14-Day Mount Kailash Kora, Guge Kingdom & Northern Lakes Tour

You are met at Gonggar Airport or Lhasa railway station and taken to your hotel. Rest well: this route has only two nights in Lhasa before heading west.

Visit the Potala Palace on a timed ticket.

At a handicraft center you mix Tibetan incense and try woodblock printing, then walk the Barkhor pilgrim circuit.

Cross the Kamba La (4,790 m) above turquoise Yamdrok Lake.

Pass the Karola Glacier and continue through Gyantse to Shigatse.

A long drive west across the Sangsang Grassland, with the Himalaya on the southern horizon.

Pass red and yellow mineral dunes and deep-blue Gongzhu Tso, then stop at the shore of sacred Lake Manasarovar, with Mount Kailash rising beyond it. Overnight at Darchen, the start of the kora.

After a short eco-bus ride to Tarboche, walk about 14 km up the Lha Chu valley, past mani stones and pilgrims, to Dirapuk, facing the north face of Kailash.

The big day: about 20 km on foot, climbing to the Drolma La, the highest point of the kora, then descending past Gauri Kund to Zutulpuk and Milarepa's cave. Tea houses on the route sell drinks and noodles.

Walk about 7 km downhill to the end of the kora, return to Darchen and drive into the canyon country of Zanda (about 3,700 m).

Explore the tiered ruins of the Guge Kingdom, seat of a western Tibetan kingdom from the 10th to the 17th century.

Then explore the Zanda and Xiayigou earth forests.

Cross the northern plateau past Nyer Tso, a salt lake glittering with crystals.

Pass the Pero Tsetso viewpoint and nomad pastures on the way to Gaize.

The night is in Wenbu, a village between red cliffs and the lakeshore.

Pass Tangqung Tso, a salt flat known as the Sky Tree, vast Serling Tso and Bangkog Tso, where Tibetan gazelles and waterbirds are often seen.

Walk on Namtso's Tashi Dor peninsula below the Nyenchen Tanglha range, then cross the Nagen La (5,190 m) back to Lhasa.

After breakfast, shared transfer to Gonggar Airport or Lhasa railway station.