5-Day Private Car Tour: Lhasa - Shigatse - Mount Everest - Namtso - Shigatse Mount Everest Namtso 5-Day Tour Itinerary/Cost/Price

In the morning, drive from Lhasa, follow National Highway 318 to the bridge junction, and travel amid the scenery of the Yarlung Tsangpo River to Gambala Pass (elevation 4,990 meters). This is the best place to overlook Yamdrok Lake (elevation 4,441 meters), one of Tibet's three great holy lakes. From the Tibetan-style viewing platform with fluttering colorful prayer flags and a huge mani pile, gaze at the clear and calm lake surface under the sunlight, shifting through varying shades of light blue, deep blue, and sky blue, reflecting the washed-blue sky, with the towering snow mountains in the distance—an ultimate beauty unrivaled in southern Tibet. If you are lucky, you may even see a wonder of dark clouds on one side, a brilliant rainbow on another, and endless sunset glow on yet another. After lunch at Nagarze, continue driving to visit Karola Glacier (elevation 5,000 meters). The glacier standing by the roadside is like a giant thangka hanging on the mountain wall, crystal-clear and pure white, so close it seems within reach. Finally, pass through the ancient city of Gyantse and head to Shigatse, the capital of Tsang at an elevation of 3,750 meters, for overnight stay.

After breakfast, depart from Shigatse, pass through Lhatse, cross Gyatso La Snow Mountain, and arrive at Tingri County at the northern foot of the Himalayas, at the foot of Mount Everest. From here begins the journey to explore Mount Everest, the world's highest peak. The first stop is Gawu La Pass, the world's most spectacular snow mountain viewing platform, where you can see four peaks of the Himalayas over 8,000 meters towering in the distance. Then arrive at Everest Base Camp at an elevation of 5,200 meters. Here is Rongbuk Monastery, the highest temple in the world, with a white stupa standing tall and colorful prayer flags fluttering. It is recognized as the best place to look up at Mount Everest. As night gradually falls and dusk slowly shrouds the mountains, only the summit of Everest shines in the sunset like the goddess's golden crown in the sky, allowing you to enjoy the honor of standing atop the world, supreme on Earth.

In the early morning, while the peaks still sleep in the dawn, face the rising sun and look up at Mount Everest, receiving the baptism of the soul from the world's highest peak (elevation 8,844.43 meters). Admire the world's highest peak with year-round snow on the summit, hanging glaciers, and towering silver peaks—a holy scene. With lingering attachment to the beauty of Everest, return to Shigatse.

After breakfast, drive to visit Tashilhunpo Monastery, the seat of successive Panchen Lamas. For more than five hundred years, it has attracted numerous Buddhist believers and visitors from home and abroad to worship and admire. In the monastery, incense burners send up purple smoke, offering lamps flicker, and the Buddhas have different dignified appearances. In the main hall, monks chant scriptures in orderly fashion, and visiting believers prostrate before the Buddha statues. Here is enshrined the world's largest indoor bronze seated Buddha statue, the Maitreya Buddha, built in 1914 under the supervision of the Ninth Panchen Lama, Chokyi Nyima. It also preserves Buddhist scriptures written in gold powder, such as the Kangyur and Tengyur. Then return to Lhasa along the Sino-Nepal Highway and the Yarlung Tsangpo River valley.

In the early morning, drive from Lhasa, pass through the vast grasslands of northern Tibet, appreciate the fluttering colorful prayer flags, speed along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, cross the 5,190-meter Nagenla Pass, and arrive at Namtso, the "Heavenly Lake," first among Tibet's three great holy lakes. At an elevation of 4,718 meters, it is the highest saltwater lake in the world and the second largest in China. To the south is the year-round snow-capped Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains; to the north and west are plateau hills. The broad lakeshore is surrounded by grasslands, with lush water and grass. The lake water has high salinity, and the basin is rich in wildlife resources, including yaks and goats; the lake has many wild birds and produces fine-scaled fish and scaleless fish; the lake water is clear and reflects the surrounding snow mountains, with beautiful scenery, like a crystal-clear pearl inlaid on the vast Changtang grassland. Then return to Lhasa by the same route. (Note: This price is for car rental with driver/chartered vehicle. Vehicle prices vary with peak and off-peak travel seasons. This price is for reference only. Please consult us for specific details.)