15-Day Mount Kailash Kora & Lake Manasarovar Pilgrimage
Lhasa · Gyantse · Shigatse · Everest Base Camp · Pelku Tso · Saga · Darchen · Dirapuk · Dolma La · Zutulpuk · Lake Manasarovar · Saga · Gyirong · Tingri · Lhasa
The Route
The greatest overland journey in Tibet
Four religions hold Mount Kailash sacred and none of them permit climbing it. What pilgrims do instead is walk around it — a 52km circuit over the Dolma La at 5,630m, which Tibetans complete in a single day and which this itinerary spreads over three. One kora is said to erase the sins of a lifetime. That is the destination; the fortnight of road it takes to get there is most of the experience.
The trip builds properly. Three days in Lhasa to acclimatise, then the classic overland route through Gyantse and Shigatse to a night beneath the north face at Everest Base Camp. From there the road turns west along the Himalaya — past Shishapangma (8,027m) and the gold-lit shallows of Pelku Tso, into Saga, and onward across the Ngari plateau at a steady 4,500m, until the Mayum La opens onto Lake Manasarovar with Kailash standing behind it.
Then three days of walking: Darchen to Dirapuk under the west face, over the Dolma La past the frozen green Gauri Kund and down to Zutulpuk, and out again to Darchen and the shore of Manasarovar. The way home takes a different road entirely — south to the Gyirong valley, which Howard-Bury called the most beautiful in the world and which after two weeks at altitude smells overwhelmingly of pine and wet earth — then back up onto the plateau via Tingri and Tashilhunpo to Lhasa.
It is the hardest itinerary we run and the one people remember longest. Read the Mount Kailash pilgrimage guide before you book, and the trekking guide for what the three kora days actually ask of you.
Trip Highlights
- ◆The complete 52km Mount Kailash kora over the Dolma La at 5,630m, walked over three days
- ◆Lake Manasarovar at 4,590m — a kora of the shore, Trugo Monastery and the Rakshastal viewpoint
- ◆A night at Everest Base Camp beneath the north face on the way west
- ◆Shishabangma (8,027m) and Pelku Tso on the long Himalayan road into Ngari
- ◆Dirapuk Monastery, directly under the west face, for sunset on the sacred mountain
- ◆The return through the Gyirong valley — forest, Sherpa villages and thick, warm air
Departure dates
Departures on request — tell us when you'd like to travel and we'll usually confirm availability within 24 hours.
Plan This Trip →Day-by-Day Itinerary
Arrive in Lhasa
Your guide meets the flight or train with a white khata and drives you into the city along the Yarlung Tsangpo and the Lhasa River. Check in and do nothing else. On a fifteen-day trip that ends at 5,630m, the first afternoon at 3,650m is an investment.
Overnight: Lhasa
Drepung, Sera and a welcome dinner
Drepung in the morning, once home to over ten thousand monks, with time in Loseling College and the monks' quarters. Sera in the afternoon for the debating courtyard, roughly three to five, Monday to Saturday. A welcome dinner in the evening — worth taking seriously, because these are the people you'll be walking the kora with.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner·Overnight: Lhasa
Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and the Barkhor
The Potala at your ticket hour, then Longwangtan Park below the hill. In the afternoon the Jokhang and its twelve-year-old Sakyamuni, pilgrims prostrating on the flagstones outside, 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
Over the Kamba La at 4,790m to Yamdrok Lake at 4,400m, Nyenchen Khangsar (7,191m) beyond it, and lunch with a family in a lakeside village. The Karola Glacier at the roadside, prayer flags at the Simi La, old Gyantse, then barley fields into Shigatse.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch·Overnight: Shigatse
Shigatse to Everest Base Camp
The Gyatso La at 5,280m for the first glimpse of the summit. Over the Gawu La at 5,198m into the Qomolangma reserve, with five of the world's highest peaks strung along the skyline, then the switchbacks to base camp. Sunset on the north face, and after dark — if the sky is clear — the Milky Way directly behind the mountain. This is also your first night above 5,000m, and good preparation for what comes later.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Everest Base Camp (tent or Rongbuk guesthouse)
Everest to Saga via Shishapangma and Pelku Tso
Rongbuk Monastery at 5,154m before you leave, with luck under pink light on the summit. Then west — the long day that turns the trip from sightseeing into an expedition. The road runs along the Himalayan flank past Shishapangma at 8,027m, the only 8,000er entirely inside Tibet, with its three peaks in clear view above the gold shallows of Pelku Tso. Across the grassland beyond the lake to Saga, the road junction town that is the gateway to Ngari. Buy anything you still need for the kora here; there is nothing after this.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Saga
Saga to Darchen via Zhongba and the Mayum La
A full day west along the corridor between the Himalaya and the Gangdise range — snow peaks on both sides, immense grassland between, yak and sheep and the green water of Gongzhu Tso. Over the Mayum La at 5,211m you cross formally into Ngari, and the country empties out; wild ass and antelope are common here. Then Manasarovar appears ahead with Kailash standing behind it, which is the moment most people on this trip remember. Into Darchen, the small town at the mountain's foot, to settle and repack for three days on the kora.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Darchen
Kora day 1 — Darchen to Dirapuk, 13km
An eco-bus takes you from Darchen to Sarshung, where the walking starts. The first 13km are the gentle ones, up the Lha Chu valley with the southern and then the western face of Kailash above you the whole way — the mountain's shape is unmistakable and it does not let you forget where you are. You reach the Dirapuk guesthouse under the west face in the afternoon, with time to visit the monastery and stand among the stupas. If the weather holds, sunset on the sheer western wall is the single best hour of the trip.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Dirapuk guesthouse
Kora day 2 — Dirapuk to Zutulpuk over the Dolma La, 24km
The hard day, and an early start. Four kilometres of steady climbing to 5,430m, with sunrise on the north-west face as you go. Two more to the Dolma La at 5,630m, the highest point of the circuit, where the pass is buried under decades of prayer flags and where you will be walking alongside Tibetans doing the whole loop in a day and some doing it in full-body prostrations. The path is often icy and loose even in summer — this is a day to go slowly and let your guide set the pace. Over the top, the frozen green Gauri Kund sits below the glaciers of the north-west face; then a long descent into the valley beneath the south-east foot and the guesthouse at Zutulpuk.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Zutulpuk guesthouse
Kora day 3 — out to Darchen, then Lake Manasarovar
An easy 12km down the valley to Darchen closes the circuit. In the afternoon, a 30km drive to Lake Manasarovar — 4,590m, and holy to Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and Bon alike. You can walk a stretch of the lake kora, wash your hands and face in the water as pilgrims do, or take the shore bus round to Trugo Monastery and the Rakshastal viewpoint, where on a clear day Kailash and Manasarovar sit in the same frame. There are hot springs by the lake if three days of walking have caught up with you. Back to Darchen for the night.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Darchen
Darchen to Saga
The long road back east across Ngari, with the Gangdise range on one side and the Himalaya on the other. It is the same route as day seven and it looks entirely different going the other way — you know what you are looking at now. Stops at pastures and lakeshores along the way; into Saga in the evening.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Saga
Saga to the Gyirong valley
South towards the Nepal border, and down. Over roughly four hours the landscape changes completely: bare plateau, then juniper, then dense subtropical forest and a gorge with a river at the bottom. Gyirong town sits at about 2,800m, which after two weeks above 4,000m feels like breathing through a different set of lungs. Time in the afternoon for the Sherpa villages and the valley Howard-Bury called the most beautiful in the world.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Gyirong
Gyirong to Tingri
A slow morning in the valley — and if you are carrying on to Kathmandu rather than back to Lhasa, this is where you leave us, over the border at Rasuwa. Everyone else climbs back onto the plateau after lunch, up out of the forest and onto the Tingri plain, with the Himalayan wall along the southern horizon the whole way. Into Tingri in the afternoon.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Tingri
Tingri to Lhasa via Tashilhunpo
East to Shigatse for Tashilhunpo Monastery — the seat of the Panchen Lamas, halls stacked up the hillside, and the largest gilded Maitreya in the world at nearly 27m. Then the highway home along the Yarlung Tsangpo and into Lhasa in the evening. It is a long day, and the hot shower at the end of it is memorable.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Lhasa
Depart Lhasa
Departure details confirmed the night before, and your guide takes you to the airport or railway station. Onward permits and tickets into China or out through Nepal can be arranged if you tell us at booking.
Meals: Breakfast
What's Included
- ✓Tibet Travel Permit, Alien's Travel Permit, military permit and all required local permits for Ngari
- ✓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, Shigatse, Saga and Gyirong; a tent or guesthouse at Everest; the local guesthouses at Darchen, Dirapuk and Zutulpuk, which are the only accommodation on the kora
- ✓All entrance fees for the sites listed, including the Qomolangma, Kailash and Manasarovar reserve fees, the Sarshung eco-bus, 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, and the Nepal group visa if you are exiting via Gyirong (we can arrange both — ask at booking)
- —Porters and yaks for carrying luggage on the three kora days — tell your guide in Darchen and we arrange them at cost
- —Meals not marked in the itinerary
- —Single-room supplement — rooms are twin-share by default, and the kora guesthouses are dormitory-style regardless (price on request)
- —Tips for your guide and driver — around USD 7 per person per day, shared between them, is customary
Accommodation
3-star hotels in Lhasa, Shigatse, Saga and Gyirong, a tent or the Rongbuk guesthouse at Everest, and a simple hotel in Darchen. On the kora itself you stay in the Dirapuk and Zutulpuk guesthouses — shared rooms, no heating, no showers, an outside toilet, at 5,050m and 4,800m. There is nothing else up there, and that is a normal part of this pilgrimage rather than a compromise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Fit enough to walk 6–8 hours on rough ground at altitude for three consecutive days, with one day that climbs to 5,630m. You do not need technical skills or previous trekking experience, but you do need to be able to keep walking when you are cold, tired and short of breath. Porters and pack yaks can carry your bag; they cannot carry you.
Gallery
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