9-Day Lhasa, Nyingchi, Yamdrok Lake & Shigatse Group Tour
Lhasa · Kadinggou · Nyingchi · Sejila Pass · Lulang · Basum Tso · Lhasa · Yamdrok Lake · Karola Glacier · Shigatse · Lhasa
The Route
Eastern forests first, then Lhasa and the road to Shigatse
This nine-day trip suits travellers who want the forested east of Tibet as well as the classic sights of Lhasa, and who can leave Everest for another time. From Lhasa the group drives east to Nyingchi, where the Niyang River runs between snow peaks, forest and meadow, then comes back for three days in the city before heading west over the Kamba La to Yamdrok Lake and Shigatse.
The order is kind to your body, within limits. You still land at 3,650 m and spend the first night in Lhasa, and on day 3 the road crosses the Sejila Pass at 4,728 m. But your second and third nights are lower than Lhasa, at about 2,900 m in Nyingchi and 3,480 m at Basum Tso, so by the time you climb the Potala's steps on day 6 you have spent five nights in Tibet. Our acclimatisation plan explains why a slow build-up helps.
In the east you walk into the Kadinggou gorge, look for Namcha Barwa (7,782 m) from the Sejila Pass, stop above the Lulang forests, visit Biri sacred mountain and circle Tashi Island on Basum Tso. Lhasa brings a hands-on crafts workshop and the debating monks of Sera, then the Potala Palace and the Jokhang with the Barkhor around it. The final leg passes the Karola Glacier and ends at Tashilhunpo, home of the Panchen Lamas, before the return to Lhasa by coach or train.
It is a shared group on fixed dates: up to 12 people, often a mix of international and Chinese travellers, with an English-speaking guide and a licensed tourist vehicle, though on a join-in tour the guide or vehicle can change along the way. Lhasa and Shigatse hotels are 4-star with oxygen supply; those in Nyingchi and at Basum Tso are without it. Nyingchi is at its greenest from late spring to early autumn, while winter departures cost least. Our Nyingchi travel guide has more on the region.
Trip Highlights
- ◆Two nights below Lhasa's altitude, in Nyingchi and at Basum Tso, before the city sightseeing starts
- ◆Namcha Barwa (7,782 m) from the Sejila Pass on a clear day, with the Lulang forests below
- ◆A clockwise walk round Tashi Island on Basum Tso, past the little Tsozong Monastery
- ◆Making your own incense at a Lhasa crafts workshop, then the monks' debate at Sera
- ◆The Potala Palace's 365 steps, the Jokhang and the pilgrim circuit of the Barkhor
- ◆Yamdrok Lake from the Kamba La (4,790 m) and the Karola Glacier close to the road
- ◆Tashilhunpo in Shigatse, with its towering statue of Maitreya, the future Buddha
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.
- Nov 21 – Nov 29, 2026$1,1209 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Nov 28 – Dec 6, 2026$1,1209 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Dec 5 – Dec 13, 2026$1,1209 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Dec 12 – Dec 20, 2026$1,1209 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Dec 19 – Dec 27, 2026$1,1209 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Dec 26 – Jan 3, 2027$1,1209 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Jan 2 – Jan 10, 2027$1,1209 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Jan 9 – Jan 17, 2027$1,1209 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
| Departure | Days | From (pp) | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 21 – Nov 29, 2026 | 9 | $1,120 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Nov 28 – Dec 6, 2026 | 9 | $1,120 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 5 – Dec 13, 2026 | 9 | $1,120 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 12 – Dec 20, 2026 | 9 | $1,120 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 19 – Dec 27, 2026 | 9 | $1,120 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 26 – Jan 3, 2027 | 9 | $1,120 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Jan 2 – Jan 10, 2027 | 9 | $1,120 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Jan 9 – Jan 17, 2027 | 9 | $1,120 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Arrival in Lhasa (3,650 m)
Your guide meets you at Lhasa railway station or at Gonggar airport, about 60 km from the city and 1 to 1.5 hours by road, with a white khata scarf, then drives you to your hotel. Arrival transfers are shared, so if other travellers land around the same time you may wait up to about two hours. After check-in, take it easy for the rest of the day: drink plenty of water, skip alcohol and heavy meals, and leave the shower until tomorrow. By 22:00 your guide will call or message with the next morning's meeting time.
Overnight: Lhasa
East to Nyingchi, with a walk into Kadinggou
Today's drive is long, about 420 km and seven hours, but it ends lower than it starts. The expressway east follows the Niyang River past snow peaks, forest and grassland, with stops for photographs. Roughly 366 km along, you leave the vehicle at Kadinggou (2,980 m) and spend about an hour walking into a deep, narrow gorge of strange rock formations, old trees and even bamboo. Nyingchi is some 30 km further, at about 2,900 m. Pack light for the road: the allowance is one suitcase of up to 26 inches plus a small backpack per person, and anything extra can be stored at your Lhasa hotel.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Nyingchi
Sejila Pass, Lulang and Biri Mountain to Basum Tso
About 280 km and five hours of driving, broken up by plenty of stops. The first is the Sejila Pass (4,728 m), 48 km from Nyingchi and the day's high point, where Namcha Barwa (7,782 m) shows on the skyline if the cloud allows. Beyond it, the Lulang viewpoint looks down on dense forest and meadow under a ring of snow peaks. Back in Nyingchi you visit Biri Mountain, a sacred hill that pilgrims walk around, with Tangcheng Monastery, banks of prayer flags and a museum showing 586 of the region's plant and animal species. One meal today is the included Lulang stone-pot chicken. Tonight you sleep at Basum Tso (3,480 m), or in Nyingchi if the hotel there is full or closed; the sightseeing stays the same.
Meals: Breakfast, specialty meal·Overnight: Basum Tso (Nyingchi if its hotel is full or closed)
Tashi Island and Jieba Village, then back to Lhasa
Basum Tso is a turquoise lake framed by forest and snow peaks, and the morning visit there lasts about an hour. Most of it is spent on Tashi Island, which you walk round clockwise, as pilgrims do: past the small Tsozong Monastery, dating from the 17th century, a peach tree that has grown around a pine, the remains of an old water-burial platform, a tree whose leaves carry marks like Tibetan letters, and a sacred spring linked to Guru Rinpoche. Jieba Village then gives a wide view of the lake below the two peaks known as the King's Throne and the Burning Flame. From there it's about 360 km, around six hours, back to Lhasa.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Lhasa
Lhasa: a crafts workshop and the debate at Sera
A city day at an easier pace. At a traditional crafts centre you mix your own incense from juniper, sandalwood and herbs, try woodblock printing, the method once used to reproduce scriptures, and watch a teacher write your name or a blessing in Tibetan script; all three are yours to keep. Later you drive about 7 km to Sera, which with Drepung and Ganden makes up Lhasa's trio of great Gelug monasteries. From around 15:00 its monks gather in a courtyard to debate, clapping and stamping to press their points. On Sundays there is no debate and you see the monastery only, and it is occasionally cancelled for ceremonies or special visitors.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Lhasa
Lhasa's old city: Potala, Jokhang and Barkhor
The Potala Palace, for three centuries the winter home of the Dalai Lamas, is visited on a ticket issued against your passport, at an entry time set by the palace itself, with a strict one-hour limit inside. Guides may not talk in the halls, so yours explains beforehand and arranges an audio headset; photography inside is banned, and it is 365 steps from the gate up to the Red Palace. Afterwards comes the Jokhang, booked the day before, where pilgrims prostrate at the entrance, and an unhurried loop of the Barkhor. One meal is a Tibetan or Nepali specialty, included. The Potala closes on Mondays, so on those dates the Lhasa days are reordered.
Meals: Breakfast, specialty meal·Overnight: Lhasa
Lhasa to Shigatse by Yamdrok Lake and Karola
About 370 km and seven hours west today. Some 110 km out of Lhasa the road tops the Kamba La (4,790 m), and Yamdrok Lake (4,441 m), one of Tibet's sacred lakes, opens out below; people with yaks and mastiffs charge for photos, so agree a price first. Another 87 km brings you to the Karola Glacier, whose ice ends a few hundred metres from the road beneath Noijin Kangsang (7,191 m); walk slowly in the thin air and expect very basic toilets. The final 170 km run through Gyantse and the Nyang Chu valley to Shigatse (3,850 m), where your guide registers foreign passports with the local exit-entry office.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Shigatse
Tashilhunpo, then Lhasa by coach or train
The morning is for Tashilhunpo. The first Dalai Lama founded it in 1447, and from the fourth Panchen Lama onwards it has been the seat of the Panchen Lamas. In the Maitreya chapel, the statue of the future Buddha was made with some 115 tonnes of copper and set with more than 1,400 diamonds, pearls and other stones; nearby halls hold the reliquary stupas of past Panchen Lamas. Then it's back to Lhasa. On this trip the return may be by tour coach, about 270 km and five hours along the Yarlung Tsangpo, or by train; the local agency decides which, and it can't be requested.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Lhasa
Departure from Lhasa
Breakfast, then the shared transfer to the airport or the railway station. Allow about an hour for the drive to Gonggar and aim for a flight after 10:00; flights departing from 08:30 to 22:30 fall within the free transfer. Send your onward flight or train details early, since the shared drop-offs are planned around them. If you stay on in Lhasa, a transfer on a later date is arranged separately and costs extra.
Meals: Breakfast
What's Included
- ✓All permits, applied for by the local agency: the Tibet Travel Permit, the Alien's Travel Permit and, if the route requires one, a military permit
- ✓English-speaking licensed guide; on mixed groups the guide works in both English and Chinese
- ✓Shared licensed tourist vehicle of 7–26 seats with driver; for Lhasa sightseeing with fewer than four travellers, a taxi with your guide, fares covered
- ✓8 nights, twin-share: Lhasa (5) and Shigatse (1) in 4-star hotels with oxygen supply, plus a night each in Nyingchi and at Basum Tso
- ✓Breakfast every day and two specialty meals: Lulang stone-pot chicken and a Tibetan or Nepali meal in Lhasa
- ✓Entrance fees for Kadinggou, the Lulang Forest viewpoint, Basum Tso, the Tibetan culture workshop, Sera Monastery, the Potala Palace (with audio headset), the Jokhang, Yamdrok Lake, the Karola Glacier and Tashilhunpo
- ✓The return from Shigatse to Lhasa on day 8, by tour coach or train
- ✓Free shared airport or station transfers on day 1 and day 9: any train, and flights arriving 08:00–22:00 or departing 08:30–22:30
- ✓Oxygen and water: a portable oxygen bottle each, a 6.8-litre medical oxygen tank carried for emergencies, and two 300 ml bottles of water per person per day
- ✓Travel accident, vehicle passenger and travel-agency liability insurance
Not Included
- —Your flights or trains to Lhasa and home again (the local agency can book them at extra cost)
- —Chinese visa
- —Any lunch or dinner apart from the two specialty meals
- —Single-room supplement from $320 per person (varies by season) — rooms are twin-share by default
- —Tips for guide and driver — the local agency suggests about CNY 60 per person per day, shared between them
- —Transfers on other dates or at other times, and any hotel nights you add before or after the trip
- —Personal spending such as drinks, snacks and laundry, and costs caused by events outside the agency's control, such as cancelled flights or natural disasters
Accommodation
Five nights in Lhasa and one in Shigatse are spent in 4-star hotels, with oxygen supply in the rooms and breakfast included. The Nyingchi night is in a hotel of a similar standard, and the Basum Tso night in the resort hotel inside the lake's scenic area; neither supplies oxygen. If the Basum Tso hotel is full or closed, the group sleeps in Nyingchi instead, at the same price and with the same sightseeing. The local agency allocates the hotels, so you can't ask for a particular one; rooms are standard twins with private bathrooms, and a double bed can't be promised. Travelling alone? The FAQ below gives the price of a room to yourself.
Departures & Pricing
| Season | Per person |
|---|---|
| Winter (Nov 1 – end of Feb) | $1,120 |
| Spring & autumn (Mar 1 – Jun 25, Sep 1 – 26, Oct 7 – 31; Chinese New Year departures) | $1,270 |
| Summer & holiday weeks (Jun 26 – Aug 31, Sep 27 – Oct 6; May Day departures) | $1,440 |
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
Yes. You join the same shared group as everyone else; only the room is different. Rooms are booked as twins and a roommate can't be guaranteed, so a solo booking pays for a room of its own. The total is USD 1,440 for winter departures (1 November to the end of February), USD 1,710 in spring and autumn, and USD 1,990 in summer (26 June to 28 August) and the May Day and National Day holiday weeks. Each total is the twin-share price with USD 320, 440 or 550 added for the single room.
Gallery
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