Tibet I Motorcycle Tour from Lhasa to Mt. Everest

Tibet Motorcycle Tour Tibet Motorcycle Tour Tibet Motorcycle Tour Tibet Motorcycle Tour Tibet Motorcycle Tour Tibet Motorcycle Tour
For travellers, Tibet is without doubt one of the most remarkable places to visit in Asia. It offers fabulous monastery sights, breathtaking high-altitude treks, stunning views of the world’s highest mountains and one of the most likeable peoples you will ever meet. A walk around Lhasa´s lively Barkhor pilgrimage circuit is proof enough that the efforts of the communist Chinese to build a brave new (roof of the) world have foundered on the remarkable and inspiring faith of the Tibetan people.    lonelyplanet.com
Go to Tibet and see many places, as much as you can; than tell the world.      His Holiness the Dalai Lama
TAG MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
1 Arrrival In Chengdu, capitol of Sichuan province. Aiport pick-up and transfer to our hotel. We get our permits here to enter Tibet.
2 Flight to Lhasa and transfer from Gonkar airport to Lhasa. First walks around the old center.
3 Acclimatise to the high altitude along with easy going sightseeing in the old center of Lhasa. The Jorkhang Temple and the „Bakhor Kora“ around Tibet´s holiest temple.
4 Warm-up tour to Ganden monastery (around 4000m). Another step in getting acclimatised and to get to know our motorcycles and the traffic in China.
Ganden monastery is the foundation place of the Gelupka „Yellow hat“ sect of the Dalai Lama´s.
5 A relaxing day´s ride first along Lhasa river and later on along the Yarlung (Brahmaputra) river takes us to Tsetang. A modern town but the Yarlung valley is the craddle of Tibet and we will visit the Yumbulakhang Palace just outside of Tsetang.
6 We leave the Yarlung-valley after about  100km  and wind us up the
road to Kamba La (4794m) and after a Lunch Stop we travel on to Karo
La (5010m)pass. A glacier almost touches the road here. Along the
turquise waters of the holy  Yamdrok-Tso we ride to Gyantse.
7 Before leaving Gyantse today we visit the Pelkor Chöde monastery, and
the Kumbum Chorten, the only walk-in  Stupa in Tibet. We have Lunch
in Shigatse and get a frst impression of Tibets second largest city
before we head on to Sakya.
8 We head back at the highway 318 and cross the 5220m Gyatso-La pass before reaching Shegar.
9 A few kilometers after Shegar we turn off the Friendship Highway and wind up to the Pang-pass (5120m). Weather provided we can enjoy a great Himalyan
panorama from Kanzendonga to Xishpangma. At Mt. Everest in between! We stay the Rongphu monastery guest house at 4980m.
10 We get up early in the morning and depending on the regulations, ride our bikes or get driven up to the Everst Base Camp. Be sure to have enough memory and fresh batteries for your camera!! Later on we head back to  Shegar, where we will spent the night.
11 Again we cross the Gyatso-La  back to Shigatse The 1447 built Tashilunpo monastery is the home of the Panchen Lama. It is without   doubt  on of the most impressive of all tibetian monasteries and not just for it´s gold covered roofs and the Buddha glad with 250kg of gold.
12 For 80km´s we head back to Lhasa on the northern leg of the  Friedship Highway and along the Brahmaputra before turning north. A hardly travelled road trough rural Tibet and across the highest pass (5400m)  takes us to Damxhung.
13 From Damxhung we ride up towards Namtso Lake, the worlds highest and Tibets second largest salt water lake.  Later on we head back to Lhasa.
14 By now we are well adjusted to the altitude so we can "climb" the 13floors of the Potala palce former home of the Dalai Lamas and feel the deep spirituality of the Tibetian people a last time.
15 Farewell Tibet. A bus takes us to the airport for our flights back home.
 
AT A GLANCE
Touring the roof of the World!

DATES: May, June
, August
START / FINISH: Chengdu / Lhasa

DURATION: 13 day vacation, 9 riding days

ROUTE: Distance covered around 1300 miles / 2100 km. 
Day rides 70 - 215 miles / 110 - 340 km.

ROADS: Mainly  tarmac , around 25%  gravel and dirt .

ACCOMMODATION: Middle-class hotels and guesthouses.

REST DAYS: Lhasa, Shigatse

RIDERS REQUIREMENTS: OFF-ROAD experience not necessary. Our bikes are neither heigh nor heavy. This is a high-altitude tour!
GROUP SIZE: Min. 4 and max. 10 riders - space for pillion rider in our follow up car

WHAT´S INCLUDED: Domestic flight Chengdu-Lhasa, all meals, all non-alcoholic beverages, all entry fees, petrol for the bikes, Chinese driving licence and Tibet entry permit.

HIGHLIGHTS: Tibetan people and culture, Lhasa, Himalaya, Tibetan culture, Mt. Everest (Base Camp),  Gyantse Kumbum, Tashilunpo and many more monasteries