Overview tour of Tibet - 6 days, pick up from Lhasa airport

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

Day 1
Pick up at Lhasa airport
1 stop
1
We will pick you up from Lhasa Gongkar airport and will provide transfer to the hotel, the rest of day is free in order to acclimate to the altitude
Admission ticket free
Day 2
Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Barkhor old street market
3 stops
2
Potala Palace
In the morning visit the Potala palace, the most important and significant construction of Tibet with history over 1400 years, it is divided into two palaces, the red and white, the red is the symbol of religious and white is the symbol of politics. Potala palace is located 3700 meters above the sea level on the top of “Marpo ri” the red hill in the center of Lhasa city. The 33rd King of Tubo dynasty Songtsen Gampo built this palace in the 7th century. Fifth Dalai Lama rebuilt the Potala palace in 17th century. Potala palace was being rebuilt for over 1300 years to become the present size. Previously Potala was religious and political center for the successive Dalai lamas. There are two palaces in Potala: Red symbolizing religion and White symbolizing politics. The Potala palace consists of great chambers, praying halls, chapels, monks’ schools, and monks’ dormitories. 8 golden tomb stupas of successive Dalai lamas (5th and 7th to 13th), 5 solid mandalas, Thangkas, scroll-paintings, stupas, 70 thousand cultural relics and 60 thousand volumes of scriptures. The Potala palace is called the pearl on the roof of the world. In 1989 Potala Palace is listed as the world cultural heritage by UNESCO.
2 hours • Admission ticket included
3
In the afternoon we will visit the oldest temple of Tibet: Jokhang temple, Jokhang means house of the Buddha, it was built in 642 BC at the time of Tubo king Songtsen Gampo. It is the most sacred temple of Tibet.
2 hours • Admission ticket included
4
Barkhor Street
After Jokhang temple, we will visit the oldest market in Tibet. Barkhor market is located around Jokhang temple, "Barkhor" means the middle clockwise path, the layout was aiming to make clockwise walk around temple. Here you can see lots of Tibetan traditional handicrafts and souvenirs. You can spend the remainder of the day in Barkhor street market.
2 hours • Admission ticket included
Day 3
Drepung Monastery and Sera Monastery
2 stops
5
Drepung Monastery (Zhebang Si)
There are three biggest Gelugpa yellow hat sect monasteries in Lhasa, on day 3 we are going to visit two of them: Drepung and Sera monasteries. Drepung monastery is located 8km to the west of Lhasa city at the below of Gyalpen Wutse mount, Drepung in Tibetan means “a pile of rice”, it was built in 1416 by Jamyang Choeje Tashi Palden, the great disciple of master Tsongkhapa, At some point it used to be the house for 7700 monks and four main Khangtsen (colleges): “Loseling", "Gomang", "Deyang", and "Ngagpa". The main shrine of the monastery is Maitreya, Jampa Thongtrol the future Buddha. It is believed that upon visiting this Maitreya Buddha you can escape suffering. Every year lots of pilgrims visit this Drepung.
2 hours • Admission ticket included
6
Sera Monastery
In the afternoon we will visit Sera monastery which is located 5 km to the north of Lhasa city at the bottom of Sera Utse mount or hermitage. Sera monastery is another large Yellow hat monastery in Lhasa. It was built in 1419 by Jamchen Choeje Shakya Yeshi, he was a disciple of master Tsongkhapa. It used to house up to 5500 monks. Sera in Tibetan means "hail storm" as it is believed that monastery was built during a big hail storm. There are three main colleges located here : Sera Je, Sera Me and Sera Ngagpa. The most holy shrine of Sera monastery is Hayagriva, the horse-necked and it was dug out from underneath the site of monastery. The philosophical debate of Sera monastery attracts a lot of visitors and pilgrims. After visiting Sera we will bring you back to the hotel to relax.
2 hours • Admission ticket included
Day 4
Samye Monastery and Yumbulagang palace
2 stops
7
Samye Monastery (Sangye Si)
Today we drive 160 km (approximately 2 hours) to Tsedang - the main city of Lhoka prefecture and the third biggest city of Tibet after Lhasa and Shigatse, It is also called Yarlung, the cradle of Tibetan culture, first king and first palace in Tibetan culture came from there. We are going to visit Samye monastery. The magic temple and the first ever monastery of Tibet built in 8th century at the time of Tibetan 38th king Trisong Detsen, He invited the great master Padmasambhava and abbot Shantarakshita from India. Samye is also the first Buddhist institute of Tibet: most of Tibetan scriptures were translated from sanskrit to Tibetan language at Samye. Samye is the biggest and most important monastery in Lhoka prefecture
2 hours • Admission ticket included
8
After Samye we wil drive back to Tsedang and visit the Yumbulagang palace: the first palace of Tibet built in 2nd century BC. It was built for the Tibetan first king Nyatri Tsanpo on the Tashi Tsering mount. Palace can be reached by riding camel or horse or climbing steps. After the palace we will drive you back to the hotel to relax the rest of the day.
2 hours • Admission ticket included
Day 5
Tradruk temple
1 stop
9
Tradruk Temple
In the morning we visit very famous and important Tradruk temple. It is a very sacred place built the same time as Jokhang temple in the seventh century. It is believed that when the temple was built a dragon with five heads landed nearby. The temple has the two most holy shrines: the speaking Tara and Pearl Thangka of Avalokitesvara. After visiting the temple we will drive back to Lhasa for two hours across the Yarlung Tsangpo river to enjoy the view and take a rest for the rest of the day.
6 hours • Admission ticket included
Day 6
Transfer to Lhasa airport
1 stop
10
We will provide transportation back to Lhasa airport
Admission ticket free

Additional info

• Specialized infant seats are available
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

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