Lhasa to Everest Base Camp Tour

Arrival day in Lhasa is an altitude day and we treat it as one. The city sits at 3,656 m and you have arrived there by aircraft, which means no acclimatisation at all. Our Tibetan guide meets you at Gonggar airport and it is about an hour into the city.

Check in, then do almost nothing. Drink plenty of water, skip alcohol entirely, eat lightly and go to bed early. Mild headache and broken sleep on the first night are normal and usually gone by the second. Your guide will check on you in the evening and again at breakfast.

If you feel well, a short slow walk in the neighbourhood is better than lying down all afternoon, but keep it flat and keep it brief.

Altitude: 3,650 m  |  Overnight: Hotel  |  Meals: Breakfast

Explore the iconic Potala Palace, Norbulingka Palace, and the Tibet Traditional Hospital. Immerse yourself in the rich history and culture of Tibet.

The Potala Palace rises thirteen storeys above Lhasa and was the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas from the seventeenth century. Inside are the golden funerary stupas of eight Dalai Lamas, the fifth's alone covered in more than three tonnes of gold, along with chapels, murals and the meditation cells of the earliest kings. Visits are on a timed ticket with a strict one-hour limit inside, and the climb up is at 3,656 m, so take it slowly.

Altitude: 3,650 m  |  Overnight: Hotel  |  Meals: Breakfast

Visit Sera Monastery, Drepung Monastery, and the sacred Jokhang Temple. Wander through Barkhor Bazaar for local crafts and souvenirs.

The Jokhang is the most sacred temple in Tibetan Buddhism, founded in the seventh century to house the Jowo Rinpoche, a statue of the Buddha as a twelve-year-old brought to Tibet by the Chinese princess Wencheng. Pilgrims prostrate full-length on the flagstones outside from before dawn. The interior is dark, thick with butter lamp smoke, and unlike anywhere else.

The Barkhor is the pilgrim circuit around the Jokhang and the old heart of Lhasa: a clockwise kora walked by thousands of pilgrims a day, lined with stalls selling prayer wheels, turquoise, incense and yak butter. Walking it once with the flow of people tells you more about Tibet than any museum.

Sera Monastery, founded in 1419, is one of the three great Gelugpa university monasteries of Lhasa. The reason to go in the afternoon is the debating courtyard, where monks challenge each other on points of doctrine with a formalised hand clap that punctuates each question. It runs most weekday afternoons and it is genuinely gripping even without the language.

Drepung was once the largest monastery in the world, housing around ten thousand monks, and it climbs the hillside west of Lhasa like a small white city. The Ganden Podrang within it was the seat of the Dalai Lamas before the Potala was built.

Altitude: 3,650 m  |  Overnight: Hotel  |  Meals: Breakfast

Drive to Shigatse, stopping to visit the famous Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, home to the Panchen Lama.

Shigatse is Tibet's second city at 3,840 m, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas, and the natural overnight stop between Lhasa and the Everest region. The old town market below Tashilhunpo is worth an hour.

Altitude: 3,900 m  |  Overnight: Hotel  |  Meals: Breakfast

Travel to Rongbuk via Sakya Monastery. Upon arrival, explore Rongbuk Monastery, the highest monastery in the world.

Rongbuk monastery at about 5,000 m is the highest monastery in the world, founded in 1902, and it sits directly beneath the north face of Everest with the mountain filling the end of the valley. The view from here is the one the early British expeditions had, and it is more complete than anything visible from the Nepal side.

Shigatse is Tibet's second city at 3,840 m, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas, and the natural overnight stop between Lhasa and the Everest region. The old town market below Tashilhunpo is worth an hour.

Altitude: 5,150 m  |  Overnight: Hotel  |  Meals: Breakfast

Visit Everest Base Camp (North Face) for stunning views of the world's highest peak, then drive to Gyantse.

Gyantse holds the Kumbum, a 32 m tiered stupa from 1427 containing seventy-seven chapels and thousands of murals, the finest surviving body of Newar-influenced Tibetan painting anywhere. The Gyantse dzong above the town gives a wide view over the barley fields of the Nyang valley.

The Tibetan base camp sits at about 5,150 m at the foot of the Rongbuk glacier, reached by road rather than on foot, with the north face of Everest rising uninterrupted in front of it. Because you arrive by vehicle, this is the fastest altitude gain on any of our itineraries and the acclimatisation days before it are not optional.

Altitude: 5,250 m  |  Overnight: Hotel  |  Meals: Breakfast

Explore Gyantse, including the famous Kumbum Stupa, then drive back to Lhasa, passing the scenic Yamdrok Tso Lake.

Gyantse holds the Kumbum, a 32 m tiered stupa from 1427 containing seventy-seven chapels and thousands of murals, the finest surviving body of Newar-influenced Tibetan painting anywhere. The Gyantse dzong above the town gives a wide view over the barley fields of the Nyang valley.

Yamdrok Tso is one of Tibet's three sacred lakes, a startling turquoise fan of water seen from the Kamba La at 4,794 m on the road from Lhasa to Gyantse. The colour is genuine and the stop is brief, cold and windy.

Altitude: 5,045 m  |  Overnight: Hotel  |  Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Transfer to the airport about three hours before your international flight. If you have a late departure we will hold a day room or arrange a final few hours in the city rather than leave you sitting in the terminal.

If you would rather not go home yet, this is the easy point to extend: a few days in Pokhara, a wildlife stay in Chitwan or Bardiya, a short Bhutan add-on, or a rest week somewhere quiet. Tell us before you travel and we will build it in at cost rather than as a late upgrade.

Altitude: 3,650 m  |  Meals: Breakfast