15 Days Trek Tour for Mount Kailash in Saga Dawa Festival 2024

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1 (16th May, 2024): Arrival upon Lhasa

Highlights: Arrival & Pick-up & Acclimatization

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

Warm Tibetan Style Pickup Service	Warm Tibetan Style Pickup Service

Day 2 (17th, May, 2024): Lhasa city tour

Highlights: Potala Palace, Johkang Temple，Barkhor Street

Schedule today: In the morning, visit the symbol or landmark of Lhasa - Potala Palace (video), the successive Dalai Lama's winter residence since the 7th Century by the 33rd great king of Tibet. In the afternoon, visit the center of Tibetan Buddhism - Johkang Temple (video), 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 UNESCO. Afterwards, free time for you to wander through the Barkhor Street, the busiest street in old Lhasa quarter.

Potala Palace	Johkang Temple

Day 3 (18th, May, 2024): Lhasa city tour

Highlights: Drepung Monastery, Sera 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 (video), where you can see the largest scale of sutra debating (video) among monks is famous all across Tibet.

Drepung Monastery	Sera Monastery

Day 4 (19th May, 2024): Lhasa - Gyantse - Shigatse

Highlights: Yamdrok Lake, Pelchor Monastery, Karo Glacier, Gyantse Pelkor

Schedule today: In the morning, drive to the historic town of Gyantse via Yamdrok Lake (video), according to local mythology, Yamdrok Lake is the transformation of a goddess, on the Gangbala Pass, you will have a clear picture of this Tibetan holy lake in turquoise, in distance you can also see the snowcapped Summit of Ninjingkangsang. In Gyantse (video) , you will find the largest stupa in Tibet - Kumpa Stupa (Ten-thousand stupa), just next to the Stupa is the Pelchor Monastery (video). Another important site in Gyantse is Dzong Castle which once was a battle field where Tibetan fought against British invasion. Continue drive to Shigatse and stay overnight there.

Yamdrok Lake	Pelchor Monastery

Day 5 (20th May, 2024): Shigatse - Everest (340 km/ 7-8 hours on wheel)

Highlights: Tashilumpo Monastery

Schedule today: In the morning, visit Tashilumpo Monastery: In the morning, visit Tashilumpo Monastery (video) which is the seat of Panchen Lama, the equally important religious figure in Tibet as Dalai Lama. The monastery was built by the first Dalai Lama in 1447, and inside the Monastery placed the highest statue of Buddha in Tibet which is 26.8 meters high. Afterwards, we will head to Everest, then rest there well.

Tashilumpo Monastery	Tingri County

Day 6 (21th May, 2024): EBC - Saga (300 km/ 6-7 hours on wheel)

Highlights: Rongbuk Monastery, Everest Base Camp

Schedule today: In the morning, we will visit Rongbuk Monastery. if weather is good, you can choose to wake up early to watch the sunrise over the base camp. After breakfast, we will drive to western Tibet of Saga County directly. On the way, we can see the beautiful Peikutso Lake and Mt. Shixiapangma. Today, we will cover some bumpy part of road, but not very long.

Mt. Everest Sunrise	Peikutso Lake

Day 7 (22th May, 2024): Saga - Lake Manasarovar - Darchen (510 km/ 8-9 hours on wheel)

Highlights: Lake Manasarovar

Schedule today: In the morning you will head to Lake Manasarovar, Tibet's holiest lake which sits at 4590 meters. We will go on following the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra River going through vast expanses of grasslands before arriving in Paryang, elevation 4590 meters. And Lake Manasarovar is an important pilgrimage destination for Tibetans and Hindu's from India and Nepal. From the lake, you can see Kailash in the distance. Then we will make the short drive to Darchen Town, the starting point of the trek around Mt. Kailash.

Lake Manasarovar	Darchen Town

Day 8 (23th May, 2024): Darchen - Diraphuk Monastery trekking & Experience the Saga Dawa Festival 2024

Highlights: Saga Dawa Festival 2024, Kailash Trekking

Schedule today:Wake up early about 7:30, after breakfast trek 2 hours to the festival site where large ritual ceremony will be held, on the way you can see lots of pilgrims from all over Tibet and even India, Nepal and Thailand. Saga Dawa Festival 2024 celebrates the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death, or attaining of Nirvana. It is the most important religious festival observed by the entire Buddhist world. Any merit obtained for the performance of a good deed or religious practice will be enhanced. The ceremony will start around 10:30 and lasts about 3 hours. There you can see not only locals raise a very big prayer flag pole along with lots of religious rites performed by monks, but also even a temporary bazaar with many nearby locals come here to trade. It couldn't be more authentic to see such an event at this corner of Himalayas.

After seeing the festival, continue the trekking, most of trail today is along the rocky valley, on the road you will see the faces of Mt. Kailash appear from time to time. It will be around 6 PM to arrive at the guesthouse near the Diraphuk Monastery (5080m) which locates under the astonishing north face of Mt Kailash that from this angle appears as a massive, jet-black slab of granite ornamented with alabaster-white strips of snow.

Saga Dawa Festival	North Face of Mt. Kailash

Day 9 (24th May, 2024): Diraphuk - Dolmala Pass - Zutruphuk Monastery

Highlights: Dolmala Pass, Zutruphuk

Schedule today: In the morning we will trek across a valley up to the Dolma-La Pass. Today's trekking will be the most arduous part since Dolmala Pass is quite high at 5640 meters, plus today's trekking length is around 20km, so we have to wake up early. By the late afternoon arrive at Zutrulphuk Monastery, the cave of miracles where the Tibetan poet-saint Milarepa once stayed.

Asending Dolmala Pass	At Dolmala Pass

Day 10 (25th May, 2024): Zutruphuk Monastery - Darchen

Schedule today: In the morning we will hike back to Darchen at some easy walk. And your car is waiting for you when you finishing the trekking.

Mountain Kailash Trekking Day 3	Mountain Kailash Trekking Day 3

Day 11 (26th May, 2024): Darchen - Saga

Schedule today: In the morning, we will head back to Lhasa by following the Brahmaputra River back to Saga as we pass through the nomadic regions of western Tibet.

Darchen Town	Western Tibet

Day 12 (27th May, 2024): Saga - Sakya (350 km/ 6-7hours on wheel)

Highlights: Sakya Monastery

Schedule today: Drive from Saga to Sakya Stay overnight in Sakya.

Day 13 (28th May, 2024): Sakya - Shigatse (160 km/ 3-4 hours on wheel)

Schedule today:In the morning, we will visit ancient Sakya town and you can tour Sakya monastery with amzing murals and huge collection of scriptures and statues.Then we are about to drive from Sakya to Shigatse.

Western Tibet	Wild Donkey in western Tibet

Day 14 (29th May, 2024): Shigatse - Lhasa (280 km/ 5-6 hours on wheel)

Schedule today: Drive back to Lhasa along the road with Brahmaputra River flows along; the free time is on your own after arrival Lhasa.

Brahmaputra River	Brahmaputra River

Day 15 (30th May, 2024): Depart from Lhasa

Schedule today: Tour ends, our guide and driver will drop you off at airport in Lhasa. Welcome to Tibet next time.

Price Guide

The Tour quote is $1799 per person departing on 29th May 2024

What's included in this price?

1. Free group pick-up from airport & free group drop-off from hotel, BUT only three times available, surcharge (RMB 450) occurs if your flight schedule does not meet the free transfer time. Stay at airport for 1-2 hours to await other tourists is possible since this is a group pick-up service.

Group Pick-up Time at airport	09:30 - 10:30	12:30 - 13:30	15:30 - 16:30
Group Drop-off Time leaving hotel	06:30 from hotel	08:30 from hotel	12:30 from hotel
A. The drive length is about one hour between airport and downtown B. It’s free to have pickup and drop-off between train station and downtown

2. English speaking local Tibetan Guide.

3. Well maintained vehicle throughout the whole tour.

4. Entrance fee to all the scenic spots mentioned.

5. All Tibet traveling permits concerned, such as TTP and PSB.

6. Clean and comfortable 3 star standard hotels with private bath room and breakfast in Lhasa and Shigatse, guesthouse or yak hair tent near EBC and during the trekking, basic hotels in Tingri, Saga, Darchen and Gyirong Town. The quote is based on 0.5 room per person, twin sharing.

Lhasa (Day1,2,3,14)	Yak Hotel or Gangyen Hotel	3*
Shigatse (Day4,13)	Gesar Hotel or Zangba Hotel	3*
Tingri (Day 5)	Snowland Hotel or Qomulangma Hotel	2*
EBC (Day6)	Guesthouse or Yak hair tent	Basic
Saga (Day7,12)	Saga Hotel	2*
Darchen (Day 8,11)	TBD	Basic hotel
Trekking (Day9,10)	Guesthouse	Basic

7. Tour guide and vehicle's entry fee to Mt. Everest.

8. Oxygen supply on Vehicle.

9. Delivery fee of Tibet permits.

10. Guide and driver's food and accommodations.

What's excluded in this price?

1. Lunches and dinners, plus breakfasts from day 6.

2. Tips for the tour guide and driver.

3. Bank service fee when you transfer deposit to our company.

4. Transportation into and out of Lhasa.

5. Porters and packing animals during the trekking around Mt.Kailash if you need.

6. Air or train tickets into and out of Lhasa

7. Single supplement.
(The single supplement occurred when solo traveler stayed in a twin room alone. To help our solo travelers to save money, you may agree to share a room with another independent traveler. In this way, no extra charge is needed. We offer the opportunity for tourists to share a room with others during the tour. So they do not need to afford the single room supplement. When you accept this offer, we would assume that tourists are willing to share the twin room with any group member. The gender and age difference is not taken into our consideration. If you do mind these differences or are sensitive to accommodation with strangers especially with opposite sex, you may pay single room supplement for a single room when booking.)

Departures 2025

If you couldn't find a tour date suitable for your travel schedule in the below form, please contact us and we will help you to open a new date based on yours .