6 Days Lhasa and Terdrom Hot Spring Winter Tour

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 their way to Lhasa.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

Today, you’ll pay a visit to the famous Potala Palace, the world culture heritage. You can explore 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 tourists 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 holiest statue of Buddha. Around the monastery is the famous Barkhor Street, where you can do the kora with pilgrims and locals. And then we’ll go to explore the old market and you may have chance to see the traditional jewelry trading between people from different part of Tibet.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

Optional: After finishing the sightseeing, if time allows, you may go with tour guide to visit Tibetan handicraft art or Tibetan Traditional Medicine center. Besides, you can also choose to upgrade your tour to enjoy Tibetan Culture Show in the evening (fr. 60USD).

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 Choje in 1416. Situated at the foot of Gebeiwoze Mountain, it was once home to more than 10,000 monks. Here you can see the biggest monastery kitchen inside and then pay a visit to the Buddhist Sculpture Carving near Drepung.

After having lunch, you’ll continue to visit the Sera Monastery, which was founded in 1419 by Tsongkhapa's disciple Jamchen Choje. The most interesting thing is to see monks debating in the courtyard at around 3-5 in the afternoon. Besides, you can also see the colorful Rock Painting of Buddha and the three sand Mandalas and then visit the Tibetan religious text printing house.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

Today you will drive to Ganden Monastery which is 70 km northeast of Lhasa. As one of the "great three" Gelug university monasteries of Tibet and the first monastery of the yellow hat sect, Ganden Monastery was founded in 1409 by Je Tsongkhapa Lozang-dragpa, founder of the Gelug order.

Then, drive northeast for 100 km to Terdrom hot spring and enjoy a bath there. Located at 4500 meters above sea level and with a history of 1,400 years, Terdrom Hot Spring is known as “the world’s first hot spring” and became one of the four holy springs in Tibet as a result of Padmasambhava’s blessings on it.

Stay overnight at Terdrom

In the morning, visit Terdrom Nunnery which is just around the Terdrom hot spring. Then you will be driving 14 km to Digung Thil monastery. Drigung Thil Monastery is the mother monastery of Dhigung Kagyupa sect. It has more than 600-year history and is reputed to have the best sky burial ceremony of all. Located on the south slope of a long mountain ridge, Dhigung Thil monastery provides you with a panoramic view of the valley.

In the afternoon, drive back to Lhasa. Due to the road conditions, it may take around 6 hours to arrive at Lhasa.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

The driver will take you to airport or train station.