8-Day Lhasa to Everest Base Camp Small-Group Tour
Lhasa · Yamdrok Lake · Gyantse · Shigatse · Everest Base Camp · Dinggye · Sakya · Shigatse · Lhasa
The Route
The classic Everest run, with a different way back
Eight days is the honest minimum for Lhasa and Everest together, and this small-group itinerary spends them well. Three full days in Lhasa first — monasteries, the Potala, the Jokhang, the Barkhor — which is both the best part of the trip and the reason you will still be walking comfortably at 5,200m on day five.
Then the overland road: the Kamba La, Yamdrok Lake, the Karola Glacier, the Kumbum at Gyantse, a night in Shigatse, and the long climb over the Gyatso La and the Gawu La to base camp, where you sleep in a heated tent under the north face and — weather permitting — watch the Milky Way come up behind it.
What makes this one different is day six. Instead of retracing the highway, the group comes back along the Himalayan foothills through Dinggye, where the Xilin viewpoint puts both Everest's eastern flank and Lhotse's 8,516m summit in the same frame, and stops at the old monastery town of Sakya. The trip ends with Tashilhunpo and a Langma-hall dinner in Shigatse before the run home along the Yarlung Tsangpo. Groups are capped at twelve; see when to go for the seasons that give the clearest summit.
Trip Highlights
- ◆Three full days in Lhasa before you go high — the right way to acclimatise
- ◆A heated tent at Everest Base Camp, 5,200m, with sunset and sunrise on the north face
- ◆The Dinggye Xilin viewpoint: Everest's eastern slope and Lhotse (8,516m) together
- ◆Sakya, the great grey-walled monastery town on the quiet road back
- ◆Yamdrok Lake, the Karola Glacier and the Gyantse Kumbum on the way out
- ◆Tashilhunpo Monastery and a Langma-hall dinner to close the trip
Upcoming Departures
Fixed group dates from the calendar of the Lhasa agency that runs this route. Tell us which one you want and we'll usually confirm availability within 24 hours. Private departures can run on any date you choose.
| Departure | Days | From (pp) | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 10 – Nov 17, 2026 | 8 | $1,050 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Nov 17 – Nov 24, 2026 | 8 | $1,050 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Nov 24 – Dec 1, 2026 | 8 | $1,050 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 1 – Dec 8, 2026 | 8 | $950 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 8 – Dec 15, 2026 | 8 | $950 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 15 – Dec 22, 2026 | 8 | $950 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 22 – Dec 29, 2026 | 8 | $950 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 29 – Jan 5, 2027 | 8 | $950 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Arrive in Lhasa
Your guide meets the flight or train with a white khata and brings you into the city, with the Yarlung Tsangpo and then the Lhasa River alongside the road. Check in and then take the day slowly — at 3,650m the first afternoon is for water, rest and a short flat walk at most. Your guide will run through the week and the altitude signs worth knowing.
Overnight: Lhasa
Drepung, Sera and a welcome dinner
Monastery day. Drepung in the morning, once the largest monastic institution on earth with more than ten thousand monks, where the Coqen Hall gives your guide room to explain how Tibetan Buddhism orders the world; you'll look into Loseling College and the monks' quarters too. Sera in the afternoon for the debating courtyard, roughly three to five, Monday to Saturday — hand-claps, stamped feet and two hours of formal argument. The day closes with a welcome dinner where the group meets properly.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner·Overnight: Lhasa
Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and the Barkhor
Two UNESCO sites in a day. The Potala at your allotted ticket hour — the burial stupas of the Dalai Lamas, Songtsen Gampo's meditation cave, and a view over the whole old town — then down to Longwangtan Park below the hill, where Lhasa families spend their afternoons. In the afternoon the Jokhang, and the twelve-year-old Sakyamuni that pilgrims prostrate the length of Tibet to reach, followed by a kora of the Barkhor and sweet tea in a working tea house.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Lhasa
Lhasa to Shigatse via Yamdrok and Gyantse — 360km
The overland day. Over the Kamba La at 4,790m to the first sight of Yamdrok Lake, 4,400m of impossible turquoise with Nyenchen Khangsar (7,191m) standing behind it, then along the shore with stops at several viewpoints and lunch with a family in a lakeside village. The Karola Glacier comes down almost to the roadside. Prayer flags at the Simi La, photographs of old Gyantse, then barley fields — green in summer, gold in autumn — the whole way into Shigatse.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch·Overnight: Shigatse
Shigatse to Everest Base Camp
West, and up. The Gyatso La at 5,280m gives the first glimpse of the summit, small and half-hidden behind the range. Inside the Qomolangma reserve, the Gawu La at 5,198m opens the full panorama — five of the world's highest peaks in a single line, Everest at the front. Then the switchback road to base camp, where the mountain resolves into a white pyramid directly ahead. Sunset turns the north face gold; after dark, if the sky is clear, the Milky Way comes up behind it.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Everest Base Camp (heated tent)
Rongbuk, the Dinggye Himalayan road, and Sakya
Rongbuk Monastery first — the highest in the world at 5,154m, where monks and nuns share the same walls. Then the quiet way home, east along the Himalayan foothills through Dinggye rather than back up the highway. At the Xilin viewpoint you get Everest's eastern slope and, beside it, Lhotse at 8,516m, over a broad wetland basin. A stop in the old town of Sakya, and into Shigatse in the evening for a Langma hall — Tibetan song and dance, and dinner with the group.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner·Overnight: Shigatse
Tashilhunpo, then back to Lhasa
Tashilhunpo in the morning: the seat of the Panchen Lamas, its halls stacked up the hillside, holding the largest gilded Maitreya on earth at nearly 27m. Then the highway home along the Yarlung Tsangpo, back into Lhasa in the afternoon with the evening free on the Barkhor for whatever you still want to buy.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Lhasa
Depart Lhasa
Your guide confirms the departure details the night before and sees you to the airport or station. If you are continuing into China or on to Kathmandu, tell us at booking and we'll handle the permits and the onward ticket.
Meals: Breakfast
What's Included
- ✓Tibet Travel Permit, Alien's Travel Permit and all required local permits
- ✓Licensed English-speaking Tibetan guide shared within your group
- ✓Tourist vehicle sized to the group, with oxygen on board, throughout
- ✓3-star hotels or better in Lhasa and Shigatse, and a heated tent at Everest Base Camp; upgrades available
- ✓All entrance fees for the sites listed, and the meals marked in the itinerary
- ✓Free transfer between Lhasa airport or railway station and your hotel; taxes, service charges and travel accident insurance
Not Included
- —International and domestic flights or trains to and from Lhasa (we book these on request)
- —Chinese visa (we can provide the documents you need to apply)
- —Meals not marked in the itinerary
- —Single-room supplement from $280 per person (varies by season) — rooms are twin-share by default
- —Tips for your guide and driver — around USD 7 per person per day, shared between them, is customary
- —Costs arising from force majeure — weather, road closures, permit suspensions or flight delays
Accommodation
3-star hotels as standard in Lhasa and Shigatse, with 4- and 5-star upgrades quoted on request, and a heated Tibetan-style tent at Everest Base Camp (or the Rongbuk guesthouse when the tents are closed). Rooms are twin-share; solo travellers either share or pay the single supplement.
Departures & Pricing
| Season | Per person |
|---|---|
| Winter (Dec–Mar) | $950 |
| Shoulder (Apr, Nov) | $1,050 |
| Peak (May–Oct) | $1,150 |
| Golden Week | $1,250 |
per person, twin-share. Fixed small-group departures run on set dates — tell us your month and we'll confirm the next available group.
Frequently Asked Questions
Same length, different last third. That one adds a day trip to Namtso Lake and returns from Everest on the main highway. This one stays in the Himalaya longer: it comes back through Dinggye, where you see Everest's eastern slope and Lhotse together, and stops at Sakya. Choose Namtso if you want the lakes; choose this if you want more mountain.
Gallery
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