Tibet In-Depth Tour - 8 Days

Upon arriving at the Lhasa airport or train station, you will greeted by your Tibetan tour guide and driver. Your guide will drive you to your hotel or hostel. It is 68 km from the airport to Lhasa and is an hour and a half drive. From the train station it is just 15 km to Lhasa and only takes 20 minutes. Be sure to rest during the afternoon in order to to acclimatize to high altitude. Overnight at Lhasa.

Today you will visit Drepung Monastery in the morning and Sera Monastery in the afternoon. Both Drepung and Sera monasteries are Gelugpa (yellow hat) sect monastic colleges. Drepung Monastery was the seat of the Government prior to Potala. It was once the world's largest monastery with 10,000 monks hailing from monasteries all over Tibet. Sera monastery is famous for its practice of debating Buddhism and philosophy, the clapping sound and the aggressive expression of the monks -all are well worth seeing. Overnight at Lhasa.

After breakfast, you will drive along Yarlung Tsangpo River back to Chushul, where you will cross the Kambala Pass.The Kambala Pass is 4,794 meters high and will provide you your first sight of Yamdrok Tso, which is one of three holy lakes in Tibet. Later you will descend to the bank of Yamdrok Tso Lake. A half an hour of driving along the beautiful lake brings you to the nearest town - Nangartse. Normally groups eat lunch here. After lunch, you will continue west on the Southern Friendship Highway, enjoying spectacular views of snow capped mountains, valleys and grasslands dotted with groups of nomads. Arriving at Gyantse in the afternoon, you will be arranged to visit Tibet's most famous stupa - Gyantse Kumpum, the most stunning architectural wonder in Tibet. Overnight at Gyantse.

In the morning you will visit the lively free market in old area of Shigatse, where you can buy local handicrafts and also other local Tibetan stuff. Later that morning, you will start driving back to Lhasa along the northern friendship way, once again enjoying marvelous landscapes and sceneries along the Brahmaputra River, which will accompany you all the way back to Lhasa. Overnight at Lhasa.