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.
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.

We will pay a visit to 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.

After days of acclimation in Lhasa, we drive through numbers of switch backs to Ganden monastery perching up on the Wangku hill, it offers a great view of the Lhasa river valley from the ridge, then campsite is down in the Trubshi valley where we meet the Yaks and yak man, after an overnight pause next to the village we start the trekking within the valley studded with tussock grass and shrubs, and traverse the lofty Shugu la pass (5250m) through a steep trail over the lumpy ground is the most challenging part of the trek, then by a mild slope cross the Chitu la pass (5210m) and from the ridge it offers beautiful mountain panoramas and views of Balang Tsodu lake down in the basin, rest of the trek is easily climbing down following the stream, nomad families are dwelling in their black yak wool tents, the scrub willow and rosebush forest is beautiful during the summer with blossoms of rhododendrons, gradually the trail pass through the several villages to Samye monastery.

Trek: 5-6hrs * 17kms * 450m descent * 300m ascent.
We start out following the well trodden trail heading south along the side of Angor Ri, the highest point on the Ganden kora. We leave behind the last village and take a gradual but steady climb .We will cross the first pass on the second day and come into the high altitude pastures inhabited by nomads with their yaks in the summer months. The next two days take us over a lower pass and into a sheltered valley containing the hidden retreat site of Yamalung (Emalung). Finally, we shall enter the broad valley of the Yarlung Tsangbo-Tibet’s major river which runs west to east draining all of central Tibet before dropping south to become the Brahmaputra in India. Samye is Tibet's first monastery founded in the 8th century by the Indian master, Guru Rinpoche. The entire monastic complex is designed as a structural Mandala and contains a wide range of architectural and artistic styles from India, China and Tibet.

Trek: 5-7hrs * 10kms * 1000m ascent * 450m descent.

Trek: 5 hrs * 14kms * 300m ascent * 400m descent

Trek: 5-6 hrs * 18 kms * 600 descent.
Afternoon, drive Emalung to Samye monastery, the trail becomes a motor able track and the valley much wider. Upon arrival at Samye, check in the monastery guest house and relax. We will pay a visit to Samye Monastery.

After checking out of hotel, we first climb the Hepo Ri hill for bird eye view of Samye Monastery and its mandala complex which takes less than hour climbing. We will then drive about 50km to Tsedang on paved road. Upon arrival, we check in the hotel and explore the historical and cultural sights of Yarlung Valley. Yarlung Valley is referred as "the cradle of Tibetan Civilization", mainly for two reasons: First, the mild weather and fertile land in Shannan gestated the great Tibet dynasty. Second, it's the birth place of the first Tibetans who were said to be the offspring of a monkey and an ogress. So Tsedang literally means "monkey's playground”. We visit the ancient Trandruk Temple (7 km, 4.5 miles) which is one of the earliest Buddhist monasteries in Tibet, contemporary to Jokhang and Ramoche of Lhasa. At Tradruk, we will visit the courtyard area, ringed by cloisters, the principal chapel with statues of Tara or Drolma and 5 Dhyani Buddhas and a famous Thangka painting of Drolma in the chapel upstairs. From Trandruk, we head south to Yumbulagang Palace (6km, 1.8 miles) which is a fine, tapering finger of a structure that pops up from a rocky ridge overlooking the patchwork of fields of the Yarlung Valley. We will visit the ground floor chapel consecrated to the ancient kings of Tibet and upper floor chapel with an image of Chenresig (Avalokityaswora) and we will also see some excellent murals depicting descent of Nyentri Tsenpo from heaven to Yumbulagang. We will walk up along the ridge above the building to enjoy fabulous views of Yarlung Valley.

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.