15 Days Tibet Garma Valley Trekking Group Tour at the foot of eastern side of Mount Everest

Attractions: Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Street
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: 3★/4★ hotel in Lhasa

After breakfast, your tour guide & driver will pick you and drive to visit the splendid Potala Palace, which is Lhasa’s cardinal landmarks. You will have a whole morning to explore this world-level architectural works: White Palace, Red Palace, corridors and stairs and countless lama’s dormitory. Others include: Buddha statues, red-robed lamas and devoted, murals, etc.

In the afternoon, you will walk to visit the age-old Jokhang Temple, as the spiritual center of Tibet, which will deeply impress you with its magnificence and sincere pilgrims. You will see pilgrims donating butter oil to keep the lights burning for the Buddha; learning Tibetan Buddhism; hearing the red-robed Lamas praying; taking photos of the gold roof and enjoying the beautiful sunshine of Lhasa.

Finally, you will have a relaxing walk around Jokhang Temple at Barkhor Street, which is the oldest street in Lhasa, and full of religious atmosphere, showcasing Tibetan culture, economy, religion and arts assemble. Then transfer back to the hotel.

Tips:
1. In Potala Palace, your visiting time is limited on 1 hour. Climb up there, you might experience slight shortness of breath, please take your time and rest when needed.
2. Don’t disturb pilgrims and Lama. Don’t take photos of them without permission.
3. In Barkhor Street, remember to bargain and compare the price in different shops for the souvenirs if you are purchasing.

In the morning, we will take the tour vehicle and head to Tingri via Lhatse. On the way, you will stop by the famous Gawu La Pass (5198m). It is the best place to enjoy mind-blowing vistas of top 5 highest peaks (all above 8000m) along majestic Himalayas. Then we will follow the winding road to Youpa Village and acclimatize to the new altitude. You may get prepared for the trekking and yak registration.

Stay in camp in Youpa Village.

The real challenge of trekking starts from Youpa village. This part of journey with an altitude of 3750-4656m. Shortly after tourists hit the road, they have to ascend mountains and after going through a pass, the road ahead will be bumpy and full of rocks. As the altitude gets higher, the temperature drops considerably, especially when passing the pass where strong wind with snowfall often occurs. No village is visible except for a few numbers of small lakes. When reach Showotso (4650m), the unrivalled scenery will dispel all your tiredness. Small and tranquil, Showotso flows gently in the corner of the valley. In May, Buds of orchid can be seen on the banks of the lake, and a lovely smell of orchid permeates the air. In the background, there are snow-capped mountains, vague and far away.

Stay in camp in Showotso.

The challenge each trekker facing after the departure from Showo-tso would be the climb of Showo-la Pass, which is considered as the most difficult route of the entire trekking. As long as tourists make it through this pass, the area of Karma Valley will be within reach. Yet Showola Pass is never a push over and is 4900m above the sea level. The journey makes it impossible to change route randomly, and it would be better of following the steps of professional guides and move slowly and steadily. If the weather turns out to be clear, Mt. Makalu will be visible from Showo-la Pass. One particular thing you have to pay special attention to is that as travelers descend from the mountain, steep and narrow path has to be dealt with utmost caution. One has to keep balance and stand on a solid ground before taking the next step. Do have a rest frequently if one feels out of breath.

Stay in camp in Orchid Valley.

Compared with breathtaking alpine scenery seen in the previous days, the scenery at the bottom of the Orchid Valley takes on a completely different picture. Covered by lush vegetation and vibrant forest, Orchild Valley is blanketed with unknown flowers, and the air is filled with refreshing oxygen. In May, one can see Azalea in full blossom around every corner of the valley. The trees in Tangsung are extremely unusual and it is said that during heyday of Sakya dynasty, even the trees in sakytang wanted to live in Sakya Monastery. Therefore, all the branches of trees grew towards the direction of Sakya Monastery. In fact, the majority of the timber used for building Sakya Monaster came from Tangsung.

Stay in camp in Tangsung.

Tourists have to pass a swamp in the second half of the trek. To help travelers pass the swamp safely, locals bridged the swamp with trunks of trees. Even in these places with little human presence, one can still see the footprints of Sherpas who travel swiftly at ease on this mysterious and little known land. Sherpas are indeed the king of forests and are exceedingly hospitable to new visitors.

Stay in camp in Paltang.

No words could better describe one’s feelings than a mixture of excitement and exhaustion if one successfully made it so far. Though the final destination of Eastern face of Mt.Everest is just around the corner, one shall expect to handle the rest of journey with carefulness because the landslide often takes place on the mountains and tourists should follow the old path.

Stay in camp in Paltang.

Trekking back along the way we came and rest at Tangshang.

Stay in camp in Tangshang.

Trekking up all the way, and soon after the ups and downs, they reached today's camp, Jasper under the snow-capped mountains - Tso-shorim. In the distance are Mount Everest, Lhotse (8,516 meters) and Makalu (8,463 meters), and in front of you is a 7000-meter unclimbed mountain.

Stay in camp in Shorim.

After setting off, climb over the highest point of the itinerary, the Nangma-la pass at an altitude of 5344 meters and another pass above 5000m, pass through a deep lake-Lhatsetso, and arrive at Lhundupling Village in the afternoon

Stay in camp in Lhundupling Village.

Today, we will climb over two soaring mountain passes, one is the Nangma-la pass(5344m), the highest pass of entire trek, and the other nameless one is above 5000m. Passing deep-blue Latsetso Lake, we will get to Lhundupling Village.

Overnight in Shigatse.

Today,we arrive in Shigatse, which is the second largest city in Tibet. In Shigatse, we may visit the home of Panchan Lama - Tashilunpo Monastery. It stands among the six most sacred Buddhist temples in Tibet and was built, in 1447, by the 1st Dalai Lama.

Afternoon,  drive back to Lhasa by following Yalong Valley. You can stand on the viewing platform and view the vast Yalong River bed. Finally the guide will transfer you back to your hotels in Lhasa.

Overnight in Lhasa.

The guide will transfer you to the airport or train station and help you get on board.