12 Days Beijing Lhasa Shigatse Kunming Flight Tour

Welcome to Beijing! Upon your arrival in Beijing, your driver will pick you up and take you to your hotel in Beijing in a private car. Then you could have a rest in your hotel or walk around on your own.

Stay overnight in Beijing.

No tour of China would be complete without a visit to the Great Wall, the largest man-made structure on the planet. After breakfast, you will visit Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Stretching 2,250 meters long and including 22 watchtowers, Mutianyu Great Wall is the longest, fully restored Great Wall section open to tourists.

Stay overnight in Beijing.

Your guided tour starts with a visit to the famous Forbidden City, which used to be the imperial palace from around 1420 to 1912 and now houses the Palace Museum. Then, you will move to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, or Taimiao of Beijing where sacrificial ceremonies were held on the most important festival occasions in honor of the imperial family's ancestors during both the Ming and Qing Dynasties. After that, you will visit Beihai Park, one of the oldest, largest and best-preserved ancient imperial gardens in China. The structures and scenes in the Beihai Park are described as masterpieces of gardening technique that reflects the style and the superb architectural skill and richness of traditional Chinese garden art.

Stay overnight in Beijing.

In the morning, you can explore Nanluoguxiang yourself. Built in the Yuan Dynasty and neighboring many typical narrow streets known as hutong, Nanluoguxiang has become a popular tourist destination with coffee shops, souvenir shops, and some old siheyuan associated with famous historic and literary figures. In the afternoon, you can do some shopping if you like and prepare for the flight to Lhasa in the next morning.

Stay overnight in Beijing.

When you arrive in Lhasa, your tour guide will hold a board with your name on it at the exit to welcome you. A private car will take you to the reserved hotel. You may view the Yarlung Tsangpo River/Bhamaputra River (the longest and largest river in Tibet) and Lhasa River on the way from airport to Lhasa. Then, you can take a good rest at hotel to acclimatize to Tibetan plateau environment.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

Today, you’ll pay a visit to the famous Potala Palace, the world culture heritage and the winter palace of Dalai Lama. You can explore its audience halls, the jeweled and golden burial chortens (stupa tombs) of past Dalai Lamas, meditation cave of the 33rd Great King of Tibet, and tremendous number of Buddhist frescoes, thangkas, combinations of mandala, etc.

Then you will head to the holiest temple in Tibet, the Jokhang Temple, built during Songtsen Ganpo's reign by Princess Wencheng of Tang dynasty, 647 A.D. Here you can observe sincere pilgrims making prostration in front of Jokhang Temple. While entering inside the temple, you can see the statue of Buddha Sakyamuni at the age of twelve. On the top of Jokhang Temple, you can enjoy the panorama of old Lhasa City and great vista of Potala Palace.

Then you can do the kora with pilgrims and locals by circling the Barkhor Street around the temple, buy some souvenirs, and taste sweet tea and local snacks in local tea house. Later, you can explore farm products like yak butter in Tromzikhang, the famous farm produce market.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

Today, you will visit two important monasteries in Lhasa, the Drepung and the Sera. Drepung Monastery, the largest monastery in Tibet, was founded by Jamyang Choeje in 1416 and used to be home to more than 10,000 monks. Hiking along the mountain steps, you can see Buddhist painting on the rock face. During Shoton Festival, locals and pilgrims swarm to Drepung Monastery to celebrate the gigantic Thangka Buddha unveiling ceremony on the Gambo Utse Mountain. Then you will stop by the nearby carpet factory to appreciate the Tibetan artisans make traditional carpets with great skills.

After having lunch, you will visit Sera Monastery, which was founded in 1419 by Tsongkapa's disciple Jamchen Choeje. The most interesting thing is to see monks debating in the courtyard at around 3-5 in the afternoon. By yelling at each other, slapping hands and rolling mala, two monks make a pair to debate on philosophical issues. You can also appreciate the delicately-made Mandala, sanding paintings, and massive Buddhist scriptures inside Sera Monastery.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

Today, you will set off from Lhasa to Shigatse via Gyantse. On the way, when passing over the Gampala Pass (4,790m), you can have a far view of Yamdrok Lake and the snow-capped mountains around it. You can also get spectacular views of Mt. Nyenchen Khangsar (7191m), the highest mountain around Lhasa. After visiting the turquoise Yamdrok Lake, you can admire the Korola Glacier on the roadside and hang prayer flags at Simila Mountain Pass around Manak Dam Lake before arriving at Gyantse.

Gyantse was historically known as the Tibet's third largest city after Lhasa and Shigatse. In Gyantse, you will visit the famous Pelkor Monastery and the Nepali-style Kumbum Stupa. After one and a half hour's car ride, you will arrive in Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet. You may also visit traditional Barley Mill and view the landscape of Barley Field (in summer).

Stay overnight in Shigatse.

In the morning, you will visit the home of Panchen Lama - Tashilunpo Monastery. It is the main stage where generations of Panchen Lamas carried out religious and political activities as well as the largest monastery of the Gelug Sect in Rear Tibet. You can worship the well preserved largest gilded statue of the Future Buddha (Jampa) in this monastery. After that, you will take a car ride along Yarlung Valley back to your hotel in Lhasa.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

You guide will pick you up from hotel and transfer you to the airport for your onward flight to Kunming, Yunnan Province. It takes about 4 hours to arrive in Kunming by flight. Upon your arrival, your local guide will pick you up and escort you to the reserved hotel. You can have a good rest at hotel in the rest of the day.

Stay overnight in Kunming.

In the morning, you will take car ride to Stone Forest, a spectacular set of limestone groups and the representative of Southern China’s karst landscape. It is one of the most important attractions of Yunnan Province, and a local saying goes that if you have visited Kunming without seeing the Stone Forest, you have wasted your time.

After lunch, you will visit the Golden Temple 7km away from Kunming City. Golden Temple acquired the name for its shinning golden appearance. It is the biggest and well-protected existing copper temple in China. You can also stroll leisurely along the Green Lake there. Afterward, you will go to the downtown to visit the Flower and Bird Market.

Stay overnight in Kunming.

You guide will pick you up from your hotel, drop you off at airport or railway station in Kunming, and help you to get on board.