12 Days Cultural Nepal Tibet Bhutan Tour by Air

The train departs from Beijing West Railway Station. Train Z21 from Beijing to Lhasa departs at 20:10. It takes about 1 hour to check in as the train takes about 1000 passengers. Please be sure to arrive in train station 1 hour and a half before the train departure. Your Tibet Permit will need to be checked when you check in.

Stay overnight on the Train

Note:
You can also choose to start this journey from Shanghai or Chengdu to take a Tibet train to Lhasa.
Shanghai-Lhasa Train departs at 19:16, every day.
Chengdu-Lhasa Train departs at 20:45, every other day.

It is quite a long journey that will take about 43 hours, 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 city in northwest China. The last stop for today is Xining, where you will arrive at about 16:00.

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, Snow Mountains and the lakes will continually appear and strongly attract your heart.

You will arrive in Lhasa at about 16:00. Your tour guide will hold a board with your name on it at 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 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.

Then you will visit the Tibet Museum and its nearby Norbulingka Palace. Tibet Museum is an important window to introduce the glorious culture of Tibet, as a free Museum in Lhasa, you should not miss it. Norbulingka meaning 'Treasure Park' covers an area of around 360000 sq. m. and is considered to be the biggest man made garden in Tibet. It is called summer palace because after the 7th Lama, Dalai Lamas used to visit here during summers to hold religious and government related activities.

Afternoon section visiting to the holiest temple in Tibet, the Jokhang Temple, built during Songtsen Ganpo'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 a 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 it was the government centre during fifth dalai lama and later moved to the famous potala palace during fifth dalai lama.

Then you will visit the Carpet Factory, 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 that Monks debiting is held there in the courtyard at around 3-5 in the afternoon section most of the time.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

The driver will take you to airport or train station.

Service end.