Lhasa to Yamdrok lake trek, extending to the Everest Base Camp is a great Tibet trek in the southern part of Lhasa. This beautiful Tibet trek takes you to one of the least visited parts of Yamdrok lake and many beautiful traditional villages, untouched by the modernization. After visiting the cultural heart of Tibet in Lhasa, your Tibet trek continue to the south along the Barhmaputra and Yarlung valley, visiting an old monastery called Trathang where you can visit some beautiful wall painting and mural that has more than a thousand years history.
After your visit to Trathang monastery, continue your journey back to Jidshol village and then through some gorgeous traditional villages and small monasteries, you will reach your campsite at Langthang Dewachen.
The Tibet trek starts in Langthang Dewachen village, south of Lhasa at the distance of 120Km, and ends in the Rongpa Dza monastery in Yamdrok from where you will be picked by our tourist vehicle. Trekking around lake Yamdrok takes you to the beautiful Yamdrok lake, beautiful Karmaling and Bachoe grassland and the grassland are full of Yak and sheep owned by the local Tibetan nomads around Yamdrok area. You will visit some very isolated small monasteries and the monks in the monasteries are very welcoming and friendly. You will also see many small ponds and wild animals beneath the snow capped mountains.
Travel by tourist vehicle and drive to the Nepal/ Tibet border. On the way, you will enjoy many snow-capped Himalayan mountain range and high mountain passes, lots of Tibetan villages and nomad camps. Excursion to Mount Everest and Everest base camp from Tingri county.
Day 01 Fly to Gongkar airport and drive to Lhasa(3650mts/65Km)
You will be warmly welcome by our Tibetan guide and driver and accompany you to the holy city of Lhasa along with the view of Bharmaputra, known as YarlungTsangpo in Tibetan and a giant stone carved Buddha with more than a thousand years history.
Day 02 Sightseeing, Potala Palace, Jokang temple and Bharkor Bazar
POTALA PALACE is considered one of the great wonders of the world. It is held sacred by Tibetans as the former residence of successive Dalai Lamas, and is one of Tibet’s most holy pilgrimage sites. A palace was originally built in the 7 th century by King SongtsenGampo, and was believed to have been nine stories high, but around the 9 th century it is believed to have been destroyed by a big fire.
The present Potala Palace was constructed by the great fifth Dalai Lama in the 17 th century after he became ruler of Tibet. The Potala Palace is divided into two sections, the White Palace (completed in 1653) and Red palace (completed 1694). It has more than one thousand rooms and is thirteen stories high. The White Palace was secular in nature and mainly used for government administration, whilst the Red palace was mainly used for religious functions and still has numerous chapels, including those containing reliquary stupas of the successive Dalai Lamas which are richly decorated in gold, silver and semi-precious stones.
JOKANG TEMPLE is Tibet’s most sacred temple, the main point of pilgrims from the entire Tibetan plateau. Located at the heart of the ancient town of Lhasa, it was built in the 7 th century by the Tibetan King SongtsenGampo’s queen Bhrikuti on a site identified by Queen Wencheng according to her geomantic calculation. The temple is 3 stories high and it is constructed with enormous chapels including the most sacred statue of BudhhaShakyamuni, enshrined. It has around 70 monks nowadays.
ANCIENT BHARKOR STREET is the most sacred pilgrimage site in Lhasa and it is full of pilgrims from down till dusk. There are four huge prayer flags situated in Bhakor street which surrounds the Jokang, known respectively as GadhenDharchen in the northeast, JuyakDharchen in the west, KelsangDharchen in the southwest and SharKyaringDharchen in the southeast. The Bharkor street is the most active market in all Tibet and it is possible to purchase traditional Tibetan artifacts, religious implements, antiques, modern goods, books, music, clothing, spices, fresh meat and vegetable.
Day 03 Visit Drepung, Sera monasteries and AniTsangkung nunnery
DREPUNG MONASTERY is the largest monastery in Tibet, built in the 15 th century by JamyangChoeje who is one of Tsongkapa’s foremost disciple. The monastery is beautifully located up in a hill at the distance of 7 Km from the old section of the city and it is the biggest monastery in Tibetan Buddhism.
The monastery has four main colleges with numerous small chapels and house chapels, known as Khangtsen in Tibetan. There are around six hundred monks nowadays. SERA MONASTERY was founded in around 15th century by JamchenChoeje who is another famous disciple of Tsongka pa and it is the second largest monastery of Tibet. There are three big colleges with numerous chapels and house chapels. The most attraction to visit this monastery is to see the monks debating which hold from 3-5Pm everyday apart from Sunday. AniTsangkung nunnery is located to the south side of Bharkor and it is very interesting to visit the nunnery because so far you only have visited monasteries.
According to the history, the nunnery dates back to the 7th century when the 33rd Tibetan King SongtsanGampo was alive. He created a cave there for his meditation and you can visit the cave even today and it is believed one of the most sacred caves by all the Tibetans since the 33rd Tibetan King SongtsenGampo was one of the greatest Tibetan kings among 41 kings during the kingdom.
Gradually the cave was turning into a nunnery since 17th century and nowadays, there are more than 100 nuns. When you visit the nunnery, you can have a different feeling than the monastery that the nunnery is full of flowers and it is more clean than the monasteries. You feel to stay longer there.
There is another interesting thing to see is that the nuns are printing Buddhist scripts in a smaller chapel next to the assembly hall and at the same time, they are praying but be careful before you take photos of them because the nuns are very shy to take photos since the nunnery is not visited by many western tourists.
Day 04 Drive Lhasa-Drathang fresco-Langthang Dewachen(3900mts/165Km)
After breakfast, we will say good bye to Lhasa and drive along the Lhasa river and through the tunnel towards south, Lhoka in Tibetan and continues journey along the YarlungTsangpo and some beautiful villages of Lhoka and reach Dranang county after one and half hours drive. The road condition for today is very good. Danangcounty is one of the biggest farming land counties of Tsetang or Lhoka where people grow barley, wheat, beans, potatoes and many other vegetables.
Drathang Fresco is located in Dranangcounty and the reason why we come to visit the fresco here is because firstly it is less tourist discovered monastery and secondly, you will be amazed by the art work between 12-15th century. The monastery was built in the 11th century by DasrkpaNgonshe, a native Dranang of Dranang valley and one of the 13 saints associated with it and completed in the end of the 11th century by his nephews. Even though the painting in the main assembly hall has little damage in the cultural revolution, it still has preserved lots of beautiful unique wall painting there.
The painting is in Tibetan, Newari and Indian styles. After visiting Drathang fresco, continues the journey and until reaching Chedishol, the road condition is very good, from Chedishol, turn left and drive on a dusty road for 25 Km but the scenery is more fascinating.
Day 05 Trek-Langthang Dewachen–Eagle nest-Lhamachen(4800mts/6 hrs)
After the breakfast, trek along the villages of Kangon and Jiekang for half an hour and then cross a small bridge and trek through small gorge until getting to the herders camp. From the herders camp, turn in the left valley and walktowards the eagle nest. Have lunch at eagle nest and continuously trek steep up in the valley and can be seen many blue sheep, snow chicken, foxes, wolves.
According to many of our clients feedback, since it is rocky trail, it is a great fun to have a competition of making rock piles during the lunch time. As long as you can build the tallest rock pile like Mani stone which you can see on the top of many big passes, you will be the championship and gain some presents.
Day 06 Lhemachen-JeshulLa-Kangru monastery-Yamdrok lake
Trek-Lhemachen-JeshulLa(5000mts)-Kangru monastery-Yamdrok lake(4470mts/7 hrs)
Start the trek after breakfast and ascend the side way to Jeshul La Pass(5000mts). Reaching the top of the pass after 3 hrs walk, enjoy the most beautiful view of Yamdroklake and KurlaGangri which is located at the border between Tibet and Bhutan. Descend down to the herders camp and have lunch. There you can sometimes see herders, making their lunch at the campsite. Reach Kangru monastery after an hour walk and it is very interesting to spend the night nearby the monastery and you can sit with the monks and share their life experience.
Kangru monastery has more than several hundred years history but the small monastery that we can today is a complete new monastery and there are around 13 monks and 10 nuns. Continue Trekking within the beautiful villages of Kangru and Kangmar, taking photos of the villages people who are indeed in Tibetan traditional dress being not effected by the modern lives. You can really enjoy the beauty of Tibetan culture and their way of daily lives resembled the one in the olden days.
The campsite on the huge green grassland called Renpoesure beside the lake shore is one of the most memorable one with many horses, Yaks and sheep being grazed on it. one in the olden days. The campsite on the huge green grassland called Renpoesure beside the lake shore is one of the most memorable one with many horses, Yaks and sheep being grazed on it.
Day 07 Renpoesur-Yamdrok lake-Bacho
Trek-Renpoesur-Yamdrok lake-Bacho(4580mts/1hr trek and one hour drive-6 hours trek)
After the breakfast, trek across the Gyoklei la pass(4580mts) and after one hour walk, we will drive to Khapa village and start your next trek along the barren land and pass by Khapa village and Lhunposhol village.
After Lhunposhol, the plateau is turning in to luxurious of many small bushes, grassland and finally reach Bacho grassland which is one of the biggest grasslands in Yamdrok area. You can thousands of yaks, sheep, goats grazing on the grassland as well many wild animals especially lots of wild donkey, Kyang in Tibetan.
Day 08 Trek Bacho-Drago (4770mts/5-6 hrs)
Start the trek after breakfast and what makes today’s walk more interesting is that you can enjoy the beauty of the Bacho grassland dominated by many wild lives, nomad camps, and Sokei village which has around 400 Tibetan families there.
Day 09 Trek-Drago-Cheri Zangla-RakarRanak(5000mts/6-7 hrs)
Trek up in the valley and cross Cheri Zanglapass(5200mts) and walk side in the valley to the Nera nomad camp and then continue to Rakar Ranak. You can see couple of beautiful ponds and snow-capped mountains.
Day 10 Trek-Rakar Ranak-ShagdiGompa(4890mts/6 hrs)
Trek in the Shawashung grassland and it is the best place to see flocks of Yaks, Kyang and many other wild lives. The nomads also mention that it is possible to see snow leopard by chance sometimes. Even though, most part of the Shagdi monastery, gompa in Tibet is in ruins, it is still interesting to spend a night near by the monastery. The founder of the monastery is Trishul Rinpoche who is living in Nepal now.
Day 11 Shagdi Gompa-Jachila-Kurla-Rongpaza
Trek-Shagdi Gompa-Jachila(5150mts)-Kurla(5070mts)-Rongpaza (4570mts/6-7 hrs)
Trek across the two high passes today, Jachila (5150mts) and Kurla(5070mts) but although the pass is high at altitude, it is not a difficult climbing pass. You will reach the top of the passes by an easy slop walk. From the top of the passes, there is long distance view of Mt NojingKangsang which is one the way to Gyangtse from Lhasa and a fantastic view of Lake Yamdrok again. Up on the rocky hill of Rongpaza, there is a very sacred cave which is believed to be blessed by Guru Rinpoche in the 8th Century.
Day 12 Rongpaza-Taglung monastery-Ralung monastery-Gyantse
Drive Rongpaza-Taglung monastery-Ralung monastery-Gyantse(3950mts/180Km)
Meet our drivers here and say good bye to our camping crews and start the adventure driving journey after long time adventure walk. You will be driving along the Yamdrok lake and reach Taglungtownship. Taglung is the largest market town between Gyangtse and Lhodark and the site of an important summer trade fair attended sometimes by Bhutanese merchants from Bumthang as well as native Tibetans from Tsang region and Lhoka. Stop there for visiting Taglung monastery. It several hundred years of history and it was the branch monastery odDorje dark. Nowadays, there is one main assembly hall dominated by a huge Guru Rinpoche statue and some beautiful wall painting dates back to the 15th to 19th century.
After visiting the monastery, we will continue our journey to Gyangtse over Karolapass(5020mts) and you will be driving beneath NojingKangsang glacier. After the Karoal down in the valley, have picnic lunch. Reaching Gyangtse after Similapass(4350mts). Gyangtse was the largest market town between Tibet and India in olden days. It is the place where Indian and Tibetan merchants exchange their goods. Gyangtse is also one of the most least modern influenced town.
Day 13 Gyangtse-drive to Shigatse.
Visit Palchoemonaster monastery. Kubum Pagoda stupa and old neighborhood of Gyangtse-drive to Shigatse.
Start the tour at around 10 Am from your hotel and walk for 15 minutes towards Palchoemonastery . Visit Palchoe monastery and Kubum Pagoda stupa. PALCHOE MONASTERY & KUBUM STUPA was founded in 14 th century by local Chieftain, RebtanKunsang for funeral of his mother’s death and it was once a complex of 15 monasteries that brought together three different Tibetan Buddhist sects in the one compound. Nine of the monasteries were for Gelukpa Sect, Three were for Sakyapa Sect and the rest three were for Botonpa Sect which is one of the minor orders in Tibetan Buddhism.
At the present day, the monastery is composed of one main assembly hall and some small chapels, inhabited by 70 monks. The Kubum Pagoda stupa was also built in 14th century by RabtenKunsang. The Stupa is nine storey high and 75 chapels, dedicated to the murals and statues, describing the tantric Tibetan Buddhism. Afternoon, Walk around neighborhood and enjoy with local people. Afternoon, drive straight ahead to Shigatse by passing one of the biggest farming land in Tibet where people grow barley, wheat, different kinds of vegetables.
Pm visit Tashi Lhunpo monastery and old market of Shigatse. TASHI LHUNPO MONASTERY is the seat of the Penchen Lama, built in 15th century by the first Dalai Lama,calledGedun Drub. On the slops of Drolmari, situated to the west of the fortress of ShigatseDzong. The monastery is composed of 3 big colleges such as Tsennyi college, Ngapacollege,TseGonkang college and one big assembly hall with numerous chapels around.
The main object of the monastery are the giant gilled copper statue of the Future Buddha Maitreya which is (26Meters) high, built in 1914, embodying loving kindness, contains 6,700 teals of gold and 150 metric tons of copper, and within it, an enormous juniper tree from Reting monastery functions as a life-supporting axis, Sok-Shing in Tibetan, The tomb sutpas of the successive Penchen Lamas, the tomb of the 4 th, 10 th and from those of 5 th to the 9 th together respectively. There are around 500 monks nowadays.
Day 14 Shigatse-Lhatse-New Dingri-Rongbukmonastery(5000mts/340Km)
Start the tour early in the morning and drive across the Tsola pass (4550mts) Gyatso la pass(5220mts) and Pangla pass(5000mts). From the foot of the Gyatso la, you can view Mt Everest in a long distance when the weather is clear. The road condition from Shigatse till new Dingri is a very good paved road. From new Dingri after checkpoint, we will drive off the dusty road for another hundred Km. Although the road is dusty, the condition is much better than before. It take 2 and half hrs to get to Rongbuk monastery.
Day 15 Rongbuk monastery-EBC-Rongbuk monastery-Dingri
Trek-Rongbuk monastery-Everest Basecamp(5200mts/2hrs)-Rongbuk monastery-Dingri(4390mts/70Km)
You will start your trek from Rongbuk monastery at around 9Am after enjoying your breakfast and sun rise view of Mt Everest and it will take you twohrs to get there. On the way you can visit a miraculous cave of Mila Repa which is two storeyhigh . After two hrs trek, you get to the Everest base camp. It is the best point of taking photos and enjoying the view of Mt Everest. Have picnic lunch at Everest Base camp and then back to Rongbuk monastery which would take you 1 and half hrs.
Drive through a rough road for 70Km until you get to the friendship high way where Old Dingri is located. Old Dingri is one of the popular places to stop a night in order to view mount Everest for tourists especially for those who are unable to go to Mount Everest because of altitude problem.
Day 16 Drive Dingri-Nyalam-Dram-Ktm( 1300mts/308 Km )
You will start your tour at 8.30 Am and through Lalung la pass(5020mts) and Thongla pass(5120mts). From the top of those two passes , you will say final good bye to the beautiful Himalayan range including Shisha Bangma mountain which is also over 8000Mts and popular to the mountain climbers and drive down the valley and passbyNyalam gorge and finally reach to Friendship Bridge. Walk across Friendship Bridge , meet by our representative from Nepal , clear immigration procedure and obtain your Nepali visa & transfer to Kathmandu . Driving up and down in the forested mountain with beautiful villages on the slops of the both side mountains.
| City | Night (s) | Hotels / Camps |
| Lhasa | 03 | Shangri La |
| Langthang | 01 | Tourist Lodge |
| Lamachen | 01 | Tourist Lodge |
| Yamdrok | 01 | Tourist Lodge |
| Bacho | 01 | Tourist Lodge |
| Drago | 01 | Tourist Lodge |
| Rakar Ranak | 01 | Tourist Lodge |
| Shagdi Gompa | 01 | Tourist Lodge |
| Rongpaza | 01 | Tourist Lodge |
| Gyantse | 01 | Yeti Garden |
| Shigatse | 01 | Mangareva Hotel |
| EBC | 01 | Rongbuk Monastery |
| Tengri | 01 | Everest Hotel |
– 15 nights accommodation as mentioned in the program.
– All necessary Tibet entry and road permits.
– 1 Local Tibetan English speaking guide.
– Transportation by good conditioned mini van and one support truck.
– All entry fees to the sites and monasteries.
– Yamdrok lake conservation fee.
– Karola glacier conservation fee.
– Everest conservation fee for all members, guide and vehicle.
– Everest base camp conservation fee for all members and guide.
– Daily Breakfast, Lunch and Dinners.
– All camping equipments except sleeping bag.
– All camping fee.
– Cook and assistant with all utensils.
– Different kinds of snack like biscuit, cheese, dried and fresh fruit during the camp.
– Pack horse and horse men for the trek.
– Oxygen in the vehicle and during the trek incase needed.
– All taxes.
– International Airfare.
– Tips, gratuities, Portage, laundry, telephone calls, table drinks, camera/ video camera charges, or any other expenses of a personal nature.
– Visa fees, personal insurance.
– Any item not specified under cost includes.
– Accommodation in good hotels.
– Check-in / out time is 12 noon at most of the hotels.
– Extension to other places is also possible with a minimal extra cost.
– Additional nights are available at each place with minimal supplement.
– A visa is required and must be obtained prior to your departure from your Country.
– If quoted hotel is not available, we will provide one of a similar category and standard.
– Small deviations in the tour program are sometimes necessary, depending on weather, road conditions, flight schedules and room availability.
– In case the government changes presently applicable taxes, increase in airlines prices, fuel surcharge our rates will need to be adjusted accordingly.
– Sometimes, there is no relevance between the distance and time of travelling, as it depends upon the condition of the roads and congestion of the traffic.
– While every effort will be made to maintain the itinerary, in view of local strikes etc that are beyond our control all schedule and itineraries are subject to last moment changes.
– Clients must be fully insured, as the company cannot accept liability for loss or damage to client’s property, medical emergencies or any other loss suffered by them whilst on tour.
– In Case of issuing Domestic or International air tickets, SGV is not responsible for any refund if the flight is delayed or cancelled, as it is the responsibility of airline.