Everest Photography Tour

Sleeping Elevation: 3560m.

We will welcome you at the Airport or The Lhasa train station. Then you will be escorted to your hotel. It is always advised the travellers take a good rest for proper acclimatization. Please do not do any activities which would lead you to dehydrate, like taking a bath. And avoid hard work for the first day. Many traveler prefer to take a nap. After some hours of rest, you can explore the Barkhor street and Tibetan quarter surrounding your hotel.

In the morning, after having your breakfast, your guide will meet you at the hotel. Then you will first go to the Jokhang Temple, the holiest temple in Tibetan Buddhism. Since your hotel is in the Tibetan quarter of Lhasa city, you will walk to the Jokhang Temple. After visiting the temple, you can explore Old Lhasa city on your own for a couple of hours.

The guide will fix you a time and place to visit. In the afternoon, you will see the Sera monastery. The monastery was built by one of the most prominent disciples of Je Tsongkhapa of the Gelugpa Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. This is the most well-preserved monastery in Tibet. In the monastery, you can sit in the courtyard where monks will be debating on Buddhist philosophy. You can stay there for some time. This is a perfect opportunity for many travellers to take a picture of monks debate. After that, you can tell your guide to give you some free time to explore the monastery on your own if you would like to live in peace for some time.

In the morning, you will visit the grand Potala palace. Your guide will fix and time as per the ticket timing. Potala Palace was first built in the 7th Century by the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo surrounding his meditation cave. Later in the 17th Century, the fifth Dalai Lama built the current palace upon the ruins of the old palace. The palace is an excellent specimen of Tibetan Cultural heritage, especially in the field of Architecture.

In the afternoon we will visit the Drepung Monastery. It is one of the three most significant monasteries in Lhasa and central Tibet. In the early 20th Century, it is the world biggest monastic complex. The circuit around the monastery takes about an hour of spectacular views.

In the morning you will visit Ganden Monastery. Ganden monastery is located 40 Kilometers outskirt of Lhasa City. The monastery was founded by the Founder of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, Je Tsongkhapa. The location of the monastery makes it very good for taking pictures. In addition, there is a tomb stupa of Tsongkhapa in the sanctuary. Tomb stupa is one of the many burial practices we have in Tibet. After visiting the monastery, we will go hiking around the monastery on a circumambulation path. In this hike, we will see the Entire Lhasa river valley and surrounding hills.

In the afternoon, we will visit a Tibet family home in a village, where you will have a first-hand encounter with the Tibetan Cultural Lifestyle, how our villager lives. Visiting a Tibetan Village will give you plenty of opportunities to take a picture of the local lifestyle and people.

It is advised to start the journey a little earlier in the morning. So in most cases, we leave Lhasa at 7 in the morning after having breakfast at your hotel. by 11:00 Am, you will reach the Kampa-la pass (4700 m). The car will stop here for some time of the beautiful view to Yamdrok Lake below the pass and the mighty mount Mount Nojin Kangtsang (7191 meters). After some time at the pass for the picture, we will then drive down to the lake. It is about a 15 minutes drive, and we will descend about 700 meters to the shore. We will stop at the shore, and you will have some time to enjoy the beautiful lake from its shore.

After the lake, we will continue to drive to Nangartse Town for lunch. From Yamdrok lake to Nangartse is 50 km, and we will drive along the shore until we divert to the town. If you are travelling during the winter, you can see lots of wild birds on this road. It is advised to bring a binocular if you are a bird lover. Once we reach the town, we will stop here for lunch, and after lunch, you can explore this little Tibetan town for some time.

You will then continue to Gyantse town. You will reach Gyantse town at about 3:00 pm. We will then check in to our hotel for the night, and then we will continue to visit the Gyantse monastery. Visiting the monastery would take about one and a half hours. Then, if you still have some energy, we can see the Gyantse fort.

You will start your journey at about 9:00 am. Once when you drive out of Gyantse town, we will stop at a photography spot outside the city. From there, you can see the entire village of Gyantse, including its monastery, stupa and the fort. It is one of my favourite places in Tibet to take pictures.

From Gyantse, we will first go to Shalu monastery. Many travel and tour operator in Tibet skips their itinerary. But to me, it is a must place to visit. The painting inside the monastery is very different. Those are the original Newari style paintings.

After Shalu Monastery, we will continue to Shigatse. On arrival to Shigatse, we will first visit the Tashi Lhunpo monastery. We are built by the first Dalai Lama and the official residence of the Panchen Lama. Then we will drive to the hotel, and the rest of the day is free for you and the group members. But we will have to go to apply for the permit for Everest base camp.

We will start our day a little earlier today to have more time at Sakya monastery. We will drive on friendship road. From the Tibetan town of Lhatse, we will take a detour to Sakya monastery. The monastery is the main principal monastery of the Sakyapa school of Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery looks like a medieval fort. This architecture and painting of the Sakya monastery are entirely different from any other attraction you will visit on this tour. There are lots of things you can see in the sanctuary that is why we leave Shigatse earlier. After the Sakya Monastery, we will continue driving to Tingri, and we will stop for the night before going up to Everest base camp.

If you would like to see the sunshine over the mighty Himalayas and Everest in the morning, you will have to start the journey earlier before the sun. I always recommend that all travellers leave before the sunshine to see the beautiful sunshine over Everest and its sister’s mountains. Once when we reach the Rongbuk monastery. We will take some time in our tent guest house, and then we will go ahead to Everest Base Camp. We can’t take our car, and we will have to either take the Eco-bus or walk-up. Walking up is about four-kilo meters and could take about two hours. There is a small cave of Guru Padmasambhava. You can visit if you walk.

We will spend a night in EBC in the tent guest house. The tent could become smoky sometimes. If you think you have an altitude issue, we can return to Tingri. Please be decisive and decide before everyone sleeps.

In the morning, we will have a fantastic Sunrise view of Everest. The Himalayas first Sunbeam will light the uppermost peaks, and the sunray will gradually come down in the valleys. After watching the sunshine view of Mt Everest, we will start our return journey to the Shigatse. We will stop at some farming villages. Upon arrival to Shigatse, we will have enough time to explore the main market street or hike the pilgrimage path at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery again.

We will travel back to Lhasa, the distance for the return journey is 280 kilometres, and It will take only 6 Hours travelling. Therefore, we will have enough time to do the last-minute souvenir shopping or walk the pilgrimage circuit around Jokhang Temple one more time.