Shigatse - Qilin Gorge - Everest East Face - Rongbuk Monastery - Everest Base Camp
Driving distance: 392KM
Overnight altitude: 4900 meters
Scenic spots along the way: Kongma Grassland, distant view of Qomoyongqing, Qilin Gorge, Dinggye Wetland, Rimana Snow Mountain, Lhotse, Longren Mountain (Everest east face), Rongbuk Monastery, Everest Base Camp
After breakfast, you will set off from Shigatse for Everest Base Camp. Along the way, you will pass through the beautiful Kongma Grassland, then arrive in Gangba County, the land of divine water, where you can gaze at China's most beautiful snow mountain,【Mother of Snow Mountains—Qomoyongqing】. Legend says it is the mother of the surrounding snow mountains, hence the name Mother of Snow Mountains. Afterwards, continue along Route 219, also known as the China-India-Nepal border highway, for 45 kilometers, then arrive at the magical Qilin Gorge.【Qilin Gorge】is a famous canyon geological landscape set within a long, deep gorge, sunken hundreds of meters below the surface. The earth forests rise like bamboo shoots, with towering boulders reaching toward the sky. They stretch out in vast arrays, interwoven and scattered, or arranged in groups of three or five, like solemn and independent guardians. At Qilin Gorge, you can personally experience the masterful craftsmanship of nature and marvel at its geological wonders of "majesty, wonder, peril, and uniqueness."
After lunch, continue along the China-India-Nepal border Route 219 for about 30 kilometers. Along the way, you can admire one of China's most beautiful snow mountains,【Rimana Snow Mountain】, known locally as Renqing Snow Mountain, and also enjoy China's largest wetland,【Dinggye Wetland】. Afterwards, follow the wetland to Dinggye County, the kingdom of wetlands. After a short rest here, you can gaze along the Yeru Tsangpo river valley at【the world's fourth highest peak, Lhotse】. Then follow the beautiful border village road to the sacred mountain【Longren Mountain】. At Longren Mountain, you can view up close the world's fifth highest peak, Makalu, and the east face of Everest. Here is a "grand platter of beautiful scenery": the golden sunrise/sunset on three 8000-meter-class snow peaks—Everest (8844 meters), Lhotse (8516 meters, world's fourth), Makalu (8463 meters, world's fifth), and Chomolonzo (7804 meters)—unfold before your eyes one after another.
Afterwards, you will visit the world's highest-altitude monastery—Rongbuk Monastery.【Rongbuk Monastery】is universally recognized as the best location to gaze up at Mount Everest. Then you will arrive at【Everest Base Camp】, take a photo with the altitude monument at Everest Base Camp, and here you will dance with the world's highest peak, Mount Everest. If fortunate, you may also see the Everest banner cloud drifting like a flame of life.
Tip: In winter, the Rongbuk Monastery camp tents are not open, so accommodation will be changed to a multi-person room at a guesthouse in Basong Village.
🍽️ Breakfast, lunch and dinner on your own
🏨 Everest Base Camp