First Time Tibet

Suggested Itinerary

Day 1: Tsedang

You will meet your guide on arrival, transfer and check-in to your hotel. During the drive your guide will provide an introduction to Tibet, answer any questions you have, and make arrangements for the following day.

Tsedang is said to be the cradle of the Tibetan civilisation. The city has been a regional capital since ancient times having been the seat of the ancient Tibetan emperors. As such, it is a place of great significance within Tibet.

Enjoy free time for the remainder of the first day exploring the town and acclimatising to the Tibetan Plateau altitude.

Your guide will provide restaurant suggests for this evening. Consider trying some of Tibet's staple cuisines, like tsamba (roasted barley husks) with butter, enjoyed with Sichuan tea. Other common foods include sausages, yoghurt and stews. Tea and barley beer, called chang, are the most popular drinks.

Day 2: Tsedang

Your first full day in Tibet starts with a visit to the Trandruk Temple, one of the first Buddhist Temples built in Tibet. Afterwards visit the Yumbulakhang Palace, the first palace of Tibet. This castle-like building rises on the spur of a hill, commanding an impressive view of the Yarlung Tsangpo Valley.

Day 3: Tsedang to Lhasa

After breakfast travel along the mountain roads to Lhasa, stopping on the way to visit Samye Monastery. Located to the west of Tsedang across the Yarlung Tsangpo River, Samye is the oldest monastery in Tibet. A stunning ferry across the Yarlung Tsangpo River brings you to this ancient monastery.

Arrive in Lhasa in the afternoon. Your guide will introduce you to this mysterious city, and help you check in to you hotel.

Mountain locked and remote, Lhasa has a thousand years of cultural and spiritual history. The Tibetan capital is surrounded with a romance and mystique that captures the imagination like few other cities in the world.

Day 4: Lhasa

Start your day with a visit to the golden-roofed Jokhang Monastery where you witness prostrating pilgrims shrouded with incense smoke in the half light of this ancient monastery. Later we visit Barkor Street, the fascinating Tibetan style stock exchange, a hive of market activity.

In the afternoon visit the Potala Palace. Imposing yet precarious on the top of Red Mountain, the palace was once the centre of the Tibetan government and the winter residence of the Dalai Lama.

Day 5: Lhasa

This morning embark on a guided tour of Norbulingka, the former summer Palace of the Dalai Lama. The highlight today is a visit to the largest monastery in the world, the Drepung Monastery, that today houses up to 700 monks. In the afternoon we tour the Sera Monastery, built in the 15th century and one of the great Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet.

You will learn the history of these monasteries and their part in the 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, when the monasteries were heavily shelled by the Chinese military. Many Tibetan rebels were killed with the surviving monks fleeing with the Dalai Lama into India and exile.

Day 6: Lhasa to Shigatse

Visit the Tashilhunpo Monastery with its bejewelled golden roof. The official seat of Panchen Lama, second in importance to the Dalai Lama. In the afternoon we continue our scenic road tour to Shigatse.

Shigatse is Tibet’s second city and an important spiritual centre. Your guide will introduce you to Shigatse, and accompany you to a restaurant and introduce you to more of the local Tibetan delicacies.

Day 7: Shigatse to Gyangtse

Visit the Phalkor Monastery, notable for its superb Kumbum stupa reaching high into the sky. The Phalkor Monastery was one of the few ancient buildings in Gyangtse that was preserved from Chinese dismantlement following the 1959 Tibetan uprising. In the afternoon, you will continue onwards to the plateau town of Gyangtse.

Gyangtse is located in the fertile Nuang river valley at just under 4,000 (13,150 ft) metres in altitude. The town is easy to walk around and notable for its prominent fort, or Gyangtse Dzong, and the Phalkor Monastery which we visit tomorrow. Gyangtse is the last major town in China on the trade route to Kathmandu in Nepal, on the Friendship Highway.

Your guide will organise dinner for you again this evening.

Day 8: Gyangtse to Lhasa

Today you travel along mountain roads passing Tibetan nomad camps with herds of yaks and sheep. Enjoy the breathtaking views of the Tibetan Plateau, surrounded by snow capped mountains and the pristine Yamdrok Lake with its many small islands. Residing at an altitude of 4,400 metres (14,400 ft) the lake is sacred to Tibetan people.

We drive back to Lhasa in the afternoon.

Day 9: Lhasa

On your last day enjoy free time until your departure transfer.