11-Day Lhasa, Nyingchi & Everest Base Camp Group Tour
Lhasa · Kadinggou · Nyingchi · Sejila Pass · Lulang · Basum Tso · Lhasa · Yamdrok Lake · Karola Glacier · Shigatse · Rongbuk · Everest Base Camp · Shigatse · Lhasa
The Route
Nyingchi first, Everest later
Our shorter Everest trips head west after two or three days in Lhasa. This one takes the long way round: three days east in Nyingchi and at Basum Tso, three in Lhasa, and only then the road west past Yamdrok Lake and Shigatse to Everest Base Camp, which you reach on day 8.
That order is the main reason to choose it. Arrival day puts you at Lhasa's 3,650 m like any other trip, and day 3 crosses the 4,728 m Sejila Pass, but the two nights after arrival are spent lower down, in Nyingchi at about 2,900 m and then by Basum Tso at 3,480 m. By the time you bed down at 5,200 m below Everest, you will have had seven nights in Tibet at 2,900–3,850 m. No itinerary can rule out altitude sickness — our altitude sickness guide lists the symptoms to watch for — but this is a steadier build-up than our shorter trips allow.
Along the way: the Kadinggou gorge, Namcha Barwa seen from the Sejila Pass when the weather allows, the Lulang forests and Tashi Island on Basum Tso; in Lhasa, an incense-making and calligraphy workshop, the monks' debate at Sera, the Potala and the Jokhang; then hot pot overlooking Yamdrok, the Karola Glacier, the Gawu La with up to five 8,000 m peaks in view, Rongbuk Monastery, the Gyatso La and, on the last full day, Tashilhunpo in Shigatse.
Departures are fixed and the group is shared: up to 12 travellers, often a blend of international and Chinese guests. An English-speaking guide travels with you in a licensed tourist vehicle, though on join-in tours like this the guide or vehicle can change between stages. Hotels in Lhasa and Shigatse are 4-star, with oxygen supply in the rooms; in Nyingchi and at Basum Tso there is none, and the Everest night is in the base-camp tent camp with shared bathrooms, or in an Everest Town guesthouse once it closes for winter. Our Everest Base Camp guide covers the seasons at the mountain.
Trip Highlights
- ◆Seven nights at 2,900–3,850 m, two of them below Lhasa's altitude, before you sleep at Everest
- ◆The Kadinggou gorge, the Lulang forests and Tashi Island on Basum Tso in Tibet's green east
- ◆Incense-making and Tibetan calligraphy in Lhasa, then the monks' debate at Sera
- ◆A hot-pot lunch overlooking Yamdrok Lake, then the Karola Glacier beside the road
- ◆Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma from the Gawu La when the sky is clear
- ◆Rongbuk Monastery and a night at Everest Base Camp, 19 km from the summit
- ◆The Potala Palace and the Jokhang in Lhasa, and Tashilhunpo in Shigatse
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 – Dec 1, 2026$1,31011 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Nov 28 – Dec 8, 2026$1,31011 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Dec 5 – Dec 15, 2026$1,31011 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Dec 12 – Dec 22, 2026$1,31011 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Dec 19 – Dec 29, 2026$1,31011 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Dec 26 – Jan 5, 2027$1,31011 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Jan 2 – Jan 12, 2027$1,31011 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
- Jan 9 – Jan 19, 2027$1,31011 DaysOpen – enquireRequest this date →
| Departure | Days | From (pp) | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 21 – Dec 1, 2026 | 11 | $1,310 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Nov 28 – Dec 8, 2026 | 11 | $1,310 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 5 – Dec 15, 2026 | 11 | $1,310 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 12 – Dec 22, 2026 | 11 | $1,310 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 19 – Dec 29, 2026 | 11 | $1,310 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Dec 26 – Jan 5, 2027 | 11 | $1,310 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Jan 2 – Jan 12, 2027 | 11 | $1,310 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
| Jan 9 – Jan 19, 2027 | 11 | $1,310 | Open – enquire | Request this date → |
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Lhasa: arrival and acclimatisation
Whether you fly into Gonggar or come in by train, your guide is waiting at arrivals to drive you to your hotel; from the airport that's about 60 km, or an hour to an hour and a half. The pick-up is pooled with other arrivals, so a wait of up to about two hours is possible. Then rest. Lhasa lies at 3,650 m, so keep the first afternoon for water, light food and an early night rather than sightseeing, a hot shower or a drink. Your guide will be in touch by 22:00 with the time for tomorrow's start.
Overnight: Lhasa
Lhasa to Nyingchi, with a stop at Kadinggou
Day two trades the high valleys around Lhasa for the forested east: about 420 km and seven hours on the expressway to Nyingchi, along the Niyang River. The main stop comes about 366 km in, at Kadinggou (2,980 m), where an hour's walk takes you into a narrow gorge of odd rock formations, ancient trees and stands of bamboo. From there it's only some 30 km to Nyingchi, where you sleep at about 2,900 m, roughly 750 m lower than Lhasa. Pack with the whole trip in mind: each traveller can bring one 26-inch case and a small backpack, and your Lhasa hotel can keep anything extra.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Nyingchi
Over the Sejila Pass to Lulang, Biri and Basum Tso
A full day around Nyingchi, with some five hours at the wheel over about 280 km. You climb first to the Sejila Pass, 4,728 m and 48 km from town, the highest point of the day; in clear weather Namcha Barwa (7,782 m) stands on the horizon. Next is the Lulang Forest viewpoint, with snowy summits above a valley of forest and meadow. Then you double back to Nyingchi for Biri Mountain, circled by pilgrims and strung with prayer flags, whose museum displays 586 of the area's plant and animal species. The stone-pot chicken, stewed with a wild ginseng, is included today. Tonight: Basum Tso (3,480 m), or Nyingchi if the lake hotel is full or closed.
Meals: Breakfast, specialty meal·Overnight: Basum Tso (Nyingchi if its hotel is full or closed)
Basum Tso and Jieba Village, back to Lhasa
Basum Tso is sacred to Tibetans, especially followers of the Nyingma school, its green-blue water backed by snow peaks and forest. You spend about an hour here, mostly on Tashi Island: follow the path round clockwise past the 17th-century Tsozong Monastery, the peach-embracing pine, the old water-burial platform, a tree with script-like patterns on its leaves and a spring linked by legend to Guru Rinpoche. A short stop at Jieba Village lines up the lake with two snow mountains named the King's Throne and the Burning Flame. Then it's roughly six hours and 360 km back to Lhasa, your base for the next three nights.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Lhasa
Lhasa: hands-on crafts and Sera's debating monks
Back in Lhasa, today mixes Tibetan crafts with monastery life. At a traditional crafts centre you make a batch of incense by hand, try woodblock printing, the way sutras were copied for centuries, and leave with your name or a blessing written in Tibetan by a calligrapher. Sera, a major Gelug teaching monastery, is a 20-minute drive away. Its monks debate in a courtyard from about 15:00, one standing to put questions with a sharp clap while the others sit and answer. On Sundays there's no debate and you visit the halls only; ceremonies or special visitors can also cancel it.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Lhasa
Lhasa: Potala Palace, Jokhang and Barkhor
Today is the Potala Palace, the Dalai Lamas' winter palace from the 17th century until 1959. Entry is by real-name ticket at a time the palace assigns, so carry your passport; you get one hour inside, photography is forbidden, and guides must keep quiet in the halls, so yours briefs you beforehand and organises a headset. Flat shoes help on the steep stone steps. Next, the Jokhang, Lhasa's holiest temple and home of the statue of Sakyamuni at the age of twelve, then the Barkhor circuit around it, busy with pilgrims and stalls. A Tibetan or Nepali specialty meal is included. On a Monday the Potala is shut and the order changes.
Meals: Breakfast, specialty meal·Overnight: Lhasa
Hot-pot lunch at Yamdrok, then Karola and Shigatse
The road west, about 370 km and seven hours. Two to three hours out of Lhasa you crest the Kamba La (4,790 m) for the first sight of Yamdrok Lake (4,441 m), a sweep of blue water far below. Lunch, included, is a hot pot eaten with the lake in view. About 90 minutes further on, the Karola Glacier hangs above the roadside beneath Noijin Kangsang (7,191 m); the air is thin, so move slowly. The last stretch, about three and a half hours, passes through Gyantse and its barley fields to Shigatse (3,850 m), and your guide takes care of the exit-entry registration that foreign travellers need there.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch·Overnight: Shigatse
Up to Everest: Gawu La, Rongbuk and base camp
About 350 km and seven hours to the mountain. The Everest road climbs 108 hairpin bends to the Gawu La (5,198 m), where clear skies line up Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma. Rongbuk Monastery (5,154 m), a Nyingma community of monks and nuns, looks straight up at the north face. At Everest Town (Tashizom), 50 km short of base camp, you switch to the eco-bus; your vehicle and driver wait there, so take an overnight bag. Base camp (5,200 m) is 19 km from the summit. Its tent camp, rebuilt in 2025, has twin rooms and shared bathrooms but no oxygen supply, and even summer nights can fall to 0°C. In winter, when it closes, you sleep in an Everest Town guesthouse.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Everest Base Camp tent camp (winter: Everest Town guesthouse)
Everest at first light, then back to Shigatse
If the sky is clear, it's worth an early start: from a viewpoint a short walk from the tents you can watch the summit glow gold at sunrise, and spring and autumn give the likeliest clear mornings. The eco-bus takes you back to Everest Town and your vehicle, then it's about 350 km and seven hours to Shigatse. The main stop is the Gyatso La (5,248 m), the pass at the edge of the Everest nature reserve, where on a good day four 8,000 m peaks, Everest, Cho Oyu, Lhotse and Makalu, rise behind the prayer flags. Tonight's hotel in Shigatse has oxygen supply and a hot shower.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Shigatse
Tashilhunpo Monastery, then the road to Lhasa
Your last morning in Shigatse is at Tashilhunpo, the biggest monastery in Tsang and one of the Gelug school's six principal seats. Founded in 1447 and later the seat of the Panchen Lamas, it once housed more than 5,000 monks. Look for the Maitreya chapel, whose statue took over 115 tonnes of copper and is studded with some 1,400 diamonds, pearls and other gems, and for the stupas of past Panchen Lamas, worked in gold, silver and coral. The drive back to Lhasa is about 270 km and five hours, following the Yarlung Tsangpo.
Meals: Breakfast·Overnight: Lhasa
Departure day
There's time for breakfast before the group heads out to Gonggar or the railway station. The airport is about an hour's drive, which makes flights after 10:00 the easier option; the free transfer covers flights that take off from 08:30 to 22:30 and trains at any time. Your guide will have checked your ticket details in advance, so make sure they're accurate. If you're extending your stay in Lhasa, any later transfer is at extra cost.
Meals: Breakfast
What's Included
- ✓Permits arranged by the local agency: Tibet Travel Permit, Alien's Travel Permit and any military permit the route needs
- ✓Licensed English-speaking guide (bilingual in Chinese and English on mixed groups)
- ✓Shared licensed tourist vehicle, 7–26 seats depending on numbers, with driver; in Lhasa a group of three or fewer sightsees by taxi with the guide, paid for by the agency
- ✓10 nights, all twin-share: Lhasa (5) and Shigatse (2) in 4-star hotels with oxygen; Nyingchi and Basum Tso (1 each) without; Everest (1) in base-camp tents, or an Everest Town guesthouse when they close in winter
- ✓Daily breakfast and three specialty meals: Lulang stone-pot chicken, Tibetan or Nepali dishes in Lhasa, and a lakeside hot-pot lunch at Yamdrok
- ✓Entrance fees, including the eco-bus at Everest Base Camp: Kadinggou, Lulang Forest viewpoint, Basum Tso, Tibetan culture workshop, Sera, Potala Palace (headset included), Jokhang, Yamdrok Lake, Karola Glacier, Rongbuk, base camp itself and Tashilhunpo
- ✓Shared arrival and departure transfers on days 1 and 11, free for trains at any hour and for flights that land from 08:00 to 22:00 or take off from 08:30 to 22:30
- ✓A personal oxygen canister, a 6.8-litre emergency tank on board and two small bottles of drinking water per person daily
- ✓Travel accident, passenger seat and travel-agency liability insurance
Not Included
- —Flights and trains to and from Lhasa (booking help available, at extra cost)
- —Your Chinese visa
- —Meals other than breakfast and the three specialty meals
- —Single-room supplement from $390 per person (varies by season) — rooms are twin-share by default
- —Tips: about CNY 60 per traveller per day is suggested, half for the guide and half for the driver
- —Down-jacket hire at base camp, drinks, laundry and other personal costs
- —Additional hotel nights in Lhasa and any transfer outside the free times
Accommodation
In Lhasa (five nights) and Shigatse (two) you stay in 4-star hotels; rooms have oxygen supply and breakfast is included. The Nyingchi hotel is of a comparable standard but has no oxygen supply, and neither does the resort hotel inside the Basum Tso scenic area; if that one is full or closed, you sleep in Nyingchi instead at no extra cost. Everest is the exception: the base-camp tent camp, rebuilt in 2025 with twin rooms and a dining tent, is still basic, with shared bathrooms, no oxygen supply and cold nights. When the camp shuts in winter, the group stays in an Everest Town guesthouse with private bathrooms. Hotels are assigned by the local agency and can't be requested, and rooms come with twin beds as standard.
Departures & Pricing
| Season | Per person |
|---|---|
| Winter (Nov 1 – end of Feb) | $1,310 |
| Spring & autumn (Mar 1 – Jun 25, Sep 1 – 26, Oct 7 – 31; Chinese New Year departures) | $1,480 |
| Summer & holiday weeks (Jun 26 – Aug 31, Sep 27 – Oct 6; May Day departures) | $1,690 |
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
Of course. Travelling alone doesn't change the group or the itinerary, only the room: every room is a twin, and since pairing up solo travellers isn't something the local agency can promise, you pay for one to yourself. All in, a winter departure (November to February) costs USD 1,700, spring and autumn USD 2,010, and summer and the holiday weeks USD 2,380 — in each case the twin-share rate plus USD 390, 530 or 690 for the single room.
Gallery
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