8 days tibet & mt.everest tour

includes: chengdu, lhasa, gyantse, shigatse, tingri & mt. everest base

this trip offers the unique opportunity to visit the epicenter of tibetan buddhist religion and rule. after flying in to lhasa over the highest mountains in the world, our first night in tibet will be spent acclimatizing to the significant increase in altitude. we will tour the potala and norbulingkapalaces, the former winter and summer residences of the dalai lama, and the seat of power over the tibetan plateau. we'll visit the largest monastic university in tibet at drepung and walk the kora around jokhang monastery with time to barter for goods at barkhor market, the heart of both trade and religion in lhasa. from lhasa, we will travel across the plateau to some of tibet's most revered monasteries and religious sites. we will visit tranquil yamdrok tso ("turquoiselake"), gyantse and tibet's second largest city shigatse. we'll continue over tongpass to shegar, where we'll leave the friendship highway on our route to rongbuk and everest base camp. from rongbuk we will begin our hike to base camp for a close encounter with the north face of sacred qomolangma, the tibetan name for everest, towering above at 29,035'. we will visit the rongbuk monastery en route.

d1 arrive in chengdu, the capital of sichuan province, we will meet you at airport and transfer you to the hotel. enjoy the famous hot pot dinner.

d2 take a morning flight to lhasa, the capital of tibet, meet at airport and transfer to your hotel. after lunch, go to visit the jokhangtemple, built in 647 when buddhism was introduced into tibet, which is said to be the cradle and treasure house of tibetan buddhism. we invite a tibetan buddhism expert to give us an exciting introduction. by 4 pm the tour ends and you are given free time to throw yourself into the fascinating barkhor market surrounding the jokhangtemple.

d3 in the morning, visit the magnificent potala palace, after lunch, go to see the summer palace of dalai lama, and drepung monastery, one of the biggest in tibet.

d4 after breakfast, your adventure begins. today, we will drive to gyantse. gyantse is a famous tibetan town in the south west of tibet. along the way, you will have opportunity to visit the yomdroklake, one of the holylakes in tibet. after a picnic lunch, you will continue onto gyantse in the late afternoon. check into hotel.

d5 morning will be gyantse visiting. gyantse is famous for its kumbu monastery and the ruins of zhongshan. the murals in kumbu monastery is regarded as the world art treasure. after lunch, drive to shigatse, the second largest city in tibet.

d6 shigatse is well known for its unique western tibetan customs and culture. morning visit the tshilunpo monastery, which is the residence of banchan lama. it hosts the world largest bronze statue, which was built in 1904 for qianba buddha. after lunch, visit the newpalace of the banchan lama and the local market.

d7 travel through the western part of tibet to get to tingri. total length of driving is about 7 hours. the scenery along the way is really fantastic. check into tingri hotel.

d8 in the early morning, you will be driven to the base of mt.everest, the highest mountain in the world. you may climb to the limit allowed (1st base). the local regulation allows only those professional mountain climbers to go the second and third base site on the everestmountain. after the visit, you can choose to drive to china - nepal border to exit from kathmandu, or drive back to lhasa to exit into mainland china.