9-Day Lhasa, Everest Base Camp & Namtso Lake Small-Group Tour

You are met at Lhasa railway station or Gonggar Airport and taken to your hotel. Keep the rest of the day easy so your body can adjust to the altitude: drink plenty of water, skip alcohol and rest. Your guide confirms the next morning's start time in the evening.

At a handicraft center you make Tibetan incense, print from a carved woodblock and see your name written in Tibetan script. In the afternoon you visit Sera Monastery, one of Lhasa's three great monasteries, where monks debate Buddhist philosophy in the courtyard from around 3 pm (no debate on Sundays).

Visit the Potala Palace, winter home of the Dalai Lamas, on a timed ticket. Then see the Jokhang Temple, the most sacred temple in Tibet, and walk the Barkhor pilgrim circuit around it. A Tibetan or Nepali specialty meal is included. The Potala is closed on Mondays; on that day the Lhasa visits are reordered.

The most sacred temple in Tibet, with the Barkhor pilgrim circuit around it.

Drive about 370 km west. From the Kamba La pass (4,790 m) you look down on turquoise Yamdrok Lake, and lunch is a mini hot pot with a view of the water. You continue past the Karola Glacier and the farmland of Gyantse to Shigatse.

The road passes beneath the glacier on the way to Shigatse.

Cross the Gawu La (5,198 m), where five 8,000-meter peaks line the horizon in clear weather. The last 50 km to base camp are by eco-bus, so keep warm clothes and essentials with you. Visit Rongbuk Monastery, which looks straight at the north face of Everest, and spend the night at base camp.

A night at base camp (5,200 m), beneath the north face of Everest.

If the sky is clear, walk to the viewpoint at dawn and watch the sun reach the summit. Return by eco-bus to Everest Town and drive back to Shigatse, stopping at the Gyatso La (5,248 m), where Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu are all visible.

Then drive about 270 km east to Lhasa. Occasionally the group stays in Damxung, on the Namtso road, instead; no sightseeing is dropped.

Drive north through herding country beneath the Nyenchen Tanglha range and over the Laken La (5,190 m) to Namtso, one of Tibet's sacred lakes. Walk on the Tashi Dor peninsula among small monasteries and rock formations, then return to Lhasa. If snow closes the road in winter, the day goes to Ganden or Tsurphu Monastery instead.

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