Tibet month by month

May, June, September and October are the months we recommend. Everything else needs a reason.

The short version

May and June, the first window

Warm by plateau standards and dry. Lhasa sits around 68F (20C) by day in these months and falls close to freezing at night, and that daily swing of roughly 40F (22C) is the thing to pack for rather than the average.

The passes are open, the roads are in their best condition of the year, and late June brings wildflowers across the meadows on the road to Shigatse. Everest visibility is good, though less consistently so than in autumn, because the monsoon starts pushing cloud north from the Nepal side toward the end of June.

June is also when the plateau starts to get busy with domestic travellers, which affects hotel supply in Lhasa and Shigatse more than it affects the roads.

July and August, the rain, honestly described

This is the wettest part of the year and it is misunderstood in both directions.

What is true: most of the annual rainfall arrives now. What is also true: in Lhasa it tends to fall at night, and the days are frequently fine. The plateau is at its greenest, the rivers are full, the light after a storm is extraordinary and the temperature is the most comfortable of the year, around 73F (23C) by day.

What is not true is that summer ruins a Tibet trip. It ruins a Tibet trip whose entire point is Everest. The cloud sits on the high peaks for days, mountain roads become less predictable, and a landslide or a washed-out section can add hours to an already long driving day.

So our position is this. If you want Lhasa, the monasteries, Yamdrok Lake and the Yarlung valley, July and August are perfectly good months and slightly cheaper than the shoulders around them. If you want to stand at the north base camp and see the mountain, this is not your window and we will say so before you book.

September and October, the best window

If your dates are open, take them here, and take October if you can.

The rain stops, the air clears, and September and October give the most reliable visibility toward Everest of any months in the year. That single fact decides most of our Everest departures. Days are pleasant, around 64F (18C) in Lhasa in September, dropping through October, and nights get properly cold, particularly at altitude on the Everest road where a night below 14F (minus 10C) is normal by late October.

The barley harvest is in during September, which changes the look of the valleys completely and puts people in the fields. October is quieter than September, colder, and clearer still.

Book early. This is the window everybody wants, the Lhasa hotels are limited and the Everest guesthouses have almost no capacity. Three to four months of lead time is our standing advice, partly for supply and partly because the permit itself needs several weeks. See Tibet for the first time for how that process runs.

April and early November, the shoulders

Colder, quieter, cheaper and genuinely workable, with one caveat: a high pass can close with snow at short notice, and the road to Everest is the one most likely to be affected.

We build these months with more flexibility written into the document, including an alternative day if a pass is shut. Travellers who want the plateau without other travellers on it often prefer April to June, and they accept that the mountain may be behind cloud or unreachable.

December to February, the quiet months

Cold at night, often well below freezing, while Lhasa by day is sunny, dry, still and very quiet. The old town in winter, with pilgrims from across the plateau walking the circuits and almost no other foreign visitors, is a particular experience that some of our travellers actively choose.

The constraints are real. Access to the Everest area and the northern lakes is unreliable. Some guesthouses on the road close entirely. Permits are more often restricted. And the cold at altitude is not a background condition, it is the main condition.

We build winter Lhasa trips. We do not build winter Everest trips.

The closure question

The region is periodically closed to foreign visitors. Permits stop being issued, existing permits can be affected, and the closure is typically announced at short notice and lasts days or weeks. In most recent years this has included a stretch in and around March.

We handle it in three ways. We are cautious about confirming departures in the windows historically affected. We monitor the position through our licensed Lhasa partner, who knows before any published source does. And if your dates are closed we tell you as soon as we know, move you or refund the land arrangements, and do not put you on an aircraft hoping it resolves in the air.

This is the most common reason we say no to a Tibet enquiry, and we would rather say it at the enquiry stage than at an airport.

Month by month, in one table

Temperatures are typical daytime highs in Lhasa and vary year to year. Anywhere on the Everest road is very substantially colder, and the night at around 16,500 feet (5,000 m) is cold in every month.

What the season does not change

Two things stay constant whatever month you pick, and they are the two that decide the shape of the trip.

The altitude. Lhasa is at about 11,995 feet (3,656 m) in January and in July. Two full days of acclimatisation before you cross a pass are in every route we build, in every season, and we do not remove them on request.

The permits. You need a Tibet Travel Permit as well as a Chinese visa in every month of the year, arranged through a licensed operator against a booked itinerary, with a guide and a private vehicle throughout. There is no season in which independent travel becomes possible.

Plan this trip

Tell us your dates, or tell us you are flexible, and Asaf will tell you honestly what those weeks look like on the plateau before he builds anything. Free, and with no obligation.

Start planning

Keep reading

• Tibet: the complete guide to planning your trip
• What a trip to Tibet costs
• The overland road to Everest north base camp
• How many days do you need in Tibet?
• Tibet in 14 days, Lhasa to Everest
• All our Tibet trips

Frequently asked questions