The most popular gateway cities to fly into Lhasa are Chengdu and Beijing in China and Kathmandu in Nepal. If you are flying from Chengdu or Beijing or other mainland Chinese cities, please allow minimum a day there to collect the original permit that is required to board in the plane. If you are flying out of Kathmandu, then you need to allow 3 days in Kathmandu to obtain your Chinese Visa and Tibet permits.
Upon arrival, you will meet your Guide and driver outside the airport and then transfer to your hotel in the city (65km, 1 hr). Check in hotel and take rest for the balance of the day for acclimatization. By now, you must have already started feeling the effects of altitude that includes mild headache, light -headedness, disorientation etc. Drink plenty of water and liquid food in meals.

Following breakfast, we drive 8km west of central Lhasa to visit Drepung Monastery which was once world's largest monasteries with around 10,000 resident monks! Drepung Monastery was the home to the Dalai Lamas and the power centre of Tibet, until the 5th built Potala Palace. We visit the Ganden Palace, the main assembly hall and the several chapels and colleges. The monastery also commands the panoramic views of the valley. From Drepung, we walk 10 minutes downhill to visit Nechung Monastery-which had a historical role as the State Oracle until 1959. No Dalai Lama's would take any important decision without consulting the Nechung Oracle. After visiting Nechung Oracle, we walk back to the car park and drive to the old town of Barkhor.
We visit Jokhang Temple-built in the 7th century by King Songtsen Gampo to house the image of Buddha brought as a part of dowry. Jokhang Temple is the most revered of all religious shrines in Tibet. Thick with the smell of butter lamps and burning incense, the murmur of sacred Tibetan mantras, prostrating Tibetan devotees, visiting Jokhang is indeed an unrivalled Tibetan experience. We visit the various chapels of the temple and later, we take leisurely walking tour of the old town. The Tibetan old town is the refuge for the soul of Lhasa. The walk takes us in the craft workshops, back-street chapels and pilgrimage path with the Tibetan devotees spinning prayer wheels or counting beads with the murmur of sacred mantras.

If you are interested taking Lingkhor walking tour that finishes in Potala Palace, we need to start a bit early. We transfer by car to Dickey Lam (Deji Zhonglu in Chinese) and join the hundreds of Tibetan pilgrims heading to the Potala. The trail takes us through the rock carvings, a chorten built entirely of the carved money stones. Take chance to watch the Tibetans rubbing their backs, shoulders and hips against a series of polished holy stones at the intersection of Beijing Road and Dickey Lam. We continue east to the Golden Yak Statue and time permitting, we climb the view point just above the white chorten for photography opportunity. By now, it must be time for us to enter the Potala Palace-Lhasa's cardinal landmark. Situated atop Marpo Ri, 130m high hill, with a commanding view of all Lhasa, Potala Palace is one of the great wonders of world architecture. The complex has two palaces-White Palace and the main Red Palace. The White Palace houses the throne rooms of the 13th and 14th Dalai Lamas, a reception hall, meditation room and the bedroom of Dalai Lamas. The Red Palace has various chapels and the tombs of Dalai Lamas. Photography inside the palace is forbidden. Now , we head to Sera Monastery which lies about 3 miles north of central Lhasa. Sera Monastery is one of Lhasa's two great Gelugpa institutions, second only to Drepung. Founded in the early 15th century by Sakya Yeshe-a disciple of Tsongkhapa, Sera Monastery was once home to more than 5000 monks. The monk population is now limited to 500 or so. As the chapels start closing at 3 p.m., we first explore the various chapels of the monastery and then attend the debating ceremony of the monks which takes place between 3 pm and 5 pm. If you are not interested seeing chapels, you can take hike on the pilgrimage path of the monastery which takes less than an hour.
 

couple of days acclimation, you are dare to drive over the Gampa la pass and Karo la pass to Gyantse and Shigatse in the western Tibetan plateau, along the upstream of the Brahmaputra river we climb up the Gampa la(4900m) through numbers of switch-backs, from the pass you will amaze by the breathtaking view of the holy Lake Yamdrok and snow capped Mt.Nyenchen Kangsar in the background, then further to Gyantse and Shigatse via bloomy glaciers and scattered villages. Both Gyantse and Shigatse are well known for its historical and religious value since from ancient time, Gyantse is known as hero’s town as the British troops defeated by Gyantse guerrilla in 1904, more over, these regions has slightly different culture and tradition than in Lhasa, there we will Gyantse Kubhum stupa and Tashi Lhunpo monastery.

To prevent against the altitude sickness, we gradually ascend into the mountainous Himalayan terrain by traversing few remarkable passes, you will have the first panorama of the Himalayans from the ridge of Gyatso la pass (5400m), numbers of snow capped peaks appearing out from the rest like warriors among the soldiers, through the barren mountains but astonishing landscapes and photogenic villages within the hilly valleys we approach to the world highest peak-Mt. Everest with altitude of 8844.4m, the picturesque view of the Young Everest appears right in front of you within the Rongbuk valley, spending a night at the foot of the world tallest mountain, a short hike for 6 km from the tent guesthouse community to the EBC marker is challenging but memorable too, herds of wild goats are disguised in the rocky mountains, EBC is the most popular campsite for mountaineers, usually in March and April the area is blooming with different colors of mountaineering camps from all over the world. Our farewell to the mighty peak responded by its striking view in golden color under the morning sunshine, then we retrace the road back to Shigatse for overnight stay.

Driving through numbers of peaceful villages and farmlands within the Oyuk valley, we traverse the high peak of Shogula pass(5400m) to Yangpachen and the northern nomadic grassland, this wonderful valley barely hidden in the remote and not known for mass tourism yet, northern Tibet is known as Changthang Drogpa (Northern nomads) with sparse population of nomads in the vast pastures, hundreds of beautiful lakes with abounding wild lives can be found in this region, Namtso lake is one of them and it is one of the holy as well as most gorgeous lake in Tibet, it is also the world highest salt water lake, we will spend a night on the Tashi Do peninsula and enjoy the cold breeze of the mystical lake and breathtaking view of snow capped ranges all around. Then the next day we will drive back to Lhasa and complete the clockwise circumambulation at Lhasa, on this day we will visit a nomad family tent en route, the giant black tent is made up of yak wool and it has a great tendency to preserve heat and resist rain that is totally accommodate the plateau changeable climate, each tent is a whole complex of kitchen, bedroom, seating room and store room for the family, so spending few minutes with the nomad family give you a special experiences of plateau nomad lifestyle, you may wonder when you see piles of Yak dung just outside of the tents, it is the main fuel that nomads and also Tibetans use for cooking and heating the house during the chilly winter season

At your departure, your guide and driver meet you at the hotel lobby and transfer you to the airport/train station per your schedule. Our service ends.