Tibet in 14 days: Lhasa, Everest and Namtso
Fourteen days is the length at which Tibet stops being a sequence of driving days with sights attached and becomes a proper trip.
- Duration
- 14 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 7
- Best months
- May, Jun, Sep, Oct
- From
- $2,940 per person
The ten day version of the Everest route works and it is tight: two long drives back to back, no margin for weather, and no rest between the passes. Fourteen days takes the same road, breaks the long drives, adds a rest day in Shigatse, and then adds the thing the shorter routes cannot fit, which is Namtso, the great lake north of Lhasa at about 15,480 feet (4,718 m), reached over a pass higher than any on the Everest road.
It is also the length at which the acclimatisation stops being a constraint and starts being an advantage. By the time you reach Namtso in the second week you have spent ten days above 12,000 feet (3,660 m), and a night at 15,480 feet is something your body can actually do.
Fourteen days, seven hotel changes, three long driving days, and three days with nothing scheduled.
Who it suits: travellers with two weeks who want the whole of central and western Tibet rather than a compressed version of it.
Your specialist: Asaf Zamshtein, who runs our China desk, with your named Tibet specialist and our licensed Lhasa partner team.
A note on who is on the ground. Our own offices are in Japan, Vietnam, India and the Philippines. Tibet is not one of them and could not be, because only a locally licensed operator can hold the permits. Your guide and driver are Tibetan, from a Lhasa partner we have worked with for years.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Lhasa. Met and driven in, about an hour. Nothing scheduled. Water, food, early bed.
Day 2: Rest. The Barkhor. A late start, an hour on the pilgrimage circuit, a sweet tea house, and back to the hotel by lunch. Afternoon indoors.
Day 3: Rest. Jokhang and Sera. The Jokhang at opening. Sera in the afternoon for the debating courtyard. Back by five.
Day 4: The Potala, and Drepung. Timed entry to the Potala in the morning, about an hour inside and several hundred steps. Drepung in the afternoon, driven high and walked down.
Day 5: Ganden, or Drak Yerpa. A day out of the city that is also part of the acclimatisation: Ganden on its ridge with the ninety minute kora, or the Drak Yerpa meditation caves in their cliff. Either way you sleep in Lhasa again, which is the point.
Day 6: Lhasa to Gyantse over Kamba La. Six to seven hours. Kamba La at about 15,700 feet (4,790 m), Yamdrok Lake below it at about 14,600 feet (4,450 m), the Karo La glacier at around 16,400 feet (5,000 m). Afternoon at Pelkor Chode and the Kumbum. Night in Gyantse at about 13,050 feet (3,977 m).
Day 7: Gyantse to Shigatse. A short day. Ninety minutes on the road, the whole afternoon at Tashilhunpo monastery, which deserves three hours. Night in Shigatse at about 12,600 feet (3,840 m).
Day 8: Shigatse, and Sakya. The rest day the ten day version cannot afford. A morning excursion south-west to Sakya monastery, which is architecturally unlike anything else in Tibet, grey and fortified and belonging to a different school, then back to Shigatse for a second night in the same hotel and a free afternoon.
Day 9: Shigatse to Rongbuk and base camp. The long one, seven to nine hours. Over the Gyatso La, then off the highway and up the switchbacks to the Gawu La pass at around 17,050 feet (5,200 m), where four peaks above 26,000 feet (7,900 m) line up on the horizon on a clear day.
Down and up the last valley to Rongbuk monastery at about 16,340 feet (4,980 m) and the base camp area beyond it. Sunset on the north face if the weather allows. Night in the guesthouse or a tented camp, which is basic. Read the honest notes.
Day 10: Sunrise, then Shigatse. Out before dawn for first light on the face, which is the better light. Then the drive back, seven to eight hours, to a proper hotel and a hot shower.
Day 11: Shigatse to Lhasa. The northern road down the valley, about five hours. Afternoon free. One night in Lhasa, and the bags are repacked for the north.
Day 12: Lhasa to Namtso. North over the Lakenla pass at around 17,030 feet (5,190 m) and down to Namtso, the second largest lake in Tibet, at about 15,480 feet (4,718 m). Four to five hours.
The afternoon is the walk out along the Tashi Dor headland, the evening is the light going off the water and the Nyenchen Tanglha range behind it, and the night is in a simple guesthouse on the shore, with no heating worth the name.
Day 13: Namtso to Lhasa. Sunrise on the lake, then the drive back, four to five hours. Afternoon free in Lhasa. A last dusk on the Barkhor and a dinner we book.
Day 14: Departure. Transfer to the airport, about an hour.
What is included
All permits obtained and delivered before travel, including the border permit required for the Everest area. Accommodation with breakfast throughout, described accurately in advance, a licensed English-speaking Tibetan guide and a private four-wheel-drive vehicle with driver throughout, all entries including the timed Potala ticket and the Everest area entry, bottled oxygen in the vehicle with additional supply carried for the Rongbuk and Namtso nights, a written descent plan for every night with distances and driving times, a VPN and the Chinese payment apps set up and tested before you fly, a day-by-day document listing the elevation of every night and every pass, and a WhatsApp group with your consultant and our Lhasa team, with WeChat alongside as a local fallback.
What we would change, and when
- Do not want two rough nights? Drop Namtso and keep Everest, or drop Everest and keep Namtso. Both are basic and Namtso is the milder of the two. We would keep Everest.
- Prefer Namtso as a day trip? Possible and long: about ten hours in the vehicle for a few hours at the lake, and you miss the light at both ends. Some travellers should take that trade, and if the Rongbuk night has gone badly we will make the call for you.
- Twenty-one days? Continue west and cross into Nepal. See Tibet overland to Kathmandu in 21 days.
- December to February? We would not run this route. The Everest road is unreliable, the Namtso road can close with snow, and the guesthouses at both are largely shut.
Honest notes
Two nights on this route are genuinely uncomfortable. Rongbuk at about 16,340 feet (4,980 m) and Namtso at about 15,480 feet (4,718 m) are basic guesthouses: thin bedding, a stove at best, no reliable hot water, pit toilets, and cold. Most people sleep badly at both. They are also the two nights people describe afterwards.
Namtso comes late in the trip on purpose. Sleeping at 15,480 feet is reasonable on day twelve and would be a poor idea on day four. The sequence of this itinerary is the safety mechanism and we do not reorder it.
Descend if the symptoms change. Confusion, an unsteady walk, or breathlessness while sitting still means going down immediately, at any hour, from either of those two nights. Our guide will make that call without asking, and if it is made the route does not go back up.
The mountain may be in cloud. Even in September and October it happens. We will tell you the realistic odds for your dates before you commit, and there is no weather refund in this industry from anyone.
Three of these days are long drives. The roads are mostly surfaced and in good condition, and the length comes from distance, passes and checkpoints rather than from the surface.
Built by Asaf Zamshtein, who runs our China desk, and checked with our licensed Lhasa partner before it goes out.
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