Lhasa Tour with Rongbuk Everest Base Camp and Kailash: 12 Nights 13 Day

You will arrive in Tibet by flight and you will land in Lhasa, the capital and the cultural centre of the area to begin your Kailash Pilgrimage & Everest Base Camp Journey from Lhasa – 12N/13D Trip. When the plane is flying down, you have the first glimpse of the snowcapped Himalayas, winding rivers, and some villages scattered across the tremendous plateau. 

In Gonggar Airport, an excellent local Tibetan guide welcomes you with a warm welcome and takes you by a separate vehicle to your hotel in the city. The journey lasts approximately an hour and includes some beautiful valleys and crosses the river Yarlung Tsangpo. After arriving in Lhasa, you enter Hotel Kyichu, and the remaining part of the day is spent resting. 

It is an important acclimatisation measure because you are already at 3650 above sea level. In order to reduce the chances of altitude sickness during your 12 Nights 13 Days Lhasa, Everest Base Camp & Mount Kailash Tour, you will be recommended to take as much water as possible, light meals, and you are not engaged in vigorous physical activity. 

During the evening, you can go on a slow stroll around the hotel to get a feel of the fresh air in the mountains, to see what local people do. The first impression of Tibet is beautiful as the sunset shines on the surrounding hills in golden colour. Overnight at Hotel Kyichu.

The first full day in Lhasa as per the Kailash & Everest Base Camp Tour from Lhasa – 13 Days Itinerary will also be spent on sightseeing of its classic sites. You start after breakfast with the Potala Palace, which was the winter home of the Dalai Lamas. 

The palace is located at the majestic hill of Marpo Ri, and it dominates the city skyline. Indoors, there are large hallways, religious temples, and meditation chambers covered with murals, sculptures, and ancient texts. It offers panoramic views of the whole valley of Lhasa, including terraces.

Then you go to the Jokhang Temple, the centre of Tibetan Buddhism following your Lhasa to Rongbuk EBC and Kailash Overland Journey. Pilgrims passing by all corners of Tibet kneel before its gates, and it makes one feel a very spiritual atmosphere. The temple also has the sacred statue of Jowo Shakyamuni, a very significant image of Tibetan Buddhism. 

The Jokhang is surrounded by Barkhor Square, a commercialised marketplace that is filled with monks, pilgrims and traders. It is possible to walk the kora trail along with pilgrims, turn the prayer wheels, and visit vendors with handicrafts, jewellery, and Tibetan carpets.

During the evening, you are free to rest or have Tibetan tea in a local teahouse. The day will enable you to have a cultural immersion; on top of that, it will enable you to acclimatise to the higher elevations that are yet to come. Overnight in Lhasa.

Day three as per the Everest Base Camp & Mount Kailash Adventure via Lhasa Program is the further exploration of the monastic traditions of Lhasa. Upon waking up after breakfast, you take a ride to Drepung Monastery, which was the greatest monastery in Tibet, which had over 10,000 monks. It is situated in the hill slopes of Mount Gephel and is known due to its huge assembly halls, ancient scriptures and golden rooftops. 

Visiting Tibet allows one to gain an understanding of Buddhist lifestyle, as well as philosophy, in Tibet. You can regard monks praying or reading religious books in silent courtyards. This is also one of the best highlights of Lhasa to Kailash & Rongbuk Monastery Tour – 12N/13D Trip.

You spend the afternoon of the day visiting Sera Monastery, which is known to have active debates by monks. Training in Buddhism logic and philosophy is done by monks who gather in the courtyard and train their hands to clap and ask questions. It is the cultural experience of these debates. Exquisite murals and statues can also be found in the monastery.

The merging of Drepung and Sera exposes you to the intellectual and spiritual hubs in Tibet. Monastery visits are interspersed with time to continue with the process of acclimatisation by walking slowly, eating little and sleeping. 

Your body by now is more comfortable with the altitude, and you are now prepared to take the long drives and the elevation which is ahead of Lhasa with Rongbuk Monastery & Everest Base Camp Expedition – 13 Days. Overnight in Lhasa.

Following breakfast in Lhasa, you take a scenic off-road journey towards Shigatse, which is the second-largest city in Tibet. It is a winding highway that runs through mountainous twists and turns giving the viewer a panoramic view of valleys, rivers and snow capped mountains very far away. 

As per the Itinerary Rongbuk EBC and Kailash Pilgrimage Tour from Lhasa – 12 Nights You pass by Gyantze, one of the ancient towns where traders used to trade between Tibet and Bhutan. In this case, you will be visiting the popular Gyantse Kumbum Monastery, which is the greatest stupa in Tibet. 

It has a multi-layered design full of chapels with their murals and statues, where each of the levels presents a reflection of various elements of Buddhism art and doctrine.

The next stop on Everest Base Camp with Lhasa & Kailash Overland Adventure is Shigatse at an elevation of 3950m. Another castle located in Shigatse is the Tashilhunpo Monastery, which was constructed in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama. This monastery has become one of the most important monastic buildings of Tibet because it is the seat of the Panchen Lama, the second-most important person of Tibetan Buddhism. 

You explore the huge halls and view the huge statue of the Maitreya Buddha, gold-gilded. The visit to the monastery complex will provide you with an understanding of the Tibetan spirituality and tradition, which has not died away yet. You stay in Shigatse at a hotel where you get time to rest before the higher journey tomorrow on Sacred Kailash & EBC Tour via Lhasa – 13 Days.

It is one of the days that are highly anticipated on this Mount Kailash Yatra with Everest Base Camp & Lhasa – 12 Nights Trip today. You drive out of Shigatse after an early breakfast and then over high-altitude terrain towards Rongbuk. The highway goes through arid valleys, traditional villages, and expanses of the huge Tibetan plateau. The closer you get, the rugged the landscape is with snow-covered peaks in the background.

You eventually reach the highest monastery,  Rongbuk Monastery, which is at 4,980 meters. It is in the most breathtaking of places, with the towering north face of Mount Everest in sight. This is one of the best places you will be visiting with Lhasa to Kailash Overland Tour with Rongbuk & Everest Base Camp Itinerary.

Both nuns and monks inhabit the monastery, and prayer flags are waving against the dramatic backdrop of the mountain. This is where you either walk or have a brief ride to the Everest Base Camp (north side). 

It is an experience in a lifetime standing here and admiring the sheer size and beauty of the tallest mountain in the world. Most of the evening skies turn Everest golden, and this will be the moment you will never forget. You spend the night in a simple guesthouse at Rongbuk in the silence of the Himalayas.

It is a long and very satisfying day of driving over the rugged Tibetan plateau on Kailash Pilgrimage & Everest Base Camp Journey from Lhasa – 12N/13D Program. You leave early in the morning after breakfast at Rongbuk and head on to Saga, which is at 4400 meters. 

The road zigzags over mountainous passes and deserted terrain, with some intervals of rest and snapping pictures, and having a packed lunch. The journey is sightseeing, but the distance is long. 

Following the 12 Nights 13 Days Lhasa, Everest Base Camp & Mount Kailash Tour route you go through grazing fields where yaks and sheep flow around the fields with nomadic tents spread all over the expansive plains. The air is clean, the skies are dark blue, and the plateau is vast, making it appear isolated and peaceful.

The view is ever-changing; it is snow-covered ridges and desert stretches of high country. You are also likely to find the wild antelope and birds that have adapted to this height. 

When arriving in Saga in the evening, one ends up in a small yet vibrant town that acts as the lodging point of pilgrims and other travellers on their way to Mount Kailash. The streets are full of guesthouses and teahouses providing you with the flavour of Tibetan hospitality. 

You spend a day of the Kailash & Everest Base Camp Tour from Lhasa – 13 Days on the road, and at the end of the day, you enter a guesthouse and sleep well until the next leg of the trip to Lake Manasarovar.

It is a great day in your Lhasa to Rongbuk EBC and Kailash Overland Journey since you will ride to a holy lake, the Manasarovar, which is one of the sacred lakes in Asia. It is a long drive and starts early in the morning and is passing through vast plateaus and mountain passes. 

The drive offers you the vistas of snow-tipped mountains, including the peaks of the Himalayas and other mountain ranges. The landscape is covered by nomadic habitations, and the yaks in open fields are grazing calmly.

Then, after a few hours, you cross the Horr Chu Pass, at which a wonderful view of Lake Manasarovar and the far mountain peak of Mount Kailash is obtained. The blue water of the lake is endless, and it glitters under the bright Tibetan sun. 

The lake has a huge religious value to all Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Bon enthusiasts who suppose that bathing in its waters would purify their sins and convey spiritual blessings.

You follow the coast and at last reach Chiu Gompa, a monastery located on a little hill near the lake. This is where one can see the panoramic view of Lake Manasarovar with snowcapped mountains. The night is filled with being absorbed in the serenity, with the lake showing the colours of the sunset. Stay overnight at a guesthouse by the monastery.

The day on Everest Base Camp & Mount Kailash Adventure via Lhasa – 13 Days Itinerary starts with a stroll on the banks of Lake Manasarovar. Pilgrims usually meditate in this place, and you might find locals praying and offering incense. You go to the hot springs, which are near the home and spend some time resting. This is among the peaceful days of the trip, as the calmness of the lake is accompanied by the spiritual energy.

You also visit Chu Gompa, a small monastery which overlooks the lake. The mountain position provides one of the most ideal points of sightseeing Mount Kailash and the surrounding mountains. You can sit down along the beach and think, if you want, as the pilgrims do when they come to this place to be renewed.

You will arrive in the afternoon in a little town at the foot of Mount Kailash called Darchen. Darchen is the entrance to the holy Kailash Kora, which is a 3-day walk around the Holy Mountain. There are plain guesthouses, small shops and tea houses, which serve pilgrims and trekkers of the town. You stay here all night, and get your mind and body set to go on the next leg of Lhasa to Kailash & Rongbuk Monastery Tour – 12N/13D. Overnight in Darchen.

The 9th day on Lhasa with Rongbuk Monastery & Everest Base Camp Expedition starts with the Kailash Parikrama (Kora) today, the spiritual centre of the tour. You have breakfast in Darchen and either walk out of it or hire a horse to get you through. The path runs along a valley of the Lha Chu River, encircled with barren hills and snow-topped mountains in the background. The air becomes thinner, and the landscape motivates each step.

After taking a few hours, the north side of Mount Kailash is seen majestically. Its granite walls are high and topped with snow, which is a permanent impression on any traveller. Pilgrims submit themselves, bowing, performing kora in prostrations, which may take weeks when practised traditionally.

In the afternoon, you arrive at the 4810-meter Derapuk Monastery. The monastery provides one of the most ideal sights of the Kailash mountain, more so during sunset time when the mountain turns golden. 

The feeling of spirituality and awe cannot be described. You are lodged in a guesthouse, close at hand, near Derapuk, relax, and ready yourself against what you will have to face tomorrow, the hardest day of the kora.

It is the most difficult but the most rewarding day of Kailash Kora. You start early in the morning with breakfast, then start with the steep and steep climb leading to Dolma La Pass, which is the peak of the whole pilgrimage, with a height of 5600 meters. 

It is a difficult climb because of the thin air; however, no one could match the panoramas. Snowy-headed mountains are stretched across the horizon, prayer flags blow in the icy wind, and pilgrims chant mantras as they scale them up.

The climax of Dolma La is a victorious moment. The pass is lined with prayer flags, which are colourful and signify blessings. You then take a short rest and start the steep way down. 

On your descent, you come by the sacred Gauri Kunda, a tiny emerald-green lake, which is supposed to be sacred, at least to Hindu pilgrims. This is where, on their way, many of them stop to pray and take holy water.

The Rongbuk EBC and Kailash Pilgrimage Tour from Lhasa program road goes through rocky roads and leads to a broader valley. You wander along streams and meadows till you come at length to Zuthulpuk Monastery. This monastery is known to have meditation caves and myths of saints who meditated in this small monastery. The guesthouse beside the monastery is simple yet warm enough. Overnight in Zuthulpuk.

The third and the last day of the Kailash Kora starts with a comparatively less difficult walk than on the previous day. The trail is along the river valley, over meadows and through little streams. 

The pilgrimage route ends at the point of 3-4 hours of walking. The accomplishment of a kora is a great spiritual achievement since pilgrims growing up in centuries have held that a single clockwise completion of Kailash purges a lifetime of sins.

After the walk, as per the Everest Base Camp with Lhasa & Kailash Overland Adventure Itinerary you get back to Darchen by road and spend some time resting and having lunch. Here, you proceed with your protracted journey back to Saga by tracking a section of your way across the plateau. 

The motivation traverses large elevated regions, and expansive plains and mountain ridges are seen in the background. In the evening, you reach Saga and get into a guesthouse. 

The physical and spiritual excitement of the kora is finished, and this night is one of rest and recovery. Overnight in Saga.

Today, you will be driving away from Saga, and you are heading to a border town, Kerung, which links Tibet and Nepal. The highway is gradually winding down the uplifted plateau to the lower grounds, and the landscape varies with the course. 

You drive over open highland, deep valleys and alpine forest. It is a welcome change after days spent in the barren highlands with the fresh greenery and the richer air.

Kerung is a very small town, but a bustling one near the Nepal border. It is a major transit hub for travellers and traders. There are basic hotels, restaurants, and stores in the town that provide a taste of what life was like in this frontier. Kerung is a slightly more comfortable place to stay after days of remote guesthouses, with access to basic facilities.

You stay the night at a hotel in Kerung. The evening allows a free dinner stroll around the town, small souvenir shopping, or to chill out. The following day, you will cross the border and proceed to Nepal, and the Tibetan part of your trip will be finished.

You start your last day of Sacred Kailash & EBC Tour via Lhasa – 13 Days with breakfast at Kerung, then the border crossing to Nepal/ Tibet. Once you have the formalities of the Chinese exit, you cross the Friendship Bridge and get into Nepal at the Rasuwagadhi border. 

On the Nepal side, a local guide and a vehicle would be available to greet you and help with entry procedures. The difference in the landscape is very vivid. In several hours, you are out of the barren plateau of Tibet and into the green valleys of Nepal.

The Kathmandu border drive will take 6-7 hours, depending on the road conditions. The path goes through wooded hills, terraced fields and fast-flowing streams. Along the route, there are some small villages where one could have a glimpse of the life of the rural Nepalese. 

On your way to Kathmandu Valley, there is more traffic, and as you come closer to the valley, the vibrant energy of the capital of Nepal is there to take you back to city life.

You are in Kathmandu, and your spiritual and adventurous Mount Kailash Yatra with Everest Base Camp & Lhasa – 12 Nights is over. You get into your hotel, and this time you can get into a more modernized comfort. 

You can have an evening celebrating your trip with a group dinner, or you can venture out in Thamel, Kathmandu city centre, full of shopping outlets and restaurants. You end your Lhasa to Kailash Overland Tour with Rongbuk & Everest Base Camp Trip on an uplifted note with the recollection of Mount Kailash, Lake Manasarovar, and the large expanse of the Tibetan plateau.

Day 12 (Optional): Saga → Kerung Border / Keyrung (375 km, ~8-9 hrs drive)

It is in the morning that you break with Saga. Following breakfast, the tour will lead you over high plateaus, which are remote. The skies are vast and blue. You go through rough countries, Tibetan villages, nomad camps, grazing yaks and sheep. 

Lunch in a typical hamlet roadside, served simple Tibetan food. When you are nearing Kerung (or Kyirong or Keyrung), you sink slowly out of the elevations of the plateau. The vegetation is made a little richer. The air gets warmer. Kerung is a town located on the border of Tibet and Nepal. 

It depicts the Tibetan and Nepalese blend in culture, architecture and life. You arrive and enter a small hotel. You go around the town market at night. You can see local stores, maybe individuals exchanging goods on the borders. 

It is a sharp contrast between the distant high plateau and this frontier town. The evening is a chance to have a good rest, stretch legs, and make ready to cross the border the following day. Stay in one of the hotels in Kerung.

Day 13 (Optional): Kerung → Border Crossing → Kathmandu

After breakfast, you do the immigration and customs formalities at the China-Nepal border. This may require a little time and it is better to prepare your paperwork. 

When you cross, you are in Nepal, where your Nepalese guide receives you. The setting changes radically. You have fallen down the mountainous heights of Tibet in the foothills of Nepal. Green valleys, terraced fields and rushing rivers substitute barren plateaus. 

The drive to Kathmandu lasts about 6-7 hours under the influence of the roads. You have your lunch in a roadside town. Nepalese hospitality clears the sky. Little shops and tea stalls all along. 

On the way to Kathmandu, the vibrant life force is back once again. Traffic increases. The odours of Nepal are used to the scent of spice, tea, and incense. You come to the Kathmandu valley towards the end of the afternoon or evening. 

Check into your hotel and spend the evening relaxing, shopping for souvenirs and taking a celebratory meal with your group. Look back upon your pilgrimage, the holy lakes, mountain passes, the Kora round Kailash, and the re-entry into your country of origin.

Day 14 (Optional): Kathmandu – Departure / Free Day in Kathmandu

It is an additional day, optional, which provides you with some breathing space before a flight. You can either spend the morning sightseeing in Kathmandu after breakfast. 

You will be revisiting the same locations such as Thamel, Durbar Square, Pashupatinath Temple, Boudhanath Stupa or last-minute shopping for Tibetan or Nepalese crafts. You can desire to have a spa, a massage, or to sleep in the hotel. 

After days of plain food, lunch at one of the local restaurants is good. Later in the afternoon, your guide will help with the logistics of leaving: he will drive you to the airport, will make sure you have your flight checked, you have what you brought home you will never forget.