13 Days Chengdu Tibet Train Tour from Hong Kong

Take a flight from Hongkong to Chengdu. Upon arriving in Chengdu, your local guide will meet you at the airport and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free for you.

Stay overnight in Chengdu.

In the morning, drive about half an hour to Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center, the home to giant pandas, where you will catch pandas' feeding time, they are at their most active, both Adults and Babies. There's a wealth of information and a panda museum in this 230-hectare park 10 km (6 miles) north of Chengdu. It takes about 2.5 hours to visit this site.

The whole afternoon is at leisure. In the evening, you will be transferred to Chengdu train station for the train to Lhasa. Your Tibet Permit will need to be checked when you check in.

Stay overnight on the train.

Today, you will spend the whole day on the train to Lhasa. It is quite a long journey of taking a train from Chengdu to Lhasa. It will take two days and two nights in the Train. On the first day you will pass through two important provincial capital cities in northwest China, Lanzhou and Xining. Xining is known as the beginning of Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Travelling along the rail line, you could see the scenery of countryside and cities in northwest China. 

Stay overnight on the train.

Today, you will witness the most beautiful scenery of Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the land of snows, the desert, the grassland, the ice mountains, the lakes will continually appear and strongly attract your heart.

Upin your arrival in Lhasa, your tour guide will hold a board with your name on it and the exit of the train station to welcome you. A private car will take you from the train station to the reserved hotel.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

Morning section to visit the famous Potala Palace and explore the grandest of this myriad chapels, you will experience its audience halls, the jeweled and Golden burial chortens(stupa Tombs) of past Dalai Lamas, and tremendous number of Buddhist frescoes, thangkas, combinations of mandala etc.

Afternoon section visiting to the holist temple in Tibet, the Jokhang Temple, built during songtsen gonpo's reign by princess wencheng of tang dynasty, 647 A.D, and its famous Barkor Kora, where you can buy or appreciate traditional Tibetan artifacts, religious implements, antiques, books, Tibetan music instrument, Thangkas, and tradition tibetan clothes etc. you will have chance to get close to appreciate how the artists draw Thangkas at the Thakangka workroom at Barkhor.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

Today, you will visit two important monasteries in Lhasa, the Drepung and the Sera. Drepung Monastery is situated at the foothill of a mountain and was founded by Jamyang Choeje in 1416. It was once home of 10000 monks and Ganden podrang in Drepung is famous for it was the government centre during the fifth dalai lama and later moved to the famous Potala Palace during the fifth dalai lama.

Then you will visit the Carpet Factory where you can see how the world-famous Tibetan carpets are made.

After having lunch, continue to visit the Sera Monastery, which was founded in 1419 by Tsongkapa's disciple Jamchen Choeje. The most attractive is its Buddhist Scriptures debating held in the courtyard mostly around 3-5 in the afternoon.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

At around 08:00 in the morning, our guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel, then drive to Namtso Lake. Nyenchen Thanglha snow mountain ranges appear in front of you all the way. In summer (May to August), the sheepherders and their family move to grassland and set up their tents. You could see green grassland, groups of sheep and yaks, nomad tents by the road. Namtso Lake is the Heavenly lake which is one of the three holy lakes of Tibet and also the highest salt lake. You can do a very relax trekking around the lake side and Tashi Island.

To spend a night at lake shore is fantastic. The night sky is so clean that you could see all the stars twinkling in the sky, so close to you as if you could stretch you hands to pick the stars. Situated at about 5000m high, Namtso lake is actually the lake in the sky, lying on the highest plateau in the world.

Stay overnight at Lake Shore Tent Guest House, dorm bed.

Enjoy the clear morning at the lake shore, you can trek along the lake shore to Tashi Dor Island to explore the meditation caves. Then drive to Dumxung to have lunch.

In the afternoon, you may enjoy Yangpachen hot spring (Optional, hot spring fee does not included in price) on the way back to Lhasa.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

Passing by the green farmland of Nyangchu Valley, Yamdro-tso lakes, Karo-la Glacier roadside at 4960m, we move westwards to the second biggest city of Tibet, Shigatse, the area spiritually hosted by Pamchan Lama.

The most important attraction for today is Yamdro-tso Lake and Kubum monastery in Gyantse. Yamdro-tso Lake is shaped like coiling scorpion with deep blue in colour and Kubum monastery has a 35m-high chorten (stupa) with its white layers trimmed with decorative stripes and its crown-like golden dome.

Stay overnight in Shigatse.

Drive westwards the Friendship way to Tingri. There is about 90km bumpy road from Tingri to Rongpuk, road is under construction. From Tingri to E.B.C with the very rough road, pass the wild grassland, cross the rapid river and high mountains. If it is in clear weather, you can have a glimpse of 4 mountains which are 8000m high or more. They are Mt. Lhotse (8516m), Mt. Everest (8848m), Mt. Qowowuyag (8201m) and Mt Mayalu (8463m).

Stay overnight at Rongphu Monastery Tent or Guest House.

Early in the moring to see the sunrise from Rongphu, then to view Mt. Everest. The scenery is fabulous and splendid. You can take pictures of the splendid Mt. Everest.

Then in the afternoon go down from EBC and back to Shigatse.

Stay overnight in Shigatse.

Before spending about 4 hours to drive back to Lhasa from Shigatse, visit the largest Monastery in west Tibet, the Tashilunpo Monastery which is one of the the six great Gelukpa institutions and was founded in 1447 by a disciple of Tsongkapa, containing the world's largest gilded copper image(26m high) of future god Jampa.

Drive along the Friend-ship Highway back to Lhasa.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

Take a morning flight to Chengdu or Beijing and then take another flight to Hongkong.