TIBET / Lhasa to Mt. Everest
At a Glance ...
Best traveltime | May, June, August |
Start/Finish | Chengdu / Lhasa |
Duration | 15 travel days, 9 riding days |
Distance covered | around 1.300 mi / 2.100 km |
Day rides | 70 - 215 mi / 110 - 340 km |
Roads | Mainly tarmac, some gravel and dirt |
Motorcycles | Yamaha YBR250cc, (Yamaha Fazer), EFI, 21 BHP, |
Rider's requirements | OFF-ROAD experience not necessary. Our bikes aren't heavy. This is a high-altitude tour! |
Group size | Min. 4 and max. 10 riders - space for pillion rider in our follow up car. |
Accomodation | Middle-class hotels and guesthouses |
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, Mt. Everest (Base Camp), Gyantse Kumbum, Tashilunpo and many more monasteries. |
Important | VISA for China needed. We arrange for Tibet Permit. |
Magical Mystery Tour - Touring the Roof of the World!
Day 1 | Arrival in Chengdu, capitol of Sichuan province. Airport pick-up and transfer to our hotel. We get our permits here to enter Tibet. |
Day 2 | Flight to Lhasa and transfer from Gonkar airport to Lhasa. First walks around the old center. |
Day 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. |
Day 4 | Warm-up tour to Ganden Monastery (around 4.000 m / 13.120 ft). Another step in getting acclimatised and also getting 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. |
Day 5 | A relaxing day's ride first along the Lhasa river and later on along the Yarlung (Brahmaputra) river takes us to Tsetang. A modern town but the Yarlung valley is the cradle of Tibet and we will visit the Yumbulakhang Palace just outside of Tsetang. |
Day 6 | We leave the Yarlung valley after about 100 km / 62 mi and wind our way up the road to Kamba La (4.794 m / 15.720 ft) and after a Lunch Stop we travel on to Karo La pass (5.010 m / 16.430 ft). A glacier almost touches the road here. Along the turqouise waters of the holy Yamdrok-Tso we ride to Gyantse. |
Day 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 first impression of Tibet's second largest city before we head off to Sakya. |
Day 8 | We head back on highway 318 and cross Gyatso-La pass (5.220 m / 17.125 ft) before reaching Shegar. |
Day 9 | A few kilometers after Shegar we turn off the Friendship highway and wind our way up to the Pang-pass (5.120 m / 16.797 ft). Weather permitting we can enjoy a great Himalayan panorama from Kanzendonga to Xishpangma - including Mt. Everest! We stay in the Rongphu monastery guest house at 4.980 m / 16.340 ft. |
Day 10 | We get up early in the morning and - depending on the regulations -, ride our bikes or get driven up to the Mt. Everest Base Camp. Be sure to have enough memory-cards and fresh batteries for your camera! Later on we head back to Shegar, where we will spend the night. |
Day 11 | Again we cross the Gyatso-La pass back to Shigatse. The 1447 built Tashilunpo monastery is the home of the Panchen Lama. It is - without doubt - one of the most impressive of all Tibetan monasteries and not just for its gold covered roofs and the Buddha gilded with 250 kg / 551 lbs of gold. |
Day 12 | For 80 km / 50 mi we head back to Lhasa on the northern leg of the Friendship Highway and along the Brahmaputra before turning north. A rarely travelled road trough rural Tibet and across the highest pass (5.400 m / 17.716 ft) takes us to Damxhung. |
Day 13 | From Damxhung we ride up towards Namtso Lake, the world's highest and Tibet's second largest salt water lake. Later on we head back to Lhasa. |
Day 14 | By now we are well adjusted to the altitude so we can "climb" the 13 floors of the Potala palace and former home of the Dalai Lamas and feel the deep spirituality of the Tibetan people one last time. |
Day 15 | Farewell Tibet. A bus takes us to the airport for our flights back home. |