Tibet Adventure (14 days)

Shanghai – Lhasa – Gyantse – Shigatse – Lhasa – Chengdu – Hong Kong

This meticulously crafted Tibet adventure tour redefines your travel experience. The fast-paced luxury tour is a perfect choice for the time-pressed looking for a well-rounded introduction to China with a focus on Tibet. Trip highlights include Potala Palace, Yamdrok Yumtso (lake), Gyantse Fortress, Tibetan family visit and the Chengdu Giant Panda Research Center.

This tour reaches points as high as 5,020 metres above sea level. Participants prone to altitude sickness must take precaution.

Important Features

• • Small group size
  • Experienced professional guides
  • No shopping stops
  • Quality Chinese & Western cuisines
  • Visit to a local Tibetan family in Tibet
  • Giant Panda Research Centre in Chengdu

Pre-tour extension to Beijing and/or Xi’an available on request.

Day 1/Mon: Departing for Shanghai
Depart from a city of your choice and lose a day upon crossing the International Date Line.

Day 2/Tue: Arrival in Shanghai
Meet the driver on arrival for transfer to the hotel. You’ll have the balance of the day at leisure.

Day 3/Wed: Shanghai (B/L/D)
With a population of 24.9 million (2021), Shanghai is China’s biggest city, which delights the visitor with its futuristic skyline and historical landmarks.

Following the tour orientation we visit Jade Buddha Temple located in an old neighbourhood, the famous waterfront promenade known as the Bund, and the Yu Garden in the old town centre. We wrap up the day with a drive through the glitzy financial district of Lujiazui on the opposite side of the Bund across Huangpu River.

Day 4/Thu: Shanghai – Lhasa (B/D)
We board an early morning flight (3 hours 20 minutes) for Lhasa and spend the remainder of the day relaxing to get acclimated to the high altitudes.

Situated in a wide, mountain-fringed valley on the north bank of the Kyichu River, Lhasa (elevation 3,650m) is a rapidly expanding city with a population around 870,000 as of late 2022. An important settlement for well over a thousand years, Lhasa was originally called Rasa, but was renamed by King Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century when he moved his capital here from the Yarlung Valley. Following the collapse of the Yarlung dynasty two centuries later, power dispersed among local chieftains and the city lost its pre-eminence. It was not until the 17th century, with the installation of the Fifth Dalai Lama as ruler by Gushri Khan, a Mongolian prince and later leader of the Khoshut Khanate, that Lhasa once again became the seat of government.

Day 5/Fri: Lhasa (B/L)
Morning visit to Norbulinka, literally meaning jeweled park. First built in 1755, Norbulingka covers an area of 89 acres and served as the traditional summer residence of the successive Dalai Lamas. A short distance to the southwest of the Potala Palace, Norbulingka forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site collectively known as the Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace.

This afternoon we tour the grand Sera Monastery, where lively debates held every day except Sunday between resident monks often draw a large audience. Sera Monastery is recognized as one of the “great three” Gelug university monasteries of Tibet together with Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery.

Day 6/Sat: Lhasa (B/L)
This morning we visit the Potala Palace. This was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising. Now a museum, the palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythical abode of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. The 5th Dalai Lama started its construction in 1645 after one of his spiritual advisers pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government, situated as it is between Drepung and Sera monasteries and the old city of Lhasa. The palace sits on the site of an earlier fortress built by King Songtsen Gampo. The main building measures 360 metres east-west and 140 metres north-south. Thickness of the exterior granite walls varies between 2 and 5 metres.

Afternoon sightseeing at Jokhang Temple, one of the oldest Buddhist buildings in Tibet and a remarkable combination of Tibetan, Indian, Nepalese and Han Chinese architectural styles. No visit to Jokhang Temple is complete without checking out the Barkhor Street bazaar outside the temple.

Day 7/Sun: Lhasa – Gyantse – Shigatse (B/L/D)
Following breakfast, we drive along the Southern Route to Gyantse (265 km).

Highlights of the scenic drive include Kambala Pass (4700 metres/15416 feet above sea level) and the sacred Yamdrok Lake. Every summer throngs of Tibetan pilgrims come to the lake to pray for blessings by the lake goddess.

Afternoon sightseeing in Gyantse takes in the Fortress of Gyantse Dzong and Pelkhor Choede. We then continue on to Shigatse (90 km) in late afternoon arriving at the second largest city in Tibet around dinnertime.

Day 8/Mon: Shigatse – Lhasa (B/L)
This morning we tour Tashilhunpo Monastery, the religious and administrative headquarters of the Panchen Lama – paramount leader of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Visit to a local Tibetan family is also on the itinerary.

After lunch we drive back to Lhasa via a different route – better paved Northern Route (295 km). Vast pastureland, barren mountain slopes, snow-capped peaks, blue skies, white clouds, scanty population, and ubiquitous prayer flags – these images combine to conjure a sense of solitude and mystery.

Day 9/Tue: Lhasa (B)
Free day to explore on your own. For a small fee, we can organize a visit to a local elementary school or a hospital practicing traditional Tibetan medicine.

Day 10/Wed: Lhasa – Chengdu (B/L/D)
We travel to Chengdu by air (2 hours) this morning.

Chengdu is the capital of populous Sichuan Province. The ancient city has a population of 14 million with half of that within the urban centre and the remainder in the surrounding districts. The fertile Chengdu Plain, on which Chengdu is located, is also known as “Country of Heaven”, a phrase also often translated as “The Land of Abundance”. The discovery of the Jinsha site suggests the area of Chengdu had become the centre of the Bronze Age Sanxingdui culture around the time of the establishment of the state of Shu, prior to its annexation by Qin in 316 BCE.

Our afternoon sightseeing in Chengdu takes in historical Wu Hou Shrine and a well-preserved old neighourhood known as Wide and Narrow Alleys.

Day 11/Thu: Chengdu (B/L)
Morning sightseeing at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The giant panda, unrelated to the red or lesser panda, is a bear native to south central China, living in mountainous regions. It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda’s diet is over 99% bamboo. The giant panda has an insatiable appetite for bamboo. A typical animal eats half the day – a full 12 out of every 24 hours – and relieves itself dozens of times a day. Giant pandas are solitary creatures. They have a highly developed sense of smell that males use to avoid each other and to find females for mating in the spring. After a five-month pregnancy, females give birth to a cub or two, though they cannot care for both twins. The blind infants, born fully white, weigh only 5 ounces (142 grams) at birth and cannot crawl until they reach three months of age.

The panda is a conservation reliant endangered species. Recent statistics (late 2022) shows 637 pandas living in captivity with most of them inside China. The most authoritative estimate as of late 2022 puts the number of giant pandas living in the wilderness at 1864.

We spend most of the afternoon at Jinsha Museum. In February 2001, construction workers chanced upon a significant archaeological discovery in modern China. The discovery led to the naming of Jinsha culture (1200 – 650 BCE) and a museum was erected at the excavation site. Jinsha culture flourished around 1000 BCE and shares similarities in burial objects with the Sanxingdui site located 50 km from Chengdu. Objects made of ivory, jade, bronze, gold and stone were unearthed at the site. Unlike the site at Sanxingdui, Jinsha did not have a city wall. Jinsha culture is believed to be a final phase of Sanxingdui civilization and represents a relocation of the political center in the ancient Shu Kingdom.

Day 12/Fri: Chengdu – Hong Kong (B/L)
Free morning to explore on your own.

Afternoon sightseeing following lunch includes Wang Jiang Lou Park and a typical local tea house. Wangjianglou means “river-overlooking tower” and the park is so named because of the ancient pagoda-shaped wooden tower onsite. The beautiful little park dotted with verdant bamboo groves has long been a favourite spot among locals for leisure.

We travel to Hong Kong by late afternoon or evening flight.

Hong Kong (meaning ‘fragrant harbour’) is one of the two special administrative regions of the People’s Republic of China, along with Macau. Comprised of more than 260 islands, the territory is located on the eastern side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong Province in the north and facing the South China Sea in the east, west and south. Hong Kong was a British colony from 1842 until the transfer of sovereignty to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. The Sino-British Joint Declaration (effective 1985) and the Basic Law of Hong Kong (effective 1997) stipulate that Hong Kong operate with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2047, fifty years after the transfer. Under the policy of ‘one country, two systems’, the Central People’s Government is responsible for the territory’s defense and foreign affairs while Hong Kong maintains its own systems of governance based on British systems/institutions of common law, policing, customs policies, immigration policies, and so forth.

Day 13/Sat: Hong Kong (B/L)
Morning sightseeing of Hong Kong begins with a ferry ride across Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central. The heart of Hong Kong’s business district, Central is home to the regional headquarters of many multinational financial services corporations. The Consulate General and the consulates of many countries are also located in this area, in addition to Hong Kong’s government itself.

We then proceed to the top of Victoria Peak. Also known as Mount Austin or ‘The Peak’ among locals, Victoria Peak is located in the western half of Hong Kong Island with an altitude of 552 meters (1,811 feet). The peak offers sweeping views over Central, Victoria Harbour and the surrounding islands. We have dinner at the romantic Peak Lookout Restaurant, which offers (aside from the breathtaking view) a wide selection of Chinese, Western, Indian, and Southeast Asian dishes.

Afterwards, we will head to Stanley Market. But on the way, we will make a quick stop at Repulse Bay, an area where the private residences of Hong Kong’s ‘the rich and the famous’ overlook the well maintained golden beaches. We wrap up the day after a visit to Stanley Market – a traditional old open-air market known for bargains.

This afternoon is set free for you to explore on your own.

Day 14/Sun: Returning Home (B)
The tour ends this morning. Transfer to the airport on your own for return flight. You can go by taxi (approx. US$30) or the airport limousine bus which makes a stop at the hotel. Alternatively, you may ride the hotel’s free shuttle bus to Tsim Sha Tsui Station, from which the Airport Express Train (US$12) delivers you right into the airport terminal in 21 minutes. 

Dates & Prices
discount available

Price based on double occupancy. See Terms & Conditions for cancellation penalty. Scroll down for what the tour price includes and excludes.

* Land Only price excludes international airfare. Please contact us for a fare quote.