12 Days Chengdu Panda and Tibet Train Tour

Welcome to Chengdu! Upon arrive in Chengdu, your tour guide will hold a board with your name on it at the exit of the airport or railway station to welcome you. Then you will be transferred to your hotel in Chengdu.

The rest of the day is at leisure. You can enjoy a short walk at the ancient Jinli Street. Later, drive to Wenshu Monastery to have wonderful taste of the vegetarian food for dinner. Then enjoy the cultural show - Sichuan Opera.

Stay overnight in Chengdu

In the morning, drive for 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.

Then, the whole afternoon can be free for you to explore around the city.

In the evening, you will be transferred to Chengdu train station for the Train Lhasa. It takes about 1 hour to check in as the train takes about 1000 passengers. Please be sure to arrive in train station at least 1 hour before the train departure. 

Stay overnight on the Train

Note: Your Tibet Permit will need to be checked when you check in.

It is quite a long journey that will take about two days and two nights in the Train, at 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.

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.

Upon your arrival in Lhasa, 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 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 it was the government centre during fifth dalai lama and later moved to the famous potala palace during fifth dalai lama.

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.

In the morning, drive from Lhasa to Lake Namtso. On the way, you can see Nyenchen Thanglha( snow mountain ranges )and lots of nomads tent with grazing yak and sheep densely-populated around the mountain side. Namtso Lake is the Heavenly lake which is one of the four holy lakes of Tibet and also the highest salt lake. You can do a very relaxing trekking around the lake side and Tashi Island.

To spend a night at lake shore is fantastic to see the stars.

Stay overnight in Namtso Guest house.

Enjoy the clear morning at the lake shore, and you can trek along the lake shore to Tashi Dor Island to explore the meditation caves.

After that, continue to Shigatse, the second biggest city in Tibet, you will go through a long distance of rough road between Yanpanchen and Dazhuka, and finally get to Shigatse in the late afternoon.

Stay overnight in Shigatse.

We’ll leave Shigatse after getting your Alien’s travel permit, and then drive to Lhatse. It is a small town where you can take lunch.

After that, you will drive to Shegar and if the weather is clear enough then on the way down to shegar you will view the Mt. Everest in the distance.

After 4 to 6 hours then you will arrive at Rongbuk monastery. But on the way, you will pass one of the highest passes in Tibet (pang la pass height 5050m) from that’s pass you will view the whole five highest peaks in the world.

Stay overnight at Rongphu Monastery Tent or Guest House.

Early in the morning to see the sunrise from Rongpuk, then to view Mt. Everest. It is fabulous and splendid.

After walking arrive the place get on the local bus then use half of an hour arrive at Everest Base Camp (Or you also can trekking to Base Camp around 1.5-2 hours one way. It's interesting and much warmer, but hard to breathe). Hiking up to the top of the photo point to take pictures of the splendid- Mt. Everest.

Then late in the afternoon around 13:00 go down from E.B.C back to Shigatse.

Stay overnight in Shigatse.

Today, we will drive back to Lhasa on the friendship Highway. The whole distance is almost 280km and it takes 6 hours along the Yarlung Tsangpo River / Bhamaputra River (the Longest and largest river in Tibet).

On the way, we will visit the largest Monastery in west Tibet, the Tashilunpo Monastery which is one of the six great Gelukpa institutions and was founded in 1447 by a disciple of Tsongkapa, contains the world's largest gilded copper image (26m high) of future god Jampa.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

You will be transferred to Lhasa airport for your flight to next destination.