10 Day Nyingchi Everest Base Camp and Namtso Lake Tour in Tibet

Overview

Day by day itinerary

1. 1Arrive in Nyingchi⌄

   Fly into Nyingchi, the 'Switzerland of Tibet', and an inspired place to begin: at around 2,900m it sits far lower than Lhasa, so you ease onto the plateau gently while your body adjusts. Your guide meets you at the airport and brings you to your hotel through a green river valley of forests and peach orchards. Rest, and let the altitude come slowly.

   Overnight: Overnight in Nyingchi, a comfortable 4-star hotel (or similar)

2. 2Sejila Pass, Namcha Barwa and the Lulang Forest Sea⌄

   A beautiful day in the forests of the east. You drive up to the Sejila Pass at 4,702m, where - if the sky is clear - the perfect ice pyramid of Namcha Barwa (7,782m), the world's fifteenth-highest peak, stands across the valley. Beyond lies Lulang, the 'Valley of the Dragon King', a sweep of alpine meadow, wooden villages and the dense Lulang Forest Sea. You hang prayer flags at the pass and return to Nyingchi for the night.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Overnight in Nyingchi, a comfortable 4-star hotel (or similar)

3. 3Nyingchi to Lhasa via Basom Tso⌄

   Today you turn west for the holy city, breaking the long, scenic drive at Basom Tso - a jade-green alpine lake cradled in snow peaks and forest, with a tiny island temple at its heart. The road then climbs steadily out of the Nyingchi valley and up onto the high plateau, following the Lhasa River to the capital. By evening you reach Lhasa at 3,650m, now well acclimatized after your gentle start in the east.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Overnight in Lhasa at a 4-star hotel (or similar)

4. 4Lhasa: Potala, Jokhang and the Barkhor⌄

   A full day among Lhasa's icons. The Potala Palace fills the morning - thirteen storeys of chapels and golden tombs that crown the Red Hill and once governed all of Tibet. In the afternoon the Jokhang, the seventh-century temple that is the spiritual centre of the Tibetan world, and the Barkhor circuit around it, where pilgrims, traders and prayer wheels turn together through the smoke of juniper and butter lamps.

   Visit the seventh-century Jokhang, the holiest temple in Tibet, thick with juniper smoke and the murmur of pilgrims, and the Barkhor circuit around it, where the whole city seems to turn clockwise in prayer.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Overnight in Lhasa at a 4-star hotel (or similar)

5. 5Lhasa to Shigatse via Yamdrok and Gyantse⌄

   Out of Lhasa and over the Gampa La, where turquoise Yamdrok Lake coils between the hills below. You pass the roadside icefall of the Karola Glacier and reach Gyantse and its remarkable Kumbum, a tiered stupa of chapel after painted chapel. A short final drive brings you to Shigatse, Tibet's second city and the seat of the Panchen Lama, for the night.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Overnight in Shigatse at a comfortable hotel (or similar)

6. 6Shigatse to Everest Base Camp via Gawu La⌄

   Today you reach the mountain. The road climbs from Shigatse over the Gyatso La and into the Everest reserve, cresting the Gawu La where a wall of giants - Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu - can fill the horizon at once. The switchbacks carry you down past Rongbuk, the highest monastery on earth, to base camp at around 5,200m. You overnight in a heated tent beneath the north face, with the summit, weather willing, glowing gold at dusk.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Heated tent / oxygen guesthouse at Everest Base Camp

7. 7Everest sunrise, Gyatso La, return to Shigatse⌄

   Be up for sunrise - the first light firing Everest's north face from grey to gold is the image you will carry home. After time at base camp you climb back over the high passes, pausing at the Gyatso La viewpoint for one last Himalayan panorama, and drop down to the warmth and comfort of Shigatse for the night.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Overnight in Shigatse at a comfortable hotel (or similar)

8. 8Shigatse to Lhasa via Tashilhunpo⌄

   A morning at Tashilhunpo, the great gold-roofed seat of the Panchen Lamas, before the Friendship Highway carries you back east to Lhasa along the Yarlung Tsangpo. After the high country the return to the capital feels easy; the afternoon is free to rest, shop the Barkhor, or simply enjoy the thicker air.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Overnight in Lhasa at a 4-star hotel (or similar)

9. 9Day trip to Namtso Lake⌄

   A final great day out, north to Namtso - the heavenly lake. The road climbs onto the Changtang grasslands and over a pass above 5,100m to the lake's vast, deep-blue sheet, ringed by the snow peaks of the Nyenchen Tanglha. You spend time on the shore at the Tashi Dor headland among its prayer-flagged rocks, then drive back to Lhasa for the night.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Overnight in Lhasa at a 4-star hotel (or similar)

10. 10Departure from Lhasa⌄

    After breakfast your guide sees you off at Lhasa's airport or railway station. In ten days you have travelled from the green forests of Nyingchi to the north face of Everest and the shore of Namtso - the fullest face of Tibet, eased in gently from the east and well-guided throughout.

    Meals: Breakfast