9-Day Tibet Tour with Lhasa and a Ganden–Samye Trek

Your private guide and driver will pick you up at Lhasa's airport or train station and accompany you to your hotel.

Visit the Potala Palace in the morning. Prepare to enjoy the resplendent chambers, exquisite wall paintings, and the stories about the king of the Tubo Kingdom and Dalai Lamas.

Have a walking tour in the afternoon. Visit Jokhang Temple and explore Barkhor Street including its local market, admire traditional Tibetan architecture, and take afternoon tea in peaceful Ani Tsangkhung Nunnery.

Start to discover Tibet's religion with the biggest and the most important monastery of Tibetan Buddhism — Drepung Monastery.

After lunch, visit Sera Monastery and watch a monks' debate. Guess the meaning of their gestures and grasp the chance to take photos. Admire the colorful thangka-style murals on the rocks on the hill behind, which is normally missed by most tourists, and enjoy a great panoramic view of Lhasa city from the monastery.

Drive from Lhasa to Ganden Monastery. This main monastery of the Gelug Sect has a magnificent building group.

Then continue to Tsubshi Village in your private car. Trek from there to Yama-Do Village — 7 km (4 miles). Along the way, you will see barely fields and meadows where there could be some yaks.

Camp in Yama-Do Village overnight.

On the second day of the trek, you will climb over Shug-La Pass by making a steep and rocky ascent out of the Lhasa River Valley into the rare air of altitude 5,250 meters (17,220 feet)!

The route continues across Shug-La Pass following a trail with many prayer stones. Descend gradually and reach a valley an hour and a half from the pass. Cross the Tsotup Chu, a long stream winding along the valley floor where Tibetan nomads with their yaks, goats, and sheep dot the landscape.

The day's trek is 10 km (6 miles) and you will camp near the Tsotup Chu stream.

From the Tsotup Chu valley, you will follow a small tributary. The path rises steeply for 30 minutes, finally reaching the mouth of a large col. The terrain ahead is not particularly difficult after passing the Chitu-La Pass — altitude 5,090 meters (16,700 feet), marked by several large cairns. A short steep descent leads us into a basin holding three small beautiful lakes.

The day's trekking covers 14 km (9 miles) and you will camp right by the Chitu-La basin lakes.

The final day of the trek will be an easier 14 km. Hike in a forest of shrubs for three hours. We go across a series of meadows. You will also pass several villages. The local Tibetans might be seen on their way into the mountains with their horses and yaks. When you get to the Yamalung valley, your personal driver will pick you up and transfer you to Samye Town.

Sleep in the guesthouse in Samye Town.

In the morning, visit Samye Monastery, which is significant to Tibetan Buddhism as it is the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery that had a Buddha, dharma, and monks. Its four pagodas in different colors are a unique feature.

Visit the first palace of Tibet — Yumbulakang Palace in the afternoon and listen to stories of the first king of Tibet in context. The barley field at foot of the palace's hill is the first piece of farmland that fed the local Tibetans, and it has been used generation after generation since.

Your personal guide and driver will escort you from Tsedang to Lhasa Airport.