9 Days Trekking Tour from Tsurphu to Yangpachen plus Namsto Lake

Detailed Itinerary of the 9 Days Trekking Tour from Tsurphu to Yangpachen plus Namsto Lake

Day 1: Arrival & Acclimatization

Arrival and Acclimatization	Arrival and Acclimatization

Schedule today: Arrival in Lhasa at airport or train station, pick-up and transfer to hotel for acclimatization, or you can have your free time hanging out at this holy city to get the first impression of Tibet.

Day 2: Lhasa City Tour (Tour of the World Heritage and Tibetan History)

Highlights: Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Barkhor Street

the Potala Palace	the Jokhang Temple

Schedule today: In the morning, visit the symbol or landmark of Lhasa-Potala Palace, the successive Dalai Lama's winter residence. In the afternoon, visit the center of Tibetan Buddhism-Jokhang Temple, where you will come across lots of devoted pilgrimages coming from every corner of Tibet. Both sites are under the list of the world cultural heritages by the UNISCO. Afterwards, you will have your own free time wandering around the Barkhor Street, the oldest bazaar in Tibet.

Day 3: Lhasa City Tour (Tour of the most important monasteries in Tibet)

Highlights: Drepung Monastery, Sera Monastery

the Sera Monastery	the Drepung Monastery

Schedule today: In the morning, we will visit Drepung Monastery which is the biggest Tibetan Buddhism College with the biggest number of monks in Tibet. The monastery used to be the winter residence of the Dalai Lama before the 5th Dalai Lama moved his residency to the Potala Palace. And in the afternoon, we will visit another influential Gelugpa Monastery-Sera Monastery, where the largest scale of scripture debating among monks is famous all across Tibet. We will watch the debate session and under the meaning of their gestures with the help your guide.

Day 4: Lhasa – Tsurphu (65km) – Leten (11km/3-4hs on foot)

Highlights: Tsurphu Monastery

the Tsurphu Monastery	the Leten Valley

Schedule today: In the morning after breakfast around 8 AM, our guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel, and then drive north towards Tsurphu Monastery, which is the seat of the Karmapa branch of the Kagyupa order of Tibetan Buddhism. It has an annual festival around the time of the Saga Dawa festival, on the ninth, 10th and 11th days of the fourth Tibetan(around May), There is plenty of free-flowing chang(Tibetan barely beer), as well as ritual cham dancing and unfurling of the great thangka on the platform across the river from the monastery. After visiting the monastery, we will start to trek today, and it is easy part of 11km.

The trek begins by heading west or up the valley. Forty-five minutes of walking through a rocky gorge along a well-graded trail brings you to Shupshading. Then after about 1.5hours’ further on, by a mani wall the trail forks. Both branches lead to Leten, about an hour away, and it it’s easier to take the right fork that follows the valley floor. Leten is the last chance to find and rent yaks which will the trekking easier. If you value your peace and quiet, consider camping in the valley below Leten. Spend one night in Leten acclimatizing.  

Day 5: Leten – Bartso (15 km/ 5-6 hours on foot)

Highlights: 5-6hrs trekking about 15km, ascent 300m, and descent 600m

Camping in Drokpa Village	the Bartso Village

Schedule today: After simple breakfast, we will head to Lasar-la which is about three-hour walking far. As you ascend, a reddish knob of rocks looms up ahead, angle to the north or right, past a mani wall in the center of the bowl, and leave the valley by climbing to the top of a spur marked by three cairns. The peak attached to this spur is called Damchen Nyingtri. The Lasar-la is a broad gap at the highest point of the plain, beside a small tarn and is heralded by cairns and the prayer flags. From the Lasar-la descend steeply into the north-running valley which is covered with hummocks. Several hours after the big bend of the trail hits the settlement of Bartso. This drokpa village of five homes with a permanent source of water is a decent place to camp.

Day 6: Bartso – Dorhe Ling Nunnery (15 km/ 5-6 hours on foot)

Highlights: 3-4hrs trekking about 15km, ascent 150m, and descent 150m

Scenery Along the Way	the Bartso Village

Schedule today: Look northwest from Bartso to the far end from the valley, a clearly visible trails winds up from the valley to the top of the ridge. About 1.5hours we will pass the village of Tajung which is decent alternative spot to the end of the second stage. Stay to the left of the fourteen whitewashed houses and ford the stream below the village. After 1hour you will be able to see group of white houses at the base of a hill to the far northwest, the Dorje Ling Nunnery is just downstream of here. One excellent possible side trip from here is the 10-nimutes climb to the top of the hill to the right, known as Nyingari. Another one hour we will have good views of the village just upstream of Dorje Ling Nunnery which sits at the bottom of a rock outcrop visible from the ridge top. Two or three hours from Tajung we will reach the centerpiece of this friendly nunnery is the red dukhang. Good camping is found int he meadow to the southwest of the nunnery, by a small chapel, or you can stay in a room at the nunnery.

Day 7: Dorhe Ling Nunnery – Yangpachen Monastery (14 km/ 4-5 hours on foot) - DangXiong (75km, 1.5hrs driving)

Highlights: 4-5hrs trekking about 14km, mostly level

Tibetan Prayer Flags	Yangpahen Hot Spring

Schedule today: From Dorhe Ling follow the motor-able road west or downstream, after 40-minutes or so, past a fenced area, take the right fork over a ruined concrete bridge and continue down the east bank of the stream as the valley drains into the huge Yangpachen plain.Below you to the left is Tsaburing village. The tracks quickly turn into a motorable road and runs north, paralleling the course of the Nyango-chu, which drains the upper Yangpachen valley. Once you’ve entered the Nyangpo drainage area, it’s a level but draining two-hour walk through the giant landscape to a steel bridge spanning the river. Walk northwards on the road for about 10 minutes, suddenly coming to Yangpachen Monastery. From Yangpachen Monastery it’s an 18km road journey to Yangpachen town. For a post-trek treat, the swimming pool-sized hot-springs complex located 7km west of Yangpachen town, is great to ease your aching limbs. Then we will head to Dangxiong county, and stay overnight there.

Day 8: DangXiong – Namtso Lake - Lhasa (300km, 6hrs driving)

Highlights: Nomad views, Namtso Lake (sunset)

Nomadic Life in Tibet	the Namtso Lake

Schedule today: In the morning after breakfast around 9 AM, our guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel, and then drive north towards the Sky Lake of Namtso. The landscapes from Lhasa to Namtso Lake are impressive. In summer (May to August), the nomads settle down on grassland with their tents, flocks of sheep and yaks here and there. Namtso Lake is 1 of 4 holy lakes in Tibet and also the highest Salt Lake (alt.5000 meters), which earns its name as Sky Lake. Sometimes, you could see pilgrim do a kora around this holy lake, and hiking around the lake and Tashi Island is very enjoyable. The sunset and night views by the lake is so amazing that attract many photographers each year. Then we will drive back to Lhasa. ( From April 2019, all the guesthouse near Namsto Lake had been removed and people cannot stay overnight near the lakeside anymore).

Day 9: Tours Ends

Departure transfer to train station or airport. Welcome to Tibet next time.