we will arrive in Gyantse, the third largest city in Tibet after Lhasa and Shigatse.

Stay overnight in Gyantse

After breakfast, we shall visit Pelkor Monastery with Gyantse Kumbum and then see the Gyantse Fortress from a distance.

Pelkor Monastery is a typical Tibetan Buddhist monastery that is complex of pagoda and temple. And you can see Tibetan Buddhism Sakyapa, Gelug, Xia Lupa together in it.

Then we will start to go to Shigatse. It normally takes one and a half hours to drive from Gyantse to Shigatse, where we may visit the traditional barley mill and have the unique sights of barley field (in summer).

Stay overnight in Shigatse

Before we drive to Tingri to have lunch, we will visit the famous Tashilunpo Monastery, the home of Panchen Lama. It’s the largest monastery in Shigatse, and one of the four famous Gelug monasteries in Tibet. You can see the world’s largest gilded copper image (26m high) of future God Jampa there.

Then, we will drive to Tingri, the nearest county to EBC. Please sleep well tonight, as you will see Mt. Everest tomorrow.

Stay overnight in Tingri

Today we are launching the Everest tour. After 90km of driving, we will arrive at Rongbuk Monastery first. It’s the highest monastery in the world, that’s why you can see the stunning view of Mt. Everest there. And another special thing is that you can find Monks and Nuns together in it. It’s different compared with other monasteries. After that, we will continue visiting Everest Base Camp(5,200m). It’ next to Rongbuk Monastery now. You can have a good look at Mt. Everest from EBC and take clear photos of it. Please enjoy yourselves in this nearest place to heaven. In the end, we will return to Tingri due to the poor conditions of residence in EBC which is not suitable for seniors.

Stay overnight in Tingri

On the way back to Shigatse, we will drop by Sakya County first.

There are many different Tibetan Buddhism monasteries in Sakya County, the most famous one is Sakya Monastery, the main monastery of Sakyapa. It was built in the Tubo Dynasty, and the wall is colorful with red, white and cyan paints. That’s why Sakyapa is also called Colorful Buddhism.

After 3 hours of driving, you will arrive in Shigatse and spend one night there.

Stay overnight in Shigatse

We will start to go back to Lhasa today. It takes 6-7 hours to get to Lhasa from Shigatse with the speed-limited regulation. But the view is good along the road, so, get your camera ready. And it's better to prepare some snacks to bring along.

On the way to get back to Lhasa in the afternoon, you can visit local Tibetan families to enjoy a happy time with these hospitable people.

Stay overnight in Lhasa