Itinerary

Day 01 - Kathmandu
Arrive Kathmandu. Met on arrival and transfer to Hotel. Day free. Overnight Hotel Tibet. (Dinner)

Day 02 - Kathmandu
Full day sightseeing of Kathmandu. Overnight Hotel Tibet. (Breakfast and Lunch)

Day 03 - Lhasa (11,900 ft.)
Fly from Kathmandu or Beijing to Gonggar Airport (Tibet). Met on arrival and transfer to Lhasa. Day free. Overnight Hotel. (No meals)

Day 04 - Lhasa (11,900 ft.)
Visit the Jokhang temple at the Barkhor Square. The Jokhang is the most sacred temple for many Tibetans and was built by King Trsong Tsang Gampo. A not to miss experience is to circumbulate the temple along with thousands of Tibetans. Overnight Hotel. (Breakfast)

Day 05 - Lhasa (11,900 ft.)
Visit Potala Palace, the official residence of the Dalai Lama until he fled to India after the Chinese invasion. The palace has over a 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and 200,000 statues. Continue to Sera Monastery, one of the three major Gelukpa temples along with Drepung monastery and Ganden monastery. A highlight is watching the monks practicing their debating skills in the monastery courtyard. Overnight Hotel. (Breakfast)

Day 06 - Lhasa to Gyantse (13,000 ft.)
Gyantse is located 159 miles south-west of Lhasa. The drive to Gyantse can take upwards of 8 hours. Traveling on a land-cruiser, cross the Khamba la (15,700 ft.) from where there are stunning views across the waters of Yamdrok-Tsho. Continue over Karo La (16,600 ft.) driving past a road which is within a few hundred meters of a huge glacier. Overnight Hotel. (Breakfast)

Day 07 - Gyantse to Shigatse (12,600 ft.)
In the morning, explore the sites of Gyantse. Gyantse is famous for Kumbum, the largest stupa in Tibet. The Kumbum stupa and the Pelkor Chode Monastery are housed within the monastery compound. The chorten is packed with exquisite Tibetan sculpture and painting and rises 35m over four main symmetrical floors. A clockwise route leads pilgrims and visitors through the six floors.

Continue to Shigatse; a short 56 mile drive on the paved Friendship Highway. After lunch visit Tashilunpo Monastery, the seat of the Panchen Lama and the largest functioning monastery in Tibet. The monastery is essentially a walled town in its own right with busy cobbled lanes twisting around the ancient buildings. Overnight Hotel. (Breakfast)

Day 08 - Shigatse to Xegar (13,300 ft.)
We continue on the Friendship Highway to Shegar. Here we meet with our Nepali staff who will be helping us with setting up camp and preparing nutritious meals for our hike to the Kanshung base camp and back. Overnight Camp. (All meals)

Day 09 - Xegar to Kharta (12,100 ft.)
Today, leaving the friendship highway, we head south-east towards Kharta Qu. Camp is in a pasture past Kharta by the Kharta Tsangpo. Overnight Camp (All meals)

Day 10 - Kharta (13,300 ft.)
Today is an acclimatization day. You have the option to do a 4-hour hike up to Zamchung La (14,300ft/4,360m). Overnight Camp. (All meals)

Day 11 to Day 15 - Kharta to Pethang Ringmo

The trek to the Kanshung Face Base Camp is strenuous because you will be trekking at fairly high altitude but there are only a couple of days where you will be required to trek for more than six hours.

Trek along the road for an hour to Yulok. Further up, take the left trail towards Shau-la. The other trail leads to Landrubling which we will pass through on our return. We continue up for another hour to a meadow camp (13,650ft/4,160m).

Past the meadow camp, trek three hours to the next camp (14,950ft/4,560m) beside the lake. Views of Makalu (27,805ft/8,457m) on a clear day are simply unrivaled from camp.

Wake up early for the pass crossing at Shau La (15,700ft/4,790m) which you should reach after two hours of walking from camp. From the pass, descend three and a half hours to a meadow camp (13,100ft/3,990m).

From the meadow camp, we trek three hours to our next camp at Shalung Tsho (14,500ft/4,420m). Here we climb a ridge to get views of Everest and Lhotse.

The hike from Shalung Tsho to Pethang Ringmo (15,800ft/4,820m), the base camp of the 1921 Everest Reconnaissance team, can take up to 7 hours. We camp two nights at Pethang Ringmo taking day hikes to the Kanshung Face base camp. Overnight Camp (All meals)

Day 16 - Pethang Ringmo
Explore. Overnight Camp. (All meals)

Day 17 to Day 19 - Pethang Ringmo to Kharta Qu
We will take three days for our return to Kharta Qu trekking over the Lamga La (17,200ft/5,240m).

From Pethang Ringmo, we back-track two hours to Rabka Chu. Then we begin the big climb to the moraine ridge (14,450ft/4,430m) on our way to Thangsham meadows. We climb two hours to camp in the pasture by the lake at Tsho Melongme (15,900ft/4,850m) below the Langma La pass.

We wake up early for our trek over Langma La. From camp, we should arrive at the summit in about 2 hours. Views of Makalu are simply magnificent from the pass along with Lhotse and Everest. We descend three hours to Troshay meadow camp (14,500ft/4,160m).

Trekking an hour through rhododendrons and juniper we arrive at Shomale (13,650ft/4,160m). Look out for marmots and varieties of birds. Soon terraced fields of Kharta become visible. We camp near the town of Landrubling (13,100ft/3,990,).

Day 20 - Landrubling to Rongbuk
Today, we trek about an hour to Kharta Tsangpo where we will be met by our land-cruisers for the our ride to Rongbuk monastery (16,100ft/4,900m). We will camp outside the monastery. Overnight Camp. (All meals)

Day 21 - Rongbuk to Everest Base Camp
Explore Everest Base Camp. Overnight Camp. (All meals)

Day 22 to Day 23 - Rongbuk to Kathmandu
Rejoin the Friendship Highway and descend towards the Nepal-Tibet border at Zhangmu. Met at the border by your Nepali representatives. Continue drive to Kathmandu. Overnight camp. (All meals)

Day 24 - Kathmandu
Sightseeing in Kathmandu. Overnight Hotel Tibet. (Breakfast and Lunch)

Day 25 - Final departure
Final departure. (Breakfast)

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